Stuff I’ve Done and Things I’ve Made

So it occurred to me that I didn’t have a portfolio of my work from over the years. You can find my LinkedIn for more of a conventional resume but I figured why not create something that takes you on a little walk down memory lane.

I will break this portfolio into categories; campaign materials, video content, reports, public speaking and media appearances, podcast links and other random stuff.This should give you a taste of what I do and how I like to do it, enjoy.Consulting:Most of the work I have been doing over the past decade has been consulting. My favourite client is actually my mother. It took a few years but we have managed to get her Instagram account to over 1 million followers and this has allowed her to retire as a pediatrician by developing courses and workshops  that are now a successful business with her. I still find this kinda amusing given she is still often confused by how a lot of technology works but we developed a formula that worked for her and provided real value for her audience. It also gave her a way to connect with her passion for art from her days before med school which has been lovely to watch blossom. It's also given us something to focus on together that can help us transcend some of our political differences (Zionism) that have been a strain on our relationship for a long time.

Here is a handful of campaign materials i have produced:These posters are part of a series that is just starting to go up this weekend all over Vancouver that send you to related take action pages on Avi Lewis’s election campaign website.

This was the final billboard design for Avi’s last week before election day.

This was part of an ad campaign I created for a public consultation on behalf of the city of Sydney, Australia

These were ads we ran on social media as well as on billboards, in newspapers posters and other strategic locations across Canada as part of a micro targeted climate change awareness initiative.

This was from a campaign I facilitated on behalf of Tsleil-Waututh Nation during a BC provincial election. The campaign featured social media ads, billboards, print ads and posters that drove traffic to targeted landing pages in swing ridings across the province (we helped win 9 of 11 ridings).

Events:

This was a fun debate. I challenged infamous far right pundit Ezra Levant into a showdown and it went down in a wrestling ring made from caution tape at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver. You can watch the full video playlist from the debate here.

I have organized countless rallies, marches, workshops, heck even a parade or two but by far my favourite event series I have been involved in was this running event series, the Great Climate Race. Great Climate Race Origins StoryMy partner Mari and I organized this event off the sides of our desks while working for Tsleil-Waututh Nation and also coordinating Tanker Free BC. The business we started to facilitate the race has evolved into Elephant Room Campaigns and Communications, our consulting company that I have now used to facilitate consulting work for the last decade. The Great Climate Race was one of the 10 biggest running events in Vancouver in its first year as a 10k around the Stanley Park seawall (as well as a 2.5k walk/run) and raised money for solar projects that are still actively generating electricity and saving money for a lot of great organizations year after year.

Working for Tsleil-Waututh Nation was a life changing experience. I have so much love for Rueben George and so many members of the community who taught me so much. I am forever grateful for this experience and was honored to be of service to the community as well as other indigenous communities I worked with over the years. When I moved back to Ontario my first role was with Chiefs of Ontario supporting communities transitioning to Indigenous led education. It was a really beautiful way to get to better know the history and people of the land I was living on.

Interactive Campaigns:I love participatory campaigns like this one. You can view more of this collection here.

Presentations:This slide deck below was presented to staff and team members from the city of Jasper for a workshop on consulting hard to reach groups using micro targeting. I later repurposed this presentation as a case study at a conference for public engagement and consultation professionals.

Copy of Jasper Equitable Engagement Workshop by Benjamin West

Reports:The two reports below were from public engagements I coordinated for Ethelo, one for an indigenous community, the Hailzaqz First Nation, creating a clean energy plan for their community and the other was a cross country engagement we did on behalf of some large foundations to influence a federal budget discussion. Both included well funded micro targeted social media campaigns to drive engagement. Recently I’ve been hosting twitter spaces and webinars as well as doing podcasts. Here are a couple of those reports:Final Report- HailzaqvHelp Canada Build Back Better Report (Final).pdfWebinars:Online community engagement for First Nations CommunitiesClimate SAFE Cities: The Movement for Fossil Fuel Free Communities

Twitter Spaces:Unicef Grants Round Kick Off

Podcasts:Elevating public goods with decentralization, quadratic funding, and community coordinationImpact Maker | Community Incentive Structures with Ben West — Thrive ProtocolReversing Climate Change Podcast

Here are a some of my favourite campaign videos I’ve made:

Avi Lewis on billionaires and wealth redistributionSatirical Canadian Heritage Moment - David Lewis

The Great Climate Race - International Virtual RaceSpeak Now or Forever Hold Your BreathMoms of Canada say protect the water... #notKinderMorganSupport Ben West's Crowdfunding for This Book... 

I made this documentary film about the Work Less Party, it was called Alarm Clocks Kill Dream, check out the trailer. The Work Less Party was way ahead of its time.Alarm Clocks Kill Dreams- The TrailerMedia Relations:Media relations and public speaking has been a big part of my life for a long time. You can find a bunch more clip of me doing media appearances on this Vimeo link if you are interested:

More Videos of Media Appearances Here

Public Speaking:Here are some pics from public speaking work I have done:

I was a weekly pundit on this show for a couple years.

I have organized and participated in dozens of high profile press conferences

Speaking at rallies is something I never imagined loving when I was a shy young adult but life can take you to some interesting places.Politics:

Politics is important. Did I mention I was once the Deputy Leader of the Green Party of BC and have been actively involved in pretty much every election since 2005 as a candidate, an advisor, or campaign management staff for activist candidates in various parties. These days I mostly just do some political strategy and communications consulting for candidates I believe in.

This was the first time I was on National TV. I was invited to be a guest on the Vicki Gabereau show after Michael Moore brought me up on stage at an event. In this pic I was in the midst of talking about algorithms being used to check if students were plagiarizing their work by creating a “digital finger print” of their work.This was in 2004, long before AI was a thing. I have been concerned about surveillance technology for a long time. Fun fact, I borrowed this hoodie from a roommate cause I didn’t think I had anything cool enough to wear on the show.

Working on pipeline and oil tanker issues lead me to standing on a lot of beaches with a microphone. In this case I was talking about an oil tanker tracking tool I coordinated the launch of.

I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to speak by a wide range of organizations on a lot of different but related topics. It's usually tied to community organizing in some way.

Someone once told me you look important if you point at things while having your picture taken. 🙃

Premier Gordon Campbell was running late so reporters invited me to use their microphones that they had set up to provide counter points before he arrived. Building relationships has benefits.

This was the moment I realized my right ear wasn’t working and I couldn’t hear the producers as we were about to go live and I was experience mild vertigo. It was a turning point moment for me as I began adjusting to living with a disability. My sensitivity to stimulus made this kind of thing difficult for years and I had to find new ways to be effective.

I was really early on the whole Ring Light idea. 😉 I like how technology has enabled me to do a lot more media work remotely.

Juggling: Fun fact: at one point in my life I made extra cash as a juggler. It's always been my tool for getting into a flow state or just burning off some steam. Here is a little clip of me juggling snow balls in Vancouver. It occasionally snows on the west coast. ;) I developed a way to teach people to juggle without talking while travelling around with friends in Guatemala during their break from working for local non profit organizations. My Spanish wasn’t great and kids would often want to come watch me juggle and then try it themselves (I carried a bag of bean bags to give away). It turned out this was actually a very effective way to teach juggling for anyone regardless of what language they spoke and after a while I started teaching workshops in schools and for organizations.Here are some fun juggling videos I’ve made over the years. Thanks for reading all of this. You can find a lot more of what I have done over the years and what I’m focusing on right now by checking out my social media accounts. I’m mostly active these days on decentralized social media tools so find me on Bluesky or Mastodon.