IAP2 Australasia Highlights from 2016

The theme this year was collaboration; IAP2 Australasia joined forces with many organisations, engagement professionals and members from the IAP2 community to host some inspiring events and publish some landmark guides in 2016.

We would like to thank all of you who were involved in making this year a great success and we hope to work closely with you again next year.

IAP2 Guide to Engaging in Disaster Recovery

The Guide to Engaging in Disaster Recovery was launched in March. Special thanks to Anne Leadbeater and all those involved in the 2015 Masterclasses and working groups who helped put this guide together.

This resource explores some of the challenges likely to be encountered by community leaders and practitioners working to engage and support communities in recovery. It offers a series of helpful recommendations or ‘principles’ for effective engagement that draw on the experience and expertise of emergency management and community engagement professionals from around Australia and New Zealand.

The Guide is available here

Strategies for Complex Engagement

Since the launch of the IAP2 Australasia Certificate in Engagement in 2014, we have been continually working to expand and extend the knowledge base for the practice in the Australasia region.

Strategies for Complex Engagement, which was launched in July, is our advanced core training module that will challenge the thinking of experienced community and stakeholder professionals, taking them on a “deep dive” into complex engagement. Participants will be continually challenged to develop both their thought processes and engagement processes to a new level. New approaches will be considered for managing what is often “the unknown”.

The release of the module Strategies for Complex Engagement means that the Advanced Certificate in Engagement is now available to be completed.

IAP2 Australasia Advanced Certificate in Engagement

New IAP2 Australasia Certified Trainers

This year we welcomed four new trainers; Grace Leotta, Martin De Los Rios, Rachel Edginton and Chris Mene. Congratulations to our new trainers! Each trainer brings a broad background of experience and expertise to the IAP2 Australasia training, all with an enthusiasm for engagement. Each trainer has completed an extensive Engagement Trainer Program to become licenced to deliver training.

Licensed to deliver the core modules of the IAP2 Australasia Certificate in Engagement, Engagement Essentials, Engagement Design and Engagement Methods, all our of these trainers are available for public training sessions, and are also available to deliver in-house training for your organisation. To make an arrangements to train your staff please email training@iap2.org.au .

Engaging in the Digital Space Workshops

This year, IAP2 Australasia partnered up with Bang the Table to deliver professional development workshops around Australia aimed at supporting the online engagement practice.

These workshops provided practical skills and techniques for attracting engagement audiences, building community databases and improving online engagement strategies.

These workshops explored ways of unpacking large strategy documents, draft plans and recommendations in order to develop an effective online engagement experience, where participants feel involved and are aware of their ability to influence project outcomes.

The feedback from these workshops was extremely positive and we hope to run similar workshops in 2017.

‘Lunch with an Ambassador’ Webinar Series

In 2016 IAP2 Australasia launched the first short series of lunchtime webinars, titled ‘Lunch with an Ambassador’. Once a month, an IAP2 Ambassador presented on a topic of expertise. These were designed to build on the community engagement knowledge that already exists within the IAP2 community and make it more easily accessible.

The IAP2 Ambassadors are leaders in the field of public participation. They bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the organisation and some have been practicing engagement for up to 20 years!

Who are the IAP2 Ambassadors?

The ‘Lunch with an Ambassador’ series was hugely popular so we have made all the recordings of these webinars available on our website.

Watch the ‘Lunch with an Ambassador’ series

Symposium #windsofchange in Wellington

19 expert presenters shared unique insights and challenge the way you think about community and stakeholder engagement both now and into the future.

In the ever-shifting environment of community engagement change has become a natural part of every day life. Colleagues from across New Zealand, Australia and overseas joined us in a thought-provoking and interactive program, deciphering what this means for the everyday practitioner in a program that involved discussions around the national flag project, engaging people on the margins, the digital divide and coastal risk communities.

The site tour of Meridian West Wind Farm was an opportunity to see Wellington’s most renowned natural resource harnessed at Meridian’s West Wind 62-turbine development.

The Future of Engagement and Democracy Conference

This year’s conference was held in Adelaide October 17-19, and over 220 delegates joined us from around Australasia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Thank you to our Conference committee and volunteers, the Open State team and Department of Premier and Cabinet in South Australia to whom we say a special thanks to Gail Fairlamb, Sharon Mackay and of course our own Dan Popping and the rest of the team.

What is Open State? 

This year’s program was packed full of discussion around deliberative democracy, citizens’ juries, digital engagement, place making, city shaping, open data, participatory budgeting, indigenous engagement and so much more filled with case studies and an interactive program once again.

Photos from the conference are now available

2016 Core Values Awards Winners

The IAP2 Australasia Core Values Awards recognise outstanding projects and organisations that are at the forefront of public participation and community engagement, and this year was no different!

On 18th October 2016 IAP2 Australasia presented 17 Awards at the Core Values Awards Gala Dinner in Adelaide. Presented also were the International IAP2 Awards which saw international delegates attending and celebrating with us.

Special congratulations to LandCorp winning both Australasia Organisation of the Year and the International Organisation of the Year.

To all our entrants a special thank you and a full listing of entrants and winners including project summaries is available in the 2016 Showcase of Core Values Awards .

Applications for the 2017 Core Values Awards will be open in late January 2017. For more information email cathy@iap2.org.au .

New IAP2 Australasia Website

The new IAP2 Australasia website officially went live this year. The new website has been designed to be easier to navigate and increase functionality for the IAP2 community. Non-member users as well as members can now log in and update details online.

Along with the new look and feel of the website, we carried over the existing functionalities from the old website, such as:
– Member Only Directory
– Member and non-member Engagement Resources
– Online Training and Event Registrations
– Consultancy Register
– Online Member Join Up
– Careers Listings

– Latest News

One new functionality which has been very popular with members and non-members is the ability to log in and view your training history. This makes it easier to plan your next training!

We aim to introduce more new functionality in the new year. Stay tuned!

If you would like to provide feedback on the website or if you need assistance with logging in, please feel free to contact cristina@iap2.org.au .