It’s a Monday night at RAF Cosford and, while it’s less than two weeks before Christmas, the RAF Presentation Team (RAF PT) is still busy attending a broad spectrum of events and locations to put its message across and take questions from audiences, whoever they may be. On this night I will be sitting in one such audience to see for myself what it’s all about.
The RAF PT is one of the key components in the Chief of the Air Staff's Engagement Strategy and has performed in excess of 3000 presentations since its formation back in 1978. With a small team built up of RAF personnel from many different branches, the PT uses technology and personal accounts of life at home and on operational duty to relate the capabilities of the RAF today. The fact that most of the team have themselves served in the likes of Iraq and Afghanistan gives the presentation a real edge and allows them to answer questions on current operations from their own personal, and very real experience.
RAF Cosford is home to the RAF Museum of course and the HQ Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering, No 1 School of Technical Training, No 1 Radio School (Part of the Defence College of Communication and Information Systems (DCCIS), Defence School of Photography (Part of the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC) as well as the RAF School of Physical Training and various Air Training Corps and Combined Cadet Force squadrons. This evening’s presentation however is for the University of Birmingham Air Squadron (UBAS) and will take place in it’s large briefing room across the road from the museum.
Meeting me on arrival is the RAF PT’s newest team member* – MACr Gareth Attridge. Many of you will know Gareth from his time on the Merlin Force at RAF Benson and as the manager of Team Merlin, a volunteer role which undoubtedly played a part in his being selected for the RAF PT on his return from Afghanistan last Autumn. This is a very different posting of course but one on which his experience of engaging with the general public, built up over five years of airshow appearances, will surely stand him in good stead.
With Gareth and his colleagues still setting up this gives me a chance to have a chat with the boss, Sqn Ldr Elaine Smith, about the work they carry out. An Operations Officer by trade, Elaine’s first posting was at RAF Brize Norton on 216 Sqn (TriStar) and she was involved with the C-17’s introduction to service with 99 Sqn. She has also been deployed to Kosovo, Iraq, Qatar and most recently Afghanistan as Operations Officer for 904 EAW (Expeditionary Air Wing).
“Anyone can book a visit from the RAF PT,” she explains, “essentially we are open to everyone and there really is no typical audience as such.
“We have and do genuinely present to groups and people from all walks of life. It could be Members of Parliament, minority groups, Universities, at airshows, gala dinners, religious groups or to industry – you name it, the team has done it!”
I think the important thing to emphasise at this early stage on is that the RAF PT has nothing to do with recruitment; the only connection with the Institute of Recruiting is that they sometimes appear at the same venues as part of a larger event.
“We are wholly about public relations,” Elaine confirms, “we fall under the banner of Media and Communications and the Team is an external marketing tool for the Royal Air Force. This is to educate people about what the Royal Air Force is and what we do and gives them a chance to meet serving men and women.”
It occurs to me that this must also make the RAF PT a very good barometer of public opinion. Putting yourselves in such an open environment gives people a chance to voice their opinions and ask difficult questions and that in itself must lead to the Team getting a very good feel for whether the entire Engagement Strategy is, to use PR parlance, cutting through. Warrant Officer Roy Woodruff, a hugely experienced engineer and the Team’s longest serving member, agrees wholeheartedly.
“I think that’s true, without a doubt. When I joined the Team it sometimes felt like we were going in to a lion’s den but now we get very few derogatory comments and the general sensibility, especially with regard to operations in Afghanistan, is hugely supportive.
“We explain to people that we (the RAF) are supporting our troops on the ground in Afghanistan as that is our job,” adds Senior Aircraftman James Davey who looks after all the Team’s IT and AV equipment. “If you tell people that the Armed Forces are essentially looking after each other with a common aim I think that they understand that quite clearly.”
These are quite clearly turbulent times for the Royal Air Force and indeed all our Armed Forces with the impact of last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review ongoing and still taking shape. We live in a fast changing world and this surely must also impact on what the RAF PT does and what they are presenting?
“The current version of the presentation was future-proofed to a degree,” admits Roy. “It was put together last year and while we didn’t know what was going to happen in the SDSR we were able to try and ensure that most of what is included would still be relevant. There is Harrier footage included (Nb this was two days before the aircraft’s retirement) but we have already lined up replacement footage for that, so yes, you do have to react to make sure it is all relevant.”
The presentation itself is based on the Chief of the Air Staff’s vision. It has his personal stamp all over it and is based on the key points that he wants the Team to project, tying in with the Engagement Strategy as a whole.
“The first thing we do each year is record his vignette that you will see at the end of the presentation tonight. We then work backwards from there,” Roy tells me.
“When the presentation is complete we present it to CAS and his staff and once we have his seal of approval we can then take it out on the road,” adds James.
There is no charge for anyone interested in booking the Presentation Team, all that is required is a suitable venue, advertising for the event and an audience greater than 50 people. This important fact means that the Team is available to the broadest possible range of groups and is well worth noting for anyone reading this who thinks that a visit from the PT might be of interest, whether as an addition to an existing event (such as a monthly society meeting for example) or even as a special one-off. The Team’s presentation lasts around 40 minutes with an additional 20 minutes, longer if necessary, allowed for questions and answers, with the audience’s desire and willingness to interact clearly a factor here!
“Our biggest challenge is getting people through the door,” says Elaine. “But it’s not just about the numbers, we also need the right people and simply travelling from RAF station to RAF station for example would be a waste of time – there’s little point preaching to the converted.”
“You can often judge the success of presentation by the amount of questions we get at the end of the session,” adds Roy, “and also we can get a lot of thank you letters and additional bookings as a spin off. That is how we can we can measure our success from event to event.”
“We obviously want the people attending to take something positive away from the presentation,” agrees Elaine, “but equally important is the fact that they then go away and tell other people about what they learned. That information gets passed on and the positive message spreads even further as a result.”
With that we make our way to the briefing room where the Team has set up for the evening; very smart it looks too with the room dominated by a large screen for video broadcast, surrounded by Royal Air Force branding. Soon we are joined by a large group of UBAS members, many of them attending the squadron for the first time having joined the University in the autumn and expressed an interest in the RAF.
I’m not going to relate the detail of the presentation in minute detail; that would spoil the impact for anyone reading this who might now be considering contacting the Presentation Team to arrange a booking. What I will say is that even for someone like me who has been lucky enough to spend considerable time working with the RAF, it was interesting and educational. Each team member’s own section of the presentation links seamlessly with the video segments and it all comes together as a cohesive and very professional performance.
The video vignettes, covering various aspects of RAF life such as Typhoons on QRA, Combat ISTAR, Tornado GR.4 ops and logistics are well put together with some stunning footage and, perhaps most importantly, a story to tell, heard from the perspective of those actually involved on a day to day basis. There is no better way to educate than that, I feel, and the whole presentation works very well. I should imagine that anyone watching would be able to take away many positives from the experience and the Q&A session which follows echoes that sentiment and is an interactive way for the evening to close.
This then was a fascinating evening spent with an arm of the Royal Air Force about which I knew very little beforehand.
The Presentation Team is out there spreading the word and plays a vital role in the Service’s overall PR strategy. Keen to broaden the groups they visit even further, I would urge anyone reading this, regardless of your knowledge of the Royal Air Force, to consider contacting the Presentation Team to see whether a visit is appropriate and can be arranged – I for one would be amazed if you didn’t learn a great deal as a result.
* Since my visit in December, there have been a number of changes in the team with the addition of Flt Lt James West, fresh from flying the Nimrod MR.2. Profiles of all the team members can be found on the PT website (see below).
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