Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
Today, I presented my class at FDIC “Social Media: The Fire Service’s Next Big Innovation”. All in all, I was very pleased with the class and I think that everyone was able to walk away with a little knowledge.
Don’t get me wrong, I had/have a lot to learn (in so many ways!). The 1 hour and 45 minute crash course on social media brought up numerous questions and I found it to be very telling of where the fire service is in breaking through to the power of social media.
I went into the class with the thought that if I can learn what the attendees want/need to know I will be better suited for teaching the class in the future. I found that while I spoke about the basics of the utilization of social media, some of the questions were for the more advanced. That is ok….however, in reviewing the evaluations on the class I found that some thought it was too basic and others thought it was not basic enough. Hopefully the majority found it useful!
Thanks to Captain Willie Wines Jr. for stopping in to snap a photo for me!
I must say, those evaluations are very helpful, no matter what is said. I appreciate all of the attendees who filled one out. I even got gigged for looking at my phone. Apparently it came off as me checking messages. In all actuallity, I was merely checking the time since I don’t wear a watch. I learned a lesson though and perception is everything.
It would have been great to walk into the class knowing exactly what everyone wanted and needed to know, but we have to start somewhere. Social media is such a complex interactive and every changing technology. I thought it was important to offer the groundwork to build a foundation for social media. It appeared as though that is what people were looking for.
The lesson I learned is that 1 hour and 45 minutes simply is not enough time to properly teach social media. Not that it was a revelation, but we gave it a go!
Next month, I will be teaching a similar class in the 5-8 hour time frame. I think that will be plenty of time to delve into social media and even assist the attendees with starting out on their own and making it work for them.
Whether you were able to attend the class or not, I am always available for questions and assisting others in getting started! We have a long road before social media is widely accepted in the fire service. Until then, we can learn from those who make it work!
FDIC videotaped the class. I do not know if it will be available to anyone to see or if they will just be using the video for other purposes. I will let you know if it becomes available.
If you are interested in the .pdf file of my presentation please let me know. I will have it available in some form or fashion soon enough.
Thanks to all those who attended. It was my honor and I enjoyed it tremendously. As always, whenever I teach…I learned a lot!
Feel free to connect with me. I am always available to answer questions and help out if possible!
Rhett Fleitz
FireFleitz@gmail.com
FireCritic@FireCritic.com
Twitter: @FireCritic
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