This course is part of the National Emergency Management Basic Academy being offered in FY26.
Additional courses are:
L0101: Foundations of Emergency Management (March 23-27, 2026) at Cullman County EMA
L0102: Fundamentals of Threats and Hazards (April 13-15, 2026) at Marshall County EMA
L0103: Planning: Emergency Operations (April 16-17, 2026) at Marshall County EMA
L0146: Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program Training Course (May 7-8, 2026) at Colbert County EMA
It is not necessary to attend all of the courses in this sequence.
Course Description
To equip participants with the skills needed to be full or part-time PIOs, including oral and written communications; understanding and working with the media; and basic tools and techniques to perform effectively as a PIO, both in the proactive/ advocacy times and crisis/emergency response.
The learner must achieve a minimum passing score of 75% on final knowledge assessments or demonstrate mastery on performance assessments or research assignments to earn the IACET CEU.
ACE: Level: Upper Division
ACE: Credit Hours: 1
CECs: 12
Course Objectives
- Using the strategic communications planning model, develop a public awareness campaign (95%)
- Using the strategic communications planning model, develop an incident communications strategy (5%)
- Indicate the purpose of a public awareness campaign
- Identify the steps in developing a public awareness campaign
- Develop a strategy for an awareness campaign on a selected topic
- Change the method of developing a plan to follow the 8-step StratCom process
- Demonstrate the role and function of the PIO in both day-to-day emergency environments
- Compare actions PIOs can take to work with the news media during day-to-day and emergency situation
- Describe different public information written products
- Apply effective news release writing guidance
- Adapt or repurpose written media products for social media
- Describe what types of impressions specific body language might convey during an interview
- Identify elements of an interview the PIO should consider ahead of time
- Identify steps a PIO needs to take to prepare for and conduct a news interview
- Demonstrate effective techniques for on-camera interviews
Prerequisites
- IS0029.a: Public Information Officer Awareness