Navigating Rough Seas: Public Issues and Conflict Management

presented by the San Francisco Bay and Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve Coastal Training Programs

Instructor: Ann Weaver, NOAA Coastal Services Center

Dates: March 4-5, 2013

8:30am – 5:00pm each day

 If you've ever found yourself at the front of a room trying to defuse a tense situation or reach a difficult agreement, this training is for you! Planners, manager and public agency staff are frequently challenged by the need to balance multiple stakeholder interests, long term planning, and a myriad of agency mandates and regulations.  Resource management decisions can become contentious, particularly in situations where there is real or perceived scientific uncertainty or resource scarcity.  Public agency staff and managers are often responsible for navigating these complex public dialogues - and often without sufficient training in meeting facilitation or conflict management. This is a 2 day, hands-on training about group facilitation, meeting management, and collaborative processes.  This course is designed to teach you how to:

1. Learn to design, conduct and manage meetings.

2. Learn techniques to reduce conflict, enhance cooperation and achieve meeting objectives in a timely manner.

3. Learn how to use and practice facilitation skills to enhance communication between diverse groups with multiple perspectives.

4. Learn how to design a strategy for public input to projects and conduct a collaborative process.  

 More information about this training can be found by looking at a sample agenda below.