On October 23 - 24, 2019, I attended Hearken's inaugural Engagement Innovation Summit in New York City. This is the third of three blog posts that I am writing to sum up some of my key takeaways from three of my top sessions. You can read the first one on community health workers here and the second on community organizers here.
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"Listening and Engaging Latino Audiences Around Sports, Culture, and More"
On the second day of Hearken's Engagement Innovation Summit, one of the most valuable and thought-provoking sessions for me was the session led by Luis Miguel Echegaray of Sports Illustrated, "Listening & Engaging Latino Audiences".
While Luis' presentation focused on engaging Latino/Latinx/Hispanic/Afro-Latino audiences (which makes sense based on the title), there were many key elements that I took back that any community dealing with people from different cultures can use.
"Language is second to culture."
As you can see from my notes above, I starred and underlined this quote. In researching and exploring how to engage international members, many community leaders look to translation tools and strategies as their way to reach across boundaries. In exploring how TheCR Network can better engage with members from across the globe (we have a growing contingent of European members), I'll admit that my first instinct was to also look at translation tools. So Luis' point that we should focus on culture first, really stuck with me.
We need to truly know the community we're aiming to reach and respect their culture and the ways that they identify themselves, work, speak, and engage.
Luis provided some amazing statistics about Latino audiences in the US and their media consumption habits. He encouraged, and heavily suggested, that we think past our assumptions when thinking about Latino audiences as this audience is not always what we think.
He explained how the Latino community in the US is mostly under 30 years of age, speaks mostly English, knows enough Spanish to communicate (especially with older family members), and is extremely connected to culture. We might think that we know a group of people or a specific audience, but are we truly listening to what they want and/or how they engage?
These answers might not be obvious, but if you go to them, they will come.
We can do much better at finding these answers. By increasing representation and bringing more visibility to the groups that we're trying to reach, we're opening up spaces for people to come in and be comfortable. This representation and visibility needs to be genuine, not just a push for diversity, as people will not buy-in if there's no authenticity. We need to understand other cultures and sub-cultures and truly create spaces where those cultures can thrive.
If you're a member of TheCR Network and you don't feel like you're being well-represented here, please let me know. One of my strategic goals for 2020 is too widen the scope of perspectives we have in TheCR Network and I need your help to do that. Talk to us about our gaps, it's how we'll be able to grow.
One of the quotes that I will remember the most (that I even tweeted about while at the summit) is what I'll end this blog post with:
"People are not coming because there's nothing for them."
So how do we meet people where they are and create a place that encourages and supports their engagement?
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If you're not a member of TheCR Network, you can read more about what membership entails and how to join here. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
#culture