Best Practices in Public Outreach

Protest. Backlash over a delay. Or an old-fashioned case of NIMBY. Most public projects face at least one of these media challenges along the way. But what about the good your team’s project will do for the community? That deserves media attention, too. This presentation will share practical storytelling and media relations strategies to help your project earn positive media coverage that advances your team’s goals.

This presentation outlines our efforts to strengthen relationships in communities where we operate generating assets—not just within our broader service territory. Through various initiatives we’re listening, engaging, and building trust. These efforts aim to improve our public perception and lay the groundwork for future project success.

The presenting team will highlight some tools that can be used to manage opposition during public meetings, including how to answer difficult questions. The overview will be followed by an interactive session where the conference attendees get a chance to put the newly learned skills in action during a role-play “competition” against fellow attendees.

This presentation will discuss building your internal team so your messages more effectively reach external audiences ensuring all touchpoints with stakeholders reflect the project’s true status and intent.

From crisis communications to major wins, it’s important for public outreach teams to ensure the conversations happening within the company are just as successful.  This presentation will center around improving alignment across internal teams, finding new avenues for information sharing, and learning from past events. 

During this two-part presentation, hear from two different companies about their engagement practices for Clean Energy projects and varied approaches that help convey them to all stakeholders, followed by a question-and-answer session afterwards.

This presentation emphasizes the importance of building strong, intentional relationships between utility companies and communities. Understand how internal teams, external stakeholders, and consultants each play a role in transforming confusion into collaboration. Through real-world examples, ITC showcases best practices in engagement, communication, and trust-building. The key message: success comes from connecting the right pieces and keeping the community at the center.