We know that public speaking can be intimidating, especially something like a Public Hearing. Here are some tips to help gain some confidence for your delegation.
- Be yourself: Facts tell, stories sell, so feel free to tell personal stories of how housing affordability/housing insecurity/lack of housing choices have affected you.
- Be informed: Read city reports and media articles on the subject, if you have time.
- You don’t have to know everything: If Councillors try to argue specifics and you don’t know the answer, you can say you’re not sure and redirect to city staff. (E.g. “Thanks for the question Councillor. While I do not know the specifics, you have an entire planning department working on this file, so I would defer to their expertise with respect to your question on this topic.)
- Treat people with respect: Always assume that people are there for the right reasons (including the Councillors who may be wrong about a certain issue). Treating everyone with respect will go a long way to getting your message across.
- You don’t need to be nervous: Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, but Councillors are just people too at the end of the day.
- Be positive: Councillors overwhelmingly hear negative opinions and criticisms, no matter the topic, so someone (especially someone younger) showing up and speaking in favor of a topic, particularly one that is a significant change, carries weight.
- Be specific in your critiques: There will likely be things that could be improved; when critiquing a report or position be as specific as possible. For example, don’t just say, “I don’t like this because it doesn’t go far enough,” rather something like, “although this is a good proposal overall, it could be improved through the following: (e.g. removing parking minimums, including direct transit lines in the height calculation for fourplexes…).
We have a Youtube Playlist that has several examples of YIMBY Winnipeg members delegating to City Council, as well as a detailed explainer how to register to delegate!