Drive your own learning

DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Workshops originated as a project called Conference-in-a-Box (CIAB), a supplemental package curated to coincide with the virtual broadcast of The Policy Community’s Annual Conference. 

Here you can find materials to enable yourself. You can find webcast recordings of plenary addresses and panels from past Conferences, slideshow presentations for learning and sharing, and packaged activity kits to enable you to practice and spark conversations. 

Whether you use this content at your team retreat, to host a watch party with your colleagues, or to take advantage of these materials on your own time for individual learning, this treasure chest is available anytime. 

Start with these

These activities and videos remain relevant to the moment we're in.

Creating Great Choices

Jennifer Riel, Adjunct Professor, Rotman School of Management
In this presentation, we will explore integrative thinking as a methodology and mindset for policy practitioners in the federal public service. When faced with clear either-or alternatives – between ideas, perspectives or people – how might we do something other than simply evaluate and choose? How can we experiment with using the tension between opposing models – different views of the world – to create better answers? Show less
Download the transcript

Involving Citizens in Policy-making: Inclusive Governance and Public Trust

Laurie Drake, MASS LBP
Democracy is under pressure and trust in public institutions is declining globally and here in Canada. If we are going to meet our democratic aspirations, we need to address growing mistrust and polarization. This means upending assumptions about the ability and willingness of citizens to play a more central role in policy-making. By involving more people in policy-making, we can create more inclusive governance and reinvigorate the democratic project —a project of personal agency, collective efficacy, and shared responsibility. Show less
Download the presentation
Download the transcript

Visualizing Complexity in the Policy Environment

Enrique Martinez
A visual language easy to learn and use by everyone--the language of diagrams--is disrupting government by making operations, management, policy-making, and civic processes more transparent and participatory. This session will explain how schematic visualization is transforming the way in which public servants and government leaders are framing problems and making decisions. This is an interactive session: all participants will engage hands-on and experience the power of diagramming and low-tech visual communication techniques to clarify complex ideas and processes in the policy environment and across government. Show less
Download the presentation
Download the transcript

Developing a Problem Statement - NouLAB

75 minutes
This workshop will give an overview of the techniques NouLAB uses to build policy prototypes and test them with affected populations ('end users' in human centred design lingo). Anecdotes about current prototypes will be shared to inform how NouLAB's process has resulted in implementation. The active portion of the workshop will go into some of the techniques and mindsets NouLAB has used for collaborative problem framing. This is always the first step in developing a shared understanding and surfacing potential intervention points. Show less
Download the package

Storytelling - Apolitical

60 to 90 minutes
Once there was a public servant who decided her department should talk more to citizens. She started publishing monthly data updates, reams of numbers that would allow people to work out how policies were going, and endless blogs about the policy design process. At the end of it all, she found that nobody cared. Sound familiar? This interactive, practical session, packed with tips provides an opportunity to practice, helping you think about your work from a communications perspective. Show less
Download the package

Behavioural Insights - The Behavioural Insights Team

This foundational session provides an introduction to the field of behavioural insights (BI) and an overview of the key principles that drive human behaviour. Participants will get exposure to a range of examples where BI have been applied to improve policy outcomes, focusing on case studies that align to current Government of Canada policy priorities. Participants will be walked through exercises to think through how BI might be relevant to their own work. Show less
Download the package

Stay in touch

This collection is always growing. But is it giving you what you need? What are you learning about your needs as you explore, try and reflect? 

Data we are looking for

At the Policy Community Partnership Office we are always curious to hear from you about your experience. 

In particular, we'd like to know the following: 

  • what objective did you have and did you meet it?; 
  • what new questions did your activity spark for you (and your colleagues if applicable); 
  • what did you notice about the learning journey? What sparked joy? What happened when it got difficult?;
  • what are you curious about next? 

You can share feedback by email policommpoli@canada.ca or arrange an interview. We guarantee we'll be grateful for all insights that help enhance this Community resource. 

‍‍‍© 2021 Policy Community