The H2duO talk lot about communicating water through the lens of your audience and the way Becky teaches really follows that idea. Hear her story about cultivating the next generation of water nerds. We also talk workforce and Becky drives home how absolutely important it is for water utilities to build relationships with local universities and colleges to give students hands-on experiences because that’s what sparks students' interest. We also talk about when Erin Brockovich came to town, emerging contaminants, and centralized vs decentralized infrastructure. The biggest takeaway is to make sure water utilities find the "Becky Johnsons" in their community and partner because getting students in the treatment plants, doing special collaborate projects, and taking them behind the scenes is where the ah-ha moments live for the next gen of water nerds.

There's no better way to kick off National Drinking Water Week than by talking to Cathy Bailey, executive director at Greater Cincinnati Water Works. We talk A LOT about community, how we, in water, ARE the community and the immense level of responsibility we have for the health, the very lives of our residents, who let’s face it, are our neighbors. Cathy is a leader in the fight against lead in water, specifically in the actions she’s taken to address the removal of lead in private service lines. Our conversation with Cathy left us feeling proud to be women in water, inspired to raise our voices even when it’s uncomfortable, and most importantly, proud to be making a difference serving our community as members of the water industry because we ARE the community. The only way we’ll ever communicate the value of water is if we live it and demonstrate it in the communities we serve.

We feel strongly about our commitment to not just interview people from the water industry. We believe there is so much to learn from others doing similar things in their respective industries. As the 2020 election campaigns begin to heat up, we wondered what we could learn from political campaigning that we can bring to public outreach efforts in the water sector? We reached out to Kenny Thompson, who works for Pepsico now, but spent eight years of his life on the campaign trail and handling public/private partnerships during his tenure in the White House and the Vice President’s office.

If you’re an avid listener of the podcast it shouldn’t surprise you that the conversation boiled down to knowing your audience and building relationships. Prior to his time on the campaign trail, Kenny worked at City Hall in Austin, Texas. He gives us some insight into best practices on approaching elected officials and driving policy change at both the local level and on Capital Hill.

In part one of our discussion, we talk about why public engagement is so important and the responsibility of water utilities to not only do but do well. In part two, we get into some of the nuts and bolts of facilitating public meetings. What are some things to come prepared with? What are some issues to keep in mind? Most importantly, what do you need to keep in mind if you’re the one facilitating the meeting? Empathy is at the core of effective communication. Communication is not a person with a mic or a social media handle, but rather, a dialogue. Some of those conversations cover topics that we may not agree on with the person on the other side of the conversation. Beginning and facilitating these dialogues can take time, be difficult, and be uncomfortable. However, ultimately this is how change is made. People may not agree with every decision that gets made that affects them but they are much more likely to be supportive or have a level of trust in your entity if they feel like their voice was heard and their input was taken into consideration.

“I would rather you not do public engagement, then do it and not use the information you gain from it.” That is a quote from our friend, Dr. Larry Schooler. In our chat, he was schooling with so many insights that we just couldn’t stop talking. So we’re breaking this one up into two episodes. In part one, we discuss how important your mindset is when developing your public engagement strategy. A little open-mindedness goes a LONG way. We also talk about ways Larry gets people over those hurdles of fear of public engagement plus his tip on how to defuse a situation. Dr. Schooler reminds us not to assume that just because no one shows up to a public meeting that everything is fine. Plus we loved his metaphor that when it comes to communication you should ask yourself if you’d rather have a preventative care visit or a trip to the emergency room.

Ryan gave us some insight on how to get around the notion that since everyone uses water, that means everyone is our audience. However, we know that when you try and communicate with everyone, you end up reaching no one. We also talk about how branding is just like dating. It’s all about getting your audience to fall in love with your brand, and no one like a brand that only talks about themselves. He also gives us some things to keep in mind when outsourcing with a creative agency to ensure everyone leaves happy. Plus, we get to end with a little Mr. Rogers about the importance of empathy and storytelling.

It may be April Fool’s Day 2019 but the WaterNow Alliance is no joke when it comes to bridging local elected officials with the resources they need to better understand the complex world of water. We were so pleased to speak to four members of the alliance who really represented the diverse range of issues facing elected officials close to water issues these days. Water Now Alliance ED, Cynthia Koehler really helped us understand the mission of WNA and how it impacts local water utilities. We got a big picture perspective of how water falls within the matrix of city issues as a whole from Cooper Martin. We talked finance and about the many opportunities for creative funding for water utilities and learned about impact investors with Eric Letsinger. And we ended the day chatting comms with AWWA President-Elect Melissa Elliot of Raftelis who has over 20 years of experience working in communication in the water sector. It’s always fun to be around water nerds, no matter what part of water nerd nation they reside. We learned a lot from our conversation, we know you will too.

Megan Glover, CEO and Co-Founder of 120WaterAudit, led a startup from 0 to 2.4 million in revenue in just 24 months in one of the hardest industries to break into. However, as Tom Ferguson, VP of Programming and the Imagine H2O accelerator pointed out what stood out most was that her team would go to war for her. This speaks volumes of Megan and her leadership style. This is a great conversation for startups seeking to enter the water space as Megan shares words of advice and encouragement. It's also an important one for utilities to hear as well. She gives some great perspective on the role tech and data can play in optimizing the human capital element of your enterprise. We also talk women in STEM and of course, communications role in revolutionizing the water industry.

The H2duO speak with 2020 Presidential Candidate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, about smart sewers, adopting innovation, communication, and veterans in the water workforce.

Our sponsor this month is Imagine H2O so our brains are hooked on all things innovation. In his Words on Water podcast interview, Vice President of Programming for Imagine H2O, Tom Ferguson said that innovation can be as simple as a mindset change and that at its heart, it’s a decision to look at the world through a different prism. This instantly reminded us of Kathy Nguyen and her presentation at the 2018 Water Smart Innovation conference. Kathy spoke about how she dramatically shifted the public buy-in of her water conservation program by shifting her mindset and approaching conservation through the prism of her customers. In this episode, we chat about that very shift and why we think it’s an important message for young professionals to hear, as well as anyone that wears their passion for what they do on their sleeve. We also talk about why everyone should have a mentor that scares the crap out of them, why the adage “the way we’ve always done it” kills the culture of creativity and innovation in our organizations that retain the next gen and why if you manage customer service staff that it’s your job to make sure every other manager understands the value your employees bring to the entire organization.