As an emergency management professional, you need to be a skillful communicator to achieve your objectives. Your role may involve communicating one-on-one or in small-group discussions; making public presentations at briefings, community meetings, and press conferences; taking part in media interviews; and issuing announcements and warnings.Cognitive learning techniques

Instructions: to better understand how well your nonverbal message syncs with the verbal, after completing this lesson, ask a colleague to videotape you the next time you’re presenting to a group.Cognitive learning techniques it can be as simple as turning on a smartphone video camera during a meeting. Or, if you prefer, videotape yourself when practicing for a planned presentation.Cognitive learning techniques

Engaging the audience also requires that you observe nonverbal behaviors. Observing lets you know when you need to adjust your pace or clarify.Cognitive learning techniques for example, if you see individuals shaking their heads and crossing their arms, you may want to say, “it looks as if there is not complete agreement.Cognitive learning techniques can someone present another point of view?” don’t just ignore nonverbal communication.

Next, tailor your message delivery to the needs of the community, especially those with sensory disabilities or language limitations.Cognitive learning techniques one way to tailor your message is to provide information in multiple formats so that accessing it does not depend on a single sense or ability of the user.Cognitive learning techniques another approach is to translate materials into multiple languages at appropriate reading levels.

• find out where the real conversations happen and decisions are made.Cognitive learning techniques decisions are not always made at the council level, but often at venues such as the community center, neighborhood block parties, social clubs, or places of worship.Cognitive learning techniques tap into these opportunities to listen and learn more about the community. Develop strategies to reach community members and engage them in issues that are important to them.Cognitive learning techniques

Immigrants, migrant workers, undocumented workers, tourists, and exchange students may have language barriers. In addition, many individuals may have literacy barriers, including those with limited english proficiency, hearing or learning disabilities, older adults, and others.Cognitive learning techniques an estimated 20 percent of american adults read at or below the 5th grade level.

Avoid generational or cultural idioms. Language is contextual and has cultural implications.Cognitive learning techniques examples of idioms include sports or other expressions, such as: “ace in the hole” and “a long row to hoe.” as a good general rule, if the phrase requires knowledge of other information—be it a game, generational event, a metaphor, or current social media—recognize that this reference may make your communication more difficult to understand, or even worse, offensive.Cognitive learning techniques

During an incident, communication with the community becomes especially critical. Emergency communications may include alerts and warnings; directives about evacuation, curfews, and other self-protective actions; and information about response status, family members, available assistance, and other matters that impact response and recovery.Cognitive learning techniques

The internet and social media can provide immediate message dissemination and a wide variety of formats. A web site can incorporate many different types of media and accessibility features, but the recipient must choose to access the site or have signed up for automated message feeds.Cognitive learning techniques social media provides almost instantaneous messaging to those who have access.

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a web site, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.Cognitive learning techniques entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.Cognitive learning techniques many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.Cognitive learning techniques the ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

Citizen journalism is based upon public citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information.Cognitive learning techniques the availability of technology such as smartphones with cameras and video capability makes it possible for individuals to report breaking news often more quickly than traditional media reporters.Cognitive learning techniques

A micro-blog is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates (say, 140 characters or fewer) or micromedia (such as photos or audio clips) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group that can be chosen by the user.Cognitive learning techniques these messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio, or the web.

A podcast is a series of visual or sound files that are distributed over the computer by syndicated download, through web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers.Cognitive learning techniques though the same content may also be made available by direct download or streaming, a podcast is distinguished from most other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added.Cognitive learning techniques like the term broadcast, podcast can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting.Cognitive learning techniques the host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

RSS (abbreviation for really simple syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.Cognitive learning techniques an RSS document (which is called a “feed,” “web feed,” or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship.Cognitive learning techniques web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored web sites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.Cognitive learning techniques the user subscribes to a feed by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.Cognitive learning techniques

The most popular social networking sites have groups, which offer chat boards for members. There are also professional social networking sites with sections for jobs.Cognitive learning techniques all social networking sites allow users to find people they know among the members, or look for other members with similar interests or affiliations.Cognitive learning techniques these sites make it easy to establish networks of contacts.

A video blog, sometimes shortened to a vlog or vidblog, is a form of blog for which the medium is video.Cognitive learning techniques entries are made regularly and often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Vlogs also often take advantage of web syndication to allow for the distribution of video over the internet using either the RSS or atom syndication formats, for automatic aggregation and playback on mobile devices and personal computers.Cognitive learning techniques

A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted.Cognitive learning techniques many wikis are open to alteration by the general public without requiring them to register user accounts. Sometimes logging in for a session is recommended, to create a “wiki-signature” cookie for signing edits automatically.Cognitive learning techniques many edits, however, can be made in real-time and appear almost instantly online. This feature can facilitate abuse of the system. Private wiki servers require user authentication to edit pages, and sometimes even to read them.Cognitive learning techniques

• watch—A watch is used when the risk of a hazardous event has increased significantly, but its occurrence, location, and/or timing is still uncertain.Cognitive learning techniques it is intended to provide enough lead time so that those who need to set their plans in motion can do so. From the listener’s perspective, a watch lets you know that weather conditions are favorable for a hazard to occur. It literally means “be on guard!” during a weather watch, gather awareness of the specific threat and prepare for action.Cognitive learning techniques

• warning—A warning is issued when a hazardous event that poses a threat to life or property is occurring, is imminent, or has a very high probability of occurring.Cognitive learning techniques during a weather warning, it is important to take action: grab the emergency kit and head to safety immediately. Both watches and warnings are important, but warnings are more urgent.Cognitive learning techniques