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Fleet Week NYC 2017 -- Aboard LHD-3 the USS Kearsarge
Posted on July 10, 2017 at 10:26 PM |
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A Communications Lesson At Sea...
Posted on February 16, 2014 at 1:21 PM |
When I learned I would spend 24 hours aboard one of America’s
most powerful warships and biggest representative of democracy and peace, I
expected to learn some powerful lessons.
About leadership, service to country, citizenship, and international
relations. Let me explain… When the US Navy selected me and more than a dozen of my
peers to spend 24 hours aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), it did so because
we are among those who are considered well connected in the social media
world. We have a broad social network,
and are connected to many others who have even larger networks. I’m sure the Navy expected we would spread
the word about CVN-70, its mission and its amazing crew. Trust me, we have done just that…reaching
hundreds of thousands of people in our social networks, spreading good,
positive and respectful messages about the amazing work performed by the men
and women of the US armed forces. It seems counter-intuitive: take a dozen, well-connected communications
professionals – people who are tied tightly to their smart phones, tablets,
laptops and to their online networks – and send them 100 miles offshore into an
environment where they are completely cut off from the rest of the world – no Internet,
no cell signal, no Wi-Fi. Yet,
interestingly, it turns out Steve Fiebing, Deputy Public Affairs Officer and
Coordinator of the Distinguished Visitor Embark Program in San Diego knows
exactly what he is doing. What happened is kind of amazing. To start, none of us were distracted –
instead of being eyes down on our devices, we were paying full attention to
what was going on around us. And, we
were fully engaged in the activities, the discussions and the dialog. And, we began to fall back on basic human
interaction – we introduced ourselves, we shook hands, we looked into peoples’
eyes, and we talked – you know, real conversation. Steve will likely admit that he first has safety in
mind. You can’t have a bunch of citizens
wandering around the world’s most dangerous work environment – the deck of an
aircraft carrier, with jets screaming in at 150 mph just feet away – and have
those people distracted by sending text messages and tweets. Trust me – safety is everyone’s job on an
aircraft carrier. And Steve will also
be practical – the CVN-70 is one of the world’s largest warships, so with
secrecy in mind, open Wi-Fi networks and Internet access have to be carefully
managed (there were rooms where they had to clear sensitive, classified
material before we entered). But in the end, I think the Navy understands implicitly that
the best way to tell their story is to totally immerse their guests into the
ship’s routine and operations and let them experience it real and raw. Because when you find yourself deep inside an
aircraft carrier with 5,000 men and women doing their jobs protecting this
country’s freedom, you quickly understand the kinds of messages I think the
Navy wanted our social media group to spread to our networks. There are a couple of valuable communications lessons that
were learned from this aspect of the CVN-70 embark that translate very nicely
to the world of corporate communications: Second, a planned tour works best when your guests are fully
immersed in the environment. I’ve been
on so many plant tours over my career where media, analysts, and customers are
behind rope lines and safety glass and far from the factory floor. If the Navy can figure out how to bring
distinguished visitors into the middle of a flight deck, then those of us in
public relations can get our influencers into the middle of our company’s
operations better than we are doing today.
Lastly, take a page from Steve’s playbook – cut people off
from the distractions of the world and give them a chance to fully engage. Telling the story of CVN-70 was easier
because our group was fully focused on what was happening around us, and not
distracted by the buzz of the latest text or tweet. Imagine how effective your next business
meeting might be if everyone simply shut off the devices and concentrated on
the topic at hand. On a personal note: I’m
as guilty as most of you of being addicted to my device. It’s always in my hand, I’m looking at it at
dinner, in bed, in meetings – I can’t stop, and it’s a bad habit. Perhaps it’s not so bad because everyone
around me is doing the same thing. Here’s
the problem: life passes you by. I’ve had a corporate client for the past 14 months that is
in the communications and collaboration industry. The people at Unify often say: “business begins with a conversation.” It’s true.
On the CVN-70, a group of some of the world’s most “connected” people
were disconnected for 24 hours and experienced something similar – as human
beings, we are at our best when we look each other in the eye and have a
conversation. Too often, we hide behind email and technology
– letting the devices do the work of interaction. Put down the device once in a while and engage…my unexpected
lesson from 24 hours with the men and women of the United States Navy. |
The US Navy and Social Media / PR Best Practices
Posted on January 18, 2014 at 11:06 AM |
Next week, I'm joining a group of social media experts to spend 24 hours on CVN-70, one of America's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, as part of the Navy's Distinguished Visitors Program. The Navy will tell you that the DV Program is a great way to expose people to the Navy's mission and its amazing team, and that it has been bringing visitors to Navy ships for years...which is true. But thanks to the efforts of some very savvy and smart people, the DV Program has become a "best practices" example of the power of social media and public relations. Corporate communications professionals should take note, because the Navy has done something really powerful. Now the Navy, under the direction of Steve Fiebing, Deputy Public Affairs Officer for the Commander, Naval Air Forces - Pacific, US Pacific Fleet, and working closely with Dennis Hall (@AvereGroup), has leveraged the DV Program to bring social media experts and bloggers out to US Navy ships underway, understanding that those bloggers could extend the reach of Navy PR programs to thousands, tens of thousands, and potentially even hundreds of thousands of new readers using the power of social media. Conceived with the cooperation of renowned social media expert Guy Kawasaki, Dennis helped the Navy understand how the DV Program could create embark opportunities for bloggers that could extend awareness of the Navy's mission and people, and help a much wider audience gain an appreciation for how America extends freedom and strength globally on the high seas. For 24 hours, we'll observe the officers and crew of the carrier conduct flight operations and operate this massive symbol of America's global power while underway. I hope to learn a lot about how this crew handles fire and EMS emergencies on board, and share those stories with my friends back at the West Grove Fire Company where I serve as volunteer firefighter and EMT. And when our 24 hours is complete, we'll get strapped back into our Greyhound and get catapulted off the bow of CVN-70 for the flight back to San Diego, just like this (note how the wings are unfolded just before take off, and, yes, I'm nervous). Embedding people into the Navy's daily life and allowing those people to discuss their experiences on a broad scale will help so many gain a better understanding of the Navy's mission. This is exactly the kind of approach that demonstrates the power and scale of social media. And this approach is not only outstanding for the Navy, it works in the corporate world as well. My friend Mark Yolton who introduced me to Dennis is a social media guru from the Silicon Valley. He now works at Cisco, but was a co-worker with me at SAP years ago. Mark helped build SAP's online community (SAP Community Network) of developers at SAP (numbering in excess of one million members). Mike Prosceno worked with me at SAP in Corporate Communications an developed a blogger relations program that became a power voice for SAP (and a respected best-practices approach to social media in the IT industry). Both Mike and Mark taught me a lot about what I know in social media --- but also demonstrated to me how social media can be an amazing way to extend the reach of traditional communications programs for large companies (just the way the US Navy is using blogger embarks and the DV Program to extend their reach via social media). Next week I'll be joined by:
Already these professionals have begun communicating about our pending visit to America's Favorite Carrier (as the USS Carl Vinson is known). You can find our tweets and blogs at this hashtag: I encourage you to read their stories and extend our voices with your own comments, retweets and blogs. Back when I was just a little boy, my mother and father operated a business known as Howard Wohl Associates. They had the Navy as a major client, producing cruise books for aircraft carriers (think of them as like high school yearbooks done for each of the ships' deployments). So visiting CVN-70 is a bit like "coming home" for me now as Wohl Communications. I never have visited a carrier even in port, and I know that flying out to one is a rare experience for a civilian. I look forward to sharing the experience with my followers. More importantly, I look forward to highlighting how the Navy does [email protected] and how those lessons can be applied by companies and organizations around the world. Stay tuned -- it's gonna be good! Bill |
Posted on February 10, 2013 at 12:59 PM |
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