NCDD member Jim Fishkin (creator of Deliberative Polling and director of Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy) wanted to extend a 20% discount to all of you on his new book, When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation. The book includes the impressive Europe in One Room DVD, which some of you viewed at the 2008 NCDD conference. Go to www.us.oup.com and enter 28333 into the promo code box at the top right to purchase the book at the discounted rate. (continue)

In our continuing efforts to reach new audiences and provide greater benefits to our members, NCDD has been strengthening its relationship to the longstanding National MultiCultural Institute. NMCI is welcoming NCDD members with open arms to its 2009 annual conference/training event, offering a 10% discount to dues-paying NCDD members on its Diversity Leadership Institute and Emerging Issues Forum. Depending on what you are interested in attending, that’s a savings of up to $97 for nonprofits and individuals, or $145 for corporate attendees. NMCI’s 2009 conference, […] (continue)

Just made two cool changes to the NCDD blog… (1) Thanks to a WordTwit plug-in, all new posts should now be automatically announced on NCDD’s Twitter stream (at twitter.com/ncdd in case you want to follow us!). They already automatically go to my Facebook wall and the NCDD LinkedIn group. (2) We also added a new “share” button that appears below each post, that allows you to easily share any post on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Delicious, Ping, and a bunch of other social media sites.  (We […] (continue)

Below are some of the places where my recent article, Upgrading the Way We Do Politics, was posted.  The article, which was featured on the Yes! Magazine website, was picked up by The Media Consortium, a network of the country’s leading independent journalism organizations. I believe that’s what led to the article being posted and linked to on so many sites. On CommonDreams.org at www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/26-1 On People & Place at www.peopleandplace.net/on_the_wire/2009/8/23/sandy_heierbacher_upgrading_the_way_we_do_politics__ncdd On the Everyday Democracy website at www.everyday-democracy.org/en/Article.1032.aspx On Energy Bulletin at www.energybulletin.net/node/49947 (this was […] (continue)

On September 25th, a symposium is being held at Pepperdine School of Law’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in Malibu, California, called Taking It Upstream: Collaboration, Consensus Building & Sustainable Development A Green Leadership (Un)Conference. NCDD members are being offered a special affiliate rate of $125.  This rate includes breakfast, lunch and an afternoon reception. This groundbreaking symposium will provide a highly participatory forum to explore opportunities for using collaboration, consensus building, and other engagement techniques to create more sustainable communities and manage potential land […] (continue)

Here’s a good example of an adaptation and elaboration of the NCDD Upgrading the Way We Do Politics article. The following article, prepared by the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy at Kansas State University, appeared as a column in The Manhattan Mercury on Sunday, August 23, and it has been submitted to several other papers across Kansas… Town hall meetings held on healthcare legislation across the country are exploding with emotion, frustration, and conflict.  Citizens are showing up in throngs to protest and shout […] (continue)

NCDD members have been sharing insights and tips–on our listservs and in various op-eds, blog posts, and more–on how legislators can engage citizens in ways that are more participatory and more productive than what we’ve seen in the news lately. In addition to a colorful one-page handout we created for you to print and share with public officials and other leaders in your community, here are three articles we hope you’ll share widely: 1.  My full article (about 2.5 pages long in Word), titled “Upgrading […] (continue)

Today is the last official day to respond to the Open Government Dialogue survey that’s up at www.tiny.cc/jr76x Over a dozen leading organizations in public engagement and transparency (NCDD, IAP2, the League of Women Voters, AmericaSpeaks, OMB Watch, etc.) are collaboratively conducting a survey of people/groups who participated in any of the three stages of the recent Open Government Dialogue (the one that’s feeding into the Open Govt Directive on transparency, participation and collaboration).  We’ll be providing White House officials with feedback and recommendations on […] (continue)

We’re in the midst of a great conversation on the main NCDD listserv about the violence and mayhem at town hall meetings on health care legislation, and what our community of practice can/should do to help ensure future political events are more democratic and productive.  A lot of thoughtful posts have been added by people you may have heard of like Pete Peterson, Barnett Pearce, Kenoli Oleari, John Godec and a number of others.  Here’s the latest post, from Martin Carcasson, Director of Colorado State […] (continue)

About 90 people came together in DC Sunday through Tuesday for “Strengthening Our Nation’s Democracy 2” — a working session organized by AmericaSpeaks, Demos, Everyday Democracy and Harvard University’s Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Invited guests were leaders in electoral reform, public deliberation, community organizing, and collaborative governance, and we were joined at different times during the meeting by a number of members of the Obama administration. (Click here for background materials, confirmed participants, meeting agenda, etc.) I shared insights and questions from […] (continue)