Dear CAP Public Affairs Officers,
Several years ago a team of PAOs rewrote the very long CAP Regulation 190-1 and removed non-regulatory content. This left us with an outstanding regulation, six pages long, that concentrates solely on fundamental CAP Public Affairs policy content.
The issue of what to do with the discarded non-regulatory content from the old regulation was addressed by a team of PAOs and NHQ staff. They came up with the CAP Public Affairs Officer's How to Guide. This downloadable publication complements CAPR 190-1 by adding tips, tactics, links and best practices in an easy-to-read, practical format.
Over more than a year, this team spent untold hours developing this guide. Now I am very pleased to share it with you.
It can be downloaded at http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/PA_How_To_Guide_3230407B554E3.pdf
The How to Guide takes the place of the old AFAIDL CAP Public Affairs Officer Course that will be retired on 30 June 2010. Members can study the guide and CAPR 190-1, then take an online, open-book test. A passing grade will satisfy the PAOCourse portion of the PAO Specialty track (201), and will fulfill the AFAIDL requirement. A separate announcement will be made when the test is available.
I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who had a hand in creating this guide:
• Maj. Steven Solomon, Southeast Region PAO, who chaired the volunteer committee that wrote the guide;
• the committee members themselves -- , Col. Stan Skrabut, Maj. Patricia Mitchum, Maj. Arthur Woodgate, Capt. James Ridley, Capt. Donald Penven, 1st Lt. Kimberly Bennett, 1st Lt. Jeanne Stone-Hunter and 1st Lt. Mark Swanson; and
• members of the National Headquarters PA and Creative Services staff, Julie DeBardelaben, Steve Cox, Kristi Carr, Dan Bailey, Jim Tynan and Barb Pribulick, who contributed editorial and graphic design expertise
The How to Guide will never be complete or fully up to date, because the tools of our trade will continue to evolve. Therefore, a team of volunteer PAOs will review the content periodically and will accept suggestions for improvements on an ongoing basis from PAOs in the field.
We will announce updates to the guide via e-mail and the PA Essentials Blog.
Please send your comments and suggestions for the guide to pa_how_to@lists.cappao.org
Thanks for all that you do in telling the CAP story.
Is this planned to be printed and distributed by National? If not, may I recommend a simpler cover design? It looks nice, but will consume alot of ink when printing out. Or make the cover a separate file?
I haven't reviewed the content yet, but the cover thing jumped out at me - it's a pet peeve.
I wish that I knew this was under development. There's a lot that I would have liked to work on with it. :(
Al; Good job and bully pat on the back to your team.
Might I suggest that a short Primer in Slander/Libel be included along with the most recent revelation that email and social media are now included just as broadcast and publishing (press releases too) have long been included in these legal/litigious perils.
Quote from: arajca on May 11, 2010, 04:01:30 PM
Is this planned to be printed and distributed by National? If not, may I recommend a simpler cover design? It looks nice, but will consume alot of ink when printing out. Or make the cover a separate file?
I haven't reviewed the content yet, but the cover thing jumped out at me - it's a pet peeve.
Ditto on that cover. It might be one thing if it had high res photos, but it seems to take up too much space to make the fake leather cover worth it.
They did sound open to modifications in the future, so make notes and pass them up.
Quote from: arajca on May 11, 2010, 04:01:30 PM
Is this planned to be printed and distributed by National? If not, may I recommend a simpler cover design? It looks nice, but will consume alot of ink when printing out. Or make the cover a separate file?
+1
An easier fix might be to just add a title page for those who can't (or don't want to) burn all of their ink on that masterpiece.
Ed, the best guidebook for libel is (of course) the Associated Press Stylebook. There's no need to add that to the CAP publication, since the wheel that was already invented (and is the best) is readily available.
There's a revision coming out this month, I believe, and it'll be available in print and as an iPhone app.
One thing I know that's changed: It's not "Web site" anymore -- it's "website."
I have to say I agree on the cover, unfortunately, and I hate to be critical of something that so much work was put into. We used to have stricter guidelines on placement of the CAP seal on documents; the CAPR 10-1 has been dumbed down to the point it's useless.
Quote from: BuckeyeDEJ on May 12, 2010, 05:52:54 AM
...
I have to say I agree on the cover, unfortunately, and I hate to be critical of something that so much work was put into. We used to have stricter guidelines on placement of the CAP seal on documents; the CAPR 10-1 has been dumbed down to the point it's useless.
Now that's an understatement. >:D Now, it's more like they're likely to create a guide called "Software for Creating Your Very Own Civil Air Patrol Logo" or something. ;D
Case in point: the triangle logo. Of course there's the National Board/Conference logo with the monopoly houses that was used for non-conference stuff, the emblem, the seal, the Air Force symbol with any number of CAP logos, etc. Plus, there's always about a hundred variations of each logo in different colors and configurations.