I have spent my career creating content that captures imagination and attention. I have wiled away many hours crafting the perfect “corporate narrative” (sorry, even writing that jargon hurts) and getting key messages out there.

Future Skills of Engagement Practitioners offers a reflection on the current state of the industry in Australia. We take a critical lens to what is often left unexamined and identify five fundamental challenges that face the profession, concluding with recommendations to meet these issues – now and in the future. 

Hey Joel, I remember what it was like for you starting out as an engagement practitioner. Why, because I am you, with just a few more grey hairs and an increased tendency to make more noise when I move!

As the saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words! IAP2 Australasia’s first photography competition aims to highlight authentic engagement in action and provide you with an opportunity to share the unique and important work engagers do, every day.

At the 2021 IAP2 Australasian Conference, Articulous shared a planning framework to support equity in public engagement and participatory processes. Developed by Alice Sherring and Amanda Newbery, the framework strives to achieve equitable outcomes by enabling inclusive, diverse and equitable representation in engagement processes.

The pandemic has disrupted the world in many unforeseen ways; overturning existing ways of being, doing and thinking. Workplaces have been one of the hardest hit with employees working remotely for an extended period of time, devoid of connection, and community. This coupled with social distancing and everchanging guidelines on group gatherings have made engagement practically unsafe and unlawful.

IAP2 Australasia would simply not be where it is today without the significant and ongoing contribution of a small, and dedicated, group of members.