Without well-planned stakeholder engagement, projects can falter, budgets can implode, and tensions can rise. Almost everyone has a story of a project that went sideways because of poorly planned and executed stakeholder engagement. And then comes COVID-19, creating more challenges.

While many natural resource professionals understand the increasingly important role that stakeholder engagement plays in successful project outcomes, most have limited time, budget and understanding of how to plan and execute it effectively. 

This interactive, virtual course will transform your ability to meaningfully engage and communicate with stakeholders – both internally and externally -- to help your project or program succeed.

You will learn how to:

• Properly identify and distinguish between different “types” of stakeholders;
• Create the building blocks of an effective stakeholder engagement plan with strategies for engagement early and often;
• Design strategies that are appropriate for your goals for each stakeholder type or group, such as when to form an advisory committee or hold public meetings and workshops;
• Build trust by incorporating stakeholder input into the design of project/programs;
• Choose the right tools and use them effectively; a virtual tour? traditional media or social media? Listserv or PSA? 

This course is built around lessons learned from 20+ years of creating and implementing stakeholder engagement plans.

The course will be implemented virtually with Zoom on November 3, 2020 and November 10, 2020 from 9 AM – 12 PM. (6 CM credits)