VZCZCXRO3342
RR RUEHCHI
DE RUEHBK #2271/01 1130833
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230833Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6404
INFO RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 3458

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 002271 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP DAS GLYN DAVIES; R ADELE RUPPE; EAP/PD JESSICA DAVIES 
AND EAP/MLS MELANIE HIGGINS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO TH
SUBJECT: BANGKOK "SPEAK EASY CLUB" AND "SPEAKERS SQUAD" HOOK EMBASSY 
PERSONNEL ON TELLING AMERICA'S STORY 
 
¶1. Summary: For the Public Affairs section (PA), outreach is key to 
maintaining and strengthening our generally positive relationship 
with the Thai public.  But telling America's story to over 62 
million Thais is a colossal task.  In an effort to take public 
diplomacy "the last three feet" and touch the lives of as many 
different Thai audiences as possible, PA launched two new 
initiatives - the Bangkok Speak Easy Club and the Embassy Speakers 
Squad.  While continuing to connect with the Bangkok elite, the 
Speakers Squad enables us to reach many more young, provincial Thai 
audiences throughout the country at relatively low cost, while the 
Speak Easy Club provides essential skills to employees and builds 
camaraderie among diverse Mission personnel.  End Summary. 
 
Two Interdependent Programs 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2. The Speak Easy Club is a monthly public speaking training program 
conducted in both Thai and English, open to the Mission community 
and their family members.  More than one hundred Thai and American 
mission personnel have attended the first six sessions of the Speak 
Easy Club.  Its goals are twofold: to help people become better 
speakers; and, to persuade them to join the Embassy "Speakers 
Squad," which is an expanded Embassy speakers program (described 
more fully below).  PA set a goal of completing twenty Embassy 
outreach programs by the end of the fiscal year, which we expect to 
meet; over twenty Thai schools and civic groups have already signed 
up to host Embassy speaker programs this year. 
 
Why Are We Doing This? 
---------------------- 
 
¶3. PA staff realized that we have a huge potential pool of public 
speaking talent in our 'regional hub' mission that is largely 
untapped and untrained.  Our Thai staff in particular expressed 
interest in outreach, but felt unprepared and untrained.  By 
offering this training, we are building up not only the human 
capital of Embassy Bangkok's most important resource -- its own 
staff -- but also the confidence of a significant number of Mission 
personnel to get up in front of a crowd of strangers and deliver a 
message about America to target audiences around the country. 
 
A Mission-Wide Program Using Professional Trainers 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶4. The Speak Easy Club, which met for the first time in February 
2007, benefited from the generosity of the U.S.-Thai Fulbright 
Commission's Thai Executive Director -- a professional public 
speaking trainer and close PA contact -- who volunteered her time 
and expertise to facilitate the first two training sessions.  Since 
then, PA engaged a Thai professor from the prestigious Chulalongkorn 
University Language Institute and a private public speaking trainer 
to lead subsequent Speak Easy Club sessions in Thai and English, 
respectively.  Because this relatively low-cost training benefits 
the entire mission, it is being paid for using ICASS funds, not PA 
program funds. 
 
¶5. So far, the results for the Speak Easy have been extremely 
encouraging, surpassing our initial hopes and expectations.  Turnout 
was standing room only for the opening session, so we asked people 
to pre-register, limited attendance per session, and opened up a 
second English session to accommodate all those who were interested. 
 The Bangkok Speak Easy draws participants literally from throughout 
the Embassy, including the Consular Section, Financial Management 
Center, Financial Service Center, Regional Diplomatic Courier 
Division, Regional Medical Office, Information Management, Protocol, 
Regional Human Resources Office, Regional Employee Development 
Center, General Services Office, US Trade and Development Agency, 
Open Source Center, US Agency for International Development, 
Transportation Security Administration, Narcotic Affairs Section, 
Force Protection Detachment, Marine Security Guard Detachment and 
our own Public Affairs staff.  Most surprising is the number of Thai 
staff, often shy to speak up among American officers in formal 
situations, who have joined the English Speak Easy sessions - 
sometimes outnumbering the Americans in the room.  Notably, several 
Thai Consular staff, regulars at the English Speak Easy Club, are 
using the sessions to polish presentations about the U.S. visa 
application process that they will give to Embassy Bangkok's 
incoming pool of Thai summer interns. 
 
¶6. So how did PA recruit participation in these programs from 
throughout the Embassy?  First, the Public Affairs Officer presented 
the idea to the Country Team, which was extremely receptive and 
agreed that their staff could participate.  Then PA makes it easy by 
offering, in most cases, to cover internal travel costs, per diem, 
lodging and transportation for programs outside Bangkok.  This 
provides an incentive for the speaker to volunteer and relieves the 
speaker's agency or section of any associated costs.  Also, PA 
coordinates the logistics for each speaker program.  The speaker 
comes up with an idea, and PA finds the audience, selects the date, 
 
BANGKOK 00002271  002 OF 002 
 
 
and often accompanies the speaker with armfuls of promotional items. 
 In the past few months, PA staff personally visited embassy 
agencies and sections and explained both programs to staff and 
managers.  Meanwhile, PA runs ads in "About Bangkok," the Embassy 
newsletter, with information about both programs, and hangs Speak 
Easy promotional posters around the embassy. 
 
So Who's Been Going Out to Speak? 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7. This program has already expanded the "public face" of the 
American Embassy.  Not surprisingly, entry level officers -- many of 
them consular officers -- have been among our most eager volunteers 
as well as our own PA staff; we've also attracted Thai staff and 
incorporated an American Chamber of Commerce trade assistant within 
this program.  Program topics have included women's leadership, the 
civil rights movement, Thai films in the United States, the American 
high school experience, and environmental issues.  A USAID Thai 
staff member spoke twice at Thailand Knowledge Park, Bangkok's 
largest interactive library, on environment protection and global 
warming.  The second time was an encore performance; his program was 
so popular that TK Park members requested that he return.  A Thai 
secretary in PA led an Earth Day program at the same venue. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
¶8. PA is using this program both within Bangkok and to reach out to 
younger, wider audiences throughout Thailand's 76 provinces in order 
to connect with people who have little and often no first-hand 
experience with Americans and American culture.  PA has arranged 
programs in Northern and Southern provinces, including programs in 
Chiang Mai, Satun and Trang.  PA has also targeted Thailand's five 
American Corners, which provide excellent programming platforms to 
connect with scores of university students.  Three of the American 
Corners are located in the south, one in the north, and one in the 
northeast. 
 
¶9. As a result of the Speak Easy Club and Embassy Speakers Squad 
programs, all Mission staff, both Thai and American, have an 
opportunity to both improve their public speaking and further the 
Mission goal of increasing mutual understanding among Thai 
audiences.   This Embassy, one of the largest in the world, in turn 
becomes a smaller place as Thais and Americans from different 
sections and agencies find opportunities to work together.  This 
program is only a couple of months old, so we will need more time to 
evaluate these programs fully.  However, post is excited about the 
new blood that this initiative is pumping into the Mission's public 
outreach efforts and we believe that long-term benefits to 
transformational diplomacy efforts will result. 
 
BOYCE