“Wear It!” and “Ready, Set, Inflate”: Changing the Future of Safer Boating - presentation at the NASBLA Conference in Honolulu, HI on

1. “Wear It!” and “Ready, Set, Inflate”:Changing the Future of Safer Boating NASBLA 2010 Annual Conference Honolulu, HI Tuesday, September 14, 2010

2. 2009 USCG Statistics: Key Findings Deaths: 736 vs. 709 (in 2008) = 3.81% increase Drownings: 543 vs. 510 (in 2008) = 6.5% increase Accidents: 4,730 vs. 4,789 (in 2008) = 1.23% decrease Injuries: 3,358 vs. 3,331 (in 2008) = 0.81% increase Almost three-fourths of all fatal boating accident victims drowned, and of those, eighty-four (84) percent were not reported as wearing a life jacket.

3. USCG Strategic Plan The North American Safe Boating Campaign specifically supports the following objectives of the USCG’s Strategic Plan: Objective 2. Awareness of Safe Boating Practices Objective 4. Life Jacket Wear The Campaign also indirectly supports many other components of the USCG’s Strategic Plan

4. The North American Safe Boating Campaign (“Wear It!”) Efforts of the 2010 campaign include traditional and “non-traditional” outreach methods Traditional: Public Service Announcement

5. “Wear It!” Traditional Outreach Methods: Press Releases Distributed six search engine optimized press releases E-Newsletters Distributed five monthly electronic newsletters on behalf of the National Safe Boating Council Media Buy/Earned Media Coverage Placed a total of 998 print, radio, television and online media hits Reached a potential audience of more than 287 million

6. “Wear It!” “Non-Traditional” Outreach Methods: The Life Jacket Safety Dance (via Facebook Connect)

7. “Be a Survivor: Wear It!” 8/4/2010: Lake Mohave, NV 9/4/2010: Off the coast of LA

8. 2010 National Tiger Team Meeting Held in Arlington, VA on Monday, August 16, 2010 27 Individuals from USCG, State Agencies, Non-Profit Groups, Industry, other Organizations in attendance Focus of the Meeting: Review of the 2010 Campaign – Looking Ahead to the 2011 Campaign Life Jacket Trends and how they relate to the “Wear It!” Campaign USCG Strategy 4.2 – “Establish Life Jacket Wear-Rate Tiger Team”

9. Inflatable Life Jacket World Record Day – “Ready, Set, Inflate!” Inflatable Life Jacket World Record Day Held on Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 11:00 EDT / 8:00 PDT Goal: Promote life jacket wear, specifically inflatable life jackets, and general boating safety www.ReadySetInflate.com User-friendly format for Event Organizers/Media/Educational Component: Join an Event/Organize an Event Media Section Videos/Photo Galleries RESOURCES for Event Organizers

11. 29 US States, 1 US Territory, and 2 Washington D.C. locations

12. 13 Canadian locations

13. First Press Release announcing event was published over 190 times, reaching more than 6.2 million viewers

14. Second Press Release announcing event totals and success of the event was published over 100 times, reaching more than 8.9 million impressionsUpdate: July 30, 2010 – 415 participants in Sydney, Australia

19. Why is “Ready, Set, Inflate” So Revolutionary? What did all of the videos have in common? Introducing boaters to life jackets Yearly maintenance check We can always strive to beat the record next year (Saturday, May 21, 2011!) - National Safe Boating Week 2010 (May 21 – 27)

20. Inflatable Life Jacket Education Kit Kit is intended to educate about inflatable life jackets Kit Includes: Flip Chart 1 Suspender inflatable life jacket and 1 belt-pack inflatable life jacket and extra cylinders for demo Educational DVD/Sample PSAs Additional supporting materials (posters, reading materials, etc.) The Kit is available for purchase from the NSBC for $225 (including shipping and handling)

21. Rachel Burkholder Communications Director, NSBC outreach@safeboatingcouncil.org Fred Messmann Deputy Director, NSBC deputy@safeboatingcouncil.org