Time Lines, Training, Submissions, Conferences

The Call for Partnerships in Training for Round 1 is now closed. Round 2 will be opened on May 1st so stay tuned if you would like to partner with IAP2 to deliver your training in 2009.

The Exclusive Call to IAP2 trainers ONLY for the development of a new IAP2 training offering in Outrage Management is now CLOSED. There will be future announcements in late May on how others might like to participate in this opportunity later in the year.

The Call for Pre-Conference Training has been extended until Tuesday March 3rd at 12 noon GMT and no further submissions will be accepted after that date.

The Call for Conference Presentations remains open until March 27th 12 noon GMT and there is no capacity to accept late submissions.

Thank you to all the people to date who have submitted ! The level of interest and calibre is very high. We look forward to announcing the next steps in all these developments.

You Tube

WIld Rose hosted a webinar recently and it now uploaded at http://www.youtube.com/user/iap2wildrose

Listen in to the presentation and discussion on Future Perfect Thinking and Scenario Planning.

If you have you tube clips you'd like to share with others in the IAP2 network please let us know.

Building Profile of Core Values

If you are in the USA or would like the Obama Administration to be alert to the Core Values of IAP2 as well as signing onto the Office for Public Liaison at the White House, you are invited to vote up the core values on a project of the Sunlight Foundation. The more votes, the higher it progresses through their site!

Conference Presentations Background Briefing Q & A

If you are preparing to submit a conference presentation for consideration by the program committee and have questions - let us know and we will respond via this blog entry. Here are the questions and answers from the teleconference background briefing and new questions that have come in subsequently. Keep 'em coming!

Q: Will there be real-time simultaneous translations into other languages of presentations?

A: None are planned at this stage, we will welcome though sessions in English, Spanish and French consistent with our membership profile.

Q:Will you accept submissions that pay attention to business outreach participation strategies?
A: Yes if the outreach reflects a two-way strategy and where there has been public engagement to enhance participation in decision-making

Q: Can you please provide some more clarity on the differences between the streams.

A: Each of the streams pays attention to a different part of the process of decision-making; and one way to consider these differences it to notice that there is a pre-decision process; a decision process and a post decision-process. We recognise that many processes and projects could fit into any one of the streams so one we have received all the submissions we would be very happy to review them and see where they best fit which may lead to submissions being aligned in a different stream to the one they were submitted in to enable balance in the overall program.

Q: Our preferred project to showcase is a large city-wide project and we are not sure what to focus on that will meet the conference objectives – can we have some ideas about what focus we should take?

A: Typically IAP2 conference participants are looking for tools they can use in their practice and learning from others about what works and what doesn’t work – so some of the best presentations have been about processes and techniques that didn’t work! Learning from others and being shown how to apply tools and techniques, identifying skill and knowledge sets, resources to enable and enhance processes are all appreciated by IAP2 conference participants; in other words you may like to highlight aspects of the project you have selected rather than the project as a whole.

Q: Have you got any conference papers we can review from the past?

A: While there are past conference papers and we will be putting some previous ones on our website, we would not want you to look to these as exemplars. As we are all about participation, much of what can be reproduced is difficult to present in this kind of a platform, due to the interactive nature of the sessions. This is one of the reasons we would prefer to call for “presentations” and not “papers”. In this program we are looking for highly participatory sessions, including technology enabled, film/video, site visits, experiential learning and use of techniques in presentations that enhance the learning transfer (eg world cafe, bear pit, open space). Do not restrict yourself to the concept of papers when you submit your presentation for consideration by the program committee

Q: How many sessions are there going to be?

A: This is still under consideration, there will be capacity for hour and one and half hour sessions. We are anticipating 25 -30 sessions. So are seeking around 100 submissions in order to make program selections.

Q: Can we submit more than one submission for consideration?

A: Yes

Q: Will you be open to receiving program ideas that reflect non-conference elements such as the use of techniques for conference participant engagement?

A: Yes and please send them in!

Q: is it possible for us to get a vendor booth area where we could offer interactive demos of our software? If so, would that cost extra?

A: IAP2 is exploring offering site space for vendors and will be providing additional information on this aspect in March.

Q: Is being a sponsor the way to go in order to be able to set-up a booth at this conference?

A: Sponsors will other types of access to the registrants as you will see from the sponsorship brochure; this is dependent on the level of sponsorship taken. We will be offering booth space to a range of vendors that compliment the conference and its themes (eg book store on the topic, web-based tools and devices).

Q: Under the various Sponsorship packages, it mentions 'Other Opportunities'. Do those 'Other Opportunities' include the conference registration fees and any company logo placement?

A:The sponsorship packages offer some options for registration places and places to the Core Values Gala Event. The 'other opportunities' include supporting an international registrant to come from an under-developed country, providing support to the volunteer team (eg they could be wearing t-shirts provided by your company with your logo on it etc).

Q:Are there any discounts for presenters, if we were one who would be chosen?

A: There are no discounts for speakers. As the presentation submission information brochure says presenters are expected to register for the conference.

Q: Will you pay for speakers expenses?

A: No

See you in San Diego in September! Conference Registrations are now open

Top Down to Get Bottom Up ?

Prominent weblogger Johnnie Moore has commented on the IAP2 Spectrum adding onto Sean Howard's perspective on it as a tool by saying it is really going the wrong way. But is it a chicken or the egg phenomena? Dr Lyn Carson from the University of Sydney interviewed Larry Susskind on this very topic in a recent edition of the IAP2 Journal of Public Participation. In this article Larry posits the demands in the field to: base recommendations of particular forms of engagement on evidence; justify recommendations and reasonableness of purported outcomes from following them and to deepen the commitment to deliberative democracy wherever we work. Have a read of what Johnnie, Sean and Larry have to say and see where you sit on the Spectrum.

Pre-Conference Training: Q & A

STOP PRESS: Several potential submitters have requested an extension to this date - that request has been addressed and submissions will continue to be received until Tuesday 3rd March 12 NOON GMT. There will be NO further extensions. Please submit to moira@iap2.org

Are you planning a submission to be considered to offer pre-Conference training at this year's international conference in San Diego?

In the interests of fairness and equity to all enquiries here are answers to questions we have had to date:


Q: Are pre-conference presenters required to be members of IAP2?
A: No you are not required to be members

Q: Are they required to register for the conference?
A: If you are staying on for the conference you will be required to register for the conference.

Q: How closely to the theme of the conference do the pre-conference training offerings need to be?
A: The pre-conference training will welcome skills and knowledge transfers that reflect the themes, however this is not essential. What is essential is that it has a skill transfer element or introduces a new tool or technique that enhances public participation.

Q; Can you clarify what you mean by "commercial in confidence" ?
This means IAP2 will not disclose this information to others, it is requested to assist with the assessment process and identify the margins IAP2 may need to consider in the financial modelling and negotiations for this event.

Submissions close on Feb 27th noon GMT to moira@iap2.org and it is a competitive process. See the website for more details on the selection criteria and weighting.

IAP2 Australasia Writes to Australian Prime Minister

This letter has been sent by IAP2 Australasia to the Australian Prime Minister, Victorian Premier, relevant Local Councils and Departmental CEOs.

On behalf of all of the Australasian members of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) I want to express our support for you and your community members in this time of challenge and tragedy as fire cuts through the glorious heart of Victoria.

Words and good wishes may be of little comfort in these moments, but in the next few months we know that you and your communities will have important decisions to make as part of the recovery process from these fires and the mitigation process for the next fires.

This week we have asked our members to indicate their interest in volunteering to provide our unique brand of support to your communities if and when you need it. Helping organisations make good decisions with their stakeholders and communities is something the members of the IAP2 are very experienced in, helping organisations make tough decisions with their stakeholders and communities sits at the heart of our practice.

Recently many of our members were part of the engine room behind the Citizens’ Parliament.In making this offer we have joined with our friends and colleagues from the Australasian Facilitators Network to volunteer to offer support in helping you work with your communities to make their decisions, plans and policies for the future. The idea to offer support was inspired by one of our members Cliff Overton. Normally a planning and engagement specialist with the CFA, this week, Cliff was an “on the truck” firefighter, at the centre of the fight. We know that the moment for that need is not now. But we are ready when you do need us.

We are happy to coordinate any request for help and link that request with one of our volunteer practitioners and facilitators. Please don’t hesitate to ask. Call our Australasian Vice President, who is a local from Melbourne, Kimbra White on 0438 435 939 or contact me on pres@iap2.org.au .

There are people across IAP2 Australasia willing to give you a hand. Our New Zealand members would say kia kaha (be strong), our Australian members would say we are with you.

Kind Regards

Anne Pattillo

President IAP2 Australasia

Australian Citizen's Parliament

Dr Lyn Carson one of the IAP2 Board Members shares her experience of Australia's first Citizen's Parliament.

I have just returned from Australia’s first Citizens’ Parliament (http://www.citizensparliament.org.au/) which really was an extraordinary event, focused on how to strengthen Australia’s political system to serve us better. It seemed like a curious counterweight to this bushfire tragedy which raged as 150 randomly-selected citizens collaborated (some of the CP folks were affected by it—homes, friends and family—but remained at Old Parliament House with us). The fires were ghastly, really ghastly. The CP was uplifting and empowering. It was a strangely beautiful juxtaposition which participants will never forget, any more than those so cruelly affected by those fires will ever forget.

Held over four days it was a terrific combination of small group work in the Members’ Dining Room with networked computers that beamed back their collective ideas, along with some plenary sessions in the former House of Representatives chamber. Fred Chaney and Lowitja O’Donoghue chaired the formal proceedings and introduced and closed each day’s proceedings. Academics and politicians came along as resource people to share their expertise. Twenty three capable facilitators kept the 23 small groups to task with a massive agenda that was determined by the participants themselves. The 150 Citizen Parliamentarians were supported by these facilitators as well as two Lead Facilitators, Janette Hartz-Karp and Max Hardy.

By the final day many members of this citizen body had shifted dramatically and they spoke passionately about that change—from the youngest member (18 years old) to the oldest member (93 years old). The youngest member went from being a timid young woman to suggesting she might aspire to be Prime Minister. Citizen Parliamentarians wanted an extra copy of the final report (which was handed to them on departure) to lobby their local Member of Parliament. Senator John Faulkner opened the event and promised to take the recommended seriously. Parliamentary Secretary Anthony Byrne closed the event and reiterated that promise. More information is available from http://www.citizensparliament.org.au/ or contact Lyn Carson l.carson@usyd.edu.au

Look What's Coming!

2009 Conference proposals for presentations, pre-conference training and sponsorship are now in circulation. The theme Making Sustainable Decisions: The Price and Promise of Public Participation is challenging and picks up the themes from the core values of IAP2 and places them in a 21st century context. Accomodation bookings are now open! Registrations are also on line at www.iap2.org follow the conference links!

The Governance Review of IAP2 is moving ahead with models taking shape from the collective wisdom of the Panel convened by former President Beatrice Briggs. Other members of the Panel are Simon Wilson (International Association of Facilitators), Jean Tanguay, Dr Lyn Carson, Dr Deborah Eastlick and Sara Peterson.

We have secured Dr Wendy Sarkissian as our inaugural guest for the first Virtual Community of Practice meeting and more details about the VCoPs will be on their way soon!

Be on the look out for a unique opportunity to undertake training with the indomitable Peter M Sandman who is working with IAP2 in Outrage Management. Training will be offered in Washington in late April and notification of this offering will be posted very soon.