Giraffes Can Dance: Improving Stakeholder Communication in a State Dam Safety Program

ABSTRACT ONLY - The childrens storybook "Giraffes Can't Dance" tells the story of poor Gerald the Giraffe, who when it comes to dancing is really very bad. Despite the jeers of the waltzing warthogs and rock 'n' rolling rhinos - Gerald finds his song and impresses the jungle animals as he boogies on the dance floor.But this is a dam safety conference right? Like Gerald, engineers are often told that they are numbers people - not communicators. But that is simply not true, and we do a disservice to our profession and the dam safety community if we do not effectively communicate with dam owners, local officials, emergency management, and politicians. We need to decode complex engineering issues to non-technical persons, convince reluctant dam owners to make repairs, and advocate for the protection of downstream persons. In addition, the Maryland Dam Safety program is undergoing significant growth and programmatic updates - which require thought and care to communicate to the dam safety community. This presentation will focus on some of the tools that the Maryland Dam Safety program has used to improve our communication and outreach efforts in recent years, strategies we have developed for rolling out new initiatives, and how we have built management support. Tools vary from email services to social media and an open "office hours" meeting concept that has proven wildly successful.