Here’s a training announcement from our friends at the League of Extraordinary Trainers (LET). Dues-paying NCDD members receive a 10% discount ($315 per training day) on all LET trainings (20% if you register by the early bird deadline. If you work in communications, public relations, public affairs, planning, public outreach and understanding, community development, advocacy, or lobbying, this training will help you to increase your skills and to be of even greater value to your employer. This is your chance to join the many thousands of ... (continue)

Attention Amazon Kindle users!  Don’t miss out on a great opportunity from NCDD organizational member, CivilSay!  Today and tomorrow, you can download a free copy of The Moment of OH! by John Blakinger and Greg Ranstrom on to your Kindle e-Book reader.  Not a Kindle user?  Well, you can still order a copy of their “guide to help communities make tough decisions“ at Amazon.com or visit their website where each chapter will be posted on their blog through April 2013.  Here’s a little more about the book… The Moment of ... (continue)

Here’s an announcement from Peter Levine, director of Director of CIRCLE (the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Tufts University. Note the cost of tuition (it’s FREE!) — I hadn’t realized that before myself. The fifth annual Summer Institute of Civic Studies (http://activecitizen.tufts.edu/circle/summer-institute/) will be an intensive, two-week, interdisciplinary seminar bringing together advanced graduate students, faculty, and practitioners from diverse fields of study. Organized by Peter Levine, Tisch College, and Karol Sołtan, University of ... (continue)

The National Issues Forums Institite (nifi.org) has recently released several new issue guides of note.  “Sustaining Ourselves: How Can We Best Meet the Needs of Today and Tomorrow?” looks at the impact our lives have on the future of this country; “Right From the Start” examines the developement of children in their first four years; and “Bullying: How Should Schools Address this Growing Problem?” & “Bullying: What is it? How do we prevent it?”  continues the work of NIFI and its partners in this critical area. If you are interested in ... (continue)

If you were among the participants in last month’s NCDD conference in Seattle, this news will not come as a surprise to you, because our longtime colleague, Carolyn Lukensmeyer shared it during her plenary speech.  The National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona, which recently welcomed Carolyn as their first Executive Director, has just launched a website to engage citizens in promoting civil discourse. I encourage you to visit www.YourWordsCount.org.  Check out the webinar given by Carolyn, Tom Daschle and Jim Kolbe or take one ... (continue)

If you work in communications, public relations, public affairs, planning, public outreach and understanding, community development, advocacy, or lobbying, the NEW IAP2 Certificate Training, presented by The League of Extraordinary Trainers (one of our Partners for the 2012 NCDD conference), will help you to increase your skills and to be of even greater value to your employer. This is your chance to join the many thousands of practitioners worldwide who have completed the International Association for Public Participation certificate training. Presented by respected trainer Lewis Michaelson, the ... (continue)

I wanted to share a quick post about two new iPhone apps that instantly shed light on political ads (often funded by 501c4 organizations that have loose disclosure requirements) while people are watching them. The apps have some implications for us in the dialogue and deliberation field.  Certainly having a more informed electorate is a value we all share and promote.  I wonder, though, how we can use apps like this to encourage people to take the next step and talk with each other about ... (continue)

Our friend Harry Boyte, National Coordinator of the American Commonwealth Partnership, wanted NCDDers to be aware of the Shaping Our Future launch event taking place on September 4th in DC. Below is the media advisory that went out this week on the event, which launches a yearlong, nationwide series of citizen dialogues on how higher education could do more, or operate differently, to strengthen America’s economy, culture, and civic participation. The project is being launched by a coalition of nonprofit and educational leaders on Tuesday, ... (continue)

The power of conversation is real but not total. People sometimes take an oversimplified perspective of the power of dialogue, deliberation, and choice-creating to deal with tensions between people. EIther they think “just talk” can’t do much to resolve serious conflicts or they think talking can resolve any and every conflict. I think both perspectives fail to appreciate the specific gifts powerful conversation brings to the table in times of conflict. I’ll share here how I think about these potential gifts. It is important to ... (continue)

If you’re serious about engagement, you stopped expecting people to just come to your meetings a long time ago. And if you’re really serious about engagement, you know that even social media and block parties can’t help you reach all the people in your community. The next frontiers in innovative public engagement include a whole range of options, from games to placemaking to diversity training – and critical combinations of strategies old and new. Participate in tomorrow’s CommunityMatters conference call to find out how to take engagement ... (continue)