MEDIA INFORMATION KIT

The media information kit is one way to provide visiting reporters with valuable background information on your ship or station A typical media information kit contains the following materials:

l Command history

l Pertinent facts about the population of the command

l Welcome aboard booklet

l Biographies of senior officers

l Photographs

l Any other appropriate information that will supplement the subject on which they intend to write

Media information kits can seine many other useful purposes. For example, you may give them to visiting dignitaries or guest observers on fleet exercises and operations. They are used during command public visitations, commissioning ceremonies and other special occasions. Aboard ship they are forwarded with advance news releases to local editors in ports scheduled to be visited. American officials in foreign countries also need kits for publicity purposes when ships visit them.

Use standard-size double-pocket folders to assemble your media information kits. You can arrange material in several different ways, but we recommend placing the command history, photographs and biographies on the left side, and other amplifying information on the right side.

You should review information kits regularly, because the material in them becomes outdated.

TOURS

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the purpose of tours and the characteristics and skills required of the one conducting a tour.

An important part of your community relations efforts center around public tours of the command. Regardless of its size, your command will generate a great amount of community interest. Therefore, the public affairs office staff conducts tours so visitors can witness the Navy in action firsthand. Tours also carry great recruiting potential.

In general, Navy commands honor requests for tours throughout the year, with certain days set aside for general public visitation, such as Navy Day and Armed Forces Day. (Note the use of the term general public visitation. Never use "open house" when referring to public tours of your command because it implies unlimited public access.)

Additionally, you will receive tour requests from a wide variety of groups, including (but not limited to) the Boy and Girl Scouts, NJROTC units, veterans' alumni organizations, junior high/high school classes and other community groups. Sandwiched between these groups are the occasional VIP and celebrity tours.

The availability of your command to provide public tours is driven primarily by the following three factors: l The security conditions in force l The personnel available to conduct the tours l The operational commitments of the command

Now take a look at some of the areas you must become familiar with before you conduct a tour. They are as follows:

. Appearance 

l Command knowledge 

l Demeanor 

l Patience 

l Voice projection 

c Emergency procedures

APPEARANCE

As you learned in Chapter 1, your appearance must be impeccable. Remember, you represent not only the command but the U.S. Navy. Begin evaluating your appearance by first examining your haircut, and working your way down to the edge dressing on your shoes. Replace old, worn-out ribbons and name tags. Prepare for a tour with the same intensity as if you were preparing for a major command personnel inspection.

COMMAND KNOWLEDGE

You cannot give a good tour if you do not have a wealth of command knowledge. For instance, say you are conducting a tour of your aircraft carrier for a local community group while in port. A member of the group asks you to describe the different types of aircraft that operate from the deck of the carrier. After a long pause, you say, "Well, that information is in your welcome aboard booklet - let me see if I can digit out for you."

Obviously, this is the response of a lazy tour guide. Your credibility, and that of the command, is at stake during every tour. If you cannot answer simple questions without referring to a "safety net," your tour group will be disenchanted. Before the tour, you should know the mission and history of the command, its hardware, important statistics, and so on. You can do this by giving yourself a mock tour and asking yourself probable questions the day before. Carry a copy of the welcome aboard booklet and refer to it if you run into any rough areas.

DEMEANOR

It is easy to describe the demeanor you must have when you conduct a tour: Act like a public affairs professional! Be enthusiastic during a tour, but do not become asocial gadfly. You are giving a tour to explain the mission and history of your command, not to make lifelong friends or win a popularity contest.

PATIENCE

Another factor that teams with enthusiasm is patience. Patience comes into play when you try to keep a large tour group on the tour route. You cannot treat the group like a herd of cattle; instead, your instructions must be conveyed in an appropriate tone and accentuated with plenty of "pleases" and "thank-yous."

Patience also is evident when you are asked a "dumb" question. We all know there is no such thing as a dumb question, but on occasion a tour participant will ask you a question you think is absurd. For example, it is not uncommon for a civilian to inquire about your ribbons and medals or your rating insignia. Sure, you and the 3,500 crew members on your ship know that a crossed quill and scroll represents the journalist rating but that does not mean Mrs. Earwig, a 45-year-old high school science teacher from Billings, Mont., knows what it is. In this instance, briefly explain the Navy's occupational fields and rating system with tact and compassion. If you experience an onslaught of similar questions during the tour, handle each one in the same manner, but never vent your frustrations in public.