Tales from the Trenches

My name is Wendy Carlson and I have been working in communication and stakeholder engagement for around 15 years. In the early years I was an art and heritage consultant, specialising in interpreting historic places and object collections. I assessed corporate art collections, public art assets for local government, street murals and memorials.

I am the Director of Viv Warren Consulting, working with organisations to engage their stakeholders and communities and embed engagement as a way of doing business. The community engagement field has been the focus of my career for close to 20 years now. I first studied Social Psychology and Social Research and within a couple of years my first community engagement project followed. It was an instant match!

I started my consultancy for flexibility around my family in 2001. Consulting’s a hard gig, but rewarding in many ways, and I’m proud to still be operating after seventeen years. Having travelled a lot during that time, I made the decision to be more home-based while my daughter completed years 11 and 12. So for two years I’ve really enjoyed consolidating and expanding my networks in the Far North [Queensland].

In my paid job I’m the disaster resilience officer for the Cairns Region. In my “other life” I’m on the board of directors for the Tangaroa Blue Foundation and Cairns Community Radio and actively involved in marine conservation issues for Far North Queensland. I do triathlons and I dive. This is my sixth year in Cairns after moving from New Zealand, where I was an environmental engagement specialist.

In my practice I strive to be a creative and effective engagement practitioner, and have extensive experience working with the three tiers of government, non-profit organisations and the private sector in Australia.I have taught at the University of Western Sydney, guest lecturer in Sydney and overseas, and delivered training for the Vocational Program at the University of NSW.

My name is Paul Smitheram, Senior Engagement Planning Adviser in the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) in Adelaide, South Australia. I completed a business degree in Administrative Management at the University of South Australia and commenced in the public sector in 2007, where I have worked in various roles but having enjoyed working in the community engagement space over the last four years in both state and local government.

Max Hardy, founding member of IAP2 Australasia, Director of Hardy Consulting and winner of the recent IAP2 Australasia Wordsmith Competition shares his tips on community and stakeholder engagement. The Wordsmith competition asked members to come up with the best definition of an engagement practitioner using everyday language.

I’m a communications and engagement manager for Development Victoria. I look after the community engagement requirements for our project delivery divisions. I’ve spent about ten years in the Victorian state and local government sector including earth resources regulation, community planning and project management. Prior to coming to Australia, I worked in community development roles in Scotland.

Born in Adelaide, live in Sydney, have lived and worked in Brisbane, New York and Tokyo. I have a world view and passion for social justice.

I was born in Brisbane, but grew up in northern NSW, mostly in Byron Shire near a little town called Mullumbimby. My parents moved there for the lifestyle: our house was off the grid, I went to a one teacher primary school, we were even self-sufficient for a bit, and I had a horse.I came back to Brisbane to go to university, and have been here ever since. I live in the inner city with my family.

Hi I’m Kimbra White. I’m based in Melbourne and am originally from Tasmania, a place that I will always feel a deep attachment to with its beautiful landscape and coastline. Kimbra must be an ‘island’ name. The only Kimbra I have met is from Tasmania and, strangely enough, she works in the community engagement for Hobart City Council – the very place I started my career in the 1970s.

Born and living in Perth Western Australia, about to hit the big 50, married, two teenage kids, dog and under-utilised guitar. I love writing and exploring more philosophical elements of life. Board member of local women’s refuge and was the founding coordinator for IAP2 in Western Australia when the WA group was established too many years ago now.

I have qualifications in human geography and urban and regional planning and consider myself to be a social scientist. I found IAP2 by conducting some research in the mid-1990s and in particular there was a reference to IAP2 in the bibliography of one of Wendy Sarkissian’s books. I attended  the IAP2 Conference in Toronto, Canada in 1997 and presented on “Community Consultation Down Under”.

I arrived at engagement and consultation along a very circuitous pathway. I was a senior bureaucrat who resigned to become a management consultant, ABC presenter, company director and part-time national Ombudsman for credit unions and building societies) (I have always found personal and professional goals extremely difficult hence the variety).

I am an engagement practitioner, trainer, facilitator and management consultant. I have recently returned to my consultancy practice, after approximately 2.5 years working with IAP2 Australasia, where I managed the practice and professional development portfolios. My experience base is very broad, including commercial, government, health, education, training, agriculture and information technology. I pride myself on being a strategic thinker, who can deliver very practical outcomes.Privately, I am the luckiest man in the world, I have a fantastic wife, Kathy and three great children, Joshua, Chloe and Charles.