Papers & Presentations
We are facing a big change in how government relates to their communities. There is a growing expectation that all the members of all communities of all types have a right to be consulted about everything but do they really want to be involved and how can consultation help with this process?
Presented to the Public Relations Institute of Australia National Conference.
“Bringing them into the camp: effective community engagement”
Stakeholder relations is seen by some as a chore or box-ticking exercise in a public works context, where the benefits of real relationships are sacrificed for a more structured and controllable textbook approach.
But what are we really missing out on? What benefits can bringing external stakeholders to the table add to a project?
Presented to the Institute of Public Works Engineers International Conference.
“Leveraged stakeholder relations – maximising benefits by going beyond the square”
With the increasing acceptance and reliance on stakeholder relations as an integral part of major projects, significant research and codification of best practice has taken place in Queensland. One of the unintended and negative consequences of this push to provide people with the tools they need to conduct appropriate engagement and relationship building with stakeholders has been the creation of somewhat of a “cargo cult” among public affairs professionals. Repetition of “standard” processes has shown that some tools provide a reasonable fit in the majority of circumstances. Because this suite of “reasonable fit” tools is easy to trot out regardless of the circumstance these tools have often replaced considered and tailored strategies which meet the specific needs of organisation, situation and stakeholders.
Presented to the National Public Affairs in the Public Sector Conference.
The presentation reveals the secrets of consultation in the infrastructure sector by comparing two major wastewater projects, the Brisbane Water Enviro Alliance (bwea) and Water Matters Alliance (WMA).
Presented to the national Public Relations Institute of Australia as part of their Professional Development Series.
“Stockland Townsville – getting off the Complaints Circle”
A national contracting company was engaged to manage a major $7.3m redevelopment of the Stockland Townsville shopping centre. Economic and safety considerations meant all work was conducted outside trading hours. Growing tensions between local residents and the builder resulted in the EPA suspending work on the project.
QCCN was contracted to work with all parties to quickly develop a solution to the issue based on re- establishing communication between the community and key stakeholders as well as making simple operational modifications which allowed the project to proceed.
Presented to the Public Relations Institute of Australia, National Conference and included in the text “Public Relations: theory and practice” by Jane Johnston & Clara Zawawi.
“Dogs can’t read – public education for urban animal management”
Traditionally, one of the fundamental questions facing government (especially Local Government) is How can we MAKE people obey the law?, and the traditional response is to allocate ever increasing resources to enforcement and prosecution.
20 years of professional practice and experience dealing with communities shows that most people in our communities are inherently reasonable, inherently responsible, and WANT to comply with the law.
Presented to the Public Relations Institute of Australia at their National Conference.
“Managing Crises – a workshop”
Crisis are often unpredictable and can happen to anyone at anytime but with the right preparation and planning you can minimise the impact of any issue or crisis.
This presentation shows the effective and proactive management of a crisis, especially if it reinforces the organisations core values it may actually enhance long-term reputation.
Presented to the National Public Affairs in the Public Sector Conference.
“Construction Property Planning – Overcoming access issues and getting landowners onside”
Property planning provides a simple, linear and cost effective process to ensure that informed permission to enter private property is gained, to establish a working relationship with property owners and residents, to establish “ground rules” for all parties, and to streamline remediation.
Presented to the Australian Alliance Contracting Excellence Conference.
“Professional Ethics in a multi-cultural society”
Ask the individuals of any group of people what ethics means to them, and there will be as many answers as there are people. Ethics means very different things for every individual so this presentation doesn’t seek to provide any “silver bullets” or even answers but posing some questions and sharing observations from over a quarter of a century of professional practice.
Presented to the International Public Relations Association Conference, Jakarta, Indonesia.
REPUTATION STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGEMENT