Post 2.

As an intern in the Community Outreach Unit I discovered the many mandates that guided much of the work that the employees conducted. Most mandates only hindered the unit's efforts to distribute information to impacted communities and hold public awareness meetings. The unit struggled to gain significant public participation in the issues facing these neighborhoods and often felt frustrated by the limitations placed on the activities of the community outreach team. There were some exceptions of course, since some neighborhoods were located in major federally funded contaminated sites where large construction projects were going to take place which could potentially impact the livelihoods of these homes and families. In these communities, more citizens rallied for the cause and attended most meetings. However, these often ended in frustration because the representatives of the businesses being held accountable typically gave very scientific and convoluted presentations full of technical language and subject matter unfamiliar to most in the audience. These were mainly geologists and hydrologists explaining the different types of treatments they could use to clean up the contamination but who were seemingly unaware that most people from the neighborhoods did not have a technical background.

When I was given the task of transcribing the recordings of the meeting to be used as public record I often thought that all of these professionals could really benefit from one refresher course in public speaking and presentations. Rule #1 for PowerPoint slides: do not use too much text. Rule #2: keep the number of slides to a minimum or you will lose the audience's interest. So many of these presentations went on for 45 minutes to an hour and a half. It was at this point that I realized how much we are needed in the public sector. Just the simple things, like putting together a presentation, could be greatly improved with the input from someone who has just gone through 6 years of presentations! In some situations, a stellar presentation could mean gaining support for a project with additional funding or simply helping your constituents understand an issue facing their community. I had several "aha" moments during my time at ADEQ where I realized that my education will help me in the real world-which made me happy about my decision to spend all that money :)