The Natural Step Exchange wants to let you know about an upcoming workshop presented by Dr. McKenzie-Mohr. Find a description and more information below.

------

The cornerstone of sustainability is behavior change. If we are to move toward a sustainable future we must encourage individuals and businesses to engage in a multitude of actions (e.g., waste reduction, water and energy efficiency, pollution prevention, etc.). To date, most programs to encourage such activities have relied upon disseminating information.

Research demonstrates, however, that simply providing information has little or no effect on what people or businesses do. But if not ads, brochures or booklets, then what? Over the last decade a new approach -- community-based social marketing -- has emerged as an effective alternative for delivering programs to foster sustainable behavior.

This September Dr. McKenzie-Mohr, an environmental psychologist, will be presenting an introductory two-day community-based social marketing workshop in Toronto (September 13th & 14th -- please note that this session is one of few workshops being offered until the spring of 2011 in North America). Dr. McKenzie-Mohr is the founder of community-based social marketing and has written and presented extensively on the topic. His best-selling book, “Fostering Sustainable Behavior,” has been recommended by Time magazine and his work featured in the New York Times. We invite you to attend this workshop, as we are confident that the training provided will fundamentally change the way you think about program delivery.

More than 50,000 program managers have attended workshops on community-based social marketing that Dr. McKenzie-Mohr has delivered internationally. Here are several anonymous evaluations from recent sessions:

“This was the best workshop that I have attended in my 25 years of professional work”

“Fantastic. Simply invaluable”

“Easily the most valuable workshop I’ve ever attended.”

“Outstanding presentation style. Expertise is obvious.”

Workshop Description

This two-day workshop provides a comprehensive introduction to community-based social marketing and how it is being applied throughout the world to foster sustainable behavior. Those who attend the workshop will learn the five steps of community-based social marketing (selecting behaviors, identifying barriers, developing strategies, conducting pilots, and broad scale implementation), and will be exposed to numerous case studies illustrating its use. As such, this workshop provides an in-depth exposure to community-based social marketing and provides participants with the knowledge they need to design and evaluate their own community-based social marketing programs. Further, attendees will have extensive opportunities to discuss the application of community-based social marketing to the design of actual programs. At the end of the two days participants will have acquired sufficient knowledge to use community-based social marketing to develop successful programs to foster sustainable behavior.

Who Should Attend?

If you design or fund programs to encourage individuals or businesses to engage in environmentally beneficial behaviors -- such as those involved in waste reduction, water and energy efficiency, watershed and habitat protection, pollution prevention or transportation changes -- you will find these workshops invaluable. The workshops will also be useful for environmental education professionals who work in settings such as zoos, aquariums and parks. Public health professionals who work to foster sustainable active lifestyles will also benefit from attending.

To register click here.