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Shachi Kurl – Vice President of Communications and Citizen Engagement Phone No.: 604.647.3274 E-mail: shachi.kurl@visioncritical.com

8 Habits of Highly Effective Citizen Engagement  

Introductions

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What’s with the buzz

Citizen engagement is not magic…

You are not going to walk out of here today with a plan that will solve all your local government’s issues.

To be effective it takes time, effort and nurturing.

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What citizen engagement is:

•  Involving citizens in the decision making process, from start to finish

•  Transparency in the decision making process •  Responsiveness to the needs of residents •  Communicating a long term vision for you city/town

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Agree strongly Agree moderately

Disagree moderately

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My  municipal  government  does  a  good  job  consul<ng  me  on  important  issues.  

Why engage with citizens?

They provide perspective…

without perspective you look like people playing soccer while wearing binoculars:

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We’ve all been in this town hall:

Or this town hall…

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1) Think long term

2) Go where your people are:

Yes … this means online.

•  64% of BC adults own a smart phone •  The average user checks their cell phone 150 times a day •  In 2010 84% of BC households had internet access at home

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3) Be Creative and Authentic:

You’ve got this guy’s attention. Now how do you keep it?

4) Privacy Matters

Be transparent and secure – people care about their privacy so YOU need to care about their privacy.

•  21% of people have had an online account hacked

•  68% of internet users think that the current laws are not good enough at protecting people’s privacy online

•  More people take steps to mask their online identity from hackers/criminals or advertisers than from governments

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5) Be Interesting

We don’t know what this is

but you have to compete with it for your citizens’ time:

Don’t do this

On average, Canadians visit 120 websites a day.

6) Goldilocks Rule

Don’t be the bird…

Or your citizens will turn into Grumpy Cat!

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7) Don’t be a black hole – share information back

8) Set yourself up for success

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Recap:

1)  Think long term

2)  Go where your people are

3)  Be creative and authentic

4)  Privacy really matters

5)  Be interesting

6)  Remember Goldilocks - Get the amount of contact just right

7)  Don’t be a black hole – share information back

8)  Set yourself up for success