Canadian Association of Municipal Communicators

New Year, New Members! Many of you included CAMC Memberships as part of your 2025 budgets. We love it, and we're here for it! We also thought this would be a good opportunity to remind everyone of the registration process: 1️⃣ Once in the Membership section of our website, you'll have the option to select an Individual Membership or a Group Membership. Regardless of how many people within your organization are signing up, the first registration must be submitted as an Individual Member. Each subsequent CAMC Member from your organization can register under the discounted group rate! 2️⃣ Processing registration and payment can take up to a few days. Often, registrations are processed in less than 24 hours. We always try to get through them as quickly as possible. 3️⃣ If you require an invoice separate from what's provided through the registration confirmation you'll receive, just let us know! 4️⃣ Once your registration is confirmed, you'll be provided a temporary password to access your shiny new CAMC Member's Portal, where you can join the community. At this time, you can also sign up for our members-only Facebook group and any upcoming events we have scheduled, access the resource centre, and so on. Looking forward to meeting all the new faces joining the CAMC, and having your voice as part of our nationwide community of Municipal Communicators! Together, we can do more 💪 #localgovernment #localgov

2024 has been nothing short of amazing for the Canadian Association of Municipal Communicators. While the idea for the CAMC took shape in 2023, launching and growing a national association takes time, and we wanted to make sure we were doing it right. 🟪 Late-2023: We completed extensive research into everything from how to set up the association, to how best the CAMC could serve Municipal Communicators. This included looking at how to do so across the gamut of member experience levels, capacity, professional backgrounds, training and education, municipal-specific circumstances, and more. 🟪 Early-2024: We completed a formal engagement process with Municipal Communicators across the country, identifying their professional needs and areas of interest, where they saw potential benefits, how the CAMC could support their work, and more. 🟪 Mid-2024: We registered the CAMC as a federally incorporated non-profit, built the website and members' portal, and worked with Municipal Communicators to establish our plans for Year 1. 🟪 July 24, 2024: The big day – we officially launched the CAMC! Since then, the response from Municipal Communicators has been incredible. From coast to coast, we've seen strong support from those working in municipalities of all sizes and structures. It's been truly special to see the community build and come together. Looking back on the past year is a bit surreal, to be honest. Thank you to everyone who's been part of the initial stages of the CAMC! Now, as we look ahead to 2025, we're really excited to build on what the CAMC has accomplished to date, including offering even more benefits to our Members, continuing to grow our community, establishing the CAMC's first elected board of directors, and more! Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #MunicipalCommunications #CAMC

Are you hoping to secure your CAMC Membership before the start of the New Year? You've still got time! (Just not much of it.) All membership registration submissions made prior to 8pm MST today will be processed within a few hours' time. Any registration submissions made after that time will be processed in the New Year. We're excited by the amazing growth the CAMC has seen since starting at the end of July this year, and can't wait for what's to come in 2025! Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #MunicipalCommunications #CAMC

Happy Holidays from the CAMC!

Are you interested in sharing your expertise, experiences, and knowledge with Municipal Communicators from across the country? Our monthly Professional Development sessions have been incredibly popular with our Members, who have consistently raved about how valuable they are. We're excited to expand on these efforts in 2025. So, if you have a session you feel would bring value to our amazing Members, and which you'd like to facilitate, let us know! Learn more in the slides below, and feel free to reach out by email or by messaging us here on LinkedIn. We're excitedly gearing up for the New Year with expanded Member benefits and support for Municipal Communicators. That includes our dedication to creating valuable, timely and pertinent opportunities for ongoing growth and learning, specific to Municipal Communications. Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #MunicipalCommunications #CAMC

Did you know that CAMC Members agree to align their work as Municipal Communicators to our Code of Professional Conduct? This code was developed in collaboration with Municipal Communicators from across the country, to identify ethical communications practices, while laying the foundation for trust in building organizations' relationships with community. Based on both quantitative and qualitative analysis, we know objectively that communications play a key role in building resident trust, and establishing that ongoing resident-government relationship. Our Code of Professional Conduct speaks directly to that truth, and provides a baseline for ethical standards specific to local government communications. It's been so exciting to see our Members come together as an industry, with an incomparable dedication and commitment to their work, their organizations, and their communities. Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #MunicipalCommunications #CAMC

We work hard to be transparent in all CAMC operations, including "where the money goes," so to speak. For the CAMC, it's pretty simple: 🟪 Some of it goes towards ensuring pertinent professional development opportunities for our Members, specific to local government and aligned with areas of focus requested by our Members. 🟪 A very small amount goes to operational spending (ie. website hosting). 🟪 Most of it is being saved to cover the up-front costs of an in-person CAMC convention. 🟣 You may notice we haven't listed any sort of staff pay here... and that's because there is none at this time. The (small) CAMC team – including our Executive Director – volunteers their time, which they have currently committed to for the first full year of the CAMC's operations. At that point, a member-elected Board will be established, and it will be up to them to direct how funds are used moving forward. 🟣 Our membership fees are kept low (just $250 for one member from an organization, and $200 per subsequent member from the same organization) to reduce barriers to access. Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #MunicipalCommunications #CAMC

It's been so exciting to watch the CAMC grow consistently since launching at the end of July. We've seen a steady and growing buy-in from Municipal Communicators across the country. And, we've heard from many more who are planning to join in the New Year, with membership fees approved as part of the new budget year. If you're thinking of joining and have questions, please feel free to message us here on LinkedIn, or send us an email, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. We've also been wondering if it might be time to host a virtual session just for potential members (and any CAMC Members who do want to attend), to ask questions about the Association. To that end, please answer the poll below and let us know if you'd be interested in attending. If the interest is there, we'll set something up! Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #MunicipalCommunications #CAMC

Reminder of today's professional development session for CAMC Members: Building Trust Through Better Engagement At just 53%, the level of public trust in local government has reached a breaking point. Learn how public engagement can be bolstered and leveraged as an effective tool in building the relationship between your organization and community, securing ongoing trust while contributing to broader organizational success. To register for the session: 🟪 Log into your CAMC Private Members' Portal 🟪 Click on the Events Calendar 🟪 Today's session will be the first one listed! Looking forward to seeing you all there. Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #publicengagement #publicdiscourse

At the request of some of our members, we've added a Member Discussion on Dec. 9th, focused on Budget Communications! We know it's short notice, but wanted to make sure to address this topic in a timely manner, given that so many of you are going to have to put out public information on this right away. So, through this session, we will make time and space for: 🟪 Members to discuss amongst themselves what challenges they're facing, what they've found has been effective in the past, any questions they might have, and anything else members want to bring to the table. 🟪 Discussion around current and emerging best practice and trends for how to present public information around budgets effectively. 🟪 A review of some examples of budget communications done well. We hope that (despite the short lead time) you'll be able to sign up for your own purposes and to support fellow CAMC Members! Head over to your CAMC Private Members Portal, click on "Events Calendar" and register today! (As always, registration is free; it's simply to hold your spot and so we can get you the session link in advance.) Together, we can do more 🙌 #localgovernment #localgov #MunicipalCommunications #MunicipalBudgets #CAMC