Homeland Security Television Wins Three National Telly Awards For Outstanding Training and Documentary Programming, and Editing

The 31st Annual Telly Awards Recognizes HSTV Programs For Production and Editing Excellence

Homeland Security Television has won three Telly Awards in the categories of Training, Documentary and Editing for its diversity training program, Women in Homeland Security, and its special coverage of The 2009 Influenza Pandemic.

With more than 13,000 entries from top cable and television stations, production firms, advertising agencies and corporate video departments around the world, the recognition of HSTV's programming by the Telly Awards competition is a significant achievement.

Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online film and video.

"HSTV is honored to be recognized for its hard work supporting the Department of Homeland Security and the nation in providing high quality training, education and awareness programming," said Dan Verton, Homeland Security Television's President and Executive Producer. "The programs that won and the categories in which they were recognized is proof that HSTV produces highly professional programming that not only resonates with our core viewership but also stands out among broadcast professionals. This is a great feather in HSTV's cap."

HSTV thanks the subject matter experts who participated in the programming, including: Sandy Evans Levine, Dr. Laura Schwartz, Kathleen Kiernan, Ellen McCarthy, Karen Esaias, Dr. Darlene Sparks Washington, Dr. Eric Von Hoffe, and Dr. Margaret Lewin.

HSTV joins the ranks of other top production companies that have won Telly Awards in the past, including the likes of BET News, Busch Entertainment Corporation, Chicago Tribune, Comcast Entertainment Group, Cox Media Services, Eagles Television Network, ESPN, Gaiam, General Motors - Spring Hill Manufacturing, Golf Channel, Kohl's Department Stores, NASA, NBA Entertainment, NYC TV, Outdoor Channel, PBS, Penn State University, PGA Tour Productions, SCI FI Channel, Sports Illustrated, The Boeing Company, The Weather Channel, Time Life, Warner Bros.

NOTE: I had the privilege of being involved with HSTV's 'Women in Training' video - it was well done, thoughtful and valuable - check it out if you haven't yet...and congrats to HSTV for this impressive recognition!

Public Messaging is a Crucial Element for Any Disaster Recovery Plan

Many of our homeland security, defense, health and human services, and emergency management organizations are doing an outstanding job of contingency planning – creating thorough disaster recovery and contingency plans for specific potential disasters, both natural and man-made. They are thinking through to very specific details and scenarios and they are to be applauded for this. That said, it is startling to me how many of these plans do not incorporate public messaging as a standard element of the plan.

How are you going to inform the public about the problem? How are you going to communicate with the public, to get them to follow crucial instructions that will save their lives? We must not only inform, we must persuade, secure trust, calm, reassure – and get people to actually follow the procedures we detail – or lives will be lost.

Public messaging – how you communicate these crucial, life-saving messages to the public – is just as important as public safety. It is an integral piece of any disaster recovery or contingency plan, yet is often overlooked, ignored, shied away from. Why?

One person said that public relations is often thought of as ‘political communications’ within certain circles of the government, so no one ‘wants to go there.’ But without proper attention, planning and preparation, this crucial piece will not go smoothly. It’s not easy to build trust and calm a public that is in the middle of a disaster; it’s not instinctive to know what are the best words, the appropriate tone, the right level of detail, to diffuse a traumatic situation and lay out a positive plan of action. Just as with all other aspects of a disaster recovery plan, public messaging must be strategically thought through and planned for. Ignoring this element invites chaos, distrust, distress.

Planning for public messaging ensures things will go more smoothly, the public will be informed appropriately and efficiently, and answers will be delivered swiftly. It can make the difference between a bad situation and a calamity; and focuses our attention on a crucial need of the most important element in any disaster recovery plan – the safety and security of our citizens.

Make the Most of Your Trade Show Experience!

As we begin to gear up for Trade Show Season in the government marketplace, I thought it would be helpful to review some basic preparations you and your team should go through, to ensure you reap maximum benefits from your significant trade show investment. We'd love to help you leverage your trade show investment through focused pre-show, at-show, and post-show pr/marketing initiatives; if you're interested, contact me at slevine@adviceunlimited.net to brainstorm ideas that best support your goals!
Meanwhile...some food for thought as you prepare for this busy season...
Before the Show:
-Think through who will be attending the show, who your target audience is, and clearly define 2-3 individual goals for the show, and 1-2 team goals for the show.
- Reach out to current customers you know will be attending, and set up at least 2 meetings at the show with current customers.
- If there are current customers in the area where the trade show is being held, reach out to these customers and try to set up at least 2 meetings immediately before or during the show.
- Be aware of what partners and competitors are exhibiting, and share that information among all those from your firm attending the show.
- Be sure there is a written schedule of who is manning the booth when, and everyone involved knows when they’re expected to be at the booth, what they’re expected to wear, etc.
- Take plenty of business cards!

During the Show:
- The first day: get to the show floor at least 15 minutes before your shift so you have time to walk around a bit and get a feel for the layout, where your partners and competitors are, where there’s a quiet area and tables for quieter meetings, etc, before you head to your booth.
- Always be at least 5 minutes early for your shift at the booth, so that the person you’re relieving can share any updates or important information with you before they need to leave.
- The first time you go to the booth, take a few minutes to review the demos being offered, literature available to distribute to the folks you talk with, giveaways, any other physical information that will be useful to be most effective while at the booth.
- At the booth: when you’re at the booth, you want to always be accessible to talk to customers or partners, and visually send that signal as folks walk by.
Recommended behavior:
o Stand, face the traffic flow, smile, be alert, look interested in talking with people
o Don’t eat at the booth
o Don’t talk on the phone at the booth; if you get a call that you must take, try to move away or toward the back, and let your booth partner know so they can be the ‘face’ for the booth during that time
o Don’t check emails or otherwise be distracted when at the booth; your focus should be on catching the eye and interest of those walking by to get them to visit your booth
o Don’t block access to the booth, or eye appeal of demo or display – you want people to want to come into the booth, engage you in conversation
- When talking with a potential customer/partner:
o Bring them into the booth by asking them what they’re top priority is at the show, how you can help make this a productive show for them – make it about them
o Have your elevator pitch down – who we are, what we do, how we support the customer in their mission
o Qualify them as quickly as possible: do they use this type of solution, or work for someone who would purchase this type of solution? If it’s not a good fit, always be polite, see if there are any ways you can help them, and disengage gently
o If they are a good fit: be sure and get their business card or contact information for follow-up; if appropriate, set a meeting for some time during the show to talk at more length, do a demo, etc.

After the Show:
- Categorize leads based on qualifications, and make sure the most qualified leads are handed to the right person for immediate follow-up.
- Get your initial follow-up actions done within the first week after the show – everyone you talked with who’s a potential customer or partner should hear from you in that next week, either with a request for a meeting, sending information they requested, or sending a ‘thanks for stopping by’ note to those on your list you plan to follow-up with at a later date, to be sure they get some ‘touch’ from you immediately.
- Fill out your company's show survey so that you have good information for next year’s show; including notes regarding what could have been done better/different.
- Follow-up to close those sales and build those new relationships!

Leveraging Social Media in Crisis Communications

There’s a lot of buzz around social media these days – why is this such a popular topic? Not just because it’s new; I think it’s also because it’s a great way to communicate quickly with a broad audience. What is this really good for? Communicating in a crisis.
If there’s a natural disaster, if there’s a pandemic or food contamination, if there’s a horrible crime spree or terrorist attack – a driving force is to calm the public and provide guidance on appropriate activity to keep everyone as safe as possible. In addition to the tremendous challenge of assessing the situation and crafting this crucial message, delivery of this message to the broadest amount of people as quickly as possible has always been a daunting task. Harnessing the power of social media can help tremendously.
Now is the time to update your organization’s crisis communications plan, and include a section on social media. What social media activities has your organization implemented for standard operating procedure? How do you leverage these tools in a crisis? Who has jurisdiction, what are the processes needed to ensure messages from the right source can be disseminated through the right tools speedily and appropriately? What processes are in place to get feedback, answer the public’s questions and concerns, and encourage and manage an effective dialog?
Spending the time now to review the how, what, why, where, and who of using these tools is time well spent, to help ensure your organization is ready to roll out an effective crisis communications effort when needed, using all of today’s new tools and advantages.

Women in Homeland Security

I had the pleasure and honor of being included in a select group of women to be interviewed by HSTV Channel's editor in chief, Dan Verton, for a video on Women in Homeland Security. The purpose of the video is to provide insight and perspective on how the marketplace has changed in relation to how women in the homeland security workforce are treated. It was a fascinating experience to reminisce and think back through my career of 30 years regarding how the treatment of women has changed. Bottom line - a lot has changed for the good - and we still have a long way to go. But we're definitely moving in the right direction! See what you think...

Leveraging Social Media in Crisis Communications

There’s a lot of buzz around social media these days – why is this such a popular topic? Not just because it’s new; I think it’s also because it’s a great way to communicate quickly with a broad audience. What is this really good for? Communicating in a crisis.
If there’s a natural disaster, if there’s a pandemic or food contamination, if there’s a horrible crime spree or terrorist attack – a driving force is to calm the public and provide guidance on appropriate activity to keep everyone as safe as possible. In addition to the tremendous challenge of assessing the situation and crafting this crucial message, delivery of this message to the broadest amount of people as quickly as possible has always been a daunting task. Harnessing the power of social media can help tremendously.
Now is the time to update your organization’s crisis communications plan, and include a section on social media. What social media activities has your organization implemented for standard operating procedure? How do you leverage these tools in a crisis? Who has jurisdiction, what are the processes needed to ensure messages from the right source can be disseminated through the right tools speedily and appropriately? What processes are in place to get feedback, answer the public’s questions and concerns, and encourage and manage an effective dialog?
Spending the time now to review the how, what, why, where, and who of using these tools is time well spent, to help ensure your organization is ready to roll out an effective crisis communications effort when needed, using all of today’s new tools and advantages.

Sandy Evans Levine is president of Advice Unlimited, a public relations/marketing firm that works with high tech companies who sell to the government, and with the government directly. Ms. Levine holds Top Secret clearance within the Intelligence Community. Founding Advice Unlimited in 1983, Ms. Levine, formerly a journalist, and her team of media relations experts have extensive experience in media crisis management and crisis communications for companies and government organizations, and work extensively with social media for public outreach and education. She brings an organized approach to dealing with problem situations, focusing on the ability to calm fears, reassure the public, and protect sensitive sources and methods. . For more information visit www.adviceunlimited.net or email slevine@adviceunlimited.net.

Focused Crisis Communications Saves Company

So how prepared are you, really, for a disaster? How often do you review and update your crisis communications plan? How frequently do your spokespeople go through a refresher media training course? And have they been prepped in working with different types of media and different challenging scenarios?

Those organizations with actual plans that are updated and reviewed on a regular basis consistently have greater success in reassuring their audience, building trust and confidence with that audience, and surviving the disaster with the least scarring and damage. Those with no plan don’t usually fare so well. Ideal: make a plan now – when disasters are theoretical and can be thought through – and update it every 6-8 months!

Scenario: new client is a thrift in serious financial trouble. No disaster preparedness plan; no media outreach plan; my firm is called in 2 days before the information is made public.

First step: establish a very small, trusted team to define and implement initial actions.
Decisionmakers and ‘need to know’ personnel only! The smaller the team, the easier it is to get things done and to ensure there are no leaks. And be sure everyone understands the concept ‘need to know’: one of the executives was dating a TV reporter – a fact I was unaware of until said TV reporter ‘broke’ this story a day before the announcement was scheduled to be made.

Second step: what is of top concern to your audience? Define what your key message is, in terms of what is most important for your audience to hear and understand immediately.

In this case, it was simple: we needed to reassure our customers their money was safe. Yes, the thrift had some serious financial problems, but they were working with the government to solve their problems, and expected to continue to serve their customers for many years to come. No one was losing their jobs, no branches were closing. Aggressive measures were being taken to solve the problems, and their money was safe.

Step three: what is the most appropriate and efficient way to communicate this message to your audience? And step four: what other support efforts will help you communicate this message, and reinforce the message with actions that reassure, support, and help to solve the problem for your audience?

Be sure the medium you use to communicate your top message is actually used by your top audience. In other words, if a large portion of your target audience doesn’t own computers, then email blasts, social networking and websites aren’t the best delivery tools. Our target audience was largely older, they didn’t own computers, they didn’t even trust TV. So we used newspapers. We had our CEO talk directly to his customers in newspaper ads and posters, and explain clearly that their money was safe. We set up a press conference for the day of the announcement, and town hall meetings at several local nursing homes and senior community centers. We set up a hotline to answer questions and respond to customer concerns, staffed it with our best tellers who were caring, confident in our message and had great people skills, and plastered the number for the hotline everywhere. We wanted people to call, so that they would have their questions answered and be reassured that yes, their money was safe.

Step five: spokespeople need media training, and need to be prepped for challenging situations

Immediately following the TV reporter’s surprise story on our pending announcement, we moved our announcement up to immediately. Amazingly, all the TV stations and reporters from the local newspapers showed up on our front door within minutes. The CEO thought it would be great for us to go out and greet them; it was all I could do to keep up with him as he moved through the doors to the outside steps – and then he froze. He had never been confronted with several TV mikes thrust in his face. Fortunately, I was beside him and swiftly stepped in as primary greeter, delivering our key message and then graciously introducing our CEO and inviting his comments once he had his bearings. He was brilliant from that point on, and no one missed a beat.

Step six: tell the truth, and always be honorable

Things didn’t go perfectly, but throughout this effort, we were constantly reaching out to communicate with our audience, through tools they used and trusted, and we were honest – we told our customers what we were doing to solve the problems, explained what had gone wrong, and how we were moving forward. Throughout, we kept focused on what our customers cared about and how they would be affected. Happy ending: there was no run on this thrift; and in fact, it was bought six months later by a large, very sound financial institution and continues to serve its many customers today.


Sandy Evans Levine is President of Advice Unlimited, a public relations firm serving IT companies and the government, based in Olney, MD. Ms. Levine can be reached at 301-924-0330 or slevine@adviceunlimited.net.