FEMA recently released this “Coffee Break Training”. I thought it would be good to share with NIOA members that may not have seen it.

From the document:

Public Information Officers (PIOs) play a major role in communicating fire safety and prevention information to the public after residential fires. To make the most of these teachable moments, it is important to know what to do and say before, during, and after an interview with the news media.

Download the file: FEMA Coffee Break Training for Fire PIO

The NIOA has one ticket available to the upcoming IPTM Media Relations Course to be held June 6-9, 2011. You must be a member of the NIOA in good standing to request this ticket. First come, first served.

Details can be seen on the Other Training Options page.
If you are interested, please email Lisa at nioa@comcast.net.

In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an interdisciplinary team at Ball State University is developing a training program on advanced crisis communication for emergency communications professionals. This training will be offered free of charge. The Advanced Crisis Communications Team (ACCT) has been working diligently to prepare the course.

The ACCT has requested that the NIOA executive board provide you with a link to a survey to help them better understand the potential audience.

The survey asks questions related to training you receive for your job. ACCT specifically is targeting individuals in Public Information Officer (PIO) roles in different emergency management agencies, and is seeking responses only from those persons.

Please take a few moments to answer the survey at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/acct

For additional information about the ACCT and to view their course timeline visit http://www.bsu.edu/acct/

The Institute of Policy Technology and Management again offers a Police Media Relations Course. The event will be held in Jacksonville, Florida June 7-10, 2010. A registration form is available here.

IPTM Police Media Relations Course Registration

The IPTM course description states

“This course focuses on the real issues that regularly confront Public Information Officers and agency administrators. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to function as a P.I.O. and will be able to interact with the media in a manner that will minimize the chances of misinformation, leaks and misquotes.”

The 32 hour course is targeted to public information officers, line supervisors, middle managers, agency administrators, and anyone else involved in public information. Cost is $625.

You can register by mailing or faxing the form available in this post or online at www.iptm.org.

The NIOA Board members are working hard to prepare for the 2010 conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida. We know that there are budget concerns for many agencies, travel monies are few and some agencies are not providing funds for training.

We also believe that this conference is the finest conference available for PIOs to hone their skills, receive new insights to help them improve themselves as PIOs and therefore benefit their agencies, and of course, to build networks with others that can help when help is needed.

As past NIOA Presidents have done, I am providing a letter for members to share with their chief or administrator to help show the value of the annual training conference. Please download, print and present it to your leaders so that they might better understand the overall value of this conference.

We look forward to seeing you in Clearwater Beach.

Marlee Boenig
2009-2010 President
NIOA

Enclosure: 2010 NIOA President Letter to Chiefs

The NIOA board members have worked hard this year (and continue to do so) to prepare for the 2009 conference in Nashville. We know that there are budget concerns for many agencies. We know that travel expenses are tight and that some agencies are not providing funds for “extra” training.

We also believe that this conference is the finest conference available for PIOs to hone their skills, receive new insights to help them improve themselves as PIOs and therefore benefit their agencies, and of course, to build networks with others that can help when help is needed.

In past years the NIOA presidents have presented a letter for members to share with their chief or administrators. This letter helps to show value for the annual training conference. I have provided a letter for you to use, this year, as well. Please download, print and present it to your leaders so that they might better understand the overall value of this conference.

We look forward to seeing you in Nashville.

You may have noticed a sidebar advertisement throughout the NIOA site for the Social Media for Government conference.  This training opportunity is being held by the Performance Institute in partnership with the NIOA.

According to the event coordinators you can learn how to:

• Develop a Social Media Strategy to Drive Performance-Based Communications at Your Agency
• Create Online Strategies to Appeal to a Diverse Customer Base
• Market Your Social Media to Citizens and Stakeholders
• Utilize Social Media Strategies and Tactics to Engage Employees

NIOA members that wish to attend this conference may receive 10% off their tuition with the discount code P734-PRTWB.

Partnered with:

Time is running out to qualify for the discounted early-bird conference registration rate for our 2008 NIOA Training Conference in Reno-Sparks, Nevada.

If you are planning to attend, it is important that you register prior to July 1st. Remember, you don’t have to pay until later. You can even bring it with you and pay at the door. But you must register prior to July 1 to get the discounted member rate of $495. If you wait until after July 1st, registration goes up to $695!

Also, due to a production error part of the agenda published in our May-June newsletter was inadvertantly omitted, but you can view the full agenda at www.nioa.org/tc.htm and you can view or print a corrected newsletter issue at http://www.nioa.org/news.htm.

Looking forward to seeing you soon in Reno-Sparks!

Judy Pal,
NIOA President

“Remember, you don’t have to pay until later.”