President’s Message – IAP2 USA Blog

President’s Message: A Home for Buzz Lightyear

Posted on January 29, 2020 by iap2usa

Catherine Smith When I think of IAP2, I think of maple syrup and chocolate. These aren’t the thoughts I expect, but they are what come to mind. Why syrup? Why chocolate? Well, these delicacies arrived in my mailbox for the past few years at the holidays from an IAP2 colleague, who calls the deep woods of Wisconsin his home. IAP2USA was the only reason we met.

This year, the chocolate came with a note with the details of how it came to be—the spices it has, the near miss of almost forgetting to add the syrup into the bubbling chocolate, the children who stood at the stove to witness this magic.

Receiving a gift like that is exactly what makes IAP2 more than a house, but a home.

Mae West Was Right

Posted on December 3, 2019 by iap2usa

Author: Catherine Smith, CP3

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” – Mae West.

Too much good—is that even possible? I don’t think so. There’s always room for doing more good in our world, and especially at IAP2 USA where we teach people what good decisions made together means.

To do more good this year, we’ve launched our first annual giving campaign, funding scholarships for practitioners of all types. Our goal is to broaden our organizational reach by defraying the cost of our learning events for a range of deserving individuals. These funds will help them access our webinars, taster series, symposia, courses, chapter events, and annual conferences.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Heroes, Hurricanes and Happy Endings

Posted on September 26, 2019 by iap2usa

Catherine Smith, CP3 A good story has a setting with a hero on a quest. There are challenges, choices and consequences. With those, other heroes arrive, change happens, and a new reality takes shape. Fade to a perfect sunset, and the story is complete.

As it happens, we have such a story.

It starts in 2017 over a bowl of fresh pasta in a little Italian restaurant in downtown San Diego. It was there where our newly elected Board Member, Traci Ethridge, shared her quest to hold for the first time in IAP2 USA history a North American conference on the east coast in her hometown of Charlotte. She shared there was energy happening there and that IAP2 could be the home for that energy. She brought the idea to the Board and they agreed, it was time to go east.

Message from the President: Good People

Posted on July 31, 2019 by iap2usa

Catherine Smith, President

I’m sitting at my desk and looking at a list of our new members. Their addresses send me on a small and temporary road trip to travel coast-to-coast and border-to-border. They are in: Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Gainesville, Florida; Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Lansing, Michigan; Golden and Boulder, Colorado; Scottsdale, Arizona; Beaverton and Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington.

This organization and its values are forces that truly unite us across our country.

These new members, along with our existing ones, have found a home here. For the past five years that home has been taken care of by Amelia Shaw, our Executive Manager. Most days, my email inbox shows a message sent from her at 5:30 am or so from her desk, which is in the middle of a beautiful place that she shares with husband, Drew, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. That 5:30 am email lets me know that she’s there among the forest and flowers doing the work of the organization to make it a welcoming home for each and everyone one of us.

Strong and Getting Stronger

Posted on April 14, 2019 by iap2usa

Cathy Smith “Strong” is a word we hear often. Sometimes, it’s a word that mobilizes communities that are recovering from disaster; other times, it’s simply a concept that just make sense. When I open my favorite book, the thesaurus, the index for the “strong” shows that it relates to words like these: energetic, great, influential, robust, substantial, tough. Good words.

President’s Message: Leah Jaramillo

Posted on September 27, 2018 by iap2usa

Wow! Victoria…what a place! We were blessed with beautiful sunny weather and a crowd of friendly hosts. Even on the day it rained, our lucky whale watching field trip attendees were surprised and excited to see multiple whales on what the boat crew deemed, “perhaps they best sightings they’d ever had.” The meetings and sessions held indoors were no less exciting (or perhaps just mildly so)!

Many thanks are due to our Canadian hosts and the 2018 Conference committee for their hard work and warm welcome. Additional thanks go to the record-breaking 390 conference attendees and the speakers who really made this a fantastic conference. I enjoyed the breadth of offerings this year and attended sessions ranging from a panel of municipal P2 practitioners tackling a broad range of engagement issues and topics to a panel of energy sector practitioners discussing very specific processes and goals. Most intriguing for me this year was a workshop designed to test a proposed Indigenous Engagement Spectrum against the IAP2 Spectrum, which prompted a wonderful conversation – both practical and philosophical in nature. There were excellent keynote speakers and amazing insights from practitioners everywhere I turned.

In the days leading up to the conference, the IAP2 USA Board held its face-to-face meeting and discussed organizational sustainability, the new Ambassador Program, the 2019 IAP2 NAC Conference in Charlotte, NC and looked to the future as we prepare for board nomination period opening on October 17. We are excited to continue growing the organization (membership has nearly tripled in the last 5 years!) and looking forward to continuing to provide excellent member services like the webinars; conferences, trainings and symposia; and connecting more closely with members and chapters across the US as well as our international colleagues.

Any organization as widespread as ours must continually assess the way we work together to meet member needs and advocate for good practice. This process has been ongoing since 2017 and with the input of the regional boards and the international board, the change committee came up with seven strategic priority areas and a series of recommendations that will enable us to reshape our international collaborative network that lives and abides by the IAP2 core values. Earlier this year, members were asked to give feedback on those and that input fed into high-level discussions with representatives from each regional board in Victoria the day the conference began.

We now have seven endorsed strategic priority areas and 36 endorsed recommendations. There is plenty of work to be done around these priority areas and recommendations and we’ll need your help to continue supporting and shaping the organization to be what we want it to be. This will be an incredible opportunity for members looking to get engaged with their international peers and to look at the organization in a more global perspective. Read the letter from Federation Presiding Member Kylie Cochrane to find out more.

More locally – a number of US chapters will hold elections this fall, and six seats are opening up on the US Board. We are looking for P2 folks from areas of practice, all regions of the country and with all levels of expertise. The Board should reflect the US membership, so consider this your personal invitation to participate, whether you have 3 years’ or 30 years’ experience in the field, whether there is an established chapter in your area or not. We recognize that member needs are always in flux and hope to continue leading by example. Self-nominations are accepted, so please consider the special skills and competencies you might have to offer. Nominations open October 17.

And, if you missed out on this year’s conference, we hope to see you at next month’s webinar – “Building P2 Into Your Organization” (October 9), improving your toolbox at the 2019 Skills Symposium, February 25 – March 1 in Austin, TX and enjoying a big dose of southern hospitality in Charlotte, NC next September.

President’s Message: Leah Jaramillo

Posted on May 31, 2018 by iap2usa

Another annual general meeting is in the books. These meetings are always a nice way to review the progress we’ve made as an organization and an industry in the past year, as well as to answer questions and receive feedback from members. IAP2 USA continues to grow, (with membership now over 1,200), offer new programs and services and host wonderful events. In case you missed them, we had an outstanding skills symposium in San Diego last February and a stellar conference in Denver in September. In between, we launched four new online trainings and have had a series of fun and informative webinars, not to mention all the chapter meet-ups, events and conferences.

President’s Message – Leah Jaramillo

Posted on March 29, 2018November 20, 2018 by iap2usa

Greetings from Austin!

I am writing to you from the AUX tarmac after nearly a week of training and fun at the IAP2 USA Board face to face meeting. Following the 2018 Skills Symposium, your board of directors welcomed two new members – Traci Etheridge and Gwen Happ – and buckled down to address priorities for 2018. Among them are: maintaining our existing member services; ensuring our services, costs and fees align; focusing on chapter support and planning for the future. It was a whirlwind of work, but we are excited to be here and ready to get down to the details. On a personal note, I was honored to be confirmed to my third term as board President and appreciate the support of each of our directors and staff in helping to move the organization forward.

Year End President’s Message

Posted on December 15, 2017February 6, 2018 by iap2usa

As we reflect on the things we are thankful for, IAP2 USA would like to thank its members for regularly providing input and feedback on the services and programs we provide. You are taking the surveys, filling out evaluations, sharing social media posts and emailing suggestions. So, thank you for being engaged and communicating with us regularly!

The feedback you have provided through the membership survey, conference and program evaluations and via individual comments have been reviewed and incorporated into the updated IAP2 USA Strategic Plan (2018-2020). We are pleased to report that significant progress has been made since the creation of the 2015-2017 Strategic Plan and we continue to advocate for best practices in public participation, for the professionalization of the field and remain the organization of choice for good P2.

Message from the President: Leah Jaramillo

Posted on September 21, 2017October 30, 2017 by iap2usa

A big round of applause for IAP2 USA’s conference committee and staff for executing an outstanding North American Conference in Denver earlier this month! Thanks to those of you who were there and contributed to IAP2 USA’s goal of Pursuing the Greater Good – P2 For a Changing World. In addition to nearly 40 sessions, this conference introduced the pathway concept – where participants took a deep dive into special topics and worked together to develop some output. Results include an Encyclopedia of Positive Questions – using an appreciative inquiry approach to reframe questions; planned international extension of the IAP2 USA National Dialogue on Conflict’s impact on P2 and an associated white paper, website and resource bank to help practitioners manage conflict and division in our processes. I truly appreciate those of you who waded into the deep end with us.

The Core Values Awards Gala was truly inspirational and the IAP2 USA and Canada award winners truly exemplified what we stand for as a practice and organization. From engaging kids against domestic violence in the Yukon to working with a community to provide a health center that meets multiple needs in Denver, these award winners are truly making a difference in their communities by implementing public participation processes that are strategic, engaging stakeholders across the spectrum of participation and inspire us all. Thanks to our judges and applicants for truly embodying the spirit of IAP2!