Disaster Preparedness: The connection to football

Pre-season football training is a large phase of any team's plan with the goal of developing optimum strength and power for the season.

Similar to building a winning team before football season, having a well-thought out and practiced disaster preparedness plan helps ensure businesses and local governments have the strength and power to successfully recover in the event of an emergency.

I'm still deployed in Alabama, assisting in the response and recovery following April's storms and 63 tornadoes. Looking forward to September, National Preparedness Month, we are working on a statewide Chamber of Commerce campaign to push out businesses across the state. Is your business or government agency ready if a disaster comes? Have you had a nagging feeling that maybe it isn't?

Off yesterday (finally a Sunday off), I did my weekly shopping and picked up a copy of "O" magazine. This months feature is about intuition. I found the following quote interesting to ponder: Intuition is knowing, without knowing. It's instinctively, knowing something that you don't know how you know.

Have you ever had that feeling you should do something, though at the time it isn't perfectly clear why? A  great example about disaster preparedness happened to one Alabama mayor.

Interviewed this past June, Tuscaloosa Mayor Maddox said he'd thought a lot about what could happen in the event of a disaster. He focused mostly on homeland security as thousands of Alabama fans pouring into Tuscaloosa for football games on select Saturday's during the fall. Never in his dreams did he imagine that listening to and then following through with a gut feeling about getting his city staff trained in Incident Command would become a real-life disaster in the form of the worst tornadoes to ever hit the state of Alabama.

Mayor Walter Maddox and his staff took Incident Command System training at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) one year before the April 27 tornadoes hit the Alabama city of some 180,000.

The exercise scenario that that city officials were presented with in training was almost identical to the real-life storms that devastated much of the university town. The actual tornado took almost the same path - off by maybe a quarter mile the width of the storm as what was practiced in training. Much of what they envisioned would be destroyed - the Emergency Operations Center, the communication tower, the police department and the fire department.

Though taking the class at EMI is a very valuable experience, but budgetary constraints right now are making off-site training a challenge for governments and businesses due to the economy.

Even if you don't go to EMI, training is available online for free beginning with IS-100.b - Introduction to Incident Command System to more advanced and specialized classes for different types of businesses, organizations and governments.

I have taken these classes, written disaster preparedness plans, been trained to work in for all types of disasters and worked on the ground in crisis management, disaster response and recovery for the private sector as well as for local and federal governments.

To my coastal friends...this is hurricane season! Don't wait until a hurricane is on the way to write a plan. It is too late then.

And remember that regardless of where you live, emergencies of any kind can and will happen. It is a matter of when not if.

Let me know how I can help you and your business get ready today!

InfoGraphic: Coloring a story

If a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe we communication types should consider using less words and more images. And with the growing popularity of communicating through social media there's only so much you can say in 140 words.

HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella conducted research to help determine the science of tweeting and packaged this research into an easy breezy infographic:

Are you using infographics as a public relations tactic? Below is an infographic I recently created for FEMA in the Alabama disaster that was distributed to the media, posted and tweeted. It was picked up and used by several media outlets.

Contact me to help you design a graphic to tell your story!

Social Media: Managing Bears

Listening. Watching. Hungry?

The world of communication is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Instead of being more comfortable with the plethora of media and marketing opportunities, clients are telling me they are more confused than ever. One guy told me last week he thinks of marketing today as a big bear.

One of my favorite lines from the Wizard of Oz sums it up nicely, “Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

The old familiars - advertising, promotions, public relations, and other marketing tools are still on the map, but the growth and integration of online marketing, both part and partial, has changed the more familiar marketing trek. It has become more complex, yet a more adventurous expedition which can land us in a more exotic and grander locale.

In some ways, the guy was correct. With the addition of social media to the marketing mix, it can seem to be a bit more of a wild and unwieldy animal. In terms of being social, many businesses to think only of the soft side of marketing, you know, going to tradeshows, placing a pretty ad, cozying up to audiences as if they are a favorite old Teddy Bear. With the integration of sales and marketing tactics, the practice has become more complex. And if the approach is wrong, it can mean coming face-to-face with Ursus arctos horribilis, aka a Grizzly Bear.

The type of bear you cross, depends on the hour, day, or even what else is happening in the world at the moment. One thing is certain, both no matter the marketing tactics, they require patience, planning, monitoring and the ability to track in one direction or another. A successful campaign, especially addressing the large landscape of social is identified with "The Art of the Hunt."

• What is the potential? 
• Where is the largest group?
• How do we ensure capture?

Like the animal-human response mechanism, social media requires attention and interaction or it will die. You must play with it, nurture it, verbally respond and exercise monitoring techniques to measure weight, function, energy and even proliferation. Social media can be unpredictable, but there are proactive techniques, tips and training so you know what to do should the beast go buck wild.

• Do you need basic training?
• Could you use directions?
• Can you make it grow?

From a half day intro session to developing and implementing a campaign, contact me at 407-341-9866 for training and guidance. Wherever you are in regard to the social media zoo – planning a visit soon; strolling along amused and confused; or being gobbled up as prey – together we can tame the darn beast, I mean Teddy Bear.

Disaster Preparedness: Getting Personal

“Compared to other disasters, how does this one compare?”

I have been asked this interview question numerous times. My answer to reporters goes something like this: “Whether there is two inches of water your home or flooding covers a rooftop, disasters affect and impact individuals. The month before I graduated from college, my family's experienced a large house fire. I may work for FEMA, but believe me when I say that when disaster hits, it is personal, individual and comparison doesn't matter.”

No one was at home when our house fire started. A neighbor spotted smoke and called the fire department. My mom, on her way home for lunch, followed the fire trucks to our house already engulfed in flames. We were all in shock. In addition to the damage to the house, the fire ruined or burned many things. My great-great aunt’s antique crystal candlesticks melted. Mom’s wedding crystal and china burst into tiny pieces. Her beautiful handmade draperies burned. Paintings were ruined from water or smoke. My prom dresses were destroyed, my dolls turned brown from the heat, and smoke blackened the covers and pages of our books. My brother lost collectibles and the furniture in his room. Dad’s workshop burned to the ground as it was the first area struck by fire.

Fortunately, everyone, including our dog was safe. Our family had planned and practiced what to do in case of fire or tornadoes. My brother and I knew how to tie sheets together if we needed to climb out a second-story window. We knew which tree to stand under in order to account for everyone's safety. 

My parents had homeowners insurance. The insurance agent was onsite within hours and quickly hired a company to clean up the water and fire damage. The burned structural areas were reframed. Scorched living spaces were reconstructed. Insurance reimbursed my parents when they purchased new décor, furniture, clothes and replaced the molten appliances. Insurance funds covered a rental house during the months our home was being put back together.

In the midst of that situation, I would never have imagined how our house catching on fire might positively impact my future. I now know that fire was a pivital experience that helped prepare me for my work in emergency response and recovery.

I'm not very patient when driving on I-4 because I detest bumper-to-bumper traffic. Yet, as a disaster survivor shares their story, a heavenly amount of patience kicks in and my heart goes out to them. My ears are wide open to listen and between each deep breath, silent pauses and tears, I hear myself saying, "I've been there. I'm so sorry. I hear you. I understand. I'm here for you. People are here to help." I listen, encourage, share how they may recieve federal, state or local assistance, and occasionly we pray together.

Though I or the team aren't handing out money or fixing problems on the spot, once people learn help may soon be on its way negativity and tears become expressions of "Thank you," "You will be blessed you for what you do," and in the South, "God bless yall." I can say, this audible and visual feedback keeps me going the next day, sustains my faith and answers the call of my purpose.

Thanks to my mother, I learned how to plan (she's a big time list maker). I'm also strategic, creative, positive, an obsessed learner, and good at thinking on my feet - all valuable skills in the midst of a crisis. Extensive emergency management training and disaster field work are what I bring to government agencies, nonprofits and private industry when the time comes to plan, set up practice drills or manage crisis issues.

If you need help to create or update your plan, contact me at 407-341-9866 or at mmonte@hotmail.com.

Disaster Preparedness: Are you ready?

Disaster Preparedness Kit
produced for the Kentucky
Department of Emergency Management

Resolve To Be Ready

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) recently kicked off a national campaign to encourage all Americans to resolve to be Ready in 2011.

I work in the world of emergency response and recovery. Each time I return home from a deployment, I feel blessed to have been able to contribute and do my part to help people in need. It would be amazing if humankind could prevent emergencies and crisis issues. Since avoidance is a futile fancy, the best we can do is prepare.

Geologists have peeled back Earth’s topographic cloak and validated that Mother Nature’s wrath has existed on Earth since the beginning of time. Hurricanes, fires, floods, earthquakes, polar shifts and even giant meteors have scraped, scorched, covered, shifted and altered our planet. In recent years the media has played out numerous tragedies rooted in human calamity, carelessness or intention to harm that cannot be protected by borders on a map.

When disaster strikes, it affects individuals, families, businesses and communities. Though FEMA and the agency’s employees play a huge role in the nation's emergency management team, disasters begin and end on the local level. It is for this reason Americans should step up to get ready because in a disaster-related event, prepared individuals and businesses are a huge asset to critical response and long-term recovery.

You should be confident that your emergency plan is solid, flexible and be sure your emergency kit is fully stocked. Without adequate preparation, a future disaster could mean that you, your family and your business must compete with thousands of vulnerable residents for food, water and critical resources including medical treatment and shelter.

In addition to disaster response and recovery training and hands-on experience under FEMA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, I’ve assisted businesses, municipalities and organizations develop and update crisis plans and train employees should they come face-to-face with a worse-case scenario.

Are you prepared for emergencies? If not, I can help you Get Ready in 2011. Contact me to learn more.