Creative Community Planning: How to Engage with Zing!

Have you ever envisioned community engagement as an exhilarating journey of discovery? 
Are you ready to step into a world where imagination knows no bounds and innovation is the norm? 
Are you eager to dive deep into tested, innovative methodologies and explore fresh approaches to overcome engagement challenges?

Join Dr Wendy Sarkissian and Becky Hirst to explore the endless possibilities and unlock the secrets to creative community engagement. 

In this one-day, one-of-a-kind workshop you will learn from not just one, but two experienced and globally acclaimed practitioners about how to ignite your passion for community engagement and make a real difference in your work.

This is your ticket to a new dimension where imagination knows no bounds and innovation is the norm!

Throughout the day, we'll immerse ourselves in a wide range of stimulating examples, case-studies, tested models and inspiring discussions about leading practice creative and contemporary community engagement.

Our jam-packed agenda promises to spark inspiration and enrich your skills as an engagement practitioner, planner, community member, or project manager.

Here's a glimpse of what's in store - 

• Understanding Creative Community Planning: Learn about the principles and significance of creative community planning.
• The Energy Wheel: Learn how to use this innovative tool to diagnose community engagement contexts.
• A Place at the Table for Nature: Explore ways to listen to Nature's voice in community engagement processes with Wendy Sarkissian (who holds a PhD in environmental ethics).
• Role-Playing with a Difference and Affinity Diagram: Learn about ways to enliven role-playing and discover the astonishing magic and power of the Affinity Diagram.
• Engaging Workshops and Discussions: Immerse yourself in sessions on storytelling, barefoot mapping, and using ritual in engagement contexts.
• Community Visioning: Learn about successful community visioning and active imagery approaches (Heartstorming) and their effectiveness in community engagement.
• Bringing these Approaches into the Virtual Realms of Community Engagement: learn about opportunities and challenges of virtual community engagement platforms and adapting the examples discussed in the workshop to suit online engagement contexts.

Don't miss this chance to invigorate your community engagement practice for maximum effectiveness and impact.

About the workshop leaders 

Dr Wendy Sarkissian is a Canadian-Australian, whose multifaceted career spans the realms of community planning, academia, environmental and professional ethics and as a writer.

With a Masters in English literature from and a PhD in environmental ethics and planning, Wendy brings lots of knowledge and experience to her workshops. And she’s a planner with decades of experience as a community planning consultant.

As a Life Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia, Wendy's impact extends far beyond academia. She is the author and co-author of numerous books on planning , community engagement, and housing (including her new memoir, Creeksong: One Woman Sings the Climate Blues, 2023 (in print, ebook and audiobook formats); Kitchen Table Sustainability: Practical Recipes for Community Engagement With Sustainability, 2008; Creative Community Planning: Transformative Engagement Methods for Working at the Edge, 2010; SpeakOut: The Step-by-Step Guide to SpeakOuts and Community Workshops, 2009).

Canadian-born, Wendy's journey has taken her through a lifetime of experiences in numerous Australian cities and towns, enriching her perspective and informing her advocacy. Calling Vancouver, Canada, her home since 2017, Wendy continues to inspire and empower through her writing and advocacy.

Becky Hirst is a British-Australian multi-award-winning community engagement specialist, author (For the Love of Community Engagement, 2021), public speaker, mentor, and trainer. She lives in the beautiful McLaren Vale region, 45-minutes south of Adelaide, with her partner Dan and two daughters.

Born and bred in Gloucester (UK), Becky began her community-focused career in 1999 in the early Blair years of UK politics – a time when social inclusion and community involvement were high on the agenda.

After migrating to Australia in 2007, and since founding her consultancy practice in 2009, Becky has worked with over 100 government agencies and local Councils, helping them to successfully involve people, groups and communities in problem solving and decision-making processes. She estimates that this work has included connecting with over 50,000 people in conversations about things that matter!

Becky is proud to be a co-instigator of Global Community Engagement Day, which is now celebrated internationally every year on 28 January. She is well known and respected for her innovative and creative approach to community engagement and has a genuine desire to build stronger communities through getting the right people involved in the right conversations.

Housekeeping 

Special thanks to the University of Adelaide for hosting this workshop at their Rundle Mall facilities. Access , parking and public transport information will be sent out prior to the event. 

Tea and coffee will be provided. To keep the cost as low as possible, participants are to bring their own snacks and lunch, or purchase it from one of the countless cafes near the workshop venue. In fact, you will be actively encouraged out at lunch time to both hunt and gather for food and for community intel!