Presentations and Workshops
Matt Biggar, Ph.D., delivers presentations and workshops in person and virtually. He has presented at dozens of convenings, conferences, universities, and other venues. Matt is an expert facilitator and carefully designs, facilitates, and adapts his presentations and workshops for a variety of audiences.
Please e-mail Matt at mbiggar@connectedtoplace.com with any questions or inquiries.
Place-Based Systems Change Strategies for Regenerating Nature, Community and Local Wealth (Presentation)
(typically 60-90 minutes, including Q&A)
Matt shares how to bring about Place-Based Systems that get to the root of our growing crises by reorienting people’s lives around the places where they live. Shifting from corporate capitalist to place-based systems is necessary if we are to meaningfully address the interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, widening inequality, systemic racism, and growing social divisions. Matt provides examples of strategies that shift power, transform land use, reset culture, and leverage other systems to change systems at regional, county, city, and community levels and make the regeneration of community, nature, and local wealth possible. He leverages his expertise in behavioral science, systems change, and sustainability to illustrate how to catalyze place-based transformation.
Audience: advocates; nonprofit leaders and staff; funders; planners; government leaders and staff; elected officials; educators; others interested in change at the regional, county, city, and community levels
2. Place-Based Systems Change Strategies for Regenerating Nature, Community and Local Wealth (Workshop)
(typically 2-4 hours, including facilitated discussion, individual reflection, and planning activities)
This workshop will help you design and utilize systems change strategies to make the change you are seeking at the regional, county, city, or community levels. You will learn how to apply systems change levers— shifting power, transforming land use, resetting culture, and leveraging other systems—to create transformative, lasting change. This workshop integrates material from the related presentation (#1) and provides opportunities to apply it to your own work. You will leave the workshop energized and prepared to enact systems change that regenerates nature, community, and local wealth.
Audience: advocates; nonprofit leaders and staff; funders; planners; government leaders and staff; elected officials; educators; others interested in change at the regional, county, city, and community levels
3. Place-Based Systems for Regenerating Nature, Community and Local Wealth (Presentation)
(typically 60-90 minutes, including Q&A)
Matt presents Place-Based Systems and their importance in addressing the interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, widening inequality, systemic racism, and growing social divisions. He explains how alienation from nature, local community, and each other underlies these crises and how we can restore these vital connections in our lives with supportive place-based systems. These systems enable people to live locally with a high quality of life, changing for the better how we work; get around; grow food and diet; use building energy, water, and consumer goods; raise and educate children; take trips; and overall experience community and nature in everyday life. Leveraging his expertise in behavioral science, systems change, and sustainability, Matt helps you understand the important relationship between context, behavior, and our collective well-being.
Audience: community groups; advocates; college and high school educators and students; nonprofit leaders and staff; funders; planners; government leaders and staff; and concerned citizens
4. Place-Based Collaboration for Systems Change (Presentation)
(typically 60-90 minutes, including Q&A)
Matt presents the purpose, mechanisms, and impact of Place-Based Collaboration, and why this approach is needed to address persistent societal problems. He shares examples from collaboratives and collective impact initiatives, including ones that he has helped develop, implement, and evaluate. To enact social change that effectively addresses complex problems, well-designed collaboratives that build collective power through strong relationships, a shared vision, and aligned action are essential. In this workshop, you will learn how to build, implement, and adapt place-based collaboration for maximum engagement and impact.
Audience: collaborative/backbone leaders; leaders and other interested stakeholders from nonprofits, philanthropy, education, and government; elected officials
5. Designing and Implementing Place-Based Collaboration (Workshop, virtual or in-person)
(typically 2-4 hours, including facilitated discussion, individual reflection, and planning activities)
If you are interested in helping tackle complex problems in your region, county, city, or community, this workshop is for you. Matt helps participants explore the purpose, mechanisms, and promise of Place-Based Collaboration using examples from collaboratives and collective impact initiatives that he has helped develop, implement, and evaluate. This workshop provides opportunities for you to reflect on and improve the design and/or implementation of your existing or potential place-based collaborative. You will leave with the know-how to design and implement effective, efficient, and impactful collaboratives.
Audience: new and established collaborative/backbone leaders; existing collaborative teams; potential collaborative teams
6. Adapting and Improving Place-Based Collaboration (Workshop, virtual or in-person)
(typically 2-4 hours, including facilitated discussion, individual reflection, and planning activities)
Place-Based Collaboration must be highly dynamic in order to effectively evolve with internal and external changes and effectively address complex problems. This workshop will help you develop an approach and skillset to evaluate, adapt, and improve your collaborative regularly. This involves keeping a pulse on and assessing the collaborative’s operations, relationships within and tangential to the network, and overall progress and impact. Using examples from existing collaboratives as well as network science, this workshop will guide you through how to do this. You will leave the workshop inspired and enabled to strengthen your collaborative’s operations and relationships, accelerate its progress, and deepen its impact.
This workshop can also be done in concert with an evaluation.
Audience: collaborative leaders and members; backbone staff and teams
Please e-mail Matt at mbiggar@connectedtoplace.com with any questions or inquiries about these presentations, webinars and workshops.