New guy, old guy, it does not matter in Emergency Management.
We train everyone of our staff on emergency communications stressing critical concise language.
Down and dirty, this kind of training allows for our staff to drill and train like how we would request resources on a real disaster.
Consistent training will allow our staff to be better prepared for any kind of typical community event to a large scale emergency..
Train like you fight right?
Fun day leading the FEMA PIO Awareness course at the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Welcome intro from Joe!
Safety briefing by John…
With all of our participants from across the State of Illinois.
Glad to see engagement with all partners from various different disciplines.
Great to see the collaboration…
…and the coordination/organization…
…and esp the sharing of contact info (just in case) it hits the fan. PIOs need support! I love to see that kind of pre-incident networking as we lead into other ESF-15: External Affairs classes.
In fact, look for more PIO classes and exercises from DuPage County OHSEM as we move into 1Q 2019. Avis gives it 5-stars in a rainbow formation!
Thanks Avis.
Reporting live from NE Illinois…
Wait whut the what?
Am I being deployed or am I being invited to a disaster party?
I guess I better check my FEMA email again…
Day-2 at the NE Illinois PIO Symposium! And getting to meet and hear from the Illinois Lt Gov was great!
Her insight to how critical PIOs are to the organization is great to hear as it is crucial to the success of any agency.
We also got a chance to hear from the Chicago Police Department Director of Public Engagement Glen Brooks.
Real world stuff as these community tactics should resonate with so many of us in the public space.
Closing out the day, I persuaded my good friend St. Louis Deputy Commissioner Sarah Gambling-Luig to present on her award winning national social media campaign – #CityHallSelfie
This great campaign was started just a few years ago, but her ability to dominate…
…let me say that one more time: DOMINATE the effort is amazing.
Her efforts have inspired countless other civil servants to take pride in their work, back the city, county, and state initiatives….
…and ultimately have pride in where you work and what you represent.
Amazing campaign and words of wisdom to close out the conference.
Special thanks to Bob and Stephanie for the invite to speak this year.
Looking forward to helping out in the coming years.
Day-1 of the NorthEast Illinois PIO Symposium and guess who gets to keynote the start….
That’s right, Cleveland Police Department Sgt Jennifer Ciaccia!
Packed house as we continue to tell the story about collaboration and coordination as field PIOs during critical events in Cleveland, Ohio.
Love sharing the message with other agencies as we continue to train with others in the ESF-15 realm.
Also focusing in on the needed equipment and specialized skills that are critical for in field PIO activities during a National Special Security Event (NSSE).
Always proud and honored to present and share with Jen.
Then later in the afternoon, we heard from John Nebl on Crisis Communications.
Timely talk esp since so many of our PIOs were fresh off National Preparedness Month wondering what to do about outreach efforts for October, November, and December.
Following John, I got a chance to discuss the PIO Networks that were used during disasters and emergencies during last year’s horrific hurricane season.
Sharing lessons learned and improvement plans allows us to train/educate other PIOs so they are better equipped to handle disasters of any shape and size across the US.
Even simple things like knowing your audience is critical when communicating with disaster survivors.
Telling the story about various agencies (including our own) is SO important.
We need to not only share that with the community, but also for our internal players as well. They too have families at home who are PROUD of the work and service they are fulfilling for those in need.
Glad to network with so many new PIO peeps!!!!
Definitely a solid Day-1 here at our NE Illinois PIO Symposium.
The State of Illinois Governor chimed in on next week’s NorthEast Illinois PIO Symposium.
Hope to see you there!
Last day of the social media set: FEMA NDPTC Social Media Engagement Strategies!
Lots to share with our audience as we discuss various strategies with participants from across the state of Michigan…
…including bits on freak snow events and all sorts of fun stuff.
Thanks Cheryl.
But along with the freak snow events, we also have real world events that drops us right into the mix on social media.
In reality, it’s just one of the ways that we communicate with our audiences so we need to have a plan on how we are going to talk, coordinate, and share similar messages with disaster survivors.
To help facilitate classroom discussion, we opted to share our most recent Michigan find.
That’s right, it says Cops and Donuts.
Yes, we as instructors shared two large boxes of donuts with everyone here at the Michigan State Police HQ. Sharing a power ring with Police and PIOs…one of my favorite pastimes.
Special Aloha and shout out to our POC Crystal!
As always, great to see you again Alisha.
Reporting live from the State of Michigan!
Starting out my favorite class today – Social Media Tools & Techniques at the Michigan State Police HQ.
Quick intro and welcome from the Michigan State Police Training Officer…
…and of course about the other classes offered at MSP.
We discussed a whole host of things including Reddit, 4chan, etc….all for the purpose of gathering info.
Yep, I was able to get that into the presentation.
Tools? You know we talked about the famous PIOStick!
Aww yeah baby!
Included were pieces on augmented reality and how we are using technology to better our response during disasters.
That includes working around critical shortages like power, data, etc….Why? Because we as Emergency Managers need to be creative in our exploration of new avenues for our communities and how to better equip our nation and build a culture of preparedness.
As always, group work was essential in social media as we completed the in class activity separating groups into respective factions of Fire, EMS, Police, Public Works, Executive Policy, Schools, Hospitals/Healthcare, Emergency Management, etc….
Lots of great ideas to share and roll out to the community in times of crisis.
In fact, some creative ways to share their messages with each other, amplifying the mission, goals, and objectives of the operational period.
Great day collaborating with each other.
Meanwhile, outside of our classroom, the new cadets were working on vehicle stop and combative training.
Great fun day talking social media.
Reporting live from the Michigan State Police HQ…
Where is @rusnivek? 