Communication Strategies for Working in the Urban-Rural Interface Paul D. Ries Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University
Feb 23, 2016
Communication Strategies for Working in the Urban-Rural Interface
Paul D. RiesOregon Department of Forestry
and Oregon State University
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Why bother?
• Public agencies need public support
• Resource management is more successful with public support
• Public support is based on understanding resource goals and techniques
• Understanding is based on communication
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Challenges in the interface
• Audiences are more varied• Issues may be contentious• Audiences may not have experience or background knowledge• Issues involve many aspects
All this makes communication challenging!
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Discussion Question
What wildland-urban interface issues are particularly challenging to communicate? Why?
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
What is communication?• Communication is the
successful transmission of thoughts or ideas, without significant distortion, so that understanding is achieved.
• This requires – effective transmission– reception– input into mental structures
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Common barriers to effectiveness
• Transmission– Sender not credible or trustworthy
• Reception– Message lacks clarity (language or speed) – Receiver has experience, prior knowledge– Receiver beliefs and attitudes conflict
• Input to mental structures– Message is irrelevant– Receiver is not listening
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Easy strategies to improve communication
• Choose an appropriate, well respected authority on topic as “sender”
• Create a message that is easy to understand; use appropriate language
• Make the receiver comfortable
• Use the right tool
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Tips to effective communication
• Effective communication helps your audience build a mental model in their heads
• Connects new information to what they already know
• Adds detail, examples• Increases flexibility• Engages them
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Good communicators
• Trustworthy• Engaging• Care about what
the audience cares about
• AccessibleElementary students watch their computer screen to learn about this turtle
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Earning trust
• Agency materials should– make a point of acknowledging and
addressing questions and complaints– demonstrate how prior activity
supports a partnership– offer to continue the conversation
• Consider using a partner that is trusted
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Communicating Forestry• Your success
depends on your ability to communicate
• Navigating this triangle is crucial to successful communication
Key Messa
ge
Target Audienc
e
Proper Tools
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Key Messages• Forests produce
benefits• Trees and forests
provide benefits we can’t live without
• Working forests are an investment in the future
• Fragmentation creates conflict
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Language differences• Technical jargon may be a barrier to
your audience• Ask them what they understand• Translate materials to their language
or context
PATHOGEN
STAND
BOLE
SPECIES
UNDERSTORY
?
? ?
?
EVEN-AGE
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A good key message is…• Something people can:
– Understand – free of jargon– Relate to – help people see why they should
care– Remember – which means it should be
concise • One that causes people to understand?• One that cause people to respond?
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
The language of conservation
Public opinion research suggests that some phrases resonate better than others and are better at communicating a conservation message
Not “endangered species” But “wildlife protection”
But “natural areas”
But “agreement”
Not “open space”
Not “easement”
Effective messages instill responsibility, provide information,
support valuesProtect your water supply
Plant the right tree in the right place…
Forests provide benefits we can’t live without
Don’t move firewood
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Important techniques, but harder to accomplish
• Avoid saying what audience already knows
• Relate to what audience cares about and is interested in
• Deliver message through medium that audience uses
And so we need to understand the audience!
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Target Audiences• Your employer or employees• Your clients or voters• Clients you’d like to have, or
voters whose support you’d like
• Landowners• Decision-makers• Elected officials• The media• Youth• The “general public”
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By understanding the audience, we can make sure…
• Sender is appropriate, well respected• Message is clear, not garbled• Message is meaningful and relevant• Information builds on what is known• Misunderstandings are corrected• The right audience is targeted
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
What can you do?• What are the most important things to find
out about an audience before you plan a program?
• How can you find out that information?
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What do you know?• Who is your audience?• What do they care about?• What do they already know about
interface issues?• What values are important? • Where do they go for information?• Who do they trust?
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
A blooper• SAF Chapter wanted to distribute
new video on forestry careers to teachers
• Invited 100 5th grade teachers to dinner and program
• 4 cameWhat was the problem? The 4th grade curriculum addresses local resources and careers, not 5th grade.
What would have helped: Initial conversation with “audience” could have ensured invitations went to the right teachers.
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
What do they care about?1. Ask them2. Check the literature3. Some things are universal:
– Children, health, quality family time4. Some things are cultural:
– Privacy, community, convenience, future, frugality
5. Community leaders may have concerns:– Fiscal responsibility, election, media coverage
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Why engagement?• Some people want straight, undiluted
information• Others need to be entertained• Most do not want to be told what to
do, even though you want to tell them!
• Try to engage audiences in learning
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The Proper Tools• How you say what
you have to say is an important as what you say
• Matching the tool to the audience is a crucial step in good communications
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Examples of “old” communication tools• One-on-one meetings
• Workshops• Small group meetings• Presentations• Ceremonies• Surveys
• Personal letters• Memos• Posters• Newsletters• Articles in the press• Annual reports• Brochures
* Just because they are “old”, doesn’t mean we can or should stop using them!
Examples of “new” communication tools
• Videoclips• Podcasts• YouTube channel• Virtual
communities• iTunes• Webinars• Webcasts• Blogs• Wikis
• If you want to communicate trees
to people, you cannot afford to ignore these new tools, nor can you afford to only use these new tools and not the old
ones
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Social Media • Blogs• Facebook• MySpace• Twitter• YouTube• LinkedIn• Ning
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Social Media – are you keeping up?
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world
• Flicker hosts 5 billion images• LinkedIn has 100 million
users, 56% from outside the US
• 175 million Twitter users send 95 million Tweets a day
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Social Media – Should you keep up?
• If you’re not online, to an entire generation, you don’t exist. They don’t use the phone book or read brochures for information – they go online
• Social media can’t replace your current communication efforts – it must complement them…
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Oregon State University Oregon Department of Forestry USDA Forest Service
Paul D. Ries Urban and Community Forestry Program Manager,
Oregon Dept. of Forestry Urban Forestry Instructor and Extension Specialist,
Oregon State University College of ForestryEmail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Phone: 503/945-7391