The Olympic Games is about so much more than sport. Cynics would say, “You’re right – it’s about corporate advertising, athlete endorsements and big money.” And while that has some truth to it — more importantly, it’s about fair competition, [...]
This time last week I launched The Hello Pledge. It’s shaping up to be the little initiative that could. Over the past week I’ve experienced the following: Several people have come up to me to say a very intentional “Hello [...]
Drum roll please…. (just play one in your head)… Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Hello Pledge. Ta Da! This week’s blog will be short and sweet as all I want to share is the Hello Pledge. After a few [...]
I live in a small town, the kind of place where people usually say hello — to friends, strangers, dogs, bears (cautiously) — to whomever or whatever passes you on the street. I also spend a lot of time in [...]
Community discussion, connection and engagement are essential to building a healthy community. And sharing your voice helps local government and other community service agencies understand your concerns, giving them an opportunity to consider your ideas and respond accordingly. However, there [...]
There’s a saying, “If you can’t dazzle them with diamonds, baffle them with B.S.” But despite a push towards “plain language” that began with the rise of information-overload largely driven by the Internet, we see overly complex language and jargon [...]
Last week the Vancouver Foundation released a report called “Connections and Engagement” (find it here), the results of a survey of almost 4,000 people in the Metro Vancouver region. The survey asked people questions about their sense of connection — [...]
“From Good to Great” has been a common business term ever since Jim Collins wrote his business development book back in 2001. But the idea of going from good to great isn’t just for building companies and expanding markets. Going [...]
Recently, I was leading a workshop for local government elected officials on how to engage better with your stakeholders and constituents in order to achieve more during a council term. Respect was a key theme of my presentation and the [...]
This week we’ll take a look at the planning required to go from idea to successful outreach — the best practices that ensure your public engagement is effective and gets directly to the heart of the issue. Clear Objectives, Clear [...]