By Smart Growth America · November 18, 2011

Building sustainable communities involves engaging people in meetings to set a vision, agree upon goals, manage projects, and build relationships that will carry forward. Often—even with people who agree with what we are hoping to create—these meetings aren’t as effective as we’d like: they go off topic, we get mired in a particular issue, or we get overwhelmed by the number of decisions we need to make. In many cases, these meetings are interrupted by or taken over by those who are uncomfortable with our work, or might not understand the benefits of creating healthier, more sustainable communities.

Navigating Change, presented by facilitator and community sustainability consultant Odin Zackman, will walk you through the basics of designing an effective community or coalition meeting, provide facilitation tips and techniques, and offer interventions that can help keep public meetings on track. We’ll also reserve time for questions and a “community meeting clinic” where your stories and challenges can serve as case studies for all participants.

In preparation for this webinar, please fill out a brief survey to share your expectations. This will help design a session that addresses the questions and challenges you face that tend to be common to many communities.

We look forward to your participation!

Smart Growth America’s Sustainable Communities Network is an opportunity for state and local government officials, business leaders and nonprofit professionals to ask questions, learn best practices, and share project ideas with others from around the country. The network also shares updates about federal initiatives, upcoming events, webinars and conferences to support vibrant, sustainable communities. If your organization or agency recently applied for or was awarded a grant from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities or is considering applying for the next round, join Smart Growth America’s growing network to gain access to resources, opportunities and events.