Presentation to the NJ Municipal Management Association on Public Engagement Trust

Posted on March 10, 2022 at 3:57 PM

On Wednesday, March 9th, I hosted a workshop and discussion with the New Jersey Municipal Management Association entitled "How to use the internet to build public engagement and trust."

Sourcing some information from a survey of MMA members in winter of 2021, and my own experiences working and traveling in New Jersey and the US, we covered several more long-term and short-term topics. These topics were aimed at helping municipal managers build public engagement and trust, and confront how individuals are changing how they engage with a) information, b) each other, and c) decision making institutions.

The topics we covered were:

1. The context of municipal administration in shifting of global dynamics

2. Identifying and addressing "Perpetual Adversarialism"

3. Current challenges with social media

4. Sourcing proactive and strategic public feedback

5. Recruiting and retaining more volunteers.

NJ MMA members also shared their own experiences, and asked questions that touched on social media, data privacy, and doing proactive communication.

You can learn more at njmma.org.