Reaching the unreachables Stakeholder engagement in choppy seas YourOpenHouseHere.com Video, TV, Youtube, social media

1. “Reachingthe Unreachables”
TaliaJacobson,Major ProjectsPlanner,OregonDepartmentof Transportation
Mike Dahlstrom,SeniorPlanner,WashingtonCounty
Shortlybefore thissessionstarted,attendeeswere handedasmall piece of paperwithalinkto an
online survey.The online surveywascomprisedof questionsinlanguagesotherthanEnglish.Attendees
were askedtoshare some of theirthoughtsandexperienceswiththe survey.Forsome,itwasdifficult
to or impossibletogetonline totake the survey.Othersrecognizedthe language barrier. These are
commonfeelingsof notbeingable toparticipate,andthe presenters askedthe audiencetokeepthose
feelingsinmind.
What isthe definitionof “underserved?”Oftendescribingthe title6and environmental justice
communities- termof art encompassing,communities of color,communitiesinpoverty,immigrantsand
refugees, those withlimitedEnglishproficiency,andothers.
It isalso usedasa political code- the people we have gottenawaywithignoring.
The group discussedsome of the challengesinengagingunderservedcommunities.Suggestions
included:Trust;language; resources(agencyorindividual);feelinguncomfortable;perceived
irrelevance;capacity;barriers.The presentershopedakeytake awaywouldbe the value intryingto
overcome these challenges.
Ground rulesfortoday:Share your wisdom, Use yourwords,Getcomfortable withdiscomfort, and
“screwup withheart.”
What kindof relationshipare youseeking? Metaphorof SpeedDatingvsaLong-termRelationship.
Speeddating- we canmeetourminimumrequirements,(i.e. putanotice inthe newspaper andhope
people showup).Predictably,the people who attendoftenlooklikeus.
Thissystemisefficientuntil itisnot.Violatingtrusthasimpacts,people have longmemories.The more
we use thisapproach,the more riskis entailed.
Long-termrelationship- A maturingof people/relationships.
Reachingout:
-Doingyourhomework.Censusandrelateddataare important.Trustedconnectorsare not
necessarily“communityleaders”inthe formal sense.Itisimportanttofindinformation conduits,ones
that communicate bothways.Reachingouttonon-profits(notalotof resources,require capacity
building.)Gowhere peopleare,use theirlanguage, andengage theirnorms.
-Trustedconnectorscanhelpalsohelpwithgoodtranslation. The workwe doisconceptual and
complex,non-contextual (online) translationjustdoesn’twork.Goodtranslationshow respect.
(Re)buildingtrust:
-Goingwhere the communityis- Whenandwhere are culturallydependent.

2. -Avoidingaccidental intimidation- Havingthe rightrepresentatives matters,andmaybe high
statusisn’tbest. Imagine “Hi,I’mso-and-so,Iamwiththe government.”Communitiesexperience law
enforcementandgovernmentdifferently.Immigrant communities have experience withgovernments
otherthan those we mightbe familiarwith.Mustpicka safe space.How muchstaff is toomany? Itcan
be bestto start witha small space and a small group.
-Hearing& acknowledgingthe past- People will continue togive voice toissuesuntil space is
made for acknowledgment.Recognizecultural norms; we are bulletpointpeople,butmanycultures are
more concernedwithcontextand formsof communication.Emotionalauthenticity;some
communication maybe withinotherpeople’scomfortzone,butnotnecessaryyours.
-Demonstratingvalue- Helpingpeople decide if you’re “worthit.”Committohonesty, whatis
the decisionspace.Feedbackloopssothattheycan assess as the processis ongoing.Investlocally
(youth-care,catering). Makingthe mostof theirtime; pickingthe rightevent,forthe rightduration.
Balance of quantitative andqualitative.Findaspace for whatmattersfor that community.Connectto
whatis important;learnfromwhatyoulearn.Circle backaround.
Sustainingthe connection:
-Decidingbetweenpersonal&institutional connections.People moveonand can leave abig
hole.Goal iscapacity buildingatacommunitylevel.We needtobuildourcapacityto engage the
community,move upthe learningcurve.Notjustmeetingaperson.
The sessionconcludedwithasmall groupexercise.
The mission- Youhave $2,000, $20,000, $200,000 to designapublicinvolvementplanforadiverse
communityof 40,000 people.Identifyyourtopthree tasksforeach budgetlevel.
StakeholderEngagementinChoppySeas:
ArwenBird,Principal,WovenStrategies
Steve Faust,SeniorPlanner,CoganOwensCogan
Stacy Galleher,CommunityEngagement Coordinator,OregonDepartmentof FishandWildlife
Thissessionwasbasedaroundsharinglessonsfromthe processof communityengagementindesigning
Marine ProtectedAreasin Oregon.
Marine ProtectedAreas:Areathat hasbeendesignatedtoenhance the protectionof marine resources
Certaintypesof fishingmaybe allowed.
Marine Reserve is an Oregonterminology.Kindof likeastate park.
Goals:Conserve habitatandbiodiversity. Insurance formarine resourcesagainst ecosystemchange.
Provide anopportunity forscientificresearchinno-take “undisturbed”areas.
Background:In 2000 a processwas initiatedbythe governortoevaluate andexplore options.7years
later,lotsof discussion, butnoreal progress.

3. Threat of a ballotmeasure- supportedbyconservationcommunity andgeneral population.
Legislature pushed aprocess,ODFWsetup as leadagency.Sideboardssetbylegislation.
Publicnominationprocessfornominations. We now have 5 marine reserve sites. Twositescame
togetherfromcommunities.Otherareasdevelopedless withbuy-in
Communityteams:3groups setup. Came togetherandworkedfor11 months. Looked atwhere to
place reserves.25,000 volunteerhours.We now have 5 marine reserve sites.
Processparticulars:ODFWpickedteams fromnominations-lookedforfolkscapable of representing
theircommunity.
Stakeholdersgroups- 8groupswrittenintolegislation- Local gov;Recreational fishing,Commercial
fishing,Non-fishingindustry(business owners).Non-fishingrecreation,Conservation,Coastal watershed
councils,andscientists.
32 memberteams- 2- voting;2 alternativesfromeachgroup above.
Co-chairsnominatedbygroup
Wrote team charters- chargedto use consensusbaseddecision-making,
Deadline fordecisionwassetbyODFW- 11 monthprocess.
SessionActivity:Simulationof astakeholdermeeting- Eachparticipantwasassigneda stakeholdergroup
fromthe process. Seekingconsensus- the actual groupswere meanttoseekconsensus.
Couldcall for a 2 minute caucus.
In the simulationwe startedbydiscussinggeneral issuesandthenmovedtowardactuallydrawingon
maps.No caucus called,butindividualsrecognizedsharedinterestsamongsome parties.Facilitation
broughtin laterinthe simulation.
Recapping,anddrawingconnectionsbetweenthe simulationandthe actual process:
Data issues- challenges,social/economicdataare limited.Datafromthe community?How do you
incorporate thisdata?
Interestgroupcommunications- Participantswere chargedwithcommunicationwiththeirconstituents,
but howand support/guidance wasnotdictated.
Consensus:groupsdidok- 2 groupsreach consensus.
ArwenBird’sevaluation:sharedsome of her graduate researchonthe process.
In 2011 ODFW taskedOSU todo processevaluation.How toinformfuture engagement.
Sentout survey- gota prettygoodresponse rate.
Some highlights(The full reportisavailable fromODFW)

4. -Inthe processpeople found datagiventothemwashelpful.
-Most people feltthe facilitationhelpedthemexpressthemselves.
- Participantswere asked“Didthe personswhomanagedthe meetinginawaythat helpedeveryone
feel ownershipof the process?” Recreational fishingandconservationcommunitiesfeltthe least
strongly.
-Some people felt there wasapre-determinedoutcome.
-Majorityof participantssaidtheywouldparticipate inafuture communityteam.
-Bigfishinlittle pond- the national groupsandlegislativepossibilitieswere afactor.
“YourOpenHouseHere.com”
KalinSchmoldt, ProjectManager, JLA PublicInvolvement
KimberlyDinwiddie, CommunityAffairsCoordinator, ODOT
Jyll Smith, SeniorProjectManager, ODOT
Thissessionwasbasedonsharinglessonsonhow we use online openhouses.
Why? Workingtowardbeingtransparent,tryingtoreachyoungerpeople.Traditionalopenhousesdon’t
tendto capture that community.
People are busy- whenwe askthemtocome to us we risk conflictswith the restof theirlives.Dealing
withlarge geographical areas.
Benefits toagencies-accessibility/transparency,shieldsfromaccusationsof opaqueness.
Is the physical openhouse dead?We cando those thingsonline,people are spendingtheirlivesonline
already.
What makesitan openhouse? Usedto meanputtingyourpostersonline aspdfsandmaybe a survey.
Webpage- nota full virtual world.Sharesinformation,seeksfeedback,occursat milestones,uses
“temporary”or temporal feedbackmechanisms, andprovides someopportunityforthe publicto
interact.
Additionpositives- 24/7access,exposure tobroaderaudiences,costefficiencyperuser.
Why have a physical openhouse?Stakeholdersexpectthem, complicated issues,trusthappensmore
easily.Addressingtactile issues. Whynotdoboth?
Some tips:
Usingyour meetingplan- sequenceof stations?Isthere abigmap? Focusedona single exercise?
May breakdownstationsintopages.Mapbasedinformationshouldbe made available.
Is itreallyan openhouse?Onlinetownhall tools existif appropriate.

5. Examplesof tools:
Sharinginformation:Boards- makingyourphysicalboardsmanageableforasmall screen.Minimize text,
hard to readtextin an image.
Maps- Require some effort,butlotsof toolsavailable.
Interactive data- Chartsanddata. Make sure scaleswell atscreenresolutions.
Share whoYOU are- a goal of physical meetings istypicallytomeetthe projectteam, hardto
incorporate,butwe can add videostointroduce people. Keepvideosimple.
Videoof stakeholders/communitycanbe helpful.
Use value- recordstuff fromyourphysical openhouses.
Don’tMAKE people watchthe video-summerycontent.
Collectinginfo:Easiertogatherand organize comments.Commentforms- surveyatthe end.Popup
formswhile interactingwithotherdata.Inline forms- more seamless,askpeople whattheythinkafter
interactingwithaparticularstation (more technicallydifficult).Canbuildyouropenhouse w/in
surveymonkey) (butthis doesn’treallyallowinteraction).
Encouragingdialogue:have foundduringafew yearsof experimentation thatpeople generallybehave
themselves. Collectingfeedbackshows thatyouare serious,shows thatyouare seeing comments.Tools
available toallowbackandforth.Structure/promptsare important.Stickywall simulation- limited
characters,good forhighlevel view of peoplescomments.Commentmaps- goodforcollectingdata,get
geographicallyspecificinformation. Allowingpeople tocommentonindividual data markersona map
containingmany datapoints meansyouget more local knowledgethenapplicationof people’s pet
issues. Havingpeopleadd“dots”are one thing,polygonsare hardertosynthesize findings.
Moderatingcomments: Checkcontentbefore posting.Addstimebuffer,keepconversationcivil,shows
youare actuallyreadingcomments.Secondquestioniswill youjumpintothe frayandprovide or
correct information.Should allownegative (thoughnotoffensive) comments. Simplyallowingfor
“rating” options isa wayto keep civil,butnotneedmoderation (verylow thresholdforparticipation).
Star systemsneedclarification (whatisthe scale?).Numbersandslidersare more helpful…tenpointsto
spreadoverseveral options isapossibly.
Metadata: Backgroundinfo,readingbetweenthe lines.Kind of like whatyoucangetwith physical sign
indata. We needtoget feedbackaboutthe process(canmake changesinresponse unlike anisolated
physical meeting).Matchedgeocoderwill tell youwere peopleare comingfrom, orwho youare
missing. Google analyticscollectsinfoaboutyouraudience,itcantell you,forexample, whatdayswere
mostactive.“oh,that post card had little effect.”
Online openhouse isan APPROACH- manytoolsavailabletoimplementthe approach.
ODOT case studies:

6. Four yearssince ODOT’sfirstonline openhouse,whichwasforthe Willamette RiverBridge project.
People were notcomingtophysical openhouses. Received150 comments,whichwere more thought
out andclearlyfromdifferentdemographicsthanwere beingengagedphysically.
OregonPassengerRail project:Muchmore dispersedimpactarea.Had18 total physical openhouses,
and an online open house ateachstage,hada large increase inuse overtime.Recreatingthe
interactive.
Past 18 monthshave done openhouseson3 projects.Wasuseful ina projectthatwas complicatedto
explain.Foundthatinquiriesandcalls aboutthe project dwindledafteronline explanation.
Connectiontosocial mediaisimportant.Youcan see the impactw/analytics.Also,cansee some social
mediafeedback.
Hard to compare unique viewstoinpersonvisits,butour datashowsa much largerreach than physical
openhouses.
Online openhousescanbe usedto anticipate issuesthatwillcome upat a physical.
Some challenges:
Educatingstaff on online engagement.
Reachingrural folkswithouthighspeedinternet.Needtomake otherstuff available.
Needeasyurl- a“name” basedurl helps,somethingthatcan be remembered.
“Video,TV,YouTube,social media”
PeterMurphy,PublicInformationOfficer,OregonDepartmentof Transportation
Funfact: ODOT getsmore videopage viewsthanCaltrans
In thissessionMr.Murphy sharedlessonsfromhisbackgroundintelevisionnews,videoproduction,and
publicinformation.
The appeal of videocontentisn’tcomplicated,youcanpresentyourinformationinaformatthat
includessomethingmoving,andthatmightbe entertaining.
YouTube has analyticsfeaturesthatcanhelpyoulearnmore aboutthe audience foryourinformation.
KEEP VIDEOSunder1.5-2 minutesinlength.If youcankeep50% of viewsat1.5min you are doingvery
well.
Outside productionservicesare becominglessexpensive,butpartor all the processcan be done in
house.
The firststepis to determine the audience.Who;what;when;where;andwhy.These researchsteps
can be done inhouse.

7. Whenproducinga videothere isaneditorial message- We are speakingforothers/managers.Runthings
up the flagpole,doyourresearch,rundraftscriptsup the flagpole.Keytakeaway:keepmanagers
connectedatkeysteps. Rememberthough,itishardto make a videobycommittee.
Productiontips:Make sure you knowyourlocations- are permitsorfeesrelevant?Getareal personfor
your video- videoisn’taboutdata.Considerhow longitwill take- how manyshots/locationsare
required?Goodsoundisimportant.Productioncompaniesmightcharge bythe numberof “set-ups.”
Editingtips:Youmake a videofromwhatyouhave- letyourmaterial drive the final process.There are a
numberof low-costvideoeditingsoftware products.AVSVideowasdemonstrated.
Othertips:It issometimespossibletopassyouvideoworkalongto newsmedia.Thisismore andmore
common.You won’thave a “perfect script,”justone that works.Limitgraphicsandtalkingheads.