Our Community Engagement BOOTCAMP is designed for anyone who wants to GET AHEAD in best practice community engagement, brush up on their KNOWLEDGE, freshen their THINKING, or reinvigorate their PASSION!

Whether you’re a -

budding community engagement specialist,
a project manager for a local council,
a policy maker for government,
a City Manager,
an elected official,
a consultant,
looking to make a career move into community engagement,
or anything in between

… if you need to involve people in decision making as part of your work, gaining a Certificate in Contemporary Community Engagement Practice, Community Engagement BOOTCAMP is for YOU!

The 6 sessions, held over 6 consecutive weeks, are live, interactive and packed with theory, stories, reflection and more!

WHAT WILL THE BOOTCAMP COVER?

Over the duration of 6 sessions, the bootcamp will cover some fundamental lessons for high quality community engagement, as identified by Becky Hirst over her 23 years' of working in community engagement to date. The content delivered during the bootcamp will draw from Becky's vast on-the-ground experiences, concepts discussed in her book For the Love of Community Engagement, and will also include some never-seen-before tools and techniques for planning effective community engagement.

Session 1: Principles & Models of Community Engagement

Know the differences between the wheel, the ladder, the triangle and the various continuums? And how about the Circle of Public-Initiated Participation? During this first session we’ll go through the popular community engagement models. By the end of the session you’ll be able to walk the talk and impress the boss by applying some overarching theory to your practice!

Session 2: Who’s Who – Knowing Who to Engage

This session will delve into the who's who of good community engagement. We'll look at a range of scenarios and you'll learn a few different methods for identifying who needs to be involved in your project. This session will also introduce the PICNIC model of people identification, mapping and analysis.

Session 3: Tools & Techniques to Facilitate Storytelling & Rich Conversations

This session will be jam packed with practical ideas to successfully deliver high quality written, face-to-face and online community engagement. Becky will share her favourite tools and techniques for engaging people in rich dialogue and her love of using a hybrid of methodology to reach the right people.

Session 4: High Quality Communication

Often overlooked in community engagement, this session will focus on how we communicate during our community engagement processes. From the start to the end of any process, it's critical that our communications are high quality. Or you'll be met with silence from your community!

Session 5: Engaging Diversity

Continually hearing from the same people with the same opinions? Got the same demographic attending all of your community meetings? One of the most common frustrations in the world of community engagement is not being able to engage with communities beyond the vocal minority. In this session you'll learn some tips, tricks and techniques to engage beyond the usual suspects, as well as how to reach those who are often described as hard-to-reach.

Session 6: Creating a Welcoming Environment

We're going to get super practical in this final session with thinking about how we can set up our community engagement initiatives to be warm and welcoming, which result in people being supported to contribute their best! From positioning engagement to be seen and heard through to avoiding the furniture graveyards, this session will leave you itching to set up your next engagement session!

WHERE AND HOW WILL THIS BOOTCAMP BE HELD?

This bootcamp will be held via a weekly Zoom call. Whilst our cameras won't be on all of the time, the sessions will be interactive. In other words, this isn't a webinar - it's a come-along-for-the-ride workshop format, with a combination of teaching from the presenter, group discussions and the occasional homework task!

WHEN WILL THIS BOOTCAMP BE HELD?

This bootcamp will run for SIX WEEKS for two hours (from 9.00-11.00am Adelaide time) on the following dates

Monday 30 January 2023
Monday 6 February 2023
Monday 13 February 2023
Monday 20 February 2023
Monday 27 February 2023
Monday 6 March 2023

The bootcamp will be held LIVE from 9.00-11.00am each week, ADELAIDE TIME. Please check your timezone.

WHAT IF I CAN'T MAKE ONE OF THE SESSIONS?

Given the participatory style of the sessions, recordings will not be available after the event. All participants will however receive a copy of the slides used and topics discussed.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS BOOTCAMP?

This bootcamp is ideal for anyone looking to get ahead in best practice community engagement, brush up on their knowledge, freshen their thinking, or reinvigorate their passion!

Whether you’re a budding community engagement specialist, a project manager for a local council, a policy maker for government, a City Manager, an elected official, a consultant, or anything in between, if you need to involve people in decision making as part of your work, this is for YOU!

IS THERE ANY INFO I CAN SHOW MY BOSS TO GET MY ATTENDANCE APPROVED?

Absolutely! Download the BOOTCAMP Prospectus on our website.

WHO IS BECKY HIRST?

Becky Hirst is the author of For the Love of Community Engagement, a reflective memoir that calls for a rethink about how government connects with communities to inform their decision-making.

Through her work over the last 23 years, Becky has worked with hundreds of government clients, helping them to engage with the people they serve. She estimates that during this time she has engaged with over 50,000 people in conversations about things that matter!

Someone recently referred to Becky’s community engagement work as finger painting. But there’s absolutely nothing childish, soft or fluffy about what she does. Becky possesses the HARD skills that many political and business leaders find challenging: compassion, authenticity, the ability to genuinely listen and putting the needs of people first.

*****

"In all my years of attending professional development for all manner of topics, hand on heart yours has been the most relevant, realistic and enjoyable." Community Engagement BOOTCAMP participant, June 2022

You helped give me the confidence to do the kind of consultation I want to be doing. That I know I will thrive at doing." Community Engagement BOOTCAMP participant, June 2022