The chart below shows the responses each individual gave when selected for a certain role. Cells prefaced with (+) are good choices; cells prefaced with (-) are poor choices.

External Individual or Organization

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
Local Hospital Public Information Officer (PIO)

(+) “This is something that I know a lot about. I’m constantly writing information for the public, whether it’s through the local newspaper or on the closed-circuit TV at the hospital. As long as I can help out when there’s plenty of lead time, I’d be glad to help.”

 (-) “I’m just an individual and not an organization. I personally don’t have the resources to deliver messages to large groups of people. I’d like to be able to help, but a task like this would leave my office unstaffed in a crisis.” (+) “I can definitely give some great advice to whoever is going to be talking to the public. I spend a good portion of my time leading classes for the public and doing interviews for the local TV affiliate.”
Schools of Public Health Staff

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(+) “We have a relatively large and knowledgeable staff in the field of public health. I feel certain that some of them would be useful to you in terms of medical facts and information.” (-) “We don’t have a large group of individuals that we interact with on a daily basis. Our school is relatively small. You should probably try an organization or a person with broadcasting or printing equipment.” (-) “Most of my staff probably wouldn’t be a good choice to train your spokespersons. The work that most of my staff does is research oriented.”
Local University’s School of Communication Staff

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(+) “We can definitely help you. We have an instructor who teaches an entire semester on Message Development. I know that he would be useful to you.” (-) “While our school teaches communication principles, we don’t have a functioning broadcast department that can actually get information out to the general public.” (+) “We strive to make our students effective communicators. We would be happy to assist in the training of your spokespersons. When can we get together to discuss what you need?”
EMS Communication Center

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(-) “We receive and dispatch hundreds of messages a day, but we don’t generate them. Sorry, we won’t be able to help you here.” (+) “We’d be happy to help if our systems aren’t overloaded. We can support everything from conference calls to mass mailings. We could give you a tour of our facility and talk to you about our capabilities. When can you come by?” (-) “We do information handling. We don’t speak; we just pass the information on to the appropriate responders.
But we do have a guy who works here who goes to Toastmasters a lot, maybe he could help?”
Faith-Based Organizations

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(-) “While we sometimes give input on writing information about our faith, we don’t write press releases and things like that. We’re more do’ers than writers.” (+) “We should be able to get your information out to a wide range of people. We are currently sponsoring several community outreach programs in very economically diverse areas of our community. In fact, you may have some resources that may help us. When can we talk details?” (-) “You should probably find someone else for this work. Most of the people in our organization are more skilled with building and physical labor types of projects out in our communities.”
Local Social or Cultural Clubs

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(+) “While our organization doesn’t have the medical expertise that you would need while writing, we can help insure that your different messages are culturally appropriate.” (+) “We would be glad to offer a helping hand in delivering information to diverse populations, since we already have many established outlets in those communities.“ (-) “I would suggest asking someone else to sit in this chair. My organization would love to help, but we’re only effective in public speaking to our diverse populations needs.”
Local Radio and Television Personalities

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(-) “While I’ve read a lot of news reports in my time, I usually leave the writing to the station’s underpaid news staff.” (+) “You’ve got the right person for the job. I’m already a household name and, in the state News-Listener Poll, I have been voted the Best News Anchor three years running.” (+) “I usually like to spend my time in front of people or at least the camera. If you need the help though, I would be glad to show your spokesperson a trick or two that I’ve learned over the years.”
Pastors and Clergy

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(-) “The majority of the writing that I do is tailored for my small congregation. I don’t think that I would be much help writing for a large population of people.” (-) “I’d love to help, but my congregation is relatively small and we’re a small percentage of the population. But we can help if you ever have flyers or pamphlets that need to be distributed.” (+) “There are some speaking principles that I learned in seminary that I could impart to your spokesperson.”
Local Red Cross Public Information Officer (PIO)

Writing Messages

 Delivery Channels Spokesperson Training
(+) “Seems like every week, I’m writing press information about a new public scare. I can definitely help you with this task.” (-) “While I’m used to communicating information to people in my community, I don’t have access or experience with anyone outside of my county. I can help, but I’m not sure how useful I would be in reaching a large group of people.” (+) “I do a fair amount of training and public speaking as a public information officer (PIO). I could facilitate a public speaking seminar for your potential spokespersons.”