Strategic Communication & Visual Design Mentored Online Courses – 2018-2019

Photo © Motusaga Vaeoso

With the support of the NOAA Coral Conservation Program, 15 coral reef managers from American Samoa, Florida, Guam, and CNMI received individual communication planning support tailored to their needs. They learned key components of strategic communication and applied these concepts to develop communication plans for a project specific to their work. Participants completed self-paced lessons, quizzes, worksheets, support and feedback calls, and discussions using the Network Forum. At course completion, participants had a draft strategic communication plan to promote coral conservation, a project timeline, and clear actionable next steps to execute the plan.

In addition, tailored visual design mentorship was provided as they completed their communication plans. A graphic designer led individual month-long Visual Design Mentored Online Courses. The designer provided tailored support based on the participants’ requests to either design a product themselves or have the designer execute design work for them. Projects included:

-American Samoa: Addressing overfishing by promoting fisheries rules and best practices

-Florida: Raising reef awareness and motivating pro-reef actions of coastal visitors

-Guam: Promoting awareness and the use of the Guam Reef Resilience Strategy

-CNMI: Reducing storm drain pollution through the Ocean Friendly Partners Program