I was thrilled to receive the Award of Excellence at the annual conference in Atlanta of my national professional organization, City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA), for phase one of the community engagement program for Pasadena's General Plan update that took place over the course of nine months in 2009.
I submitted our entry in the category Citizen Participation/ Community Visioning.
The program included stakeholder interviews, MoveAbout tours, a speaker series, community workshops, an open house extravaganza and a youth component.
This was a team effort that included the Planning and Development Department, the Public Affairs Office and the General Plan Update Advisory Committee. Many thanks to all staff involved, including Stephanie DeWolfe, Jason Mikaelian, Scott Reimers, Vicki Carrillo, Zack Stromberg, Susan Soto and others.
In addition to attending several workshops during the conference, I co-led two of them: "Crisis Communications and Social Media" and "Going Digital."
Here I am at the podium just before the "Going Digital" session began, with my long-time pal Heather Morris, director of communications for the Port of Long Beach (photo by Margaret Magee of the Port of Long Beach).
It's always good to get away for an annual conference, network with peers from around the nation, learn a little and teach a little.
And now, back to work.
