On-Demand Webinar

Building a City-Wide Culture of Engagement: How Calgary Engaged 167,000!

Educational Credit: 1.5 (APA AICP CM)

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A corridor study, park plan, naming the city bird, a pet bylaw, RV parking … through these success stories, the Calgary team will reveal 7 strategies for engaging thousands on every project!

Join us for a compelling webinar as we explore how Calgary successfully created a culture of engagement. The City’s Engage Resource Unit has reached over 1.6 million people through their “Engage Calgary” digital platform. You’ll learn how they collected nearly 500,000 contributions online from 167,000 residents during the past five years to better inform over 300 plans and projects.

The City of Calgary has been a pioneer in advancing public participation best practices, leveraging digital engagement strategies to foster a city-wide culture of engagement. Residents have been given a voice in shaping the policies, plans, and programs for their city—everything from mobility corridor planning to naming Calgary’s Official Bird. Join public engagement professionals Ron Neff, Katelyn Richards, and Kyle McManus as they highlight the successful tools and tactics Calgary employs to conduct meaningful, inclusive engagement processes that are responsive, transparent, and accountable.

The Calgary team will dissect lessons learned over the years, revealing 7 proven strategies that have helped them successfully build a city-wide culture of engagement!

In this 1.5-hour webinar, you’ll learn:

7 proven strategies for building a culture of engagement
How to overcome public apathy and extend outreach beyond “naysayers”
Tools and tactics to meaningfully engage thousands online for informed input
How to build an effective communications plan for hybrid engagement
Methods to reach historically marginalized communities

Whether you’re a policymaker, planner, public engagement professionals, or communications specialist, this webinar offers a unique opportunity to explore Calgary’s public engagement journey, drawing on inspiration and lessons applicable to other municipalities and organizations. Join us as we explore “Engage Calgary,” where every click, comment, and contribution are actively shaping the future of Calgary, while helping achieve its purpose of “making life better every day.”

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BOOM! So good. I loved every second of it and will 100% be reviewing the public resources shown during the presentation.

One of the most useful webinars I have ever watched.

I could have learned and listened to this for hours. I took about 5 pages of notes as it was so valuable to me.

Community Relations / Public Engagement | City of Calgary

Ron Neff

Ron is a Engage Planner with the City of Calgary’s Engage Resource Unit. Ron has been with the City for 22 years in a variety of roles including Diversity Services, Community Development, Parks, and Playfield Coordinator, all roles that focus on working with the public to establish relationships through meaningful engagement processes. In his current position, Ron plays a lead role in working with Social Pinpoint to develop and utilize Engage Calgary (engage.calgary.ca) as one of the primary tools to involve the public across a range of projects in various departments.

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Engage Planner | City of Calgary

Katelyn Richards

Kate is a passionate community builder and engagement strategist. Her career began at the City of Chestermere, where she spent seven years developing her skills in community engagement and recreation. She then transitioned to ISL Engineering, serving as an engagement strategist for two years before landing a position as an Engage Planner with the City of Calgary. Kate holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education. She is also pursuing a PR diploma at the University of Victoria, with an expected graduation in 2025. Kate is committed to making engagement accessible and ensuring citizens feel heard and understand their role in shaping city projects. Outside of her professional and academic pursuits, Kate is an arts and pop-culture enthusiast, a dedicated home renovator alongside her husband, and a loving mama to her two senior dogs, Fozzie and Gus.

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Engagement Team Supervisor | City of Calgary

Kyle McManus

For over 10 years, Kyle has helped to ensure that the voices and values of Calgarians are reflected in City decision-making. As an Engagement Planner, he supported projects from small-scale public space improvements to the planning for the City’s largest infrastructure investment ever, Green Line LRT. As a Project Lead, he helped develop business process to support our Engage Framework and the growth of our client-service team. And as a Leader he works to ensure that our Engage Team can best meet the needs of our Clients, our Council, and Calgarians.

Public Engagement Strategist | Social Pinpoint

Dave Biggs

Dave Biggs is an internationally recognized expert in public engagement and using software to enhance public participation for planning. As a co-founder of MetroQuest, he has authored books and papers on planning, sustainability, and public engagement. Dave is a frequent speaker at conferences and webinars, and contributor to industry journals, where he lends insight into best practices for optimizing public engagement outcomes.

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Practice Lead | Social Pinpoint

Martina Wolf Battistone

As North America Practice Lead at Social Pinpoint, Marti supports and cultivates best practices in online community engagement within the public and non-profit sectors. Previously, Marti worked as Principal Environmental Planner at the City of Pittsburgh, which received the 2024 IAP2 USA Core Values Award for Organization of the Year. As a member of the Department of City Planning’s Sustainability and Resilience Division, Marti led park planning across the city, working to create long-term visions and investment strategies that reflected resident priorities in parks and open spaces.

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