Capt. Jeff Carlson, Group 5 public affairs officer, discusses efforts to expand public affairs capability and capacity at the squadron level.
Capt. Jeff Carlson
Public Affairs Officer
Group 5
Florida Wing
FLORIDA – Two dozen Florida Wing members from across the state gathered Oct. 31 in Sarasota for a one-day public affairs workshop focusing on public affairs officer skill development and new trends in public relations.
The workshop was hosted by the Group 5 Headquarters public affairs team and featured five topic presentations by public relation experts.
Maj. Grant Meadows, Florida Wing director of marketing and public relations, emphasized learning about recent changes to the Civil Air Patrol regulation governing the public affairs program, including a requirement that an annual public affairs plan be developed for each unit. Meadows also reviewed the current Florida Wing plan and outlined future changes.
Maj. Steven Solomon, Southeast Region director of public affairs, guided participants through a session on writing effective news releases.
Other topics included presentations on:
- “Working with the Media” by Maj. Doug Jessmer, Group 3 PAO.
- “Making Better Photos” by 2nd Lt. David Bellis, assistant wing public affairs officer.
- “Social Networking” by 2nd Lt. Kevin McNulty of the SRQ Composite Squadron, president and chief executive officer of NetWeave Social Networking.
Capt. Jeff Carlson, event director and Group 5 PAO, welcomed the participants and briefly discussed the need to coordinate existing public affairs resources and to further expand the number of members involved with creating and delivering CAP’s message -- especially cadets.
Carlson emphasized the need for effective internal communication with members, calling it vital in maintaining morale and a high level of readiness. He also spoke about the important role that communication plays in developing strategic partnerships and strengthening relationships with CAP’s stakeholders.
Each participant received a completion certificate and credit toward the annual professional development training requirement for the public affairs officer specialty track. The workshop sessions were recorded on video by cadets from the SRQ squadron and will be made available on the Channel 5 multimedia Web page accessed through the Group 5 news site.
