WCEP2015 @wcep2015-blog - Tumblr Blog

wcep2015-blog

WRAP UP Lessons Water Communication Exchange 2015

Water is becoming one of the biggest global issues in the near future. With a group of Dutch communication professionals working on a variety of water and innovation projects, we have the ambition to strengthen our international orientation.

This is why we’ve organized an exchange week to New York and Washington. Through different visits we have learned intensively about campaigning, community engagement, stakeholder management and the Dutch-American relationship with regard to water related issues.

In New York we have visited Erik Mouthaan, America (Correspondent for the Dutch broadcaster RTL News), John Paluszek (CEO Business in Society), Toni Muzi Falconi (Founder Global PR Alliance), the Municipal Art Society New York (MAS), Rebuild By Design program (RBD), community resiliency center UPROSE, the Rockefeller Foundation, 100 resilient cities program, and Craig Carroll (Corporate communication and Reputation expert).

In Washington we have visited 270 Strategies, the 11th Street Bridge Park project and the Dutch Embassy.

We proudly present to you our lessons of the Water Communication Exchange 2015:

1. The Dutch are super informed, Americans are super organized

We found an interesting cultural difference: In complex water related projects, the Dutch are better informed, less involved and critical. Americans are more involved, less informed and more engaged.

Erik Mouthaan (RTL News) ‘Americans will deal with it when it becomes a problem’

Kristin Purdy (270strategies) ‘We measure every encounter with our volunteers’

Laurance Fauconnet (MAS) ‘Even people from other neighborhoods and Google come to participate in our projects’

2. Cut it up!

Early stakeholder involvement requires new forms of project management.

Accelerate by cutting every step into smaller steps, implement continuous testing and learning cycles and most of all: learn by doing.

Amy Chester (RBD) ‘Never assume you know the answer’

Irfana Noorani (11th street bridge) ‘First step was asking the community for permission’

Max Young (100 resilient cities) ‘We used lessons of Rebuild by Design to sharpen 100 resilient cities program and are starting up in different phases and rounds’ .

Kristin Purdy (270strategies) ‘First raise interest and scrum your way into stronger involvement’

3. Resilience? What do you mean?

Dutch resilience is focused on projects and solutions, American resilience is focused on people and communities

Elizabeth Yeampierre (Uprose) ‘People in communities don’t need to be serviced, they are experts’

Matthijs Bouw (One architecture) ‘Proposing an approach instead of a plan works here. The vitality of communities in New York is very surprising, in the US people are far more engaged and willing to be involved’

Laurance Fauconnet (MAS) ‘We bring together stakeholders from all perspectives in our programs’

4. Mind your language!

The unbreakable Dutch reputation on water management is evident. But, be aware what gets lots in translation.

Craig Carroll (Reputation expert) ‘Delta associates to me as southern region’

Max Young (100 resilient cities) ‘Talking resilience is hard. This is why we are constantly learning about culture and language. Water serves as a great and powerful opening topic in conversations because everyone understands it’

Toni Falconi (Global PR Alliance) ‘Delta, You mean the airline?’

5. Be relevant and meet the people where they are

A no brainer, but still very often forgotten. To be effective and relevant you have to meet people where they are and treat local communities as experts .

John Poluszek (CEO Business in Society) ’ Get it right away and be sure to get it right’

Ryan Chavez (Uprose) ‘ Step up and step back’ Encourage those who never speak to speak and others to step back.

Toni Falconi (Global PR Alliance) ‘Shut up and Listen’

Ryan Moon (270strategies) ‘Make common messages for common people’ and ‘Recruit matching volunteers for different political candidates’

6. Building and maintaining trust is key

A universal similarity is that building is key, and unfortunately, maintaining a collective memory lacks ownership. Here lies a great opportunity for communication professionals to add value.

Neill Coleman (Rockefeller foundation) ‘Our influence has to be maintained constantly. To stay relevant, we need to keep telling stories about the change we initiate and how that benefit our stakeholders’

Amy Chester (Rebuild by Design) ‘Handing over a project feels like letting go of your children’

Max Young (100 resilient cities) ‘ We are constantly helping cities to see their real challenges and push them in inviting different people in workhops, even if this is uncomfortable’

Laurance Fauconnet (MAS) ‘Community based resilience is simple, it’s about people’

Irfana Noorani (11street Bridge Park) ‘Invest in people as much as in space and place’

7. Have pizza parties to reach your goals

Increase fun factor and get early stakeholder involvement.

Ryan Moon (270strategies) ‘Have pizza parties for early connecting, concentrate on bringing people together and later on match their beliefs to political programs’.

Elizabeth Yeampierre (Uprose) ‘We even offer childcare to encourage community members to join our events’

Irfana Noorani (11street bridge) ‘Most bridges are pathways. The 11street bridge park is place-based. We want people to meet and enjoy their time here’

8. Organize Water Communication Exchange programs

To get to know other experts in your field and achieving bigger impact through your combined knowledge, strengths and networks.

Eveline du Perron ‘WCEP 2015 was not only a great way to expand my network, but also a great way to get to know the city in all it’s aspects’

Jade Wissink ‘It was most inspiring for me to see everyone of the WCEP organization took their own strengths to fulfill their tasks and roles to come up with the most exciting program!’

Jacquelien Nienhuis ‘This week offered me a great way to connect with Dutch professionals and testing and reflecting on the reputation of the Netherlands through different visits’

Christina Boomsma ‘The trip was very rewarding, not only because of the programme, but also because of the chance to interact with water communications colleagues from the Dutch government.’

Mariska van der Deen ‘In by learning doing and having lot’s of fun along the way I’m bringing home more insights in how water projects work both in the US and in the Netherlands with a bunch of brand new ideas’

Who is joining us next year?

evelinelostinnewyork-blog

“Bring in the artist”

The climate is changing. The sea level is rising. So more young people should pursue a career in… ART

Yes. I know. We need engineers to design and implement the hardware of our vulnerable cities and vanishing coastlines. But that is already on the agenda, at least in the Netherlands. However, I’ve never heard a politician plead for more artists to get involved in climate change and water management. But they should! And this is why:

1. Artists are possibly the most resilient people in the world

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back – or better: bounce forward – from any type of stress or disaster. Being creative and thinking outside the box opens up a new world of possibilities. Not just solving an issue in a new way, but also solving several issues at once. Check out this animation by GRO architects, designed years before Sandy is 2009:

source: Inhabitat

Another reason for artists to be more resilient could be a lack of money to be inflexible or wasteful. An unsteady cash flow makes a great incentive to recycle, reform or share stuff a Manhattan manager would never even consider.

2. Artists are the sharpest responders

Since Twitter and its successors, anyone can respond to any occurrence as it happens. Artists however have the mastery to capture the event from different angles or for extended audiences. The image The City and the Storm - made by Dutch photographer Iwan Baan - became an icon of the way lower Manhattan was sharply cut off, not just from electricity but from the rest of the world:

Source: Iwan Baan / New York magazine

Sometimes an artist responds before disaster strikes. New York based artist Eve Mosher is a good example. Her art installation physically marked the one hundred year flood line in Manhattan. It closely approximates the area damaged by Sandy.

The fact that the art work was made in the summer of 2007, 5 years before the actual super storm, makes it either supernatural or a painfully neglected hint:

Source: The New Yorker

3. Artists educate and connect people

One of the lessons learned in our exchange program about water and communication is that Americans are not big news watchers or readers. If any, they are most likely to follow the local news only.

So what to do if you want to reach out to a big audience? Bring in the artists!

Non-profit art and community centre Groundswell used art to help Sandy affected areas to connect and recover:

source: 100 resilient cities

Meanwhile, Dutch artist Theo Jansen travels around the world to display his Leonardo-inspired, wind powered ‘strandbeesten’ or beach beasts, recently in Boston.

source: Loek van der Klis / Boston globe

4. Artists as guides to safety

Along the Dutch beach of Zandvoort - near Amsterdam - figures of Dick Bruna’s Nijntje (Miffy) and its friends are used as a points of reverence. They are meant to avoid children getting lost during a crowded summer day.

source: Immoscaldis

In 2013, New Orleans has taken this principle to a whole new level of safety. As part of the City Assisted Evacuation program (CAE) 17 evacuation pick-up points - evacuSpots - were designed by American artist Douglas Kornfeld and places all over New Orleans:

source: WWLVT Channel and Evacuteer

5. Artists meet people where they are

In a world submerged in posters, banners and neon lights, attracting attention for any message can be nearly impossible. Artists have always found ways to meet their audience where they are. Through a mural in a 15,000 BC cave. Through a triptych in a 15th century church. Or through sculpture in a 20th century transportation hub.

Last saturday, I travelled from Manhattan to Brooklyn after a 6 day full time learning experience about climate change, urban planning, community engagement and of course, art. Transferrring from the E-line to the L-line, I stumbled upon these hard working sculptures:

I had never been at 14ST/8AV station before … but I knew these creatures! I had interviewed the artist, Tom Otterness, back in 2012, when major renovation work was being done on the vulnerable boulevard of Scheveningen beach in The Hague.

The 23 groups of bronze fairy tale sculptures had to be moved and reinstalled at the new, reinforced boulevard, designed by architect Manuel de Solà-Morales. They became the symbols of our communication strategy: the 3-year renovation is a temporary nuisance to the entire community, but it will be rewarding in the end:

source: City of The Hague / DPI animation house

In the video, the sculptures search for a new, safer and brighter place. But the best part is: it brings together the genius of the Spanish architect, the American sculptor and the Dutch animator.

So when I met these subway creatures on my way to Bushwich, I was no longer lost in New York. I was home.

WRAP UP Lessons Water Communication Exchange 2015

In Washington we have visited 270 Strategies, the 11th Street Bridge Park project and the Dutch Embassy.

We proudly present to you our lessons of the Water Communication Exchange 2015:

1. The Dutch are super informed, Americans are super organized

We found an interesting cultural difference: In complex water related projects, the Dutch are better informed, less involved and critical. Americans are more involved, less informed and more engaged.

Erik Mouthaan (RTL News) ‘Americans will deal with it when it becomes a problem’

Kristin Purdy (270strategies) ‘We measure every encounter with our volunteers’

Laurance Fauconnet (MAS) ‘Even people from other neighborhoods and Google come to participate in our projects’

2. Cut it up!

Early stakeholder involvement requires new forms of project management.

Accelerate by cutting every step into smaller steps, implement continuous testing and learning cycles and most of all: learn by doing.

Amy Chester (RBD) ‘Never assume you know the answer’

Irfana Noorani (11th street bridge) ‘First step was asking the community for permission’

Max Young (100 resilient cities) ‘We used lessons of Rebuild by Design to sharpen 100 resilient cities program and are starting up in different phases and rounds’ .

Kristin Purdy (270strategies) ‘First raise interest and scrum your way into stronger involvement’

3. Resilience? What do you mean?

Dutch resilience is focused on projects and solutions, American resilience is focused on people and communities

Elizabeth Yeampierre (Uprose) ‘People in communities don’t need to be serviced, they are experts’

Laurance Fauconnet (MAS) ‘We bring together stakeholders from all perspectives in our programs’

4. Mind your language!

The unbreakable Dutch reputation on water management is evident. But, be aware what gets lots in translation.

Craig Carroll (Reputation expert) ‘Delta associates to me as southern region’

Toni Falconi (Global PR Alliance) ‘Delta, You mean the airline?’

5. Be relevant and meet the people where they are

A no brainer, but still very often forgotten. To be effective and relevant you have to meet people where they are and treat local communities as experts .

John Poluszek (CEO Business in Society) ’ Get it right away and be sure to get it right’

Ryan Chavez (Uprose) ‘ Step up and step back’ Encourage those who never speak to speak and others to step back.

Toni Falconi (Global PR Alliance) ‘Shut up and Listen’

Ryan Moon (270strategies) ‘Make common messages for common people’ and ‘Recruit matching volunteers for different political candidates’

6. Building and maintaining trust is key

A universal similarity is that building is key, and unfortunately, maintaining a collective memory lacks ownership. Here lies a great opportunity for communication professionals to add value.

Amy Chester (Rebuild by Design) ‘Handing over a project feels like letting go of your children’

Max Young (100 resilient cities) ‘ We are constantly helping cities to see their real challenges and push them in inviting different people in workhops, even if this is uncomfortable’

Laurance Fauconnet (MAS) ‘Community based resilience is simple, it’s about people’

Irfana Noorani (11street Bridge Park) ‘Invest in people as much as in space and place’

7. Have pizza parties to reach your goals

Increase fun factor and get early stakeholder involvement.

Ryan Moon (270strategies) ‘Have pizza parties for early connecting, concentrate on bringing people together and later on match their beliefs to political programs’.

Elizabeth Yeampierre (Uprose) ‘We even offer childcare to encourage community members to join our events’

Irfana Noorani (11street bridge) ‘Most bridges are pathways. The 11street bridge park is place-based. We want people to meet and enjoy their time here’

8. Organize Water Communication Exchange programs

To get to know other experts in your field and achieving bigger impact through your combined knowledge, strengths and networks.

Eveline du Perron ‘WCEP 2015 was not only a great way to expand my network, but also a great way to get to know the city in all it’s aspects’

Jade Wissink ‘It was most inspiring for me to see everyone of the WCEP organization took their own strengths to fulfill their tasks and roles to come up with the most exciting program!’

Jacquelien Nienhuis ‘This week offered me a great way to connect with Dutch professionals and testing and reflecting on the reputation of the Netherlands through different visits’

Christina Boomsma 'The trip was very rewarding, not only because of the programme, but also because of the chance to interact with water communications colleagues from the Dutch government.'

Who is joining us next year?

#wcep2015 #wrapup #seeyounextyear

jadewissink

‘The divorce from thought leadership on water is impossible for The Netherlands’

So exciting: we’ve arrived in Washington, crossing multiple states by Amtrak Train in only 3,5 hours. A different city, a different world, so it seems. The relative quiet was almost ear deafening. But then the Pope arrived and interfered with all of our plans: a closed down Capitol, and meetings cancelled due to road blocks. But the one thing we know for sure after our last three meetings: the reputation management of the pope is the best, framed as the most liberal pope and loved by many!

The last meetings in New York were amongst other things on the topic of reputation management. We met with Neill Coleman and Maxwell Young, who told us about both the Rockefeller Foundation’s reputation and goals, and about the 100 Resilient Cities program: a network of resilient cities - where our Dutch city of Rotterdam is a part of. Also we met with professor on corporate reputation management, Craig Carroll and went for a short stroll on the High Line (Tip!). Our head of communications Room for the River Jorien Douma made a movie with a question for Craig on how to best measure the reputation of Room for the River program Craig answered her question during our meeting on camera. Check out the blog about these two movies on our WCEP2015 blog.

In addition to these meetings, we met with the ‘ready for Hillary’ campaign firm 270 Strategies in Washington. The name of this firm refers to the 270 electoral votes a political candidate should have to become president, or in other words: to be a winning candidate, with the best reputation.

From these three meetings on building resilient cities, building and upholding a good reputation and campaigning to gain commitment, I’ve selected three best practices to share with you today.

1. The (communication) success of the Rockefeller Foundation lies in the power of bringing people together, having a big network, and providing communication support instead of doing it their selves. For grantees where the communication is not yet well organized, the Rockefeller provides them with help in deciding about a communication strategy. 100 Resilient Cities as a grantee on their turn helps the local governments in making their own strategic communications plans. They are sharing expertise on a strategic level instead of practicing the local stakeholder management in an operational way. They’re asking questions like ‘who is going to complain, and how would you manage that?’ in order to help the local governments to be independent. In the Room for the River program we work the same way: the program communications team under my lead functions as facilitator for the 34 different projects in the program.

2. Reputation management of the Dutch - in the words of Craig: ‘The Dutch are known for the issue of water more than anything - or any country - in the world’. The divorce from thought leadership on water is impossible for The Netherlands. Reputation is the one thing about an organization people know and have an opinion about. But as the Dutch saying goes: ‘reputation comes on foot and leaves by horse’ - or ‘by Volkswagen’ if you take into account the latest reputation crisis on that company. Craig: ‘Communicators are bodies of knowledge- you will make the difference here to really know what you are talking about instead of proclaiming you are ‘only’ the communications professional and not the ‘expert’. We don’t direct the communications anymore, we are facilitators and orchestrators – but we have to know what we are talking about when we communicate and facilitate!

3. Chop-chop-chop. Chop up your goals in small pieces and make them relevant for local groups. Meet people where they are and tell stories to persuade them in campaigns. The 270 Strategies firm believes in the ladder of engagements: from prospect, to attendee at a conference, to volunteer, to team leader of volunteers. With for every layer certain goals that have to be reached. Like UPROSE (and WCEP!), 270 Strategies believes in the ‘fun’ aspect of communication and persuasion: celebrate, have pizza parties to win votes or commitment instead of organizing events around issues. In the USA it’s more important to be a part of a group, than in believing in all the political preferences of the president-to-be. Again: more engaged, less informed - thereby less critical and more involved.

To conclude…

Asked about their most helpful lesson in communication:

‘Be sure to get out there early and be transparent’, so later on in the process you won’t get surprised (Neill, Rockefeller Foundation)

‘Communications professionals have their own body of knowledge and have a lot to offer, just as much as engineers, but we have to first understand what we are bringing to the table’ (Craig, professor on reputation management, NY University)

‘Meet people where they are.’ (Kristin 270 Strategies)

‘Make common messages for common people’, like Joe the Plummer (Ryan, 270 Strategies)

We ended the day with some typical American comedy: Mexican-American stand-up comedian Cristela Alonzo (second from the right) really made us pee our pants laughing :) because we believe fun is very important in work/life!

Tomorrow we’ll present our finest conclusions and recommendations to the Dutch ambassador in Washington, Henne Schuwer. Of course these recommendations will be shared in a blog, so check wcep2015.tumblr.com tomorrow to be inspired!

Answer from Craig Carroll to Jorien Douma on measuring the reputation of Room for the River

Professor Craig Carroll is a corporate communications and reputation expert at New York University. As a best selling author professor Carroll recently released the handbook of communication and corporate reputation. In this book the latest insights from communication studies are shared regarding large businesses ethical profiles. We are curious on how we can implement some of his insights to our work.

In the previous video Jorien Douma, head of communications at Rijkswaterstaat Room for the River, explains her vision on communication in Dutch water safety programs she works for. She concludes with a question for professor Craig Carroll. Professor Carroll gave her the answer to her question in this video.

#communication #wcep2015 #reputation

mariskavanderdeen-blog

DAY 4 Water Communication Exchange Program NY & Washington

Change of scenery, we are in Washington DC!

Today we took upon the themes of holy spirits and grassroots campaigning. Here are the lessons of today:

Breakfast with the Washington Police, FBI and army corps

‘You’ll never know, so better be prepared’

Probably the safest breakfast I ever had, pope Francis is in town!

Wating for Francis

When in Rome, do as ehhhh…Well at least we got some decibels of the crowd who actually did got a peek of Francis after two hour of waiting.

Grassroots campaigning by 270 strategies

‘Meet people where they are and have a pizza party’

After a very relaxing sunny lunch, we got to one of the most exciting visits of our week: 270 strategies a data driven campaign bureau specialized in activation and grassroots campaigns. And, involved in the 2008 Obama campaign, Get ready for Hillary and upcoming elections. Next to political campaigning, 270ies work on campaigns for ngo’s and commercial companies.

We were supposed to meet up with founding partner Mitch Stewart who unfortunately had last minute obligations in Europe. Also some other partners were not able to be at the office today since pope Francis messed up the entire city of Washington today. Great for us since this way we’ve got to connect with Ryan, Kristin, and Jesse.

Unique in their combination of on- and offline success, 270ies (number of votes needed to win a state) was founded right after the 2008 Obama campaign. In various campaigns they help organizations achieve big impact and getting people engaged. How they do this? In short they start with coaching organizations in razor sharp goal setting, using right metrics by measuring or buying every data possible for effective targeting, and pushing for shorter and smaller series of campaigns to implement self learning cycles. Sounds vague? It’s just pizza! While in need of volunteers for Obama, 270ies targeted a small group of the right volunteers through data analytics. These are asked about their intrinsic motivations to recruit new ones, and once the do climb up their reward program. For example, being allowed on a picture with a famous person. Crucial in this process is using small steps, and being truly enthusiastic and people orientated. By having relaxing celebrations and pizza parties, 270ies rised the latter of engagement for volunteers. So in the end they were able to connect peoples own motivation to Obama’s campaign in order to convince them voting for him.

Every step in this process is measured and finally you would end up from volunteer to employee like Ryan!

This week we are learning from different American perspectives about the themes water and communication. We have the ambition to learn intensively about campaigning, community engagement and stakeholder management. Or, how to accomplish big impact and add value within water related projects. Throughout the week we will gather starting points on how to continue our network and learnings.

On a personal level, I hope to find new ways of branding water stories in a creative way. In other words, I am hungry for brand new ideas.

mariskavanderdeen-blog

Water Communication Exchange 2015 Day 3

mariskavanderdeen-blog

On our way to the next meeting with taxi driver Abraham- sneak preview aftermovie Water Communication Exchange Program 2015

jadewissink

Uptown Girl Goes Downtown

Day two fades into day three, and I’m really getting a grip on the metro system. Constantly choosing in going uptown or downtown, I can’t get this song from Billy Joel out of my head anymore.

However, the playground of day 2 was mostly downtown in the lower east side, where we had a city walk with the Municipal Arts Society of New York (MAS), a meeting at the office of the Rebuild by Design program (RbD) and a meeting in the headquarters of the UPROSE community organization. Moving from the impact of arts to effectuating different kinds of resilience (social, economic ánd water resilience), to enhancing community activism in climate justice. As a red (or blue) thread: water and communications. I’ll share with you these 4 lessons.

1. Art effectuates resilience. After the New Orleans floodings in 2005, a functional art project called ‘Evacuteer’ gave the inhabitants the insurance that, when a new flood would threaten the city, there is a place one could go to be rescued. Art also played a big role in the restorations of the city after Hurricane Sandy struck New York in 2012: in the Lower East Side (Bowery and Houston street) artists gave the disaster an artistic ‘face’ in public areas by painting on buildings and gates. A few years earlier, in a street situated more than three blocks from the sea shore, artists painted the sidewalks blue to show how far the water could come in case of a storm. When Sandy hit the city, the water actually came to that line!

Art brings people together, effectuates water awareness and makes relatively ‘bad neighbourhoods’ come to life. In the neighbourhood where I’m staying this first part of the week (Sunnyside, Queens), this last aspect is actually very visible: underneath the bridge with the metro line that takes us uptown, the space is being used for arts projects and other spatial developments, hereby making people feel more safe in public spaces. The Municipal Arts Society is a facilitator in this process for New York, like Pakhuis de Zwijger is for Amsterdam. Through WCEP2015 these two organizations will actually meet with each other later on this year, one of the first cool results of this study trip!

2. ‘The vitality of communities in New York is very surprising, compared to The Netherlands’, said architect of one of the RbD projects called The Big U, Mathijs Bouman. ‘We let the government take care of us. In the US people are far more engaged and willing to be involved’. As an urban planner and architect, Mathijs always starts with an APPROACH instead of a PLAN: ‘Because you make the plan with the community. That’s the whole purpose of RbD, it’s somewhat bewildering for the Netherlands’. The Dutch have the desire to develop this way of thinking about community engagement, but are too well informed and thus very critical, where the Americans are better organized and thus more engaged. So, the lesson we learned on day 1 also applies for day two! Let’s see how this works out for the rest of the week.

3. It’s important to make the community itself resilient. When a project ends, or team members leave the project, valuable knowledge is getting lost while the community stays. This we learned not only in our own projects in Netherlands, also Amy Chester of the RbD team stated this particular problem as one of the bigger lessons in the RbD program. During the process all the team members where being kept informed so everyone was on the same ‘knowledge level’. RbD was the owner and facilitator of this information process. Amy: ‘We also planned coffee dates in the neighbourhoods, to really connect with the environment and the communities’. This is something we are practicing in the Netherlands and is called ‘omgevingsmanagement’: community management. RbD appointed community leaders to each neighbourhood, for example Elizabeth. She’s the community manager with a carribean background at UPROSE. Engagement with the local communities was a success factor in making the communities resilient.

4. UPROSE, with it’s headquarters in the Sunset Park area, is a grassroots organization that meets with policy makers and scientists all over the country to change the language on climate change into something everyone understands, make the ‘technical talk’ accessible. From them we learned how important it is to really speak the same language, to be on the same knowledge level and that everybody in a community can be an expert – from the mayor to the local entrepreneurs. Equality is a very important factor in making this community in Sunset Park resilient. Success factor in this example: engaging the young people! Because UPROSE believes that you don’t have to wait to exercise leadership until you are all grown up. Elizabeth: ‘You need celebrations, open mic nights and theatre - opportunities to come together around things that have nothing to do with solving problems. We celebrate difference instead of homogenous. We are anti-gentrification because here in Brooklyn everyone is from somewhere’. The lesson here is that, to make communities resilient, you need to speak the same language, and really be a part of that community yourself instead of some politician who want to engage the community top down.

To conclude…

Asked about their most helpful lesson in communication:

- ‘Tell a story, to really connect to people’ (Lawrence, MAS) - ‘Never assume you know the best approach’ (Amy, RbD) - ‘Step up and Step back – give a stage to people who normally don’t speak up’ (Ryan, UPROSE)

Tonight we’ll be traveling to Washington, where we could actually bump into the pope in The Mall! Because hey, it’s America, so you’ll never know what can happen! Cheers.

mariskavanderdeen-blog

DAY 3 Water Communication Exchange Program NY & Washington

Today was our last day in New York. On the topics influence, city resilience and reputation management we visited the Rockefeller foundation and had a lunch meetup in Chelsea with reputation expert Craig Carroll. Unfortunately, after lunch we had to say goodbye to Jaquelien Nienhuis since she was called upon helping out during the UN Sustainable Global Goals meetings.

Oh, and we had an afternoon walk on the beautiful green highline park, shopped the coolest sneakers at Steven Allen, visited an art exhibition at Hauser and Wirth, chilled out on a sunny meatpacking district terrace, ran over some haute couture photo shoots, watched the sun kissing buildings which made spectacular shades on others, walked on the Brooklyn bridge during magic sunset hour with pecan oreo icecreams, watched the lady of liberty surround herself with a transforming sky changing from bluish pink to heavy yellow, asked a bunch of Americans on our way on how they experience the upcoming elections, and let the east river ferry dance us around the amazing night skyline of oneworld, empire state, chrysler and 43th street before we jumped on a train towards the pope’s speech tomorrow in Washington!

22nd floor 5th avenue meetup with the Rockefeller foundation and 100 resilient cities program.

‘Communication means influence. Get out there early and be transparent’

Neil Coleman Vice President global strategic communications at the Rockefeller foundation

‘Engaged and dedicated majors are key, invest in being beneficiary for them’

Max Young, Vice president global communications and marketing at the 100 resilient cities program

We had the pleasure of meeting two vice presidents of global communications in the executive boardroom of the Rockefeller foundation. The Rockefeller foundation is one of the world’s most powerfull NGO’s and involved in several global resilience programs like Rebuild by Design we visited yesterday and the 100 resilient cities program. This last program aims at connecting a knowledge echange between 100 cities worldwide on resilience issues. Rotterdam represents as the Dutch city in coping with different urban challenges.

Neil and Max explained us how to get to a global strategic inclusive plan while overcoming language and cultural difficulties. Very interestingly Max proclaimed to us the power water as an opening topic. Every city deals with water in one way or the other and everyone understands what water means.

Max described their role as an implementing vehicle for enhancing innovations of others, since a lot of the work of the 100 resilient city program concentrates on combining different city challenges. This is very recognizable since in the Dutch program Room for the river I work for water saftey measures are always combined with enhancing project areas in a cultural, economical or recreational way. Another metaphor Max used in explaining how to achieve global impact is taking up the position as a conductor of orchestra. Cities have to take care of instruments and artists, Rockefeller and the 100 resilient city program will take responsibility of making it music altogether.

Chelsea lunch with PR and reputation expert Craig Caroll

‘Realize that communication professionals have a body of knowledge just as lawyers, doctors and engineers and use it’

Betteke van Ruhler, a Dutch leading expert on strategic communication introduced us to professor Craig Carrol, the leading global expert on reputation. During lunch we joked that we should have gaven him lunch before our meetup, since we were kept firing new series of questions.

First Craig told us everything about a corporate social responsibility conference he just attended in Europe. The current refugee influx strongly influenced this conference. About 20% of participants could not show up since European borders are closed, and most discussion were dominated by this topic.

After asking why Craig became an expert on reputation, he proclaimed that reputation is the one thing everybody understands and can talk about within and out organizaations. In other words, working on reputation means creating change.

Next we discussed the reputation of the Netherlands as a leading expert on water and how to combine core messages within our Dutch brand. Craig stated our reputation on water is so strong that even future flooding will not change that. This means we can use our water expertise to support other topics we want be known for like innovation or leading electronic music. Interesting again the word ‘Delta’ we use al lot in Dutch water sector only associated to Craig as a rural southern region.

By discussing next generation communication professionals, Craig emphasized the importance of knowledge. Information needs to shape you and you need to shape information. Realizing this means the body of information of a communication consultant functions on changing awareness, attitudes and conversations. And thus this body does not not directs but enables change.

On a personal level, I hope to find new ways of branding water stories in a creative way. In other words, I am hungry for brand new ideas.

evelinelostinnewyork-blog

I have been ‘lost in New York’ for twelve amazing days now. Today and yesterday have been a rollercoaster ride with @wcep2015. We have been welcomed with open arms by over 20 people who all make a huge difference in New York and beyond. People with great knowlegde, huge experience and vast networks. People who are full of energy and inspiration.

It might take me a few days for all the information, quotes and insights to fall into place and hopefully lead to fresh ideas and initiatives for future cooperation.

But for now, I would just like to share some random reflections based on my photo album before and during @wcep2015:

#reflection1: New York manages their park traffic. New Yorkers seem to obey. Could this work in the Vondelpark? (picture of Prospect Park, Brooklyn)

#reflection2: the pope will think that Central Park is always peaceful and quiet.

#reflection3: Wind turbines are only allowed if they can’t hit anything should they fall. Therefore, New York state has ONE windmill. (Sims at Sunset Park, Brooklyn)

#reflection4: Not all New York bridges are designed for bikes and pedestrian. solution: free bike racks on all buses crossing that bridge (Verrazano bridge from Brooklyn to Staten Island)

#reflection5: from the roof of the CBS broadcast center, breaking news is brought all over the world. However, New Yorkers do not seem to watch or listen to the daily news as much as we do.

#reflection6: New Yorkers take their street art very seriously. Buildings get new owners and new functions, but the graffiti stays where it is.

#reflection7: retailing giants like Ikea and Fairway play a huge role in urban planning. I hope to find out about the pros and cons of this and blog about it.

#reflection8: So what is Lenin doing on top of the red square apartments on Bowery, pointing at Wall Street?

#reflection9: Wifi-in-the-park at Bryant Park is a lot like Wifi-on-the-train in the Netherlands….

christinaboomsma-blog

I feel very resilient today!

When the Dutch talk about resilience, they talk about projects, buildings, innovations, water management. When the Americans talk about resilience, they talk about people. Which is great, because I like the word and now I can use it all the time. I feel very resilient today!

MAS society, One Architects, Rebuild by Design, Uprose

It’s day two of the Water and Communication Exchange programme. We are guests of the Municipal Arts Society (MAS). This organization plays a major role in getting people involved and informed in for example the Rebuild By Design projects, to rebuild and protect the city against new hurricanes like Sandy. Resilience is about people, says Lawrence, our MAS guide. Matthijs Bouwman, of One Architects, agrees with him. He is responsible for the ‘BIG U’ projects, one of the winning Rebuild by Design projects. Although Dutch, he has lived and worked in America for a long time now. “You have to have an approach, not a plan, he says. The plan comes together with all te stakeholders. We, as designers, have to be confident enough to listen and incorporate ideas.” Bouwman states that communities in the USA are much more resilient than those in the Netherlands. “Here, communities get involved and are willing to make an effort to get their ideas heard. In the Netherlands, people depend much more on the government to take care of things.” I have heard this before, Erik Mouthaan of RTL said it too, yesterday.

“Yes, I do sometimes feel like an anxious parent, says Amy Chester of the Rebuild by Design team, with whom we are having lunch. Rebuild by Design is a revolutionary approach, inviting multidisciplinary teams from all over the world to help rebuild and renew New York after storm Sandy. Out of many ideas, 7 projects were chosen. Now, Rebuild by Design is in a critical phase. For implementation, projects have to be taken over by government agencies, compromises have to be made, for example because of financing. This is exactly why Rebuild by Design invested so much in getting communities involved. Now, they have to be the stewards of their projects. Are they resilient enough to do so? We are meeting ‘Uprose’ later, a local community which is very involved as the voice of the community in the Rebuild by Design projects.

At Uprose, the resilience of the organization is immediately clear. Elizabeth is a force to be reckoned with, and so are Ryan and Bernie. Extremely well-informed and passionate. We cannot get a word in, but I feel resilient enough today to handle that. Elizabeth teaches us how to get people involved. “This is a low-income community she says. People are already under stress. You cannot use apocalyptic language, you have to get them involved in a positvie way. And have a very local approach. We have ‘block-captains’, people who inform us block by block. ” I think we could learn a thing or two here. I have never met a local community organization in the Netherlands that is so capable and passionate. They have to be though. I am happy to rely on my government, but I do think the Dutch communities could be more resilient and critical. Paying taxes does not mean paying off responsibility.

Christina Boomsma

#wcep2015

DAY 2 Water Communication Exchange Program

#wcep2015 #communities #art

Lower east side art city walk with our friend from Municipal Art Society

#wcep2015 #newyork #art

Our friends of the Rebuild by Design Program

Our friends of the Rebuild by Design program

jadewissink

‘Shut up, and listen!’

The Dutch know how to deal with water. After the Sandy hurricane, the American minister of spatial development Shaun Donovan said to the American people ‘we have to learn from the Dutch {…} how to be better prepared than before the storm’.

But the Dutch way is not the only way….and that also goes for communications about water! On the first day of our @WCEP2015 trip, we learned valuable lessons from Dutch correspondent Erik Mouthaan (RTL News) and two public relations professionalsToni Muzi Falconi (professor in Public Relations at NY University and founder of the Global Alliance (PRSA)) and John Paluszek (director of Business in Society and senior counsel at PR firm Ketchum).

The Dutch approach, the American way? Check out these 4 differences between the two countries on the topics water and communication, we discussed with Erik, Toni and John.

1 – I will start with a very practical lesson: Dutch are hyper informed but less organized - Americans are well organized but less informed. News plays a big role in this difference: in the Netherlands we have the news at 7.30 pm, while the Americans have their news broadcast at 5pm (work time). Consequential, less Americans actually watch the news compared to the Dutch. But on the other hand, the American inhabitants are much better organized – in societies, associations and action groups – compared to the Ducth (also see lesson 2).

2 - The big difference in approaching stakeholders in water projects between US and NL, is grounded in the way we trust our governments. In the Netherlands we believe the government takes good care of us (often expressed as ‘ga maar lekker slapen, de overheid regelt het wel’, freely translated as ‘sleep save and sound, the government will take care of you’). That is also the result of national awareness campaigns that show the inhabitants of our ‘Low Lands’ the purpose of working on water safety. The Americans, on the other hand, are a lot less trusting in their governments and they most certainly don’t have anything like ‘Rijkswaterstaat’: ‘who elected you, that you can decide to build a dike or to invest our public money in a new football stadium?’ Communication, therefore, has to be more local and lobbying is more important than a national campaign. Nevertheless, the Americans are, in their distrusting the government, more resourceful dealing with their own water safety. In this way, they are also more organized in action groups and associations.

3 – Never underestimate the importance of local governors! Mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmerman, has made it her top priority to get this safe from floodings and in that way she is a real ambassador of building resilient cities. But what happens when she steps down and a republican takes her place? In the Netherlands we are more focussed on decision making on a national level, with our special envoy for water affairs Henk Ovink and our ‘water minister’ Melanie Schultz.

4 – And regarding the organization of communication professionals in both countries, the following comes to mind: America counts 320 million inhabitant and there are around 110.000 PR professionals in the US. The Public Relations Society of America has approximately 22.000 members. Logeion has somewhat 3000 members on a total of 17 million Dutch inhabitants. So the Dutch communications society relatively outnumbers the PRSA, but has never gone international. The Global Alliance is a part of the PRSA, that seeks to engage the different associations for communications professionals around the world. Dutch organizations have not been a member of the global alliance. The more reason that we, as @WCEP2015, could really add value to the internationalist orientation of the Dutch communications association. Adding to this ‘filling the gap’, is our goal to FORM a network of communications professionals in water related projects, and not to be an organization that wants to INFORM communications professionals - because that’s nowadays what the internet is for!

To conclude…

Asked about their most helpful lesson in communication:

- Always ‘get it fast ánd get it right’ (John). Fastbecause of possible competitors who highjack your story, and right because of your own reliance/trustworthiness as a communications professional.

- Please ‘shut up and listen!’ (Toni). The more you listen, the more you understand which contributes to your advisory skills as a communications professional.

So, I will shut up now, and would really love to listen to your comments or questions below this blog or on Twitter!

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

WCEP2015