By Gerard Braud Is Facebook your friend or foe in a crisis? The frightening truth is it really depends on a lot of factors. (Don’t be afraid to look at Facebook in an all new light when you join us for this special Halloween webinar.) Let us start with a discussion about your brand page. […]
By Gerard Braud While working with crisis communications clients, I provide a “first critical statement” template. This template is intended to be read to the media, emailed to employees, and posted to the web in the first hour of a crisis when little is known about the emerging crisis. Some companies that operate facilities that […]
By Gerard Braud A real crisis is a pressure cooker and your crisis communications drill should replicate that. The pressure causes the media to be intense and often abrupt. The media may appear hostile. You will see similarities between media and sharks that sense blood in the water. Your crisis communications drill must duplicate that. […]
By Gerard Braud What a nice complement I received today after a crisis communications drill with a nuclear power plant and four government agencies. The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness thanked our mock media team for the intense questioning and realism of our news mock conferences. “I participated in a crisis drill […]
By Gerard Braud I worked in drills in which I facilitate everything on behalf of the crisis communications team, while also developing the scenario for the drill. I’ve also worked in drills in which the emergency manager selects the drill scenario and acts as lead facilitator. Simultaneously, I facilitate only the cascading events dealing with […]
By Gerard Braud No one knows the hour or the day when a real crisis will strike, nor do they know how or when various events will cascade during the crisis. Your crisis communications drill needs to simulate as much of this as possible. In a crisis communications drill, chances are you need to let […]
By Gerard Braud Various teams within your organization can organize crisis drills. If no one else within your company, government agency or non-profit is organizing an annual crisis drill, then individuals within the communications department can take the lead to organize a drill. Ideally, to get a well rounded drill you want to test your […]
By Gerard Braud Too many crisis drills are lopsided. They are often organized by Emergency Managers who primarily want to measure the decision making and response time of those who must address the physical aspects of a crisis. Often missing from these drills is the realistic aspects of “pesky” reporters “getting in everybody’s way” and […]
By Gerard Braud How quickly can you get approval for and issue a statement to the media, your employees and other key stakeholders during a crisis? Your crisis communication plan should clearly spell out what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. It greatly disturbs me to see that some companies and government agencies think […]
By Gerard Braud There are many articles throughout this blog about what makes for a good crisis communications plan. I believe so many documents that proport to be crisis communications plans fall far short of what is needed to effectively communicate when “it” hits the fan. A great way to find out if your crisis […]