Holiday Greetings After a Year of Crisis Communications

What a strange communications year it has been. It seems it was the Year of the the Crisis Communicator as we watched communicators over the past 12 months grapple with crises such as the:

• Devastating Victorian bush fires
  
• Global financial crisis
• Climate change
• Rapid fall of Tiger Woods and a myriad of local and global dramas our communities faced.

On the other hand we saw the rise and rise of social media, the continued dedication of volunteers and the passion and persuasion of communicators doing campaigns and projects that truly make a difference for the rest of us.

Thanks for reading Traffic on Maine in 2009 and for those I encountered during workshops, seminars and other byways of life ... it was a pleasure to meet you.

Enjoy a safe and happy Christmas season. May you and your family have a well deserved break over the Australian summer and then return refreshed in 2010 to communicate with your community.

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.