In the Spotlight - Shawn Bravender, CP3

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The IAP2 Wild Rose Chapter is excited to highlight the outstanding P2  professionals who guide and shape our community of practice in Alberta!  

This month we connected with Shawn Bravender, Community Engagement Team Lead - Western Canada, WSP Canada Inc, to talk to him about his career in P2, his experiences as a long-time IAP2 volunteer, being a CP3 and more. Below is some of what he had to share.

If you could choose a song or movie title to describe your career, what would it be?

Maybe Lord of the Rings. You start in one place but end up in another. I didn’t have the mindset that I wanted to be an engagement professional, but this is where I ended up and where I’ve experienced the most success. It’s not just a skill that I have, it’s part of who I am. It’s about that path where you don't know what's ahead of you and you’ve got challenges that change your course, but you end up where you need to be.

How did you get into the field of P2 and your current role? What was your career path?

My education as a certified engineering technologist started me off. From there, I transferred into planning. In both those disciplines, I was always the guy that ended up doing the engagement work. I could see that I was good at it and I could also see that the public was benefiting, and that just kept me wanting to do more of it. Almost 20 years ago, I made the transition to just doing engagement work.

If you could pick one quality or skill that is key to success in P2/public engagement, what would it be?

Empathy. With empathy, it’s about trying to really understand where the individual or the group that you're talking to are at. Empathy helps the public, when you're working with them, feel like it's a good use of their time and their emotions can. You're humanizing their experience, their feelings and by showing empathy, you provide that environment for more meaningful engagement.

You’ve been an active volunteer on the Wild Rose Board and planning the 2022 IAP2 North American Conference. What have you enjoyed most about those experiences?

Two things - one is the people I get to work with and the other is helping people. You can gain a better understanding, network and benefit from other people’s experiences. Whether that's on the board or the people that are coming to the events, or like with the 2022 North American conference, having people enjoy it and really mean something to them.

IAP2 provides a network of professionals. I want to encourage folks to take full advantage of that network. Come to events, volunteer, get to know people, share stories and learn from each other.

What's the most unusual task or situation you’ve faced at work?

On this project, we were in High Level for an open house. We were working with the government and there was an opposing entity telling people the government was coming to take away their livelihoods, their homes. The population of High Level was about 3,000 people at the time and we had more than 1,500 people at our open house. They had planned to take over the meeting but there were so many people that no one could move, so their attempt to take over the meeting failed because you couldn't mobilize. We were able to demonstrate that what the government was trying to do was actually a good thing, and there ended up being a good outcome on the project. So many things went wrong that it ultimately went right.

What does it mean to you to have your CP3 designation?

It's one of the best things I've done in my career, if not the best. It’s opened up doors for employment and for projects. People recognize what it means, the level of commitment and skills that come with it. It's been fantastic professionally, but it’s also a tremendous amount of work. It is truly a professional designation like P. Eng or different ones we see in industry. It takes a tremendous amount of effort but I wouldn't want to see anything less because it has to mean something. 

The two biggest inputs to success in my career - one was CP3 and two was volunteering.

Do you know someone in the field of public participation who you think should be our next member in the spotlight? Email your suggestions to info@iap2wildrose.ca