Temple’s Community Summit: Building Stronger Bonds
Latest in our branding series showcases how to connect with citizens, enhance community through engagement and fun
This edition of Good Government Files dives into the latest success story in government branding: the Community Summit in Temple, Texas. This event exemplifies how connecting with citizens face-to-face can foster a more engaged community, which aligns perfectly with Temple’s mission and vision.
So let’s start right there, with the mission and vision. Have a look.
This is the kind of simple, straightforward vision and mission GGF adores. Easily recalled by staff and readily understood by the public, these are not the kind of cynicism-inducing platitudes that plague many a local government mission and vision statement. I would argue Temple’s vision is sufficiently challenging to the organization: creating a place people love to call home. There’s a lot that goes into bringing that vision to reality, and a lot of that has to do with a mission that calls for truly outstanding customer service.
The Community Summit expressed those sentiments in all kinds of wonderful ways. The goal was to “improve communication between residents and their local government while creating a tradition of community engagement,” said Heather Bates, the director of communications and marketing for the city of Temple, who organized the summit.
Too many of these kinds of events ask residents to come to the civic center and mill around booths featuring static information about the important yet typically unsexy work of local government. “Here, have a bottle of water and a cookie and learn about our exciting online mapping database,” says the city. 🤮 replies the citizen.
No one “loves” that kind of event. What folks do love is live music and beer in a popular downtown venue. So, let’s look at the Community Summit setting and then we’ll get into the particulars of the set-up. Heather and her award-winning comms staff combined the summit with the most popular recurring event in the city, a First Friday get together in the vibrant Santa Fe Plaza in downtown. And not just any First Friday, but the Oktoberfest-themed First Friday. So smart.
Here’s what the event advertising looked like.
Who doesn’t love bounce houses and snow cones? Holly Tucker is a popular musician featured on Season 4 of NBC’s The Voice. (BTW, who doesn’t love baby blue cowboy hats?) This is how you invite the public to an event and build your brand as a city willing and able to do some out-of-the-box thinking on citizen engagement. You’re also co-promoting the Oktoberfest event. Win, win, win.
Clearly, the idea was for residents to meet city employees in a fun, relaxed setting and learn a little bit about what the various departments do. Heather, supported by City Manager Brynn Myers, had a few must-haves for the departments. First, everyone had to participate. Second, everyone had to have some kind of interactive activity or game that people could play. Third, you had to have some giveaways.
For some departments, like parks and rec and the library, that’s not a heavy lift. They’re used to creating fun activities for residents. Other departments needed some help from the comms staff. They were happy to help, and everyone eventually got on board.
Y’all, there were more than 30 booths, with all kinds of fun and educational activities1. The Youth Advisory Commission (YAC) booth featured two actual yaks. I am not kidding. Well, maybe a little. But there were two bovine creatures in attendance and folks loved getting their pictures taken with them.
Long story short, the event drew hundreds of residents and was a hit. We’ll provide details below, but first we feel the need to show some receipts.
Judging by all those smiling faces, the event clearly succeeding in spreading love of community and providing residents a great experience. That what I call “Vision” realized and “Mission” accomplished.
Let’s get into some of the more specific ways the event was important in meeting Temple’s goals.
Connecting Face-to-Face
It’s a Good Government Files Truism that the more you can get residents to meet in person with the public servants who work on their behalf, the better. For the record, Heather didn’t need me to tell her that.
“This is all a part of our trying to humanize the city,” she said.
Events like the Community Summit and the new video series Behind the City, which profiles employees such as solid waste driver Esse Petty, help residents see the human side of their government. This is especially beneficial during severe weather events, like the F2 tornado that hit Temple last month, when the city’s ability to restore services quickly is challenged by the extensive cleanup needed after such a disaster.
“Before you complain about your trash not getting picked up or before you complain that the brush is still sitting in front of your yard four days after the tornado, remember (those employees you met or watched a video about),” Heather said. “You know Esse from solid waste. He probably has damage to his house, but he’s out working. And he also has a family. And whatever the things are about our employees, we want to recognize them for serving their community, but we also want to bring light to what they do and then use it as an educational tool as well for our residents.”
Meet Citizens Where They Are
We’ve already mentioned Heather’s savvy decision to hold the Community Summit alongside an already popular event, which literally brought the city to where the people are. Additionally, it’s important to meet people where they are figuratively, understanding their needs and interests.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Good Government Files to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.