CONVENING FOR ACTION AT ‘THE DIALOGUE IN NANAIMO’: “What’s next? We cannot just leave it here. I would challenge everyone in this room that you have your own responsibility for followup action,” stated Patrick Ross, Chair, Leadership Vancouver Island, in his closing remarks (June 2010)
Note to Reader:
The Dialogue in Nanaimo was structured around a water sustainability panel. Rather than talking heads, the panel engaged in a form of ‘improv theatre’ to feed off each other in spontaneously expressing key messages about water. This primed the audience for ‘small group’ dialogues in eight theme areas. The small groups dialogue were followed by a ‘big group’ dialogue. Watch Paul Ross, Chair of Leadership Vancouver Island, provide closing remarks (4 minutes).
Convening for Action at ‘The Dialogue in Nanaimo’
“I came to the Dialogue in Nanaimo with hopes and dreams as to what the session would be about, and whether it would be productive. I believe it was a productive, valuable and informative session,” stated Paul Ross.
“Before I came to the session, I did not know much about water sustainability. But now I do. What I learned reinforces the complex layers of the challenges that we face – that water is connected so closely to our food, our land, our building sites, fish and wildlife; and of course, our quality of life.
“Our objective was to identify some of the issues, inform some people, create some initial hope with some initial solutions, and stimulate some dialogue. When I watched the discussion in the small groups, we certainly stimulated dialogue.
“What’s next? We cannot just leave it here. It is not acceptable, in terms of a leadership realm, to have a dialogue and not complete the cycle.
“I would challenge everyone in this room that you have your own responsibility for followup action, to seek out connections that you have made today, to continue the networking.”