Overcome your fears

Who hasn't enjoyed sitting through a scary movie?  You know the kind I am talking about. The one that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, make you give up a screech at the right moment and leave you checking the doors and the windows at your home for nights after you have seen it.

Alien. Halloween. Friday the 13th. Nightmare on Elm Street. Saw. And, my favorite, The Shining. 

Fear is so awesome in movies because it plays on your anticipation. You fear the unknown, thus your mind makes what you are anticipating so much worse than it really is. 

That's what made for an interesting e-mail I received from a student I instructed last week. Her biggest fear wasn't Bruce the Shark from Jaws or the Predator. 

No, of all things, it was writing. Sure, she had copy written for the news in the past, but had never really put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) for longer, explanatory pieces.  In fact, she said it was her 'weakest link', and her greatest fear was doing it wrong. After considering her words, I gave her the following advice. I hope it helps those of you who might be afraid of communicating through writing, or in any other medium. 

Fear. Wow. That’s a tough one. I can understand that you want to do your best and impress everyone by not getting it ‘wrong’. 

But, let me ask you … Were you born knowing how to walk? Probably not, right? I mean, if you were like me, you were but a wee helpless baby who couldn’t move. That’s OK. Everyone expects you to start there 

When you took your first steps, did you ever fall over? I bet you did, but family helped pick you up and get you to try again. And try you did. Having raised two sons, believe me, I couldn’t stop them. 

I guess the moral of the story is this, if you want to learn how to write, there is no substitute to trying, failing and trying again.

I assume you are a good typist. If not, pen or pencil and paper will work. Every day, set aside half an hour and write. About your day. About the annoying person who cut you off in traffic. About your dog. About what you had for dinner, and how you made it. About the school you attended as a kid or about your first crush in high school. 

Basically, you are learning how to tell a story in written form. At the end of 30 minutes, put your pen down, save your document, whatever, and then walk away.

The next day, pick it up and read it. What was ‘wrong’ with it? What was ‘right’ with it?  Start writing again. Add to your observations. Take it in a completely different way.

Before long, you will start getting a feel for how the words are generated in your brain. You will get an idea of how you tell a story and how you can communicate with others. 

Keep in mind when it comes to writing that there are two kinds of writers – painters and sculptors.  

Painters take the time to painstakingly consider every single word they put to paper, the same way an artist takes the time to consider every brush stroke. Are you a painter? Do you worry about putting the wrong mark in the wrong place? 

Sculptors tend to throw a lot of words out and hope to chisel something from the mass of material. Me, I am a sculptor. I have to keep trying until I get something out of it. The whole idea that communication is 1% inspiration and 99% editing. 

Is either style better? Nope. Just do it your way, and you will enjoy it.

Before you know it, writing will be easy. You may even pick up a new hobby – journaling. If you do it hand-written, there are plenty of blank essay books you can pick up that you will treasure for years. 

One magazine I used to subscribe to is Writer’s Digest. While it was geared toward professional writers, there are a lot of exercises to get you writing. One I love is when they give you a photo and you have to write a paragraph describing what’s going on in it. Be crazy. Get creative. The more you use the language, the more you can do with it.

I hope this helps…

Musings from a member of the Professional Order of English Majors… 

Tom Iovino
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

Their expertise is elsewhere

It never fails. Whenever I teach a class on media relations, someone trots out an official sounding fact about the decline of reading comprehension in the United States, and how you have to 'dumb down' whatever you are talking about when you address the public.

Go stand in the corner, dummy

I have heard the average reading comprehension drop from 10th grade about a dozen years ago to as low as third grade. Yes, I was told by someone who regularly addresses the public that the average reading comprehension of an American is on par with someone who is about eight years old.

To this, I say Hogwash.

The problem we have isn't that reading comprehension has dropped. No, the problem we have is that we - as specialized communicators - often overlook the fact that our audience knows a lot, but their expertise is elsewhere.

Rock on, my man!

Let me set up an example. You buy tickets to a concert. You go to the show, expecting awesome shredding lead guitar, gut busting drum solos and the lead singer to belt out the lyrics. Do you really want the band to take the stage to deliver a lecture on the importance of hand washing to prevent the flu? Not at $80 a ticket you don't!

What's wrong under the hood?

After the show, with your ears ringing and your adrenaline pumping, you start your car to head home, but it won't shift into drive. After fussing with the shift lever for a while, you call a tow truck to take your car to the garage. When the mechanic comes out to tell you what's wrong with your transmission, do you want her to pontificate about how long it will take to evacuate residents from a barrier island in the event of an approaching hurricane?  Heck no!  Fix the car and let's get moving again!

That's one mighty big heart you have there, doc!

With all of the stress, you notice that you are starting to experience chest pain. You call 9-1-1 and are whisked to the nearest hospital, where a cardiologist takes a look at you. When that doctor comes into your room after running a battery of tests, do you really want him to take the time to advocate for smoke detectors in your home? Of course not. You have more pressing matters on your mind!

Now, from this illustration, would you call any of these people ignorant?  On a third-grade level of intelligence?  Not a chance.  Each of these people has a tremendous amount of skill and knowledge developed over years of study and practice, but not in the field that you are an expert. While the public may do things that drive you mad with exasperation, just remember that they don't have the background in the topic you have. Add to that they also have to juggle getting the kids to practice, do grocery shopping, balance their checkbooks, plan when they will finally get around to painting the house - well, you get the idea.

So, how do we reach them?  Easy. Drop the jargon. Lose the acronyms. Remember you aren't speaking to peers in your discipline, but people who can learn if the information is presented in the right way. In other words, we need to stop looking down on the public we serve and understand a great truth that Albert Einstein grasped so well.

There. Now I will get off my soapbox.

Tom Iovino
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

Politics and ... Communications?

All politics is local.
           Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House of Representatives

If you want to see a great study in the evolution of communications, you need only to look at the world of politics.  After all, it's critical for campaign managers to reach out to the electorate to motivate their supporters to head to the polls on election day.

Communications techniques become especially important in presidential politics in the United States. First, the national scale of the race precludes the individual door-to-door campaigning that a mayoral candidate could conduct in a small town. The four-year cycle between elections also allows different communications technologies to evolve, giving us great insight to how important they have become during the intervening time.

Since the 2016 election cycle is ramping up, now is a good time to take a look back to see how people have effectively used the different media available to them.

James Polk's campaign handbill

Initially, in such a large country where it could take weeks for news to travel throughout the states, newspapers and printed handbills were made available to local election organizers to get people to the polls. Sometimes, they would feature images of the candidates and a few inspirational quotes. Sometimes, wow, if you thought today's campaigns were messy affairs with negative ads, you should read what was said in the campaigns of the 1800s.

President Herbert Hoover campaigning from the back of his presidential train

Once railroad lines started crossing the United States, it became considerably easier for candidates to conduct a true nationwide presidential campaign. And, with those railroad tracks came telegraph lines, which allowed advance notice to supporters to show up at the station for whistle stop campaign speeches. From the days of Abraham Lincoln through Barack Obama, this form of campaign still resonates with Americans, even though new forms of communication have taken over and become far more effective at reaching voters.

FDR conducts one of his fireside chats from the Oval Office

Radio became the next big evolution in communications, allowing the near-instantaneous release of information through the major radio networks. The president considered the most skilled practitioner of radio communications was Franklin D. Roosevelt. During his presidential tenure from 1933 until his passing in 1945, he masterfully utilized the medium during his campaigns and through his legendary fireside chats.  Each of his conversations with the American public, while coming across as folksy and relaxed, was carefully drafted, edited and choreographed to build confidence during some of the nation's most trying times.

After World War II, television became the next big thing. Now, not only could people hear or read about the candidates, they could also see them. That was a big step forward, because studies have shown that the words we choose convey only 7% of the message we communicate. The rest comes from the tone of voice, facial expressions and body language. Dwight Eisenhower was the first candidate to use television ads for his campaign, to great effect. Lyndon Johnson would later use one of the first negative ads to great effect against his opponent Barry Goldwater.

Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign website

While George H. W. Bush was in office and signed the bill that opened the Internet to the public in 1991, it was his successor Bill Clinton that was first able to utilize the power of the Internet on the campaign trail. Granted, winning the web was not all that important in 1996, but those first few brave steps by the Clinton and Dole campaigns opened a whole new political battlefield for those who followed.

Barack Obama's 2008 Facebook page

This, of course, led to what we see today - social media as a political driver. It wasn't until the 2008 contest between Barack Obama and John McCain that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube became important players, but both candidates jumped in eagerly to embrace the new outreach tools. President Obama's campaign was lauded for its skillful use of Facebook in getting younger voters out to the polls, helping ensure his victory.

Who knows what communications outreach tools will help win elections in the years to come. But, one thing is certain, a wise Public Information Officer will take the time to study how people whose mission to communicate effectively with a wide number of residents accomplish their task and apply that knowledge to their communications plans.

Tom Iovino
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

When you can't say anything

I am a cinephile. I love movies. There, I said it. 

For the love of movies!  

Whether it's the razor sharp dialogue of Quentin Tarantino's movies, the impeccable filmography of Stanley Kubrick or the masterful storytelling by Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese, there's always something to learn from each of the works these directors turn out. 

But, while I appreciate the drama, I do have to confess my love for the slapstick. Caddyshack. Animal House. The Blues Brothers. And, probably my favorite, Airplane. 

For those who haven't seen this 1980 classic (And, I have to wonder who hasn't), it's the story about an Trans American Flight 209 flying from Los Angeles to Chicago that experienced numerous health emergencies, but couldn't land due to extreme fog. The majority of the action is straight faced, with several absurd sight-gags and exchanges taking place throughout that leave audiences laughing. For instance, there was an exchange between the Pilot Captain Oveur and Dr. Rumack, a physician on the plane who was assessing the health of the passengers:

Dr. Rumack and Captain Oveur fight to control the airplane

Rumack:  Captain, how soon can you land?
Oveur: I can't tell.
Rumack: You can tell me. I am a doctor.
Oveur:  No, I am just not sure.
Rumack: Well, can you take a guess?
Oveur: Not for another two hours.
Rumack: You can't take a guess for another two hours? 

And on from there. And, I realized after those lines were delivered and I wiped away a few tears from laughing so hard, that they are interesting ones when it comes to the world of public information officers.

Think about it. For most of our job, we are out there giving information freely to the public through the media, social media, our websites or whatever. But, there are times when we can't share certain information about what we are doing. 

Many firefighters could find themselves in this situation

For instance, my good friend and mentor retired Tampa Fire Captain Bill Wade told me how he would routinely show up on scenes crowded with reporters. He would get his briefing from the incident commander, come back to the reporters and give them the basics. His messaging in most situations was very simple:

1. The structure was on fire
2. We put the fire out
3. The cause is under investigation

Now, why wouldn't he give the details as to what happened to cause the fire?  There could be a bevy of reasons, first and foremost is that the fire inspectors haven't yet had the opportunity to determine exactly what caused the fire. Could it have been an overloaded fusebox with a penny filling the gap in one of the slots? Could it have been arson?  Who knows, but the last thing that you would want to do is speculate. So, if you can't comment on something pending an investigation, say, "I don't know, but I can find out."  

Another important thing to remember are the laws in your jurisdiction may prevent you from releasing certain information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prevents the release of a tremendous amount of information. From patient names  and conditions to current or past diagnoses can be withheld from release. So, be sure to know what is covered. A quick call to your agency's attorney can help sort this out for you.

Talk to the hand, because the face ain't listening.

What you shouldn't do, however, is just not give out the information because you don't want to. Sure, we get upset with members of the media from time to time, but just keep in mind that the first amendment's freedom of the press in the United States, as well as local public records laws trump your desire to seek your revenge against a reporter who may be pushing your buttons. 

Always be sure you are in compliance with your local laws, or you may find yourself having to talk an airliner down with an emotionally disturbed fighter ace at the helm in the cockpit. The little room at the front of the plane. And, yes, I'm serious, and stop calling me Shirley. 

Tom Iovino
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

Who's safe?

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Yes, nearly six months has passed since the last PIO Chronicles post, but I want to ensure you that I am still alive and well. There have been some major changes in my life that I really don't want to go into right now, but thank you all for your concern!

It's interesting that some of you have been wondering about my well being. For me, I just needed some time away from the computer to get my act together.

For many other Floridians, though, this week has brought unimaginable pain, as a radicalized militant assaulted the Pulse nightclub in Orlando -  just a short drive down from I-4 from where I live.

A shooting victim is carried from the scene by bystanders

At the time of this writing, there are 50 confirmed fatalities and 53 others were wounded by the intentional fire from the assailant. In the confused first minutes, many patrons couldn't tell what the loud shooting sounds were - perhaps part of the music - until it was too late. Chaos erupted as people ran from the scene to save their lives or hid, hoping the perpetrator would not see them.

In times like the shooting at the Pulse nightclub, immediate access to information was both critical and tragic. The shooter became radicalized after reading ISIL literature online. The owner of the nightclub posted a message on Facebook shortly after the shooting began for patrons to flee as quickly as possible from the premises.

Orlando police officers had to numb themselves to the eerie sounds of the victims ringing phones as loved ones frantically tried to reach them to see if they had escaped the carnage safely.

A heavily armed Orange County Sheriff's Deputy helps to ensure there is no more threat

And, for the first time ever in the United States, Facebook activated its safety check feature. This service, which was used extensively in natural disasters and other attacks as seen in Paris and Brussels, allows users to let their friends and families know they are OK in the aftermath of a dangerous incident. Because I have many friends and colleagues in the Orlando area, it was a relief to see their names come in as safe through the service.

And, finally, as is the case with any and all incidents such as this, I carefully watched the numerous news conferences that occurred. While the high-level dignitaries - Governor Rick Scott, Senators Ben Nelson and Marco Rubio - come with their entourages,  it was good to see just how easily the many local agencies from the City of Orlando and Orange County pulled together to deliver coherent, timely information to an anxious public.

Local officials worked closely with the FBI to help get the word out.

The most important lesson to learn as a public information officer is that any emergency is a local emergency, and the people who live in the communities which are affected often have the best insight when it comes to communications.

My biggest concern, unfortunately, is that we are getting way too much experience at events like these...

Tom Iovino
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

Wrapped up with a bow

Getting coverage for an event that you hold can often times be a difficult task. I mean, there are so many different competing events, news crews are stretched to their limits and - often times - the PIOs setting up their events fail to think of the most basic elements.

• What will we see?
• What will we learn?
• What can we communicate to our viewers or readers?

We recently faced this conundrum at a holiday public safety event we wanted to hold. The event - a cooperative effort between the Hillsborough County, City of Tampa, City of Temple Terrace and Plant City fire departments, was going to demonstrate a united front, showing how we work together to ensure the safety of our nearly 1.4 million residents during this time of the year.

The first challenge, which proved easy to overcome, was getting everyone in the four departments on board. Given the fact that we are stronger together than separate, it was a no-brainer, and the cooperation couldn't have gone any better. With some hard work and juggling schedules, we were able to line up the City of Tampa's training grounds for the demonstration.

Now, how to get the media's attention?  I mean, lining up a 2 hour long media event had more than a few eyebrows raised. How would we keep the reporters there, and what would we be able to provide them? I mean, if this didn't go off well, we'd look like a bunch of dopes. We had to gift wrap this media availability with everything we could possibly need.

Fortunately, we were able to get a lot of great information out. Bet you didn't know that candles are a huge source of fires this time of the year?  Or that space heaters could lead to blazes if not handled properly?

That was great information, but what the reporters wanted to see was flames. Burning. Combustion. We had PLENTY of that!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how bright you burn when ignited

How about not watering a Christmas tree?  You do realize that by not giving the tree enough water, it can burn like the dickens. Putting that tree into a home can lead to an inescapable situation in mere minutes. Watering the tree daily is the best way to prevent things from bursting into flame.


And, there's always the question about cooking the holiday dinner. Here in the south, a tradition of frying turkeys is something everyone can get behind. If the bird isn't completely thawed and rocket-hot oil spills onto the open flame of a propane burner, well, you can imagine the fireworks that you can expect to see.

Turkey flambe, anyone?

By the end of the two-hour event, the reporters left with spectacular images, a sheaf of information about holiday fire safety and the material to put together some serious educational material for their viewers and readers.

A holiday safety event wrapped up in a bow and delivered to the public.

Tom Iovino, Public Relations Strategist
Hillsborough County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

"What do you do?"

It's a simple, innocuous question, but for those who run the show at our organizations, it can give them fits.

A fairly innocuous scene

Let's set the stage, first. A reporter shows up on scene at one of your facilities unannounced. They come over to one of the employees raking mulch in the hot sun and ask him or her, "So, what are you doing?"

Oh, please just stop talking already ...

Now, there are three types of responses these workers can have, based on their agency's media contact policies. First, they may have absolutely no guidance from their parent agency. The workers may engage in a lively 20-minute conversation with the reporter about how they love their jobs, how great it is to be out in the field, how it's awesome that the city sprang for such expensive mulch ... oops. Maybe the reporter is looking to find out just how much taxpayer money is being spent on mulch, and now your employee is on camera talking about the price of mulch as the reporter asks more questions.

Silence is golden, duct tape is silver

Another response might be the strict enforcement of a policy where line workers are absolutely under no circumstances allowed to speak with the media. When the reporters arrive, the workers flee the scene or, if the reporter manages to ask a question, the worker fires off a terse "No Comment," or "I'm not allowed to talk with members of the media," and walks away. I mean, come on, it's not like the reporter can't see that that employee is raking mulch.

It's OK to talk about what you are doing

Then there is the third, and probably most optimal way to handle this type of interaction, but it has to start way before the reporters arrive on scene. That is to craft a media contact policy where employees are empowered to speak with reporters about what is is that they are doing, but to refer more difficult or challenging questions to a more appropriate staff member to handle accordingly.

Why adopt this model of media interaction? I think the answer is pretty obvious. It's the Goldilocks effect. Basically,  if you use the first model, you run the risk of having someone who may not know all of the details of the situation to speculate, offer conjecture or just generally run off at the mouth, quite possibly not communicating your organization's message clearly. The second approach is just too hard, and not only shows the reporter that he or she is not welcome, but that the public should be suspicious as well. 

But, that third model, wow. It allows the reporter to get what he or she needs to do the story while putting a welcoming face on the organization, yet still allowing for more qualified staff members to tackle the tough message points. 

Basically, it's just right. 

Tom Iovino, Public Relations Strategist
Hillsborough County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino