And the survey says ...

Published Sept. 27, 2008
By Master Sgt. Jeff Loftin
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

Southwest Asia -- The Desert Eagle and Desert Eagle Dispatch fared well in a recent 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs survey of base members.

The survey, which ran for 10 days at the end of last month and garnered more than 170 responses, measured various public information products.

"The demographic was a broad spectrum of the base," said Senior Master Sgt. Chad Eiring, PA superintendent, responsible for the survey. "We had responses from all ranks, all ages and all units."

According to the responses, most people, 56 percent, are reading the "Desert Eagle" magazine weekly. Forty-eight percent said they were "very satisfied" with the publication. Only 1 percent of those who responded were dissatisfied with it.

"This is good news," said Col. Paul Guemmer, 379 AEW vice commander. "I've been to lots of bases where people didn't even look at the base publication."

The colonel said the magazine was about the right length and could be read through by most people in less than an hour.

"The boss and I like having the printed product," he said of the AOR's only publication of its kind. "I think it makes more of an impact. You have nice flashy colors to catch people's attention. (PA does) a great job on the layout. Also, we have a very large transient population that isn't going to have access to a computer."

Survey responses indicated readers were most satisfied with the publication's feature stories, and were least satisfied with the crossword puzzle. As a result, the crossword puzzle will now be part of a six-week rotation with sudoko, schedules and other columns. The chapel page will also be revamped to make it more relevant.

According to the survey, people were most satisfied with the "Desert Eagle Dispatch," a daily e-mail product. Fifty-eight percent said they were "very satisfied" with it, and 81 percent said they read it daily.

"This was something we focused in on," said Sergeant Eiring, deployed from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. "That makes the Dispatch one of our most valuable internal communication tools."

Survey responses suggested making the Dispatch shorter and having it come out earlier in the day. As a result, PA will have it out by 5 p.m. each day.

"The biggest problem was that the Dispatch was way too long," he said. "It was nine to 12 pages most of the time. Now we've got it down to four to five. We instituted a one-week maximum run time. If someone wants something posted we're only going to run it for one week. So far that has helped cut down on the length."

PA is also now highlighting new items in red to assist those skimming through the Dispatch quickly. Also, the Dispatch now features the photo of the day and links to any new print or video stories on the public website.

The survey pointed out that many confused the wing's public website with the base's internal site. The internal site features the media web, phone book and other links and is maintained by the 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron. The public website, www.379aew.afnews.af.mil, features news, photos, videos, biographies and fact sheets.

"The public website is our number one strategic communication tool," said Capt. Kristen Pate, 379 AEW public affairs officer. "We take a lot of pride in our website and work a lot of long hours on it. We make a conscious effort to update it everyday to get our story out.

"Sometimes people will come to us and say, 'I want to tell my family back home what I'm doing here. Do you have something I can send them?' I always send them the link to the public website because it changes everyday and there's a good chance your unit will be highlighted," she said.

The most dramatic changes came from the PA product that survey responders were most dissatisfied with - the commander's access channel (channel 1). As a result, the wing is reviewing the possibility of combining the CAC with the 379th Expeditionary Forces Squadron channel (channel 2) and the passenger information channel (channel 3).

"I think if we can create some synergy and combine the channels it will be better than splitting audience attention between several channels," said Colonel Guemmer. "There would be more information there to compel people to watch it."

Overall the survey provided information for changes to several products.

"I'm really satisfied with the information we received," said Captain Pate, deployed from Hickam AFB, Hawaii. "We can now tailor our efforts to get information to the public in the ways they would most like to receive it."