Rescue at Sea: The Video

Yesterday I witnessed the rescue of stranded yatchsman 400 nautical
miles off the southern tip of New Zealand.

I was on board the US ship Seven Seas Mariner when it diverted course
to rescue a solo sailor from Germany. Heavy seas had battered his
vessel and disabled the steering. He had been drifting for three days
miles from anywhere and his plans for an around the world journey had
come to a potentially life threatening end.

The Mariner launched a small rescue boat which battled rolling waves
to recover the yatchsman. The ship's passengers watched the whole
operation - which I can testify - had several very tense moments.

While the operational side was underway, the ship's communications
team were also engaged. Using hand held cameras the Mariner's crew
filmed the complete operation from preliminary planning by the Captain
and his team to a closing interview with the exhausted yatchsman once
safely on board.

Within hours they had cut a broadcast quality video and made it
available to passengers.

It was a great use of video technology to give the Mariner's 700
passengers a glimpse of the story behind what they had witnessed only
hours earlier.

There were very well deserved accolades for the rescue crew and their
seamanship. But I also give a well done to the ship's communicators
for reacting to and using technolgy to tell a story no-one could have
anticipated.

Paris, London and Eden NSW

The 1959 Peter Seller’s movie The Mouse That Roared told the story of a tiny fictitious principality that declared war on America ... and won. Well I just met the marketers that roared. Although they did not go to war they certainly attracted American and other international interest.

Eden, a modestly sized fishing town on the coast in southern NSW town has a marketing program in place to attract cruise ships. It is an attempt to broaden out the economy which has been affected by changes in the local fishing and timber industry in recent years.

The town must have a very capable marketing team. They recently managed to attract the Regent Line’s luxury ship, the Seven Seas Mariner, to drop anchor in Eden’s scenic Two Fold Bay. Nearly 700 American, British and other passengers spilled onto the town‘s only main street to browse in local and nearby attractions.

Many shops in the town dressed up with banners and balloons to welcome the tourists who hailed from mega cultural hubs like New York, San Francisco and London. The local services club – which looks like almost every other service club in rural Australia had a sign out welcoming the passengers and volunteers were on hand in themed T-shirts and caps to help people make the most out of their short stay.

Nowadays we often hear how regional Australia is struggling particularly in the drought. It is great to see a plucky small-ish centre going toe to toe with the big cities to bring in tourist dollars.

Well done to the marketers of Eden.

How people use Twitter

I'm often asked how organisations can use Twitter to share information with people they need to reach.

Here is a very short presentation on how some of the people I follow communicate through Twitter ...from retail to public safety. And here's the who's who of Twitters in Australian Governments.

Please check out my simple SlideShare Presentation:

How people use Twitter

View more presentations from Bob Crawshaw.

10 Steps To Engaging Communities

In recent weeks I have been working on a major conservation project which is in response to climate change. It is as much about people and communities as it is about science and data.

No matter how compelling or frightening the data may be, governments still need to convince people they need to act in the face of challenging circumstances. This means consulting them, getting their input and then fashioning a response individuals, communities, business, government and others can act on.

Often community consultation involves a series of inter-locking steps:

• Identifying stakeholders and individuals who wield influence
  
• Identifying local attitudes, aspirations and concerns
  
• Helping those affected understand what it is proposed, how it will improve things and when things begin to happen
  
• Providing opportunities for community feedback and involvement throughout the project
• Keeping people, especially key people, continually informed
  
• Incorporating feedback into planning and subsequent actions and, as importantly, telling people you have done so
  
• Communicating milestones and outcomes
• Simplifying communications yet providing access to detailed data if people want it
  
• Frankly acknowledging setbacks and disappointments
  
• If people have to change behaviours, providing information when they need it and how they need it and offering ongoing encouragement
  

Above all build flexibility and persistence into your own mental mindset.

Things rarely go to plan 100% of the time in community consultation, coalition building and communications. After all we're dealing with people - just like us - and that's just the way it is.

Wanted - Visionaries Who Can Communicate: Apply Within

The world community faces tough challenges.

Issues like the global financial crisis, climate change and international terrorism are enormously complex. The threats in each are real and pressing. There are no easy answers and what is needed is a sustained, perhaps even a multi-generational approach to tackling these challenges which cut right across borders.

These problems impact us all , so it is good to remember the simplest way through complexity is clear vision and simple communications.

This past week two visionary communicators have been notable.

On Friday President Obama received the Noble Peace Prize. The award was probably more in recognition for his ability to inspire people and give them hope than for any one achievement this early in his Presidency. Obama is a communicator in his very own class and the power and persuasion of his words resonates beyond Americans to people around the world.

In this past week I came across leading Canadian environmentalist Harvey Locke who talks about the need to think and act on the grandest of scales to protect and strengthen the earth's fragile environment in the face of climate change.

Locke is currently in Australia talking about about his experiences in helping to establish the Yellowstone to Yukon conservation corridor in North America. At 3200km long Yellowstone to Yukon is the largest conservation undertaking of its kind in the world. It literally links landscapes in the western United States and Canada to preserve animals and vegetation. It is shifting conventional thinking beyond saving "small isolated islands" of threatened environments.

Locke speaks simply, persuasively and peppers his views with anecdotes and stories. In his efforts to encourage Canadians and Americans he underpins the conversation with basic but compelling messages:

• Firstly the problems of climate change are so significant, no one person or organisation has the solution. Organisations should stop pretending they have a monopoly on the way ahead. They must paint the grand vision of what could be and allow the rest of us to define our own contribution on how this can be achieved.
  

• Locke believes in personalising the story. Or in his case "animalising the story." He talks freely why large a North American conservation corridor is so important to the long term survival of buffalo, grizzly bears and other animals iconic to North America. He has chosen his case studies well to tug at the heartstrings of his listeners.
  

• He stresses the need for simple conversations. You can't reasonably expect people to support what they don't understand so he cautions governments and scientists to stop over-complicating the information they provide to the rest of us.
  

Obama and Locke are people with vision and who communicate it simply and consistently. In their own ways they are powerful examples for the rest of us.