At the 2022 TATOA (Texas Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors) Conference in McAllen, Texas, two departments from the City of Southlake were honored — the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Communications and Customer Experience.

The 26th annual conference for the TATOA organization was held on November 3-4, 2022, and included programming sessions geared toward the creation of videography and communications.

While the City of Southlake is dedicated to providing transparent and accurate information, it is also a goal of a few City staff to see this through creatively. Public Information Officer Brad Uptmore and Public Relations Coordinator Mikaela Hall ensure that information of all types is distributed to encompass both of these objectives.

A full list of the winning videos from TATOA 2022 is as follows:

• 2022 1st place in “Weather” with “Prepare Right Now for Your Home”

• 2022 2nd place in “PSA with Operating Budget Under $250K” for “Mascara DWI PSA”

• 2022 Award of Merit in “Public Education with Operating Budget Under $250K” for “Prepare Right Now for Your Home”

• 2022 Award of Merit in “Storytelling” for “Mascara DWI PSA”

• 2022 Award of Merit in “Use of Humor with Operating Budget Under $250K” for “Southlake Citizen Survey”

• 2022 Award of Merit in “Arts & Entertainment with Operating Budget Under $250K” for “Minute with the Mayor — National Fiddle Champion”

A TATOA winner veteran, Public Information Officer Brad Uptmore has worked for the City of Southlake for over six years, first as a Patrol Officer and then moving into his current role. His Facebook humor garners the attention of many — even those that are not Southlake residents! More importantly, his approach to distributing information in a way that reaches people makes his work more impactful.

“I really enjoyed making the ‘Mascara DWI PSA’ piece the most because it was such a pivot to our normal zany, humorous videos. DWIs are a constant problem in Southlake, and most PSAs showcase over the top drinking — the parties, the clubs, the loud bars, but I wanted to focus on what I feel is the more common drinker — the subtle alcoholic who drinks all day,” said Officer Uptmore. “I really worked on making sure that if you re-watched it, you’d pick up on things you might have missed before.”

Public Relations Coordinator Mikaela Hall just celebrated her first year with the City of Southlake and is a TATOA winner rookie. One of her primary job functions is creating the Minute with the Mayor weekly segment from start to finish. She touches on each piece of the process — from its initial brainstorming, scripting, and coordination to production and editing. The topics of the segment vary from week to week. They can feature events, City Council updates, or entertainment pieces regarding noteworthy residents or programs in Southlake.

“The episode of Minute with the Mayor where we featured Tristan Paskvan was extremely special to me because it was a labor of love. With the help of Jason Tamplin, an outside contractor, we set up two lights, four microphones, and four cameras to capture Tristan’s monumental achievement,” said Hall. “It took me 14 hours to sync up all the audio streams, footage from the different cameras, the music he played at the end, and the photos and videos provided by his family, but it was worth it. Seeing Tristan’s family at the video shoot made me feel like I was doing something important for not only the Paskvan Family, but for the City as well.”

Although he is an outside contractor, Jason Tamplin assists the City with efforts on special projects as needed. He also is instrumental to ensuring the City Council meetings are streamed properly for citizen review and transparency purposes. He assisted Mikaela Hall in the Minute with the Mayor shoot mentioned above, and he is a valued member of our extended network.

For more about the TATOA conference, please visit their website.