PIOs must possess good oral communication skills because they will need to present critical information and prepare other people to speak: More information on speaking and preparing speakers is presented in Lesson 3. The widespread use of social media means you and your organization need to include social media in your communication strategy. While local, tribal, territorial, and State governments may have different laws regarding transparency and open government the general principles are to be: As a PIO, it is important to know the laws that apply in your area because of your role in providing information to the public. Describe the role and function of the PIO. Tammy Kikuchi: The Joint Information Center and the Command Staff out there would hold daily briefings for the media, and quite honestly that took much of the heat, if you will, off the Governors office. View IS-29.a - Public Information Officer Awareness | FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI).pdf from CIS 20 at SUNY Empire State College. Successful blogs are compelling and current, and encourage interaction with readers. Supporting information can be described as: A. Participants will benefit from participating in entry-level incident command system training prior to taking this course. Break your ideas into one subject per sentence. Angie Welling: Pretty much every State agency was involved, and thats when we found out pretty early on that the Governor had involved every aspect of State government. Many organizations follow stylebooks that establish how they will communicate with the public in terms of titles, capitalization, punctuation, and so on. Blogs are a good tool to use to communicate with your audience. Emergency Management Institute Private wiki servers require user authentication to edit pages, and sometimes even to read them. D. Identify opportunities for public awareness campaigns. The goal of this awareness course is to provide an orientation to the public information function and the role of the Public Information Officer (PIO) in the public safety/emergency management environment. The training courses listed below include those delivered at the state, local, tribal, and territorial level as well as higher-level training managed by EMIs subject matter expert training teams. * Redundancy is important in case the computer you are using doesnt have an available or operating USB port or CD drive. Conduct research to determine which tool is best to meet your agencys needs. The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) Public Information Officer (PIO) training program is designed to provide PIOs with the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities to support proper decision-making by delivering the right message, to the right people, at the right time. If you need to build an email list, consider including a place for people to sign up on your Web site. endstream endobj 1929 0 obj <. Timely updates and corrections to information in evolving incidents. 95% B. Contact commercial vendors to identify contacts and the process for news releases. These tools allow you to use key word searches and provide you with updates in your email or through an RSS feed or through the tools Web site. It is important to note that traditional media sources are not being replaced by social media; instead, traditional media are using social media to connect with their audiences and expand their reach. User: 4. Public information can help people make the right decision at the right time. A social networking site is a great tool for: Now you know about the many tools available to get your message out. 281757518-Role-of-Catering-Establishment-in-Tourism-Industry-PRINT.docx. Refer to the list below. Providing good public information helps people make the right decisions at the right time and can instill public confidence in the organization, which is primarily important because: Mayor Holden: We have what they call Mayor Mouse, and Mayor Mouse basically is operated to go to various schools. Monitor to determine if the media coverage is: Whether or not your organization is using social media, you should still monitor it. Many Web sites include a blog as part of the site. Additionally, it can provide those in executive level roles the necessary knowledge of PIO roles and responsibilities during an emergency. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. 3. .. Spelling- and grammar-checking tools (printed and computer software). Do you know what to do to protect yourself and your family? 1. While it is not the responsibility of the PIO to provide food or facilities for the media, a little kindness in this area can go far in building a positive relationship with the mediaespecially if the incident occurs in a remote area where few if any comfort facilities exist (e.g., if the incident is in a remote field, a porta-john will go a long way in making friends!). As demonstrated by the examples, micro-blogging has become an important source of information in preparation of, during, and after crisis situations. Develop and pre-test materials C. Develop an action planD. It uses organizational charts that can be provided to the news media C. It was created for first responders and is helpful at the beginning of an incident D. It has been proven effective during massive wildfire incidents. Select the right media to reach the target audience. Determines what the public needs to know. The activities a PIO chooses in non-emergency times (95%) has a significant impact on how successful he or she will be in the 5% spent in emergency response and recovery. Even a few minutes of practice can make a big difference. At the completion of this lesson you should be able to: Key to being an effective PIO in an emergency is the ability to: Lets start by looking at what you need to know about emergency management. Join to apply for the Public Information Officer - 48752 role at University of California, Merced. Are there warnings or other critical messages to be communicated to the public? Many edits, however, can be made in real-time and appear almost instantly online. * The social media links provided are for reference only. Now that you have some tips for better writing, lets look at how to write a news release. The 95/5 concept relates to non-emergency and emergency PIO activities 95% of most PIOs' work is in non-emergency times, with only 5% directly related to incident response or recovery. C. is presented as a bad example of public information management. This lesson introduces you to some emergency management principles contained in the National Incident Management System (NIMS). To help you in monitoring conversations on social media sites, you may want to use a social media monitoring tool or social media dashboard. Distribute family emergency preparedness kits through community elementary schools is both clearer and more meaningful. Please review the IS FAQ's for more information. Your goals should be: The following is an example of a SMART goal: The Hurricane Ready campaign will present information about local hurricane hazards and the steps to take to be prepared by securing by April 5 media placement on three television stations, two newspapers, one social network, and a micro-blog, each week in May.. Do they have special communication needs (e.g., visual or hearing impairments, or limited English proficiency)? Social marketing is the use of commercial marketing principles to: A. Look at the audience, but dont lock eyes with any one person and dont look into the camera. As part of conducting research, you have identified populations in the community who are vulnerable and need the information from your campaign. Later in the day, Deputy Mayor Mike Tracy and I stood in the same bedroom, getting a first-hand briefing from Fire Chief Kevin Rennie and Capt. Over 150 PIOs working a major disaster, often from different locationsall to ensure clear and accurate information is being delivered amid the confusion of a disaster response. D. a required responsibility of the PIO as outlined by NIMS.. The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is:A. Policies for evolving media (e.g., who can post, what can be posted, how to respond to negative comments, etc.). The role of the pubic information officer. Grab the attention of your readers so that they will continue reading. hbbd```b``+@$S4X$ vA$[0,v DI%09D`vH2& H/ `{I 30 0 `B Do not be afraid to put bad news first if that is the message. Campaigns are usually multifaceted, combining events and various media to get the message out. Mayor Holden: By having that access it really helped us to quell the various rumors that were out there and we were able to keep the situation calm. Another way to express your key message B. Serves as an advisor to the Incident Commander. Uses correct grammar and contains no spelling or punctuation errors. Using acronyms in news releases may:A. Because its money well spent in the end and if your PIOs can learn from other areas of the Nation that are doing things well, send them there, let them learn from the people who have done it before, so that when they come back they can build a system that works for you. Public awareness campaigns can run for weeks, months, or even sporadically throughout several years. * The social media links provided are for reference only. Youll be quite surprised at how the elected official mouse makes all the difference with the children. A Federal structure designed for large-scale, multijurisdictional incidents B. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted. The highest-ranking State official C. His/her regular boss D. The Operations Section Chief, 13. Now that youve got a goal statement, the next step is to create messages in support of the goal that are suited to your target audience. For example, change the location or angle of the lectern so cameras dont capture an unwanted view. Demonstrate that you are in the knowB. ., Example 2:There is more severe weather on the way as a large storm cell is moving across Livingston Parish into EBR. A validation of your key message C. Backgrounders D. Photos, charts, and graphics, 25. Conducting public awareness campaigns; Gathering key information/details of the event; Prioritizing and issuing notices, alerts, and warnings; Taking action to maintain control of rumors; Coordinating inquiries from the public, the media, and elected officials; Coordinating tours or other interviews with agency reps and the media or a non-emergency event. Additionally, students conduct various public information activities and exercises, to include writing messages and conducting press conferences. Recognize various legal aspects associated with emergencies and public information. Coordinate access to policymakers and others (e.g., first responders and disaster survivors). Salary Statistics for Public Information Officers. When something happens, the PIO needs the media to get information to the public but also needs to manage the scene and guide the story. In a span of, I think, 2 months, we took in roughly about almost three thousand kids at various sites to talk to them about different safety things. Although firefighters were able to knock down the blaze before it reached the parents bedroom, the smoke-blackened walls dramatically underscored how lucky they were to escape with their lives. The table below summarizes what you need to provide for a print story, and identifies the advantages and limitations of print. Now lets take a look at how one mayor, Mayor Kip Holden, ensures his community, the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in East Baton Rouge Parish, is prepared. Better yet is the number of people who call and request preparedness kits! The most popular social networking sites have groups, which offer chat boards for members. Jeff Leduff: We are the first line of information for the rest of the team because were out there all the time.