Fill The Dam Thing Up! Building Connections: Communicating Throughout the Lifecycle of Infrastructure Projects

Fill the Dam Thing Up! Building Connections:

Communicating Throughout the Lifecycle of Infrastructure Projects

By Mary Ellen Mel Miller, MarketingMel MarketingMel Publications

Copyright 2023

TVA Disclaimer: Any views and opinions that I may express in this manuscript/ book are attributable to me personally and do not represent the opinions of my employer (Johnson Service Group) or the company for which my employer was providing services (Tennessee Valley Authority).

Mary Ellen Miller, APR

*Note: this is a phrase used by the owners of Boomtown & Co., a store in Johnson City, Tennessee. Owners sold merchandise with that phrase throughout the project. Fill the dam thing up became a battle cry of sorts with project engineers and geologists gleefully wearing ball caps with that slogan into meetings and prominently displaying T-shirts and caps in their offices. The project was completed both on time and under budget.

Table of Contents:

Prologue             vii

Introduction - Your Communications Playbook             ix

CHAPTER1

History: An Aging Infrastructure Problem             1

CHAPTER2

A Muddy Seep: The Clock is Ticking             5

CHAPTER3

Project Leaders: Be Confident             11

CHAPTER4

Tools of the Trade: Welcome Others             15

CHAPTER5

Be Strategic             19

CHAPTER6

Stakeholders:PartnersandSocialMedia             23

CHAPTER7

The Media             27

CHAPTER8

Everyone is an Expert             31

CHAPTER9

A Diverse, International Project, Chewing Tobacco, and The American Way              33

CHAPTER10:

Prepare for the Unexpected: From Break-ins to Blow-ups              37

CHAPTER 11

Safety Rules: Pink Hardhats and Dressing for Success              41

CHAPTER12

Pro Tips: Scan Environment, Keep it Clean!             43

CHAPTER 13

Social Media and Public Outreach             47

CHAPTER 14

Kindness and Ethics             49

CHAPTER15

Benchmarking and FocusGroups             51

CHAPTER16

The Very Rich: Your Neighbors and the Golden Rule              53

CHAPTER17

Transferrable Skills for Any Infrastructure Project ​55

CHAPTER18

Tearing Down, Starting Over             59

CHAPTER19

TrackingProgress:SpreadsheetsandPlanB             63

CHAPTER20

The Power of Dreams             67

Epilogue: Have a Vision             71

SPECIALCOVIDINSERT

COVID-19: Working Through a Global Pandemic ​75

Author’s Note             83

Acknowledgements             85

About the Author             87

Prologue

June 30, 2022

It was a classic late June day in Northeast Tennessee. It was only 9:30 in the morning, but the sun was already beating down overhead. I arrived early and found a metal picnic table located in some shade at the dam’s recreational area. I perched on top of the table and looked out at the water, including the beach and swimming area. The earthen embankment stood as a backdrop. I was early for a 10:30 media interview, which gave me plenty of time to observe this place that had been my work home for nearly seven years.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a large, lone RV tucked into thefar corner of the parking lot. Soon, I looked up and heard children’s laughter coming from that direction. I turned my head in time to see a family, dressed in swim attire, making their way down the grassy hill toward the lake. The children were giggling as they carried swim noodles in their arms. One young boy wore an inner tube around his waist as he skipped down the hill toward the sand and water. Soon, they were splashing in the lake’s swimming area that bordered the sandy beach. Before long, other swimmers arrived and joined in the fun. A floating orange rope and a line of red and white buoys kept the swim area separated from passing boaters. Two swimmers did laps along the rope, occasionally hanging on the lane line to rest. I watched the scene of frolicking in a lake on a hot summer day and smiled, recalling the long hours of hard work it took to get here.

INTRODUCTION

YourCommunicationsPlaybook

As I reflect on my career in public relations, I realize it’s actually been a series of projects: build-ups and teardowns. Whether it’s a major infrastructure project or a local political campaign, the public relations professional finds him/herself in the middle of a swirling hub of activities. The counselor will listen to, and become the confidante of, the project manager and senior leaders and sit in the meetings as highly technical language is bantered about. He or she will soak in the language of the project and translate it into words