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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

PIO-ing Cleveland’s Public Square during #PrideInTheCLE #ClevelandPride

Posted on August 14, 2016 by rusnivek

Yesterday, I supported Cleveland Police on the #PrideInTheCLE #ClevelandPride event in Public Square.

Much different from the Republican National Convention.

Lots of families out and about (and enjoying) the new cool fountain in downtown Cleveland.

Everyone was having a great time.

Lots of speculation and talk about public safety not being around to support the LGBT community – all totally false. Public Safety will be there to support any community.

Trust me, lots of public safety was on hand to support our entire community.

Cleveland Police Bomb Squad and K9 teams…

Cleveland EMS…

..even the Cleveland Police bike patrol was out supporting the day’s events.

Lots of areas to cover.

Partnerships with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department and Cleveland Police Department are key in providing safety for everyone who attended the event.

It was a relatively hot day so I am glad that many of the participants dressed appropriately for the event.

Some not so much.

Fun entertainment and friendly people staying cool out in Public Square.

While waiting around, we had some time for a quick PIO selfie…

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Also had time for a few interviews with local media.

Also happy to run into a long time good friend Mark Zinni who is the anchor for the Channel 3 Eyewitness News in Hartford, Connecticut. Great to see him again.

Thanks for the picture Zinni!

Can’t wait to see him again in Cleveland.

While out there, we even made a few new peeps into Junior Police Officers.

Thanks Ken!

We were fortunate enough to do a few live interviews on Periscope from Public Square.

We highlighted the event and gave a status report of the operations using Periscope.

Ever wonder what it’s like to hang with onscene PIOs? Here’s a behind the scenes shot of us doing some live interviews on Periscope.

Thanks for the action shot Zinni!

Trust me, it’s harder than it looks.

Overall, it was great to see so many people out on a Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.

As always, I had a great time working the PIO magic with Jen!

We make a pretty good team huh?

Hope everyone stayed dry while the rain hit.

Great safe event everyone!

Have a great weekend!

@rusnivek

2016 Ohio #PIO Symposium #OhioPIO

Posted on August 12, 2016 by rusnivek

This year’s Ohio PIO Symposium will be held on SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 at The Ohio Department of Transportation’s Auditorium
1980 West Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43223

8:00 a.m. – Registration and Networking Opportunity
9:00 a.m. – Opening Remarks

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2014 Ohio PIO Symposium (From L to R): Sur, Gonzalez, and Hysing.

2015 Ohio PIO Symposium (From L to R): Howson Staub, Sur, Bosso, and Pollack.

See you there #OhioPIO

@rusnivek

Doctoring images to incite fear = not cool #SMEM #PIO #RNCINFO #Safety-SM-16-004

Posted on July 16, 2016 by rusnivek

Lots of BSery going on.

@TKDMike pushed this image out on 07-16-16 at 1902 EST trying to portray that Cleveland is burning dumpsters tonight for the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Orig tweet w/ image found here

That image looked weird to me.

So let’s look a little closer shall we?

A simple online search found this exact image used multiple times.

Once as a meme for protesters in the UK

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Made into a UK Meme

Yep. That’s weird.

Then the same image, slightly better quality found on imgur from 10 months ago.

From imgur

Again, double weird.

Then I found the original.

On flickr by Brian Neumann (2011)

Game-7 from the Stanley Cup in 2011. Appropriate photo credit to Brian Neumann.

In the initial @tkdmike post from 07-16-16, he has embellished the image and added the Quicken Loans Arena logo and an RNC2016 logo to the dumpster. Additionally, behind the gal on the right is also a photoshopped sign for Trump2016. **Clearly against the orig photo by Brian CA Neumann on 06-16-2011 on Flickr. The sign should not read “Trump 2016”, it should read “Sunrise Kitchens” – also note the hockey jersey.

Doctoring images to push political agenda or incite fear = not cool.

Canada image from 2011 –> fake it to be a Cleveland image in 2016 = not cool.

It’s going to be a long NSSE.

Reporting live from the JIC…..

@rusnivek

Showcasing some of the specialty teams in play for the upcoming RNC #RNCINFO

Posted on July 15, 2016 by rusnivek

Press event yesterday morning to showcase all the equipment and teams that could be utilized and deployed out for next week’s Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland.

Cleveland Police Sgt Jen Ciaccia lead the effort that started at 0600.

After events in Dallas, the bomb robot was of great interest to everyone.

If you take the time to understand the technology, this is an invaluable piece of equipment to any police department.

Some reporters wanted to try to wear the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) suits.

NBC Nightly News Correspondent Jacob Rascon even hoped on the Mounted Unit to see what it was like to ride above the crowds.

Nice guy.

Don’t worry, Cleveland Police’s Mounted Unit doesn’t j-walk…

…like you, they use the cross walk.

Bike patrol officers from across the state including Blue Ash Police and Akron Police were out running training throughout the city.

It’s great to have so many law enforcement agencies working together to ensure safety for all participants.

Additionally, lots of pros working behind the scenes making magic happen.

Proud to have a so many Public Information Officers (PIOs) working together in the Cleveland Joint Information Center (JIC).

Looking forward to more fun tomorrow.

And yes, it’s t-minus 3 days…

@rusnivek

PIO training on #AlohaFriday

Posted on June 24, 2016 by rusnivek

Lots of training for a Friday…

…on this #AlohaFriday.

Yep, they started periscoping w/ my phone.

Dang it Morales!

At the second station, it was a bit more relaxed, but found out there are more Pinterest users at the station than you would ever believe.

Happy #AlohaFriday everyone.

@rusnivek

How Emily Austen got fired in ~25 min bec of FacebookLive #SMEM #PIO Safety-PIO-SM-16-003

Posted on June 17, 2016 by rusnivek

Fox Sports reporter Emily Austen made the news…yes, she was the news this week when she FUBARed her career on FacebookLive. (If it helps, fast forward to 25:33)

Wait, did Emily just say “Like, I didn’t even know Mexicians were that smart.”

WTF!?!?!?!?

SMDH

Fox Network immediately fired her because of her comments on FacebookLive. Let that sink in for a moment. Fox Network fired her for all the inappropriate comments in this unaffiliated FacebookLive broadcast.

Yeppers-you can get fired for stuff you do on social media.

To be fair to her, Austen did post a statement about it here.

But, to add more fuel to this fire, here’s a story about it from Complex News.

Again, I repeat:

You can lose your job over a picture.
You can lose your job over a 140-characters (tweet).
And yes, you can lose your main job on a couch during a live broadcast.

All thanks to social media.

For more case studies on others who lost their jobs because of social media, check out this link.

In this case, what would have helped?

Not saying dumb things.
A behind the scenes PIO to help coordinate conversation.
Sticking to the “script” of the interview/session.
Professionally maintaining topic relevance and choice of words.
Sticking to communications strategy and abiding by identified corporate Policy/Procedures and SOPs/SOGs.

Or just straight up – don’t say inappropriate things.

Now phleeeze – go out there and use your social media live broadcasting powers for good!

@rusnivek

Joint SM and Intel SOG reviews for a large upcoming event

Posted on June 16, 2016 by rusnivek

Reviewing my SOGs and social media assignments for the all-hazards social media specialists / intel positions in the JIC for an upcoming large scale national event.

An important part of any Joint Information Center (JIC): Now discussing the best non-verbal urgent alert hand signals for all staff deployed to the JIC.

Clearly, Mama PIO wins this round.

PIOs serving our community as well as our nation and of course planning for all kinds of “stuff”.

Great plans with solid PIO peeps makes all the difference.

Trust me on this one.

@rusnivek

Prepping for next week’s PIO classes and exercises

Posted on May 27, 2016 by rusnivek

Prepping for another Public Information Officer, Crisis/TV interviews, and Social Media Courses next week.

Reporting live from LEX18…

I am definitely using a few examples to help break the ice.

Talofa from TALA FOU News!

But don’t worry, I have a whole library of examples to share – basically, what I’ve learned through experience.

One of the basic tips I talk about is RBF.

WKYC-3 (NBC Affiliate) in Cleveland, Ohio Photo Cred: Adam Gercak

Posture is important especially since I look super small behind a podium.

NBC24 (NBC affiliate) in San Francisco

One thing is for sure, on camera, I need to smile more.

Fox-8 in Cleveland, Ohio

#Yikes

Who is attending? I have the Mayor, entire City Council, Safety Director, Public Safety Chiefs, Health Department, Emergency Management, etc….So yeah, it should be fun.

Have a great long weekend peeps. Please take time to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms in this great country.

@rusnivek

How am I supposed to spot this tiny thing?!? #PIO

Posted on May 9, 2016 by rusnivek

These things are getting to be so small!

HD, 4K, satellite capable, live broadcast, international signal, bajeez!

They require a 50meg upload per Dejero. So yes, they are hogging the wifi!

#PIOProblems

Technology. Definitely making our lives more complex.

@rusnivek

State of Ohio EMA new Joint Information Center class in #SummitCounty #JIC #JIS #PIO #ESF15

Posted on May 5, 2016 by rusnivek

Rolling out the State of Ohio Emergency Management Agency‘s new G0291: Joint Information Centers (JIC) / Joint Information System (JIS) Planning for Tribal, state, and Local PIOs. Luckily, we were in the Command and Control room at the Summit County Health Department.

Command Control room…aka DOC

As always, its great teaching with Sister Michael Marie. Outstanding experiences and great stories from her international work in challenging areas of the world.

Even OEMA was checking in on our progress!

#truelove for us Emergency Management Instructors.

Sister Michael showcased the importance of all-hazard PIO involvement in emergency response to a natural hazard.

Everyone was able to share experiences and help each other improve – esp thinking outside the box on various scenarios.

By the end of this in-class activity, our participants realized that there are so many parts to a “simple disaster” that it pays to build partnerships early.

It’s all hands working in an emergency – so build your relationships early before a disaster.

Remember: At 0300, you ugly, you smell, you stink – and clearly that’s not the best time to meet new people and to function in an emergency at 110%.

“As Emergency Management, we must continue to nurture solid working relationships and common response/recovery objectives with our all-hazards partners in public safety.” – @rusnivek

Best part? At the end of the class, they all applauded.

slow-clap

Awwww yeah!

When was the last time a class applauded your Emergency Management NIMS ICS compliant class?

Heh.

As always, it’s great to teach with OEMA Instructor and consummate professional Sister Michael Marie.

There is so much going on in this picture. I can’t even.

I’m just glad to be a part of something big.

@rusnivek