This post is especially relevant to two groups of you readers:
- People who will be at the American Planning Association Conference in Phoenix this week, and
- People who don’t like ugly and unproductive public meetings.
I realize that there’s probably more of you in that second category than the first. Read on for more!
I have the wonderful opportunity to present a Deep Dive workshop on Tuesday morning, April 5, called
Manage the Ax-Grinders: Do Better Public Participation
This Deep Dive will cover two related topics: how to manage public meetings to defuse confrontation and enable fair participation, and how to re-organize the public participation process, when feasible, to avoid problems and create a better experience in the first place.
Both sections of the workshop will use a combination of discussion, role-playing, and analysis to highlight how different meeting management strategies change the behavior and experience of participants.
We’ll laugh, we’ll cry, depending on how good the role-players are, we might throw things…
OK, probably not that, but I guarantee you’ll laugh and have fun while you’re learning. Unless you’re looking to be bored. In that case, you shouldn’t come.
The session will be at 9:30 and last until about noon. Check the conference agenda for location.
If you’re not going to be there, but you think this might be useful for your organization, staff, members, or others, let me know. It’s a lot of fun, and you will never dread a public meeting quite so much ever again!
