Want to meet "Average Joe Albertan"?

He's coming to a community near you. Register for one of our July events today.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

In four years, our Common Ground team has met with over 500 Albertans and surveyed nearly 10,000 more. This research has given us a glimpse into the life of the “typical Albertan” — the person most people picture when they imagine the average resident of their province.

We’ve learned this through a simple exercise, asking focus group participants to “draw me an Albertan” and tell us a bit about the character they envision. Here’s what they told us.

After learning a bit about Joe’s background, we engage our participants in a series of activities designed to get them to think about the world through Joe’s eyes. To live a day in his workboots, so to speak. According to them, Joe has a fairly consistent view of the world around him.

At the end of our focus group sessions, participants often joke that they wish Joe could be in the room to hear their conversations about him.

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This got us thinking: why not invite Joe to be part of the discussions? This summer, we’re doing just that.

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The Common Ground Initiative is hosting a series of unique evenings of entertainment and learning this July.

At each event, we will provide an overview of our“Draw Me an Albertan” study and ten province-wide Viewpoint Alberta surveys. We will also engage you as a participant in a series of activities that will help us delve more deeply into what life is like for the typical Albertan these days. In these sessions, local improv performers will use our findings and your active input to act out how "Average Joe" would react to various scenarios for an informational and entertaining evening. There is no cost or compensation to attend.

We will be in the following communities for a series of shows:

• Red Deer, July 11

• Edmonton, July 16 and 18

• Calgary, July 24 and 25

• Lethbridge, July 29

• Hanna, July 30

To learn more (including times and locations), and to save your seat, sign up using the button below. Please enter the following promo code when prompted: JOETV.