Tag Archives: Public

Great training resource discussion with the State of Maryland EMA

Posted on by
Reply

I stopped by the State of Maryland’s Emergency Management Agency and EOC.


I had a chance to sit down with Executive Director Russell Strickland and talk about various Training & Exercise plans including a few ways to enhance their plans. Also caught up with the famous Doc Lumpkins!


Yep, that’s our classic pose. It’s the same pose as the EMI conference, White House Disaster Day, NEMA Conference, etc….

Obv we all had to have a quick meeting with City of St. Louis EMA Sarah Gambling-Luig.


#FlatSarah had to go to another meeting concerning #CityHallSelfie so the rest of us stayed to plan for upcoming classes.

Great discussion on various aspects of social media focusing on gathering information for tactical operation for SA/COP. Emily and Ed provided some great insight to upcoming plans for Maryland. Additionally, we also had a chance to chat about ready deployable PIOs to field tactical operations, Joint Information Centers (JICs), Incident Management Teams (IMTs), and increasing SA/COP for State of Maryland.


Looking forward to more PIO involvement with my Maryland peeps!

@rusnivek

NEO Public Information Officer quarterly training with WKYC 

Posted on by
Reply

Great to see the leadership at WKYC (NBC affiliate) for hosting our quarterly NorthEast Ohio’s (NEO) Public Information Officer (PIO) training!

Photo credit: K. Hyson, Cincinnati Health Department

Lots of discussion based around media relations focusing on timely and accurate reporting. Additionally, lots of conversation with good stories vs bad stories – which challenges the typical paradigm of news media’s “If it bleeds, it leads!” mantra.


“Off the record” conversation as well as immediate notification of incident dominated the early part of our conversation.

We moved into how strategy sometimes gets in the way of real emergencies and of course how our PIO narratives sometimes conflicts with how the story is produced.


To me, I was also surprised at how many reporters wanted txt msgs as compared to phone calls. In fact, desk assignment editors wanted a mention as well as a follow-up txt or notification of ongoing emerging issue.


I am very greatful to be able to have candid conversation with our partners in the media. And yes, sharing success stories as well as challenges will allow us to do a better job with our local media to communicate our safety messages. Very glad to hear that getting the story right is still the main drive of our local news agencies.

Many thanks to the pros at WKYC (NBC affiliate) Cleveland for the hospitality and generosity.


Reporting live from WKYC…

@rusnivek

Quarterly PIO training today for NEO Public Information Officers

Posted on by
Reply

Looking forward to seeing my fellow PIOs this afternoon for the quarterly NorthEast Ohio Public Information Officer (NEO-PIO) training at WKYC (NBC Affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio).

Glad to be able to put a face to a voice…and to be able to talk under non-stressful times is so nice.

For all PIOs/PAOs – Building relationships and networking are critical components of a successful communicator. Yeppers, networking is soooo….

Indeed it is Gretchen

@rusnivek

 

Final day of DHS/FEMA ICS-300!

Posted on by
Reply

Final day of ICS-300!


This morning, we will be talking a bit about allocation and resource management.


Despite the disaster or emergency, It is critical that we continue to be fiscally responsible to the communities we serve. Let me dispel the common misnomer – there is no such thing as an unlimited budget for disaster response/recovery. We must utilize our resources accordingly to best maximize our time. Much like everything else in life, all resources and personal must be accounted for and justified.

Shout out to BFD and their hospitality this week as we help our local partners, state agencies, and DoD assets in preparation for their upcoming NSSE.

Thanks BFD!

After three long days in class, it’s great to have so many smiling faces

Smiles and shakas from my ICS-300 class!

I’m just proud to have so much participation and networking in class.

Ribbit.

@rusnivek

Specific national plans and nationwide partners for resources

Posted on by
Reply

Really enjoying sharing and highlighting our plans for our partners in public safety. We talked about a ton of them this week in the ICS-400 classes this week.


Yes, to enhance your disaster knowledge, consider reading through the above documents.

But within these plans, many government agencies have tons of resources available.


Lots of peeps to work with.

@rusnivek

Another solid JIC JIS course on #AlohaFriday 

Posted on by
Reply

Today is DHS/FEMA’s G-291: JIC/JIS planning for Tribal, State, and Local PIOs!


Lots to talk about esp coordination with various all-hazards agencies.

Also glad to share a few PIO/JIC stories on 3-girls that were missing for 10+ years as well as the 2016 NBA Championships, Republican National Convention, 2016 World Series, and 2017 NBA Championships.


On top of that, our class wanted to know more about social media so I can indulge a bit. Not only on #s, geolocation, platforms, etc….but also lots on newer wearable technology too.


As always in any class we instruct, we try to make fun and exciting. And yes, thumbs up for PIOs!


Special thanks to WTFD Capt Mike Pruitt for the coordination and hospitality.. Glad to see so many new PIOs in the audience.

Happy Aloha Friday peeps!

@rusnivek

Day-2 of FEMA Basic Public Information Officer Program

Posted on by
Reply

Day-2 of FEMA’s Basic Public Information Officer Couse started out with reviews of all crisis interviews.


Collaborating on communications tactics with various agencies allows PIOs to craft the right message – esp in a disaster.


Erica had a chance to share JIC efforts from the Republican National Convention.


And you know I shared some tactics and tips on ascertaining open source info utilizing geolocation/metadata during a National Special Security Event. I also chatted briefly about tools field PIOs should use when deployed out.


After lunch we were fortunate enough to hear from a great panel discussion: Indiana State Police Sgt. John Perrine, the Information Officer for central Indiana and RTV6’s Investigative reporter Paris Lewbel.


Both panelists candidly shared information with everyone attending.


Side note: Sgt John Perrine is the brains behind the truly viral PSA hit on vehicles turn signals. Check it out here.

Great to work with so many pros today.

@rusnivek

This week, we are starting another G290…

Posted on by
Reply

Another great start to a solid G-290: Basic PIO Course with WTFD.


Greetings and welcome to everyone in Region-5 by Capt Mike Pruitt.


Started out the morning with building a base of core PIO principals including reviewing writing that targets a specific target audience.

Photo credit: M. Pruitt

Ahem. Press releases are almost dead.

Erica talked about how critical Incident Communications Analysis plays a big part in how our audience uses/digests information.


We started all the on-camera interviews after lunch. Lots of great interviews…

Photo credit: M. Pruitt

…and solid techniques showcased in the field interview exercises…

Photo credit: M. Pruitt

…many of the participants are already functioning as PIOs within their own communities.

Photo credit: M. Pruitt

Group work in the afternoon…


…with more discussion and reporting out of critical facts while writing talking points.


We are so fortunate to have such a diverse class of participants willing to share information.

Reporting live from the most funnest PIO class ever…

@rusnivek

17-001: A Shake That Never Happened #PIO #Safety #SocialMedia

Posted on by
1
17-001: A Shake That Never Happened
Agency: US Geological Survey (USGS) Topic(s):      Error message / human error
Date: 06-23-17 Platform:      Twitter/Email

Sometimes, US Geological Survey (USGS) computers have 6.8 sized hiccups which automatically pushed out info this past Wednesday. This caused serious concern as numerous Emergency Management professionals and PIOs desperately searched to verify information on any earthquake in California. None was to be found on Wednesday June 21, 2017.

As you can see, the date listed in the email notification isn’t consistent with Wednesday’s date as well as the time stamp of publication.

Even worse was the 140-character tweet with even less text/info that initially went out to their 679K followers (@USGS). With the magnitude and epicenter location in a well populated area (Santa Barbara CA), it is crucial that we have multiple sources to verify critical information.

As humans, our attention span has shortened. (SQUIRREL!) Likely thousands misread the initial date/time listed on the email. Even less took the time to click the link in the tweet.

USGS noticed the error and posted this explanation of the errand info. Emails were sent to explain the deleted event.

Obviously more than 140 characters, they screen shot a typed response and posted the image to twitter referencing their errant tweet. The USGS used this tactic to get more information and characters into an otherwise short 140-character tweet.

Whether computer or human error, fessing up to an error on social media is embarrassing. However, the ramifications of arbitrarily deleting info without prior public notification will gander your agency a rash of criticism from the most loyal of followers. Government agencies should strive to foster trust and transparency with all of their constituency. Not to mention, deletion of your posts must match your agency’s policy/procedure or SOP/SOG.

Three important tips to consider if an agency posts something weird:

  1. Trust, but verify information. Trust your social media intuition.
  2. Correlate data from various sources to make an informed decision for ongoing operations.
  3. Admit your mistakes. It happens. Human error is a thing.

Mistakes happen, but how you recover will either make you a hero or a zero. Maximize your efforts on social media including screenshots of your more-than-140-character-response.

Time is short, so tweet / email correct stuff!

@rusnivek

****Or download the one-pager here: AShakeThatNeverHappened-Safety-PIO-SM-17-001***

Maybe watch a quick video from USA Today