Community Engagement 2012

Day 1 Agenda
Tuesday 14th February, 2012

8:30

Registration, coffee & networking

9:00

Welcome to country

Wurundjeri Elder

9:10

Opening remarks from the Chair

Penny Burke
Director
Essence Communications

Penny Burke
Director
Essence Commmunications

9:20

Strengthening communities through partnership: Case studies from Victoria

This presentation will examine approaches to community building in different Victorian settings – from central activity areas in inner Melbourne, developing suburbs on the metropolitan fringe to small rural towns at a crossroads. Strong partnerships with local government, business and the philanthropic sector underpinned by an integrated planning and investment model are key to success.

Sue Jaquinot
Deputy Secretary, Community Development and Regional Delivery
Department of Planning and Community Development, VIC

10:00

The risks of not listening: Communities who demand a voice

Why Transport is creating a Community and Place agenda
Remaining agile and responsive in the development of major infrastructure
Creating structures which assist “users” to have a say

Rachael Davis
Acting Director of the Community and Place Division
Department of Transport, Victoria

10:40

Spotlight session

Delegates will have the opportunity to meet peers and share experiences in an open forum

11:00

Morning tea & networking

Driving change to develop an engagement culture

11:30

Building cultural change amongst your organisation – putting citizens in the driver’s seat

Using people’s narratives in a robust and innovative way
Embracing co-planning and co-design
Harvesting citizen knowledge and local know how to realise service reform

Brent McCracken
Deputy Regional Director, Northern Region, Ageing Disability and Home Care
Department of Family and Community Services, NSW

Megan Lewis
Manager Planning and Purchasing, Northern Region, Ageing Disability and Home Care
Department of Family and Community Services, NSW

12:10

Case study: The ideal policy-making scenario: Engagement as the catalyst for change

Strategic engagement to improve Sydney’s night time culture
The importance of using the feedback to create a better night time economy
Moving forward with policy

Julie Delvecchio
Manager, Strategic Community Engagement
City of Sydney, NSW

Suzie Matthews
Manager, Late Night Economy
City of Sydney, NSW

12:50

Networking Lunch

1:50

Case study: Adaptive approaches to enabling your community’s involvement in decision making

Knowing your community and being flexible
Building resiliency and ownership
Ensuring meaningful engagement

Gemma Cunningham
Community Liaison Officer
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, SA

New technologies & integrating online strategies

2:30

Enriching community engagement through strategic use of people, processes & technology

Putting customer-centric strategies into practice
The future of technology and social media
How compliance and transparency are driving the community engagement agenda
Case study: Porirua City Council
Community engagement solution demonstration

Nick Davey
General Manager, Customer Relationship Management
TechnologyOne

3:10

Afternoon tea & networking

3:40

Mini workshop: How to effectively manage online engagement & respond to risk

Is it possible to arrest control over online conversations?
Responding to negative feedback in an online environment
Developing frameworks to support online activity

Dheeraj Chowdhury
Group Leader Digital Media Learning Services, Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre
Department of Education and Communities, NSW

4:20

Balancing new media & traditional engagement channels

Introducing new media communication channels in government
Communicating with influence and building trust
Evaluation and future direction

Mardi Stewart
Director Internal and Strategic Communications, National Communications Branch
Department of Immigration and Citizenship

5:00

Roundtable discussions

Delegates will be invited to break into groups to discuss the key themes of the day

5:30

Closing remarks from the Chair & close of day one

Day 2 Agenda
Wednesday 15th February, 2012

8:30

Welcome, coffee & networking

9:00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Penny Burke
Director
Essence Communications

Penny Burke
Director
Essence Commmunications

9:10

Case Study: Gov 2.0 & the imperative to engage online: Supporting a Commitment to Regional Australia

Developing a space for citizens to have input to the future of their regions
Encouraging online participation and exploration
Future directions

Brianna Elms
Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, myregion Project Policy and Coordination Division
Department of Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government

Principles for engaging diverse groups

9:50

Case study: Working cross-culturally to engage ‘marginalised’ community members

Developing strategies in line with emerging or changing communities
Engaging a community made up of 156 different nationalities
Designing and implementing community services and infrastructure projects in a diverse community

Lee Robson
Manager, Community Engagement
City of Greater Dandenong, VIC

Mark Doubleday
Director Community Services
City of Greater Dandenong, VIC

10:30

Transformation & regeneration: Overcoming challenges in community engagement to achieve social improvements within concentrated public housing estates in regional communities

Engaging the community in transformation rather than incremental change
Overcoming negative perceptions and working with local stakeholders including media
Delivering on Regeneration Partnership Plans developed with the community

Mark Byrne
Area Director – Western
Housing NSW

11:10

Morning tea & networking

11.30

Bridging the stakeholder divide: Social research for engagement & dialogue

Enabling different stakeholder groups to develop an in-depth understanding of each other’s perspectives
Employing this approach to help distinct groups in a community to resolve different points of view
Using objective facilitation methods to add a vital level of equity to discussions

Fiona Collis
Director, Engagement and Participation
Ipsos Social Research Institute

12:00

Valuing the contributions young people offer as citizens of today, not just the leaders of tomorrow

Engaging young people in the community: Working to best practice
Progress so far
Future directions

Representative
Australian Youth Forum Steering Committee

Frameworks for continuous measurement

12:40

Case study: Developing guidelines to engage the community around wicked problems – the case of biosecurity

Moving from a compliance to an engagement culture
Building feedback loops during the engagement programfor continuous improvement
Monitoring and evaluating biosecurity engagement programs

Heleen Kruger
Social Scientist
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences

1:20

Networking lunch

2:10

Co-learning session: Developing an action plan to evaluate community engagement activities

This participatory session is an opportunity for you to contribute and learn, providing you with an improved toolkit to perform an evaluation audit on your organisation’s community engagement activities

Marion Lawie
Community Engagement Program Leader Community Engagement and Marketing
Logan City Council, QLD

Building partnerships for more effective engagement

3:10

Case study: Brokering planning partnerships to address the short & long term needs of rural communities

Responding to major market or production upheaval: A Northern Australia perspective 2011
Managing deepening concerns in regional areas
Ensuring a continued relay of information and setting of a coordinated agenda to attain positive and immediate outcomes

Andrew Simpson
Director, Cattle Policy
AgForce, QLD

3:50

Afternoon tea & networking

4:20

Case study: Brokering partnerships & engaging the international student sector

Unlocking potential through effective partnerships and sustainable approaches
Acquiring ‘buy-in’ from partners and maintaining momentum
Measuring success and developing an evaluation framework

Marc Florio
Community Engagement Strategist
Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, VIC

5:00

Outcomes discussions

Delegates will break into groups to discuss key learnings from the conference and develop action plans to take back to their organisations

5:30

Closing remarks from the Chair & close of conference