I’m Spending so much Money and Time on Engagement but Nothing’s Working
This is exactly what a company said when they called in desperation. They had a huge team, were spending lots on materials and they didn't feel they were getting traction. And they are not alone. …
How to Create an Engagement Strategy that’s not a Door Stopper
On complex projects, it's really tempting to create a door stopper of an engagement strategy. The kind that's so thick it probably rivals the length of the technical studies for the project you're engaging on. …
How Can You Build Resilience When You Work in Community Engagement
It's Saturday, and you've had a long week already but you've got to manage a community drop in session. The local community is angry. There’s an action group, and a particularly angry man. …
IAP2 Spectrum – has it Reached its Use-by Date
I remember the first time I met the Spectrum. I was at a pub one night (truthfully – ok it was an IAP2 networking event when there were less than 100 members in Australasia). And it was love at first sight. …
Community Engagement Jobs – Now and in the Future
Fifteen years ago, community engagement was a fringe profession; the domain of a few passionate experts. Cynics described engagement as a fad. …
How Disaster Management is Impacting Engagement
In the past decade, across Australia a significant number of major disasters; including floods, fires, cyclones and storm surges; have caused billions of dollars damage to city and towns. …
Engaging Mental Health Patients in Reform – What Happens When the Right People are in the Room
Community Engagement for Mental Health - What Happens When The Right People Are In the Room? …
Top 10 Reasons People Reject Change
For some of us, change is exciting; for most people, change is something to fear and for others, change is terrifying and they will reject it. …
Beyond Decision Making in Community Engagement
So you’ve done your community engagement. The public is happy. They’ve been heard, influenced and perhaps collaborated in or empowered the decision making. Then what? …
Community Engagement Definition of the Month: Engagedy
Some community engagement programs are easy to predict. They're relatively routine. But others suddenly turn from routine to tragedy. …
Community Engagement Definition of the Month: Entourengage
If your engagement entourage outnumbers the public at an event, you have officially sent an entourengage. We've all seen it. There's 12 of us - engagement specialists, a welcome team, back up comms people, plus specialists from every technical team - and no …
Getting from Enraged to Engaged
During one of my hostile community engagement projects, a man in his 70s raised his hand to backhand me across the face. Good sense stopped him. But it was terrifying. His hand was shaking, his face was red, and he could no …