WEBINAR & PODCAST SERIES | Ongoing
CityTalk Canada
CityTalk is Canada’s online town hall, where anyone – from an engaged citizen to an urbanist expert – can find out what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next for Canadian cities and communities through online events and podcasts. Now on it’s 6th year, CityTalk has brought Canadians together for over 250 episodes, and has hosted about 1000 urban champions who bring their technical expertise and lived experience.
Campaign Goals
Strengthen thought leadership: Position CityTalk as the go-to thought leadership platform for urban development and policy in Canada.
Drive attendance for live events for target audience based on topic, and promote viewership & listenership for recorded events and podcasts.
Amplify the work of partner organizations by offering them a free knowledge mobilization platform with a strong following to have open discussions on critical issues and opportunities.
Key Messages
CityTalk lowers barriers to participation in civic life: it’s free, virtual, and designed to fit into busy schedules, with content available after the broadcast.
CityTalk helps policy experts and engaged citizens understand complex through honest, unscripted conversations between experts with diverse experiences across sectors and geographies.
CityTalk supports community development and city building rooted in CUI’s vision for resilient, vibrant, and prosperous places created through values of equity, integrity, excellence, and collaboration.
Come to CityTalk week-after-week to get a well-rounded insight into urban perspectives across disciplines, or key an eye out for the topics that directly impact your work! So many ways to engage.
Examples:
Government leaders & policy makers
Planners & architects
Non-profit & community organizations
Commercial & residential developers
Academics & researchers
Engaged citizens & civic leaders
Stakeholders & Audiences
Individuals and organizations who can:
Implement the ideas, research, and solutions of panellists into their own organizations and communities.
Expand their knowledge on critical topics in urban development, and on the lived experiences of diverse Canadians and urbanists.
Contribute resources, tools, and ideas into the highly engaged chat to further conversations and engagement during events.
Channels & Content Strategy
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Goal: Maintain a digital platform of recordings, resources, and registration details for CityTalk Canada.
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Week-before CityTalk event details
Day-before CityTalk event details
Post-event recap with key takeaways, “what you missed”
Showcase of panellists featuring expertise and lived experience
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Goal: Offer timely and concise CityTalk announcements and updates to a highly engaged audience.
Week-before announcement
Day-before announcement
Registrant post-event summary with recording, takeaways, etc.
Future recaps and summaries of recent CityTalks including links
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Goal: Gain the attendance of media at CityTalks to support their reporting on aligned topics.
Media advisories to diverse journalist list
Keen media landscape monitoring for mentions of CUI and CityTalk in stories
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Goal: Have CityTalk host Mary W. Rowe on other urban development podcasts, events, and shows.
Highlight curated list of target shows.
Pitch Mary as a panellist based on relevant topics or work
Outcomes & KPIs
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250 Events between 2020-2025
75% do-ers at the management level or “lower” and 25% executive, senior, and lead representatives
Top 3 attendee industries: 28% Local Government, 18% Non-Profit, Advocacy, & Community Services, 15% Urban, Rural & Regional Planning
Geographic distribution: 60% from Ontario, 23% Western Canada, 17% ranging from across the rest of Canada - for every event, we have presence from every single province (except for at times PEI).
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60K Annual attendees, listeners & viewers of CityTalk Live webinars, recordings, shorts
+2M in potential annual readership from the mainstream news regularly reporting on CityTalk
400 average registrants
64% attendance rate
Average time in session: 45-minutes
Project Expansion!
CityTalk has expanded into podcasts! CUI is experimenting with new content formats focussed on 1:1 in-depth conversations on broad topics in urbanism that are even more accessible than the traditional CityTalk Live panel.