Learn to Speak So People Will Listen
Planning commissioners can be of great service in speaking to community groups and organizations. Some tips to help you become a more effective speaker.
Being Effective
Not surprisingly, many of our articles and postings have focused on how planning commissioners can be more effective.
Continue to older articles & posts — or return to newer ones — where you see the green buttons at the bottom of the page.
Learning to Enjoy Your Service on the Commission
How can you do a better job as a planning commissioner? Long-time PCJ columnist Elaine Cogan offers some basic principles for your consideration.
Community Self-Assessment
How can you ensure that your comprehensive plan makes sense, and guides decision-making to choices that create a healthy, balanced community? One way is by doing a community self-assessment, a process that helps identify issues and build consensus.
Different Perspectives
Do you ever try to assess how you and your fellow planning board members look through the eyes of those attending your meetings? Getting feedback can yield valuable insights, and lead to changes in how your commission conducts its business.
Meaningful Dialogue With the Public
By engaging in a true dialogue with the public, you may learn some useful information and actually enjoy the give-and-take.
Ten Things to Avoid
Planning consultant (and commissioner) Ric Stephens on ten practices and behaviors for planning commissioners to steer clear of.
The Endemic Problem of Information Overload
As a planning commissioner, do you sometimes suffer from information overload? Some suggestions for relief.
Consider the Needs of Generation Xers in Your Public Involvement Strategies
PCJ columnist Elaine Cogan outlines ways of involving younger people in the planning process.
Engaging the Public
As planning commissioners, it is vital that you find meaningful ways to engage the public in the planning process — beyond simply posting notices and advertising public meetings.
Smart Messages
How we frame our messages to the public is of critical importance in how they’re received, argues planning consultant Dave Stauffer.
Breach the Wall of Separation
On how to breach the wall of separation that too often separates planning and school boards.
How Effective is Your Planning Board?
Elaine Cogan looks at ways of evaluating your planning board’s effectiveness.
What Planners Do
Four planners discuss the role of the professional planner; planning commission-staff relations; what commission chairs can do; pre-meeting workshops; and new commissioner orientation.
