Time to have the Pen-talk
Kicking off the next phase of engaging Penticton residents in the Official Community Plan is a speaker series taking place tonight called PenTALKton.
Under the banner of “10 big ideas, 10 engaging stories.” speakers are bringing local and regional knowledge spanning from health to arts and culture, affordable housing, the environment and more.
Tonight's presentation is borrowing from the success of the often sold-out Pecha Kucha speaker series which has been taking place for the past two years since it was brought to the community by Penticton Arts Council executive director Vaelei Walkden-Brown.
Skyler Punnett, a Penticton-based illustrator, designer and Pecha Kucha organizer, is lending his expertise to the PenTALKton event after he was approached by city special projects manager Ben Johnson, who spoke at a previous Pecha Kucha event.
“He wanted to kick off the Official Community Plan in a different kind of way because we’re trying to create strong public engagement for this one,” Punnett said.
Punnett has been often asked if there will be a question and answer period, however, the event is meant to be more informative. That's not to say there will be no discussions taking place. It will have a table seating set up and an hour-long intermission for people to mingle and discuss ideas.
“This is a kick-off event, leading into an 18month public engagement process that will actually be a bit more two-way as opposed to the more presentation format of PenTALKton,” Punnett said. “All these talks are meant to be food for thought. To get the community thinking about what they want from their Official Community Plan. To get them stoked to go into the 18-month process that’s going to kick off in the new year.”
He’s happy to see the city looking down different avenues to bring these important discussions forward.
“The 20 slide, 20 seconds format is such a great way to do things. The community knows they’re not showing up for a bunch of 40-minute or hour-long lectures that are going to bore them out of their seats,” Punnett said. “It’s a way to keep the conversations lively and flowing.”
The speakers are meant to “plant the seeds of ideas in people’s minds as (the city) launches into the next phase of engagement and those policy areas,” Johnson told city council at their meeting Tuesday.
“We are really hoping to get a lot of people out there,” Johnson said. “I think it’s going to be a really exciting and engaging event.”
Presenters include Johnson himself as well as Randy Manuel, local historian, writer, artist and public servant; Linda Sankey, executive director of the Brain Injury Society; Anita Ely, a specialist environmental health officer working for the Interior Health Healthy Communities program; Katie Brennan, a Kelowna-based artist and former executive director of the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan; and Anthony Haddad, the City of Penticton’s director of development services and more.
“It’s a very punchy format. It’s about six-anda-half minutes per presentation. Each presenter has 20 slides and 20 seconds to talk about each slide,” Johnson said. “It’s a very good way to get through a lot of information. The intent is not to be comprehensive in any of these subject areas, but it’s there to plant the seed and get people thinking about these ideas as we move into the next round of engagement.”
The next step in the Official Community plan is an expo in January aiming to be held at a popup Main Street store front for further engagement. PenTALKton takes place tonight at Penticton Trade and Convention Centre with doors opening at 6 p.m. and speakers beginning at 7 p.m.