EngagingCities Fireside Chats

About EngagingCities Fireside Chats

EngagingCommunities is the official podcast of the APA Community Engagement Interest Group, which shares outstanding work by our network of planners and changemakers, who actively involve their communities in creating better places and a brighter future. Host Kelly Hickler talks to leaders who are paving the way in civic engagement and shares strategies you can implement in your own community. Hosted by Kelly Hickler, AICP (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyhickler/) Sponsored by Konveio (https://www.konveio.com/)

Publisher

APA Community Engagement Interest Group

Category

government

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Jun 2024

Latest episode

18 Dec 2025

Latest episodes

1 of 22 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   18 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Season 2, Episode 8: Designing Strong Engagement with Vince Verlaan

   In this episode, host Kelly Hickler talks with engagement and facilitation expert Vince Verlaan about what “strong engagement” really means and why it matters. Drawing on 25 years of experience across city planning, sustainability, and organizational development, Vince shares insights on moving beyond check-the-box consultation, preparing organizations internally before engaging the public, and designing engagement processes that are genuinely relational. The conversation explores the IAP2 sp...

2. 

   12 Nov 2025

   Season 2, Episode 7: Human First Messaging with Katie Evans

   In this episode of EngagingCommunities, host Kelly Hickler talks with Katie Evans, Senior Communications Strategist at Woodard & Curran, about what it really means to make public communication human-centered — from translating technical jargon into plain language to running effective listening sessions that build trust. They dive into: - How to turn required notices into meaningful messages - The art of listening without defending - Why every project should start with impact - Creative w...

3. 

   7 Aug 2025

   Season 2, Episode 6: Grounded Leadership with Abe Herman

   On this episode of EngagingCommunities, join host Kelly Hickler as she chats with Abe Herman, the outgoing mayor of Grand Junction, Colorado — and possibly the only rock climbing mayor you’ll meet. Abe shares how he went from outdoor educator and small business owner to elected office, and how he’s navigated community engagement as a policymaker without a traditional planning background. We dive into the challenges of balancing vocal public feedback with broad community needs, navigating pol...

Inside a recent episode

Season 2, Episode 8: Designing Strong Engagement with Vince Verlaan

Published 18 Dec 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And maybe it's a park design or maybe it's a we've got seven libraries. We can only afford six which one should we close and why and how do we manage the out the impacts of that on the community. So you can, it's really about the legitimacy of the question, who you invite and whether you run a GNU in process. And if you do those things well, the outcomes are almost always good. Even if it's a bad news story, people are like, well, I understand and at least you're listening. And you know, we might still fight you, but we're not in a war with you about like relationally. So that's they feel. Yeah, they feel more respected or valued. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 11 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

22

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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