Summertime Chapter Updates

The summer is heating up and so is our need for volunteers! The Intermountain Chapter wants to keep providing our members with quality activities, but we need your help to make it possible. Please take a look at the committees below and see which is right for you. We would like to hear from you by June 15th. Please email us at iap2intermountain@gmail.com or call one of our board members listed on the left side if you’re interested.

Brown Bags

Last year, the Intermountain Chapter hosted a series of Brown Bags. This was a chance for members to gather on their lunch break and listen to a variety of presentations that related to the Public Participation field in one way or another. It was a wonderful opportunity to share what we've done and learn from others. We had a great turn out at each of these sessions and received some positive feedback.

Currently, there's a handful of ideas for topics and speakers for Brown Bags this year, but we need a Committee Chair and volunteers to help organize these. We'll need to organize and book speakers, find a location, as well as provide invites and updates to members. We'd like to have our first session in August and continue through the end of the year.

2013 IAP2 North American Conference

We are excited to announce that IAP2 USA has selected the Intermountain Chapter as the host for the 2013 IAP2 Conference! With our continued member participation, chapter events and growing membership, IAP2 USA felt we would be an ideal chapter to host this monumental event. We are honored to be selected to host such a wonderful event! While dates have not yet been determined, the conference is tentatively planned for either September or October of 2013.

The conference committee will be made up of members from across the country and Canada. Our chapter has volunteered to lead the Local Flavor and Logistics committees since both need to be based from the host city. We will need volunteers for both committees. The current conference committee for 2012 has invited us to participate and contact them for any guidance in planning for next year.

• Local Flavor: This committee will be responsible for showcasing the area such as hosting a dine-o-round, project site visits, recreation, etc. We will need a chairperson and committee to brainstorm, organize, plan, book and host these events.
   
• Logistics: This committee will be responsible for the facility (booking and communication), food arrangements, conference layout, etc. This committee is key to the success of the conference. We will need a chairperson and committee to explore the location options determined by the board as well as booking, food, hotel arrangements, etc.

IAP2 USA Webinar

IAP2 USA will be hosting an informative webinar titled "Back to Basics: How Core Values and Standards for Public Participation Can Help Your Organization and Practice." This is sure to be an enlightening session featuring some of the pioneers in the public participation field who helped develop IAP2's Core Values. We invite you all to join in on June 19 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Please click here for more information and to register.

Intermountain Chapter Call

Immediately following the webinar, the Intermountain Chapter will be hosting a conference call to discuss all the exciting things happening in our local chapter as well as the upcoming 2013 conference. This call will be the kick off for the committees to help them to hit the ground running. We encourage all those who have volunteered and who are interested in volunteering to participate in this call. We'd like to keep the IAP2 groove going. Please call in at 888-369-1427 and use code #6164505 following the webinar (4:30 p.m. mountain time).

We thank you all for your continued help and support of the IAP2 Intermountain Chapter! We look forward to stepping into this exciting time with you and know it will be a success.

Well Wasn't That Fun?!

The Intermountain Chapter met up last Thursday for a Spring Social at Bout Time Pub in West Valley and boy, did we have fun!

We had a great showing from some of those who were attending training as well as some of our existing members and some new faces! The board made a few announcements to include a call for volunteers.

Are you interested in helping to plan the Brown Bags or Fall Social? Maybe you have some great ideas for a workshop. Perhaps you'd be interested in helping to organize the Chapter Communication Plan. Whatever your interests or skills, there's surely a spot for you on one of the committees!

We really need your time and talents so please shoot us an email or talk with one of our board members for more information on how you can help!

Join Us for the Spring Social!

Spring is eagerly trying to arrive here in Salt Lake. We've been having a few days of warmer, sunnier weather and then we're blasted with a day or two of snow, just to remind us that winter is still here.

The Intermountain Chapter is gathering to help ring in spring, snow or shine! Join us for an evening of socializing, food and drinks and learn more about our upcoming activities for 2012.

When: Thursday, March 15
Time: 5-7:30 p.m.
Where: Bout Time Pub
            3318 S. Decker Lake Dr.
            West Valley, UT

The event is free so please stop by! Feel free to bring along someone who may be interested in or benefit from a membership with IAP2. Appetizers will be provided by the chapter. The pub's full bar and menu will be available at an additional cost.

We look forward to seeing you all there! Please see the flier below for more information.

Certificate Training Coming March 12-16!

The details have been set. The Intermountain Chapter will be hosting the IAP2 Public Participation Training in Salt Lake City.

When: March 12-16, 2012
Where: UDOT Traffic Operations Center
             Room 227
            2060 South 2760 West
Time: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
          Monday - Friday
Cost: Members $280/day
         Non-Members $295/day (early registration until 11:55 pm February 12)

A light breakfast and lunch will be provided each day.

Use our online registration to sign up for the full certificate course or to register for individual classes needed to complete your certificate. Please note that Planning for Effective Public Participation is a pre-requisite for the remaining courses.

For more information, contact us at iap2international@gmail.com or call Leah Jaramillo at 801-556-7455.

Save the Date!

After much deliberation, the IAP2 Intermountain Chapter has decided on dates for IAP2 Certificate Training.

Training will take place March 12-16, 2012 in Salt Lake. That's a full week of training. All 3 courses will be offered:

• Planning for Effective Public Participation (March 12-13)
• Communication for Effective Public Participation (March 14)
• Techniques for Effective Public Participation (March 15-16)

For more information on the training, please take a look at the training brochure below. At the end of the courses, participants will receive a Certificate in Public Participation from IAP2.

Details regarding cost, specific location and times will follow shortly. For questions, please feel free to email us at iap2intermountain@gmail.com.

We hope to see you there!

Fall Social Rewind!

This year's Fall Evening Social was held at Meditrina in Salt Lake. There was a group of around 15 which took up a whole side of the intimate restaurant.

We ate, we drank, we played a clever IAP2 game, ate and drank some more, won prizes and mingled the whole time. It truly was a wonderful experience with some of the best PI people in the business.

Thank you to the board for putting together such a great fun-filled evening! And thank you to all who came!

Here's some pictures from the evening. We hope to see you all at our next upcoming event. We'll keep you posted!

IAP2 USA Monthly Practitioner Call Kick Off on Monday!

IAP2 USA is rolling out the first of several upcoming monthly practitioner calls.

Practitioner calls are simply phone conferences intended to provide an informal environment for public participation practitioners to come together, ask questions, share experiences and help each other with advice.

Currently, these calls are for members only. The first inaugural call is set for this Monday, December 5, 2011 at 11am Pacific time (12 noon for Mountain Time).

For more info or to RSVP and receive call in information, click HERE.

This will also be a great way to meet fellow practitioners from across the country. See you there!

Defending the Twitter-verse

Social media has become a prominent part of our society. Many of us visit some sort of social media site on a daily basis, often several times a day.

As many of you know, Twitter is one such site in which people can log on and "tweet" in 140 characters or less about their everyday lives, thoughts, news, etc.

Trying to get some on the social media bandwagon can be a hard, uphill battle. As a co-worker once put it, "it was like bearing my testimony." So for those of you who have had to explain the inter workings of Twitter, or if you will soon find yourself in those shoes, check out this helpful tool. It's chock full of visual aids too!

Enjoy!

Public Participation Certificate Program Coming to Utah and Idaho!

The IAP2 Public Participation Certificate Program has become the standard for organizations wishing to implement effective public involvement programs. The Certificate program includes three classes:

• Planning for Effective Public Participation
• Effective Communication for Public Participation
• Techniques for Effective Public Participation

Upon completion of the three classes, students will receive a Certificate in Public Participation.

The IAP2 Intermountain Chapter is currently planning trainings to be held in Utah and Idaho for early 2012. The cost will be $280/day for members or $295/day (early registration) and $325 (late registration) for non-members.

Please see the brochure below for more information or call (801)556-7455 or email us.

Fall Evening Social

Join IAP2 Intermountain Chapter for an evening of food, fun games, fabulous prizes and great networking opportunities at our Fall Evening Social!

When: Wednesday, November 30
            5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Meditrina
            1394 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City
Cost: $25 for IAP2 members and $30 for non-members
         Registration covers all the food and fun plus one drink!

Buy tickets online with a credit card by clicking *HERE*. Cash and checks will be accepted at the door. If you renew your IAP2 membership with us at the social, your admission is FREE! Currently, IAP2 is offering a new member rate of $99!

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

IAP2 USA Membership Special Offer of $99

IAP2 USA is offering a special annual membership of $99 for your first year of membership! This is a huge savings off the regular rate of $140 and is only available for a limited time of 99 days.

Be a part of an amazing public participation community and take part in special training and networking opportunities. Join between now and January 31, 2012 and take advantage of this amazing deal!

Click here to read more and to join today!

The first brown bag was a success!

The Intermountain Chapter's first monthly brown bag went off without a hitch!

Chapter members met at URS Corporation's office in Salt Lake City, with a few out of staters attending via conference call, on August 24. The guest speakers were Karen Hale, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker's Communication Director and Deputy Director, Art Raymond discussing the communication efforts that took place in the days following the June 12, 2010 Red Butte Oil Spill.

Attendees were all ears as Ms. Hale recalled how she first heard the news and how quickly the media picked up on it. She and her team quickly organized a press conference but at the time, not much information was available. She continued to recount how the JIC (Joint Information Center) played a key role in providing the press and public with safety information and clean up effort updates. So much organization and communication had to occur in order to provide accurate and timely information to the press and public.

Art Raymond gave new insight from the press' point of view. At the time of the spill, he was a reporter with the Deseret News and had attended the press conferences in the days following the spill. The group seemed to take particular interest in his point of view since, for many of us, reporters are our audience as well.

Overall, the session was a success and the group had many questions for both of our speakers. Many thanks goes out to Karen and Art as well as all who attended both in person and over the phone lines!

We look forward to seeing you at our next brown bag, Participation Process Case-Study: UDOT West Davis Corridor EIS presented by Dan Adams and Brianne Olsen with The Langdon Group.

When: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Time: 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: I-15 CORE Office: Sundance Conference Room
               2912 Executive Parkway, Ste 125, Lehi, UT

We'll see you there!

A kick-off to the monthly brown bag series!

With a little rejuvenation and a kick-start, the Intermountain Chapter has launched a monthly brown bag series.  The event will be local to the folks in Utah, with an opportunity for the chapter members and friends in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to dial in through a conference call.

Brown bags will be held at 12 p.m. noon on the 4th Wednesday of each month.  It will be a traveling show... hosted by various chapter members and held in their offices. 

The first brown bag will be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2011.  Karen Hale, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker's Communication Director will speak about the communication efforts immediately following the June 12, 2010 oil spill near Red Butte Creek. 

You're invited to attend in person or via phone conference.

When:  Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Time: 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: URS Corporation, 756 East Winchester Street, Suite 400, Salt Lake City

We look forward to seeing you there!

Challenges and Attendance

It's been a whirlwind summer. 

I spent all of yesterday on the train, returning from a small, rural community in northeast Montana.  I facilitated a meeting there on river issues, and, unfortunately, participation for that meeting was quite low.

We anticipated low participation, and yet various political constraints dictated that we go ahead an conduct the meeting even though we knew attendance was likely to be higher a month later (the date originally suggested).   We couldn't provide travel funds, but we did provide a dinner during one of the presentations.

As we discussed what these attendance challenges might be, we came up with a few ideas:

• Late summer vacations prior to school starting
  
• Grain harvest operations keeping key agricultural stakeholders at home
  
• Lack of adequate lead time to allow for word-of-mouth advertising
  
• Length of meeting during the week (4pm-9pm on a Tuesday. A Saturday meeting was discussed, but the only thing more difficult than generating participation in Montana in the summer is generating participation on a Saturday!)

Some of these issues are about timing, geography, and cultural norms.  What are some of the challenges you all have when trying to generate participation?

IAP2 International Annual Conference

Top 10 Reasons to Attend the IAP2 International Annual Conference in San Diego on September 21 – 23, 2009:

1. Opportunity to network with your peers
2. Quality programming, more than 70 presentations
3. State-of-the-industry topics – Keep current on P2 trends
4. Economical – budget-friendly. Take advantage of early bird registration. Airfares are at historic lows, check www.kayak.com or www.wholesaleflights.com and any of the major airlines web sites
5. Pre-conference training available
6. Bring the family and take advantage of low off-season specials on all the attractions
7. Interesting field trips and movies
8. Invest in yourself, your career, your industry and your future
9. Core Values Awards Dinner
10. Variety of convenient sessions (1 and 2-hour)

Making Sustainable Decisions, Theme of 2009
International Association for Public Participation International Conference

How do you make sustainable decisions? The answer to this and other thought provoking questions are part of the 17th Annual International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Conference to be held in San Diego, CA, September 21-23, 2009. During this three-day conference held at the Westin San Diego on Broadway, more than 70 presentations, a keynote luncheon and trade show exhibitors will explore the many facets of sustainable decision-making. Conference sessions are geared for beginner, intermediate, and advanced practitioners in public participation. Here are some highlights of topics and presenters:

• Marine Protection presented by Peter Halmay, co-chair of the Fisherman’s Working Group in San Diego
• Facebook: Fad or Future? presented by Martin J. Cowling, People First – Total Solutions
• Community Forums presented by Janet D. Fiero, Ph.D. & Jesse Sostrin, Ph.D., AmericaSpeaks
• Sustainable Conversations presented by DeAnna Martin, Center for Wise Democracy
• Outreaching Partnering in Africa presented by Claire R. Mendelsohn, US Air Force Western
• Regional Environmental Office
• Dare to Dream! Exploring a New Era of Public Engagement presented by Sandy Heierbacher, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, Myriam Laberge and Brenda Chaddock, Masterful Facilitation Institute

Registration is now open for the conference at www.iap2.org. Early bird conference cost for members is $560 and cost for non members $660. “The 2009 IAP2 conference will provide the opportunity to discuss the multiple facets of sustainability. In a kind of double entendre, we want to explore the state of the art both in terms of how to make decisions that reflect sustainability principles, as well as, how to make decisions that are themselves “sustainable,” IAP2 President Anne Pattillo.

For more information about the International Association for Public Participation and the conference, visit www.iap2.org or call 800.644.4273.

Check this out! http://www.spatial.redlands.edu/toolsgallery/

The Redlands Institute has developed an interactive tool gallery with various technology tools that can be used to support the work we do. Browse the technology tools by category (listed on the left side), and/or to select a subset of tools by clicking on one or more faceted search filter tabs on the right side. Move the cursor over each tool for a short description, or click on the tool to see a detailed description that includes links to the tool's website, screenshots, and videos.

If you would like to add a tool to this catalog, please submit a request to ecrsubmit@spatial.redlands.edu with the following information about the tool:

§ tool name and version

§ tool website URL

§ tool description (one line, and one paragraph versions)

§ tool category (for category browsing)

§ tool tags (for faceted search filtering)

§ tool screenshot(s) (optional; URLs or small image files)

§ tool video(s) (optional; URLs)

If you have any questions about how to submit a new tool, contact Stephen Daugherty at the Redlands Institute,(909) 748 - 8464.

Correcting Misperceptions

I caught this interview awhile back on National Public Radio's "On the Media" program. I found it very interesting. The researcher's punchline is that it is close to impossible to change peoples' perceptions once they have formed opinions. Offering contradictory information didn't work and sometimes backfires! I thought you might be interested. From what I can tell, most of his work has been around concepts related to global climate change and weapons of mass destruction, but, I doubt it matters that much what the subject matter is.

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2009/07/03/01

At our fall 2008 conference, we had a presentation from Daren Brabham, a doctoral candidate at the U of U, on crowd-sourcing. Here is an example of an interesting way this idea is being applied in a transit project.


CONTACT: Annie Maxfield, public relations manager
Cell: (206) 788-6418
E-mail: NextStopDesign@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 5, 2009

Federally-Funded Online Bus Stop Design Contest Launches

Next Stop Design leverages collective intelligence of online communities for public good

Next Stop Design, an experiment to design a bus stop collaboratively on the Web, officially launches today at www.NextStopDesign.com. Visitors to the Web site can register for free to submit designs and ideas about their ideal bus stop. Visitors can then rate and comment on the designs of their peers, and the highest rated bus stop designs may eventually be built as real bus stops in Utah. The contest runs through the summer, and the highest rated designer(s) will be recognized as inspiration for the stop on a plaque next to the new bus stop on the University of Utah business loop.

Next Stop Design is a study conducted by University of Utah researchers, in cooperation with the Utah Transit Authority and funded by a grant from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration. The project seeks to develop innovative ways to increase public participation in transit planning. Using the Web to harness the collective intelligence of online communities and the “wisdom of crowds,” Next Stop Design hopes to generate more, diverse, and higher quality bus stop designs in a way that complements traditional public participation methods.

For more information, including details about the project, backgrounders, and related resources, visit www.NextStopDesign.com/press.

Job posting for collaboration and communications firm

Project Coordinator Job Posting 

Kearns & West’s Portland Office seeks a Project Coordinator for immediate hire. Kearns & West is a strategic collaboration and communications firm with offices in San Francisco, Portland, Denver, and Washington DC. The Project Coordinator will serve as part of a team and assist with management of collaborative and public involvement processes involving stakeholders from state and federal natural resource agencies, environmental organizations, industry, and local interests. 

Job duties include meeting coordination and logistics, meeting attendance and note taking, database management, client and stakeholder relations, administrative duties, and more. This position requires initiative, excellent organizational skills and attention to detail, strong written and oral communication skills, and the ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment. Applicant must demonstrate strong computer skills with proficiency in Microsoft Office. 

Successful candidate will have a bachelor’s degree and a background/interest in natural resource management, renewable energy, transmission, environmental/public policy issues, public involvement, collaboration and mediation. One - two years of experience is preferred. We are looking for a self-starter who can work well independently and as part of a team. Ability to successfully manage multiple projects simultaneously is a must. Some travel is required. 

Please e-mail resume & cover letter to amartin@kearnswest.com. No faxes or phone calls please. Resumes will be accepted until the position is filled. 

* * * * * * 

In addition, Kearns & West and the Portland Office anticipate additional hires in the near future. Resumes from senior mediators and public involvement specialists along with resumes from project coordinator candidates should be submitted to amartin@kearnswest.com. 

Job Posting for Conflict Resolution Specialist

EPA conflict resolution position near DC.  Job posting closes June 5, 2009.