imagineCALGARY Partners host Vital Conversation on Sustainability

On January 22nd, imagineCALGARY Partner The Calgary Foundation held its first event in a series of Vital Conversations about our city. Hosted in conjunction with fellow Partners the Calgary Public Library and the new Office of Sustainability at The City of Calgary, the event gave participants a chance to share their perspectives on ways to make Calgary the best city it can be.

The January event and reception were held at the downtown branch of the Calgary Public Library. After a few short introductory presentations, participants formed breakout discussion groups of seven to eight people. The groups were led by volunteers who were equipped with three rounds of questions, ranging from “What possibilities have the power to transform our city and would most inspire you?” to “What in your view are the top three challenges standing in the way of a more sustainable Calgary?” Each group was assigned a scribe who recorded the discussion on a master sheet, which will be posted on The Calgary Foundation’s website.

This first Vital Conversation attracted a capacity crowd, with attendance capped at 150 people. Through planned partnerships, the Foundation was able to provide ‘farm-to-fork’ appetizers from a sustainable catering company, Forage, with organic, free-trade coffee from a local roasterie.

Throughout the event, the Foundation incorporated ‘live tweeting,’ a successful experiment with social media that resulted in more than 30 live tweets that brought out highlights, expressed comments and pointed out who was in attendance. Examples of live tweets were:

•	“Sustainability is more than the environment. It’s about building a great city for everyone forever.”
•	“Ideas for sustainability seem to revolve around community and means of social interaction and connection.”
•	“Sounds like all on the same page. Is that because of the demographics of the people there? Why so difficult to do these things?”

By the end of the night, there was a powerful sense of camaraderie as group leaders offered inspiring one-minute statements.

“It was interesting to see how 17 groups from a very diverse crowd managed to come up with very similar discussion highlights – there was a consistent theme of connecting with our neighbors and our community, the need for more public space, community activities, community gardens, collaboration, self-organized events and teamwork,” says Teri Shortreed, Communications Assistant with The Calgary Foundation. “One representative came up to the podium to say, ‘The first step towards building a sustainable city is to go get to know your neighbor. We may not often have much time or resources, but each and every one of you can go out this weekend and meet your neighbor.’”

The evening could perhaps best be summarized in one leader’s presentation:

“We have a diversity of opinions, but a commonality in one goal – an infectious desire to make this city the best it can be.”

Vital Conversations are public dialogue events that have become The Calgary Foundation’s way to engage citizens in discussions around issues that are important to Calgarians. Each Conversation is centred around a key-issue area presented in the annual Calgary’s Vital Signs Report.

The Calgary Foundation looks forward to hosting three more Vital Conversations on other key issues at different library branches throughout the community. For more details, please visit The Calgary Foundation website.