Ronnie's Comments Feb.5

I apologize to all for being a day late. I was out of town and did not have internet access until this morning. My comments follow:

The tornado that struck central Florida last week can be used as a real-life example of the methods that can be employed to communicate risk. I was not in Florida when the tornado struck – in fact the first word I got of it was a phone call from a relative wanting to know if I was OK. “Why wouldn’t I be OK?” I wanted to know. And then she told me about the tornado that had struck Lake Mary – from her vantage point in Half Moon Bay, California. Obviously the media was on top of this story and authorities were in touch with the media to communicate risk – to those who were directly impacted and those who were not. In fact, even before the tornado twisted its way through the town, tornado watches and warnings were being communicated throughout north central Florida. For this kind of crisis situation, working with the media was essential – as was face-to-face communication in the aftermath. I see that as a major reason for bringing Gov. Charlie Crist to the scene. It was his first natural disaster since assuming office – a situation that certainly could not have been anticipated this early into his administration. Yet in terms of communicating about this risk – and showing his willingness to get his hands dirty – it was important for Crist to be there. (He did, by the way, win high marks from the media and his predecessor, former Gov. Jeb Bush) for his response.

That was a current and real situation that had some relevance to the L & M book. On the other hand, I couldn’t keep from thinking about some of what I was reading – of course. This is not rocket science after all. Naturally, there are times when working with the media is better and times when face-to-face communication is more appropriate. Isn’t that just common sense? And setting a schedule? Determining a timetable for action? On the other hand, maybe getting all these reminders serves the purpose of providing us with a kind of how-to and when-to manual.

I did find a great deal of relevance in the writings about the pictorial communication of risk. In this day and age of short attention spans and rapid-fire information exchange, visual representation of danger may do far more to communicate risk than all the words in the world. Again, going back to last week’s tornado, the images of distraught people and devastated property will communicate more about the havoc a twister can wreak than any pages of text. And hence, get people moving quicker when warnings about another tornado are issued.

Visuals can also help the risk communicator get past cultural and language barriers because regardless of the cultural milieu or the language your audience may speak – when the target audience is presented with a graphic image or a visual of a risk situation they can rapidly comprehend the message you seek to communicate. That’s why color-coded signs are so effective in communicating risk. Universally, there is a general understanding that green means go, yellow means caution and red means stop. So for example, when there is a red flag posted on the beach to signify a dangerous tide, even the beach-goer who doesn’t speak the language can understand what a red flag means.

I became interested in the power of visuals while working as a television journalist. But in newsrooms today, there is an increasing use of graphics to convey information when video is not available precisely because visuals help people comprehend a situation. And in a way isn’t this about communicating risk?

In a very undramatic fashion, could that be why we so often use PowerPoint these days to make class and other presentations. In the old days, we used to just speak. Now we have to show people something – a visual – even if the visual is no more than the same words we are speaking. Why? Because seeing it – helps the listener understand. Could that be why vlogs are going to be the next best thing and why Youtube.com has become the hit that it has? And even our blogs? If we were writing them using simple DOS programs, how many of us would be reading this now?

Presentation counts in communicating anything – but when risk is involved, even more so.