On Demand Webinar

Community Engagement During COVID-19: Planning Ahead for 2021

On-Demand Now Available!
Educational Credit: 1.0 (APA AICP CM)

Industry leaders offer a sneak peek at the most effective community engagement strategies and technologies for 2021!

Events in 2020 have created a ‘perfect storm’, pushing public engagement for planning to new heights. Agencies and firms across the country have risen to the challenge and established new protocols for effective community engagement without public meetings!

In this webinar, industry expert Dave Biggs leads a panel of community engagement superstars to reveal the top engagement trends and techniques that have proven successful this year—and to investigate what that means for public involvement in 2021. Jamille Robbins is Public Involvement Group Leader for North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). He leads public outreach for over 20 divisions at NCDOT and also serves as a lead member of FHWA’s Virtual Public Involvement initiative. Joining him on the panel is Darrel Cole, Vice President & Managing Director of Communications & Public Involvement Practice at WSP who leads a team of 45+, helping agencies nation-wide pivot from normal public outreach to online. Darrel will be joined by Lisa Hummel, Communications & Public Involvement Specialist at WSP, who is a subject matter expert in online meetings and part of the WSP Crisis Communications Rapid Response Team. This panel is packed with community engagement expertise!

The panel will come together to share valuable insights on community engagement, looking across the country for national trends and regional variations, providing insights into best practices to guide planning teams to success in 2021. With over 85 years of combined experience in public engagement for planning, our panelists will look back at the trends that proved effective over the last 8 months, and supply us with the tools we need to succeed in the new year!

In this webinar, we will explore:

  • How planning firms and government agencies succeed in the new normal
  • Key technologies for your 2021 toolbox for online community engagement
  • Trends and techniques for community engagement during COVID-19
  • Ongoing barriers and obstacles to engagement for planning projects
  • Predictions and tips for engagement in 2021
Average rating: 4.5/5

Excellent balance between theory and practice. Providing the questions to the panelists allowed different perspectives to be shared.

The presenters were clear and engaging. The visuals were really intriguing!

They all provided some excellent ideas to increase public participation and methods to enhance the online virtual meeting process.

Excellent tips. On topic and to the point.

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Jamille Robbins

North Carolina DOT

Jamille Robbins manages the Public Involvement Group and supervises public outreach for NCDOT. He has more than 20 years of demonstrated experience in engineering, project management, supervision, public speaking, meeting facilitation and administration. He educates staff for conducting public hearings and provides public outreach resources and assistance to the Project Development and Environmental Analysis Unit, Transportation Program Management, the Rail Division, the fourteen Highway Divisions, and other units within North Carolina DOT.

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Darrel Cole

WSP

Darrel Cole is Vice President and Managing Director of WSP USA’s national Communications & Public Involvement Practice, which includes almost 50 professionals in 24 offices across the U.S. His specialty is advising clients in communication team management consulting, strategic and crisis communications planning and social media. Previously, Darrel served as communications director for a state DOT. Darrel lives in Southern California with his wife and two sons and keeps his mind and body sharp through training in Taekwondo as a 3rd Degree Black Belt.

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Lisa Hummel

WSP

Lisa Hummel is the Communications and Public Involvement Specialist for the US Central Region. She is the online engagement Business Line Lead, and is part of the WSP Crisis Communications Rapid Response Team, an expert group of communications and visualization professionals who have experience in all types of crisis and strategic communications, as a subject matter expert in online meetings. She is also co-owner of Woodland City, a Kansas City urban farm distributing organically grown vegetables to local restaurants & seasonal farmers’ markets.

Thank you to our webinar sponsors!
Educational credit available through the APA.

American Planning Association.
CM APA Certification
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