Register today for May’s Tech Tuesday on Ethelo

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Sandy Heierbacher

I’m excited to announce our May “Tech Tuesday” event, which will be hosted by NCDD sustaining member Kathyrn Thomson and her colleagues at Ethelo Decisions, on Tuesday, May 27th, from 1:00 – 2:30pm Eastern (10 – 11:30am Pacific).

Tech_Tuesday_Badge

Set your calendars, and register today to secure your spot!

I’ve been spending some time with the tool and getting to know the team, and I must say I feel this tool has a lot of potential for the kind of things we tend to think of as only being possible with face-to-face deliberation, like framing issues and weighing all the options. This is very well worth a look.

The team at Ethelo has been grappling with one of the questions we at NCDD ask ourselves too: How do we meaningfully, authentically weave dialogic processes into an online space?

Ethelo’s leadership, an impressive group of designers, programmers, and communications professionals, have been working for the past several years to create Ethelo–a software tool that they believe is a radical new way of understanding decision making.

The team behind Ethelo Decisions believes that the human capacity for dialogue is a fundamental evolutionary need. Their software offers a way of weaving the in-person experience of dialogue and deliberation into an online platform that allows the deliberative process to continue and helps people weigh the issues, options and values behind their thinking and deciding. Ethelo’s data processing algorithm is designed to promote group harmony by finding and ranking outcomes that optimize satisfaction and minimize the resistance due to unfairness and polarization. It can be used for corporate board decisions, large scale community stakeholder engagement and for any process where you have complex, contentious issues and need people’s input to provide a solid, inclusive way to move forward on the issue.

Ethelo will be offering the NCDD community the chance to learn more about how their platform works on the May 27th Tech Tuesday, and we have extended the time a little to make sure there’s enough time for your questions, thoughts, ideas and feedback. Ethelo will also be presenting the NCDD network with a Beta version of a new tool they are developing for moderators, so stay tuned for news about that!

Ethelo from Ethelo Decisions on Vimeo.

Also – be sure to sign up for our April 22nd Tech Tuesday on PlaceSpeak as well!

Register Now for our April Confab on Text Talk Act

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Sandy Heierbacher

Join us Wednesday, April 9th for our next NCDD “Confab Call.” We’ll be talking with NCDD members Matt Leighninger and Mike Smith about the innovative project known as Text Talk Act. The confab will take place from 2-3pm Eastern / 11-noon Pacific.

As part of our role in the National Dialogue on Mental Health project Creating Community Solutions, NCDD and our partners have been experimenting with how the fun and convenience of text messaging can be leveraged to scale up face-to-face dialogue — especially among young people.

The first round of Text Talk Act took place on December 5, and round two is coming up on April 24 (and we hope you’re planning to participate!).

This is new and important stuff here, folks. We’ve been using Mike Smith’s United Americans platform as well as Textizen to design a text-enabled in-person dialogue process. In other words, people get together in small groups of 4 or 5, text into the same number, and start engaging in a dialogue with their group that is prompted by a video, a couple of polling questions, and then discussion questions that come to them via text. Pretty cool!

Matt Leighninger of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium is the main wizard this, and he talks about this being a way to blend “thin engagement” (what we usually do online and on our phones) with “thick engagement” (the stuff we NCDDers tend to value that takes more time and is best done face-to-face. It’s a way of melding the fun and convenience of texting with the irreplaceable value of face-to-face dialogue.

Along with learning more about the ins-and-outs of this project, Mike will talk to us about how any NCDD member can use United Americans’ technology to design your own text-enabled dialogue projects.

A word on the format: NCDD’s Confab Calls are opportunities for members [and potential members] of NCDD to talk with innovators in our field about the work they’re doing and connect with each other around shared interests. Membership in NCDD is not required for participation.

This will be a simple conference call (audio only), and most participants will also be engaging on a collaborative doc on Hackpad.com to interact with each other, pose questions, share resources, and take notes.

Register Now to Secure Your Spot…

Register for April’s Tech Tuesday event on PlaceSpeak

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Sandy Heierbacher

I’m excited to tell you about this month’s Tech Tuesday event, which will be hosted by Colleen Hardwick, Founder of PlaceSpeak, on Tuesday, April 22nd, from 2-3 pm Eastern (11am – noon Pacific).

PlaceSpeak is a location-based community consultation platform. Colleen will be talking to us about “geo-authenticating” online engagement, and will give us a demonstration of the PlaceSpeak software by walking us through several recent case studies. Register today to reserve your spot on this FREE Tech Tuesday webinar!

One of PlaceSpeak’s key features is the ability to consult with people online within specific geographical boundaries. Instead of engaging with an anonymous public, PlaceSpeak verifies its participants, while protecting their privacy by design. To do so, it uses a 2-sided model. Participants verify their digital identity to their address, and then are able to receive notifications of relevant consultations in their area, according to the setting preferences in their profiles.

Convenors (Proponents) set up and manage their topic pages in an easy-to-use and inexpensive interface. They map the scope of participation and select from a variety of features (discussions, polls, surveys, idea generation) to obtain feedback. They are able to export reports in a variety of formats, all spatially segmented according to the geographical boundaries of the consultation area.

PlaceSpeak is currently working on its Open Data strategy and has developed an API called PlaceSpeak Connect to facilitate integration with other software applications. They are currently looking for suitable pilot projects.

PlaceSpeak is:

Changing the nature on online consultation with an emphasis on quality of feedback data as well as quantity of engagement;
Used successfully by leading consulting and public involvement firms including Stantec, Urban Systems, Kirk & Co., Counterpoint Communications, Associated Engineering, Dillon, Brook Pooni, and many more;
Building a growing base of participants beginning in Canada but expanding into the US, UK and Australia.

Tech Tuesday participants are encouraged to set up a free Demo Topic to become familiar with the toolkit. PlaceSpeak has published numerous case studies here. NCDDers might find their white paper about Overcoming Barriers to Online Engagement of particular interest.

If you’d like to join us on the 22nd, sign up today!

Tech Tuesday is an initiative from NCDD that focuses on online technology. Many in our field are curious about how they can use online tools to support their engagement work, and many tool creators are excited to talk us about their innovations. These one-hour events, designed and run by the tool creators themselves, are meant to help practitioners get a better sense of the online engagement landscape and how they can take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them.

Registration open for Special NCDD Confab on Everyday Democracy’s Approach to Change

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Sandy Heierbacher

We’ve got a special treat in store for you for next month’s NCDD Confab. On Wednesday, March 26 from 2:00 to 3:00 Eastern (11-noon Pacific), we’ll spend time with the staff of one of NCDD’s founding members, Everyday Democracy. We’ll explore what Everyday Democracy has learned over the years, through their close work with community partners, about how to create dialogue and change.

Everyday Democracy, led by my good friend Martha McCoy, is one of the most respected organizations in our field — though in my opinion they’re pretty low key and humble about their expertise. This is a wonderful opportunity for NCDD members to learn more about Everyday Democracy’s innovative work in hundreds of communities across the country (I’m sure you’ve heard of the “study circles” approach they’ve pioneered), and take a look at tools and features on their new website that are designed to provide change makers with resources for creating change in their own communities.

Malik Russell, Communications Director, and Carolyne Abdullah, Director of Community Assistance, will be presenting in the webinar.

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More about Everyday Democracy…

Everyday Democracy helps communities build their own capacity for inclusive dialogue and positive change. Everyday Democracy’s ultimate aim is to create a national civic infrastructure that supports and values everyone’s voice and participation.

Because structural racism and other structural inequities affect communities everywhere, Everyday Democracy helps community groups use an “equity lens” in every phase of dialogue and change – coalition building, messaging, recruitment, issue framing, facilitation, and linking the results of their dialogues to action and change. They provide advice, training and flexible how-to resources on a wide range of issues – including poverty, racial equity, education, building strong neighborhoods, community-police relations, violence, early childhood, and community planning.

Glance at the EvDem/Study Circles tag in the NCDD Resource Center to get a sense of the breadth and depth of work these folks do!

Register today at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3303617182457564161. All NCDD members and potential members are welcome to attend!

Recording of today’s Tech Tuesday with Dave Biggs of MetroQuest

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

We had a great Tech Tuesday event today, with about 100 people participating in a stimulating webinar led by Dave Biggs, Co-Founder of MetroQuest. Thank you, Dave, for the great presentation — and thanks to everyone who participated!

MetroQuest public involvement software is recommended as a best practice by the APA, TRB, FWHA and other agencies. Dave shared with us some of what he’s learned about best practices for online engagement generally, and gave us a demonstration of the MetroQuest software, and walked us through several recent case studies.

You can watch the hour-long webinar now if you missed it. Plus, feel free to download Dave’s PowerPoint presentation here if you want to check out the slides without audio.

In a nutshell, MetroQuest software enables the public to learn about your project and provide meaningful feedback using a variety of fun and visual screens. It’s easy to mix and match screens to accomplish the engagement goals for each phase of the project from identifying and ranking priorities, to rating scenarios or strategies, to adding comments on maps and much more. To ensure the broadest participation, MetroQuest can be accessed on the web or mobile devices, at touchscreen kiosks and in engaging town-hall style workshops.

Via the comments below, Dave will be answering some additional questions that were submitted during the webinar that we couldn’t get to. Feel free to add more questions, and of course to interact with Dave and others here!

If you’d like to contact Dave directly, he can be reached at Dave.Biggs@MetroQuest.com or (604) 317-6200.

NCDD’s Tech Tuesday events are meant to help practitioners get a better sense of the online engagement landscape and how they can take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them. Keep an eye on the Events section of the site (ncdd.org/events) for upcoming Tech Tuesdays, Confab Calls and other events.

2013 Year-in-Review Confab Call – What would you want to hear about?

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

I’ve been thinking that the next NCDD confab call could be a “year-in-review” type call, with several different people from the network providing updates and insights on their work throughout the past year. We’d do this in January since we all have enough going on this month!

Confab bubble image This has been an incredible year for the dialogue and deliberation community, with groundbreaking projects and initiatives popping up all over the place. I have my own ideas for who we might ask to weigh in about their projects and progress during a Year-In-Review call, but I’m curious to hear what NCDD members would be interested in hearing about.

Please take a second and share your thoughts via the comments here. What projects, initiatives, or organizations might you want to hear from? What would you like to see included on a call focused on 2013 goings-on in the dialogue and deliberation community?

(By the way, we do have a Tech Tuesday event this month on the 17th, and over 100 people are already signed up to hear from Dave Biggs of MetroQuest about his organization’s view on and approach to tech-enabled public participation. Don’t forget to register if you’re interested!)

Register for December’s Tech Tuesday event on MetroQuest

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

I’m excited to tell you about this month’s Tech Tuesday event, which will be hosted by Dave Biggs, Co-Founder of MetroQuest, on Tuesday, December 17th, from 1-2pm Eastern (10-11am Pacific).

MetroQuest is a new organizational member of NCDD, so some of you may not yet be aware of their work. Dave was a keynote speaker at the recent IAP2-USA conference in Salt Lake, and MetroQuest public involvement software is recommended as a best practice by the APA, TRB, FWHA and other agencies.

Dave will be talking to us about what he has learned about best practices for online engagement, and will give us a demonstration of the MetroQuest software by walking us through several recent case studies. Register today to reserve your spot on this FREE Tech Tuesday webinar!

MetroQuest software enables the public to learn about your project and provide meaningful feedback using a variety of fun and visual screens. It’s easy to mix and match screens to accomplish the engagement goals for each phase of the project from identifying and ranking priorities, to rating scenarios or strategies, to adding comments on maps and much more. To ensure the broadest participation, MetroQuest can be accessed on the web or mobile devises, at touchscreen kiosks and in engaging town-hall style workshops.

MetroQuest is:

the most mature community outreach software available with over 16 years of award-winning projects and continuous refinement;
used successfully by leading consulting and public involvement firms including HNTB, Jacobs, URS, ICF, AECOM, Kimley-Horn, Kittelson, Michael Baker, Golder, CH2M Hill, WRT, Nelson Nygaard, Design Workshop, Consensus Inc, MIG, and many more;
used by hundreds of agencies in the largest urban areas (Atlanta, Chicago, LA, San Fran, Denver, DC) to the smallest towns and villages.

Theresa Gunn, Past President of IAP2-USA has said “MetroQuest is the first online tool I’ve seen that incorporates all of the different elements of a public engagement process into one program and does it well.”

If you’d like to join us on the 17th, sign up today at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6501680890695446017.

Tech Tuesday is a new initiative from NCDD focused on online technology. Many in our field are curious about how they can use online tools to support their engagement work, and many tool creators are excited to talk to this community about their innovations. These one-hour events, designed and run by the tool creators themselves, are meant to help practitioners get a better sense of the online engagement landscape and how they can take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them.

Audio from November’s Confab Call on Rockefeller’s GATHER

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

Confab bubble image Yesterday’s confab call (Nov 20th) on the Rockefeller Foundation’s new publication on convening was a great one! About 80 people participated, and our speakers and facilitator did a fabulous job.

If you missed it, you can listen to the audio archive here, and be sure to check out the dynamic Hackpad doc where many participants were taking notes, asking and answering questions, and introducing themselves.

Our confab speakers yesterday were instrumental in the Rockefeller publication GATHER: The Art & Science of Effective Convening:

Rob Garris, Managing Director at Rockefeller Foundation. Rob oversees their Bellagio conference center, and oversaw the creation of GATHER
Noah Rimland Flower, Monitor Institute. Noah is one of GATHER’s two co-authors and led the content creation

GATHER is a free hands-on guidebook for all convening designers and social change leaders who want to tap into a group’s collective intelligence and make substantial progress on a shared challenge. (Download or purchase it at www.monitorinstitute.com/what-we-think/gather.)

The gorgeous publication provides simple frameworks for the questions that are often ignored: whether convening is the right tool to use to advance a strategic agenda, and how a convening can be used to achieve a specific purpose. It helps you understand how to customize the design to fit that purpose, laying out a clear series of steps for what is a naturally chaotic workflow. It then offers principles to use for each of the many tactical choices involved. GATHER and its accompanying workshop materials are designed for you to use in your own work, with a team, and with larger groups both inside and outside an organization.

On yesterday’s confab, we discussed:

How convening is increasingly being used as a strategic tool for foundations
Mis-steps many convening designers make, and how to avoid them
Examples of how convening can be used for societal problem-solving
How the presence of funders can influence a convening
How do you know when you’re addressing the right problem and involving the right people
How to determine the best size (number of participants) for your convening
And much more!

And here are links to some great resources that were brought up on yesterday’s call…

Monitor Institute’s new publication Harnessing Collaborative Technologies, on the emerging tech tools that can be used to help funders work together
In addition to the gorgeous 43-page report, a super-useful interactive tool has been developed by GrantCraft at http://collaboration.grantcraft.org to help people identify tools to facilitate collaboration.
From the Kids’ Table to the Adults’ Table: Taking Relationships Seriously in a World of Networks, by John Esterle (Whitman Institute), Malka Kopell and Palma Strand.
New report by Special D Events prepared for the Kellogg Foundation, Convenings 2.0: Connecting adult learning, communication strategies and event logistics to build stronger relationships

To stay updated on NCDD’s future confab calls and all of our activities, be sure to join NCDD! Note that all confab audio recordings (and archives of the collaborative docs created during them) can be found in the NCDD Confab Archives tag.

Registration open for Nov 20th Confab call on Rockefeller’s GATHER

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

Want to build your toolkit as a convening designer? Join us for our next NCDD “Confab Call” on Wednesday, November 20th from 2:00 to 3:00 EST to speak with the authors of the Rockefeller Foundation publication GATHER: The Art & Science of Effective Convening.

Leading the conversation will be:

Rob Garris, Managing Director at Rockefeller Foundation. Rob oversees their Bellagio conference center, and oversaw the creation of GATHER
Noah Rimland Flower, Monitor Institute. Noah is one of GATHER’’s two co-authors and led the content creation

Earlier this year, Rockefeller Foundation and Monitor Institute released GATHER as a free hands-on guidebook for all convening designers and social change leaders who want to tap into a group’s collective intelligence and make substantial progress on a shared challenge.

GATHER provides simple frameworks for the questions that are often ignored: whether convening is the right tool to use to advance a strategic agenda, and how a convening can be used to achieve a specific purpose. It then helps you understand how to customize the design to fit that purpose, laying out a clear series of steps for what is a naturally chaotic workflow. It then offers principles to use for each of the many tactical choices involved. GATHER and its accompanying workshop materials are designed for you to use in your own work, with a team, and with larger groups both inside and outside an organization.

On this Confab Call we’ll be discussing:

An introduction to how convening is a strategic tool for foundations
A case study of how convening can be used for social problem-solving
The top three mis-steps that convening designers make, and how to avoid them

A word on the format: NCDD’s Confab Calls are opportunities for members of the NCDD community to talk with innovators in our field about the work they’re doing and connect with each other around shared interests. Membership in NCDD is required to participate in this call, as space is limited and we suspect this one will fill up fast.

Dues-paying members (supporting, sustaining and org members) get first dibs on this one, but non-dues members may register starting next Wednesday (November 13th) as space allows. A max of 150 people will be able to participate on the call.

Join us for an overview of Harwood’s work on November 5th

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

It was clear during our August confab call with Rich Harwood that NCDD members are interested in learning more about the Harwood Institute’s approach to change. I recently attended a Harwood retreat in Park City, Utah with a number of leaders in our field, and it occurred to me there that the Harwood Institute’s concepts provide a nice framework for all of us to think about our work and how we might present it to others in meaningful ways.

We’ve arranged for Harwood to run a one-hour webinar for NCDD members on Tuesday, November 5 at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific).

Turning Outward: An Overview of The Harwood Institute’s Approach to Change

The Harwood Institute helps people and organizations address community challenges, improve their own effectiveness, and do their work in a way that makes communities stronger. They teach and coach people how to develop a deep understanding of their communities and then use that knowledge to fundamentally change the way they approach their work. They call this “turning outward” – using the community as the main reference point for both day-to-day and strategic decisions.

During this webinar, we will explore what it means to turn outward and Harwood staff will provide an overview of the Institute’s key frameworks that can help you accelerate your efforts to engage your community. Presenters will also talk about the upcoming Harwood Public Innovators Lab – a 3-day immersion into the Institute’s core concepts. The Lab will take place Dec. 10-12 in Alexandria, VA, and we’ve arranged a discounted rate for NCDD members.

Register now at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/119419411383244546

After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the webinar. (View System Requirements)

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Category Archives: NCDD confab archives