Umbral Truths - The Players #2
The Public Needs Information - Enter the Public Information Officer
As we talked about back in The Players #1 - someone has to be in charge, coordinating All Of The Things™. That someone is going to be busy coordinating and leading, they won’t have a lot of time to engage with social media, legacy media with posts, press releases, and possibly press conferences - not to mention the general public contact as well.
In an event setting - whether a big shindig or a “response” - one of the other key players is the Public Information Officer (PIO). The title is self-explanatory: get information, give it to the public!
How they do this varies widely by the local culture and tools at hand: social media is a mixed blessing and curse, as while it allows rapid quick dissemination of “bite-size info bits”, leaving posts open to comment or questions invites every troll, disgruntled citizen, and Armchair Battalion Chief to second-guess and deride your efforts, engage in disinformation, and generally undermine your credibility. If you use social media, you will need to have someone (NOT THE PIO themselves) dedicated to regularly checking posts and keeping discussions positive and on-topic.
The PIO is going to be perhaps one of the busiest “senior staff” for an event or response. They need a minor horde of underlings skilled in speaking, writing, design, and media, to help draft releases for social and legacy media, answer phone calls, emails, and monitor/respond to social media inquiries and issues - they’re gonna have their hands full. That’s just “ops normal” for anyone fulfilling the PIO role no matter the event or incident.
However, when an Eclipse comes to town, something happens. People flock to rural areas unused to high volumes of visitation, which don’t really have the infrastructure to support such an influx - this leads to potential overload of cellular and open WiFi networks (I say, writing this in the Rural Ozarks where “fiber” is the cotton string between the tin cans that serve as modems and junctions). If you’re relying largely on the internet and social media for public information during an Eclipse! - or any wide-scale disaster or other event that brings in large numbers of people OR affects a wide reach of infrastructure, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
In the Eclipse context, often people come to an area and don’t know several things:
Relevant local laws, ordinances, and restrictions - this especially includes road and area closures
Locations of events and viewing sites
Locations of aid and information stations (yes, you should have those set up and staffed)
Location and number of nearby Urgent Care Centers and Hospitals
Local/Non-emergency numbers for local dispatch centers (Law Enforcement, Fire, Ambulance) - consider creating an infographic with the number and examples of what to call it for (non-injury traffic accidents, non-violent crimes and police reports, non-life-threatening injuries, etc.) - Grounded Truths can help you design infographics for that purpose!
These are all important pieces of info that people often rely on the internet to look up. However, there’s a semi-easy and efficient way to communicate all of this information over a wide area in an old-school analog way that isn’t subject to network downtime or overload.
Enter - The Trap Line
I’m not sure where the term “trap line” originates - a quick search didn’t give me anything useful. I first heard the term in wildland fire public information, and it may be specific to that realm.
Well, not anymore. Let’s take it mainstream.
So what is it?
At its core, a “trap line” is a set of mostly-common information pieces set up in public, high-traffic areas, designed to present static to slow-dynamic information related to a specific event or incident.
You’re probably already familiar with the most basic avenue for a trap line: community bulletin boards found at Post Offices, Civic Centers, Chambers of Commerce, Convenience Stores/Gas Stations, etc. These can form the basic “foundation” layer of your trap line as they’re already pre-existing and available for anyone’s use.
By itself, though, these aren’t enough. Often these community bulletin boards are cluttered, and your important information may get lost in the “noise” of ads, lost dog/cat posters, etc.
So how do we step it up?
Short answer? Sandwich boards.
Long answer: keep reading and go on to the next post.
Remember a while ago I said that future Umbral Truths content would be paywalled? And then I went ahead and kept giving away free advice and info? Well…it’s time to honor my word and for you, dear reader, to put some “skin in the game” if you want the good stuff.
The next post begins the specific, actionable (but paywalled) content: I’m going to line out the items, tools, and hardware you’ll need, along with instructions on how to make a simple, basic 4ft x 4ft display area sandwich board (if you want 2 double the amount of lumber, plywood, and fasteners, 4 quadruple it, etc). Then, I’m going to tell you where to put them and what to put on them.
But I don’t want a full subscription!
Good news, there’s an option B. I’m happy to share my experiences, insights, and advice, etc., virtually and confidentially with individuals and planning groups. Book here now!