Jeff Siegler

Jeff Siegler Speaking Topics

• Civic Pride and Civic Apathy

  How Small Actions Combat the Crisis Destroying Our Communities

  Communities across the country are being devastated by apathy, a lack of care and concern that destroys everything it touches. This crisis can’t be solved by planning documents or funding alone. We need a fundamental shift in how residents connect to their towns. In this talk, Jeff Siegler reveals why traditional approaches fail and presents a practical framework for rebuilding civic pride through small-scale, incremental actions. Drawing on real examples from communities that have reversed decline, Jeff shows how beauty, shared experiences, and meaningful participation can transform apathy into pride. The solution isn’t a silver bullet or waiting for someone else to fix things—it’s every resident doing their part to make their community a little bit better, every day.

  Attendee Results:

  • Understand why apathy has taken hold in so many communities and why traditional solutions fail
  • Learn the difference between civic pride and civic apathy and how each reinforces itself
  • Discover practical, small-scale strategies that any community can implement immediately
  • See real examples of towns that have successfully combated apathy through incremental change
  • Leave with actionable steps to foster connection, restore beauty, and create meaning in your community
  • Understand how individual participation compounds into transformative community change

• A Recipe for Place

  What the Food Movement Teaches Us About Building Better Communities

  For thousands of years, food and place evolved together, villages formed around fertile land, cultures flourished as communities gathered to share meals, and both reached extraordinary heights of quality and creativity. Then industrialization changed everything. Mass production standardized both what we eat and where we live, replacing local flavor with corporate efficiency and vibrant spaces with cookie-cutter development. But while food declined, a movement emerged to reclaim quality, authenticity, and locality.

  In this keynote, Jeff Siegler explores what placemaking can learn from food’s recovery. Just as farm-to-table replaced fast food for those seeking better, the same principles, local ingredients, craft over mass production, community connection, can transform how we build and nurture our towns. This session reveals practical strategies for applying food movement lessons to create places that are as rich, sustainable, and engaging as the meals we serve.

  Attendee Results:

  • Understand the parallel decline of food quality and placemaking through industrialization
  • Learn how the farm-to-table movement’s success offers a roadmap for community revitalization
  • Discover why “local ingredients” matter as much in placemaking as they do in cooking
  • See real examples of communities applying food movement principles to urban design
  • Gain practical strategies for fostering authenticity, craft, and connection in your community
  • Leave inspired to reject standardization and build places with distinctive local character

• The Power of Place

  How Our Surroundings Shape Everything About Our Lives

  Placemaking isn’t just about beautifying parks and streetscapes, it’s about understanding that place is one of the most powerful determinants of the lives we lead. Every environment we inhabit shapes how we live, interact, and connect with others. Places can make us proud or leave us ashamed. They can foster deep community connection or reinforce isolation. The design, function, and feel of our surroundings directly impact our physical health, mental well-being, social relationships, and economic opportunities. Yet we often treat our built environment as background scenery rather than recognizing its profound influence on human flourishing.

  In this keynote, Jeff Siegler reveals why place matters more than we realize and how transforming our environments can transform our communities. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of place’s hidden power and practical insights for creating surroundings that elevate rather than diminish the human experience.

  Attendee Results:

  • Understand how place functions as a fundamental determinant of quality of life
  • Learn how physical environments shape behavior, relationships, and well-being
  • Discover the connection between place design and physical, mental, social, and economic health
  • See real examples of how transforming places transformed communities
  • Gain frameworks for evaluating your community’s built environment through a health lens
  • Leave with actionable strategies for creating places that foster pride, connection, and flourishing

• Badass Your Board

  Building Non-Profit Boards That Actually Drive Impact

  Most non-profit boards are set up to fail from day one. Assembled with good intentions but low expectations, board members aren’t asked to do much, and they deliver exactly that. This creates organizations that struggle to meet their missions while community needs go unmet.

  In this frank, no-nonsense session, Jeff Siegler challenges the comfortable fiction that passive boards work. He reveals why community development organizations are too important to settle for mediocrity and what it actually takes to build boards that drive real impact. Through honest conversation and practical frameworks, attendees will learn how to set clear expectations, develop consensus around meaningful board engagement, and implement accountability measures that ensure standards are met. Whether you’re rebuilding an existing board or starting fresh, this session provides the roadmap for creating boards worthy of the communities they serve.

  Attendee Results:

  • Understand why low-expectation boards undermine organizational mission and community impact
  • Learn what effective board member engagement actually looks like in practice
  • Discover how to set and communicate clear board expectations from recruitment forward
  • Gain frameworks for building consensus around board roles and responsibilities
  • Explore accountability measures that ensure board members meet their commitments
  • Leave with actionable strategies to transform your board from passive to powerful

• Setting the Stage for Civic Success

  The Science of Building Communities That Thrive

  Our built environment isn’t neutral, it actively shapes our emotions, behaviors, and collective well-being. But most communities approach placemaking by accident rather than intention, missing the profound opportunity to design spaces that make people happier, healthier, and more connected.

  In this evidence-based keynote, Jeff Siegler reveals the science behind how physical environments influence human flourishing. Drawing on research and real-world examples, he demonstrates how cities that intentionally design for joy, creativity, and connection don’t just feel better, they perform better socially, economically, and emotionally. This isn’t soft thinking or aesthetic preference; it’s hard science about how our surroundings affect everything from mental health to economic productivity. Attendees will learn practical frameworks for applying this research to transform their communities from places that happen to exist into stages deliberately set for civic success.

  Attendee Results:

  • Understand the scientific evidence linking built environment to human behavior and well-being
  • Learn how cities designed for joy and connection outperform those that aren’t
  • Discover the measurable social, economic, and emotional benefits of intentional placemaking
  • See real examples of communities applying evidence-based design to drive civic success
  • Gain frameworks for evaluating your environment through a science-based lens ∙ Leave with actionable strategies for designing spaces that elevate community performance