Well-equipped when it comes to public relations - this applies to the press officers and managers of the fire brigades in the region. On Saturday 22 March, they attended a specialist seminar organised by the Giessen District Fire Brigade Association and Giessen Municipal Utilities on the topic of "The basics of press work for fire brigades".
Whether during rescue and fire operations, during exercises or other voluntary work - the actions of the helpers of the voluntary fire brigades are always in the public eye. There is hardly any difference to other emergency services such as the police or the Red Cross. In contrast to these institutions, however, volunteer fire brigades often lack professional press and public relations work. Answering enquiries from the radio and press, issuing statements, writing press releases, maintaining a presence on social media - volunteers do all of this in their free time. This is no easy task for those without the relevant professional or specialist background.
"Hardly anything influences people's perceptions as much as the media. This makes good and effective public relations work all the more important - especially for the volunteer fire brigades, which make a significant contribution to life here in the region. We support the volunteers in this task," assures Michael Weber, Chairman of the Giessen District Fire Brigade Association (KFV).
Seminar with high-calibre lecturers
Together with its long-standing partner Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG), the KFV organised a one-day seminar focusing on the basics of press relations, to which all those responsible and fire service managers from the region were invited to the main SWG building.
The important elements of professional public relations work include more than just writing press releases, maintaining contact with journalists and communicating in crisis situations. Equally relevant and often neglected: the topic of media law. This is why Jens Richmann, Deputy Chairman of the KFV, began the seminar by discussing the obligations, opportunities and lurking pitfalls of public relations work. Constanze Schleenbecker-Büttner, journalist at Hessischer Rundfunk and communications trainer, spoke about crisis communication from a media perspective. Newspaper editor Norbert Schmidt spoke about press relations methods. The presentation by Stefan Thörner, press spokesman and head of the public relations team at the volunteer fire brigade in Lich, focussed on the work of press spokesmen at volunteer fire brigades. SWG company spokesperson Ina Weller informed those present about crisis communication from the perspective of a company. She also emphasised: "It is important to Stadtwerke Gießen to stand by the volunteer fire brigades as a partner. We look forward to expanding our cooperation in this way and sharing our experience."
The participants were thus able to gain a comprehensive overview of how to deal with the media and equip themselves for their tasks as PR contacts within one day.