“We need to do a better job telling our story.”

I’m sure, like me, you have heard that refrain a lot. As the director of the Office of Communication, I hear that as a challenge to dig deeper and keep investing in becoming a Forest Service full of good storytellers. I know that to tell our story, employees need more support. More materials and data to support our story. More people to be involved in surfacing and telling the story. You want help from the Washington Office to facilitate your efforts.  

But first, let’s talk about what telling our story means. Yes, telling our story means writing features, capturing stories through photos and videos or sharing our work through press releases—things public affairs specialists do. And telling our story also means how we show up in public and interact with visitors.

We tell our story in myriad ways—through presentations, speeches, testimony, internal and external meetings, and participation in conferences, field tours and recruiting events. Telling our story is how we present information we post on our websites and social media, and how we do our jobs, whether an everyday occurrence or our response during a national crisis.   

I understand that as we talk about telling our story, many of you are unsure how to go about that. Let me introduce you to the OC Hub, our constantly evolving internal website, that helps employees with a wide range of information, including approved communication messaging, photos, videos, templates and more.

Are you giving a presentation? There’s a template for that.  

Creating official social media? Check out the agency’s rules for branding and our social media guidelines. Creating personal social media? Be sure to make it clear that you are speaking for yourself.

Visitors can use the handy A to Z subsection of our toolkits page to find talking points, curated galleries and more on topics ranging from air quality to urban forestry. You can also search by month or subject. Toolkits offer resources that can be used by all employees.  

The OC Hub touches on every facet of communication, from writing to multimedia and from internally to externally focused storytelling. There’s also information about writing for the web and plain language.  

Are you producing a national publication? Our publications team is ready to help. They’ll help you with editing, designing and printing publications for a national audience, like the Tribal Action Plan and award-winning Wildfire Crisis Strategy.  

Do you want to share interesting images from your day job? The adage is true: A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if the photography follows industry standards. Everyone carries a camera in their pockets now. We have tips to help ensure we can use your images. Our multimedia team also created training to help you improve your skills.

But if you’re just looking for a photo, we have the resources for you. And if you want further support, our team can help you develop effective videos like our Job Corps recruitment video.

We can also help with your communications planning needs, including a step-by-step process for what you need when planning a communication strategy.  

Our national media relations team provide online information about press releases, interviews, media requests and commercial filming. If you have any questions on these topics, email the press desk.

If you want to learn more, we offer our monthly PA on Point webinars on a variety of topics, and you can track events and releases using our OC Editorial Calendar.

We are telling and will continue to tell our story at every level of the agency in myriad ways. In the Office of Communication, we continue to build our capacity, and we need your help. You are on the front lines of the work we do, directly connected to the people and communities we serve. We need your help. Send us your photos, your successes and your stories.  

We have an outstanding team ready to assist. Just ask us—we want to help you tell our story. 

Editor's Note: Provide feedback about this column, submit questions or suggest topics for future columns through the FS-Employee Feedback inbox.