Crisis communication resources to help you protect your revenue, reputation, and brand.

Effective crisis communications when “it” hits the fan.

Welcome to Our Crisis Communication Blog

Our blog is filled with deep resources to help with your crisis communication needs. Whether you are writing a crisis communication plan, seeking the best media training tips, or digging for case studies on crisis situations, you’ll find it here. Our goal is to give you all of the public relations resources you need to protect your revenue, reputation, and brand.

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Crisis Communications for Schools Part 2: Defining a Crisis and a Crisis Plan

August 20, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

For the purpose of our discussion in these articles, we will define a crisis this way:

A crisis is any incident that may seriously affect the safety, function, operation, reputation and/or revenue of any organization, public or private.

We will not debate or parse words as to whether what is called a crisis in this article might otherwise be called a situation, incident, event or any other synonym. Furthermore, we will divide our crises into two types: sudden crises and smoldering crises. A sudden crisis has a sudden flash point, such as a school shooting, tornado, fire, or explosion. A smoldering crisis might involve a labor dispute, issues of discrimination, and incidents of executive misbehavior such as embezzlement or sexual misconduct. In a smoldering crisis, details are known to internal decision makers, but not yet known to the public.

In our last article, we introduced you to the concept of the text messaging notification system and the crisis communications plan. While a text message notification system is intended for use in only a sudden crisis, the crisis communications plan can be used to communicate vital information for both a smoldering and a sudden crisis.

Confusion in “Crisis Plans” – Defining a Crisis Communications Plan

A great flaw in schools, in corporations, and in the world of emergency response is the generic use of the term “crisis plan” and crisis team. A crisis plan is not the same as a crisis communications plan. Each school and school system must operate with a collection of three unique plans that are executed by three unique teams, with each team being composed of individuals with specific skills and areas of expertise. Although the plans each serve a unique purpose, they are also designed to be executed in unison without any plan overriding or contradicting the directives of another.

The three types of plans needed are:

1) An Incident Command Plan, which is sometimes called the Emergency Response Plan, Coordinates police, fire and rescue. It is executed by the Incident Command Team.

2) A Risk Management Plan, which is sometimes called a Business Continuity Plan, ensures the components of the business operations are restored following a crisis, including identifying alternate facilities and supply chains. The Risk Management Plan is executed by the Risk Manager.

3) A Crisis Communications Plan, dictates prescribed measures for communicating accurate and timely information to key audiences, including parents, students, employees, the media and other stakeholders. It includes the components of public relations, media relations and stakeholder relations, and is executed by the Crisis Communications Team.

All plans and all actions during a crisis should be managed by the Crisis Management Team.

Further confusion takes place in this area when the incident command plan makes reference to crisis communications. Usually this refers to details about radio systems and other technology used for interactive communications among emergency responders. This confusion must be avoided. We must emphasize that in this document, crisis communications is a function of public relations, media relations, employee relations, and social media management.

A sudden crisis, such as a school shooting or tornado would trigger all three plans. But a smoldering crisis such as an accusation of sexual harassment, would trigger the use of only the crisis communications plan, without causing a need to use the incident command plan or the risk management plan.

Your assignment for this article is to have a discussion with the leaders in your organization to identify the types of plans you have. If you think you have a crisis communications plan, I will be giving you come criteria in future articles by which you can determine if your plan is written properly.

You can also email a copy of your plan to me at gerard@braudcommunications.com and I will be happy to give you 15 minutes of free feedback.

Crisis Communication for Schools: Part 1

August 20, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

If you have school age kids, you’ve likely gotten a text message or phone message about some type of emergency or non-emergency at school. While useful for emergency notification, these systems are not a substitute for having and using a Crisis Communications Plan.

Out next few articles will answer the questions:

What is a Crisis?
What is a Crisis Communications Plan?
How to Write a Crisis Communications Plan?
Do I Need a Crisis Communications Plan?

Our goal is to give you practical information that applies if you work for a school, things you should be asking if you are a parent, and we’ll draw some parallels between crisis communication for schools and crisis communication for corporations.

Like building blocks, if your school or business has a text messages alert system, it is time for you to add the next layer of protection. This will help you build a holistic system surrounding all of the aspects of communicating during a crisis.

You need a crisis communications plan. This plan must be a system that addresses all of the modern communications challenges created by mobile technology, social media and traditional media.

What Is a Crisis Communications Plan? A crisis communications plan is a manual that will guide school administrators (or corporate officials) through the process of rapidly and effectively send credible, actionable information to key stakeholder audiences. These will include the media, employees, parents, students and the community. (In the case of a business, it includes getting information to your customers, just as a school sends information to parents and students.)

For all of the benefits of text message alert systems in schools, there are unintended consequences that must be and can be addressed.

1) The lifesaving use of text messages triggers an onslaught of media arriving at the school to report on the unfolding event.

2) The text and voice message systems brings an onslaught of parents in panic arriving at the school to rescue or comfort their children, and thereby creating traffic jams that delay life saving emergency vehicles and emergency responders.

3) The speed of the notification system hastens and triggers an instantaneous disbursement of panic, misinformation, rumors and inappropriate comments on social media.

All three of these unintended consequences can be mitigated and managed to the safety and betterment of parents, students and educators. It requires the use of a comprehensive Crisis Communications Plan.

Rapid or Mass Notification Systems versus a Crisis Communications Plan

Some schools and school systems mistakenly believe that their policy to send out rapid communications via text messages or phone messages is their crisis communications plan. This is incorrect. A system that sends out mass notification by way of text messages or telephones requires us to make a fine distinction between notification and communication. Notification screams panic! Communication uses words and information to calm fears by sharing actionable, honest and accurate information about the severity of an event. For example, a 140 character text message cannot convey the details of a web posting, email blast or news conference.

A mass notification system can quickly send messages such as, “gunman on campus,” “shelter in place,” etc. These are only short bursts of actionable information, which create the unintended negative consequences of panic that we mentioned previously. In contrast, a crisis communications plan must be used in addition to the mass notification system, but often it is used when the mass notification system is not even required, as we will explain in upcoming articles. The crisis communications plan provides the actionable and informative words and details that will be used in news conferences, on websites, in emails, in meetings with parents, student, and employee, as well as on social media sites.

As you will learn in this series of articles, a crisis communications plan can be vital before, during and after a crisis.

In our next entry we will define the word “crisis” and examine why many schools and businesses think they have a crisis communications plan, but very likely do not.

This CEO is a Train Wreck: 9 Crisis Communication Lessons You Can Learn

July 12, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations, Presentation Training /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

Click image to watch video

Crisis communications requires fast comment from company officials when a crisis happens. The spokespeople must also have media training and must be flawless in their news conference.

In a major crisis, you should be talking with the media within one hour or less of the onset of the crisis. The CEO featured in the link below might be considered a “train wreck.” He has waited 5 days before making a statement after a horrible train derailment that resulted in a fireball and explosion that has destroyed a significant part of downtown Lac-Magantic, Quebec. To date, 15 people are dead, while 35 people are still missing.

Get more details at http://cnsnews.com/news/article/events-leading-fiery-quebec-train-derailment

Edward Burkhardt, CEO of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railways waited 5 days before visiting the crash site and making a statement to the media. His statement lacks a significant, quotable apology to those affected, while focusing too much on the technical aspects of dealing with insurance, finances and monetary issues. He even begins his statement by defending whether he is a compassionate person.

True, the CEO does not always need to be the spokesperson in every crisis. However, a crisis this big demands an appearance and statement within 24 hours of the onset of the crisis.

True, I believe a CEO should spend more time managing the crisis and running the company than trying to be a spokesperson, but a crisis this big demands at least a few hours to talk with the media and the families who have lost loved ones. News reports indicate that at the time of the news briefing, the CEO had not reached out to families.

Watch the video of the CEO’s news conference to decide how you or your CEO would handle a similar event.

My initial viewing says this CEO needs a strong media training course.

Lessons to learn:

1) The CEO does not to be the first person to speak in the first hour, but in an event this horrific, the CEO should speak by the end of the first business day of the tragedy. A public relations person can speak in the first hour, while a subject matter expert should speak within the second hour of the crisis.

2) Personality affects a person’s performance. Those with a technical background can be horrible in adlib situations. This CEO appears to have a technical mind like an engineer or accountant. Your media trainer must understand the difficulties of training technical people and must help them become good spokespeople.

3) Rambling adlibs never work. Start with a written statement containing powerful quotes and powerful compassion for the dead and their families.

4) Practice before the news conference. Never wing it. If you wing it, you crash and burn.

5) Those who have lost loved ones don’t care about your insurance, your clients, or your financial woes.

6) Every spokesperson should attend a media training refresher course at least once a year.

7) Every company must have a properly written crisis communications plan, constructed on a clear sunny day, in order to be able to weather your darkest day.

8) Pre-written news releases must make up a significant part of your crisis communication plan.

9) Success during your crisis is higher when you have at least one crisis communication drill every year.

YouTube, Media Relations & Crisis Communications for Cleveland Kidnapping Victims

July 11, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations, Social Media for Crisis Communications /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

YouTube is great for crisis communications. It is even more powerful when this social media tool is combined with traditional crisis communications and media relations.

Hats off to my colleague Barbara Paynter at Hennes Paynter Communications for the way her team used YouTube with regard to the three Cleveland women who underwent years as kidnapping victims. They include Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

As a self-admitted control freak, I love that Barbara and her team used YouTube this way.

This technique gives the PR team and the spokespeople complete control over the content of what they say. This, thereby, controls what the media can use.

YouTube keeps reporters from asking uncomfortable questions of these three women, who are likely still in a fragile emotional state.

YouTube allows the women to take their message unfiltered and unedited to the world, via social media.

Given the choice, the only additional thing I may have done is to also upload this same video to CNN as an iReport.

Good job to the people who got the domain name I wanted before I could get it: http://www.crisiscommunications.com/

I ended up with www.crisiscommunicationsplans.com which still serves my purpose.

To learn more about how to create great videos for the web, follow this link to a 23 video tutorial.

Three Media Lessons from Paula Deen

June 27, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations /by gbraud

by Gerard Braud

“I is what I is, and I’m not going to change.” That is the costly statement made by Paula Deen to Matt Lauer in an NBC Today Show.

“If you could attach a dollar to every word you say, would you make money or lose money?”

Those are the first words every executive hears when they attend one of the executive media training classes I teach, designed to help them become more effective communicators and a better spokesperson. [An entire chapter is dedicated to this issue in my book, Don’t Talk to the Media Until… 29 Secrets You Need to Know Before You Open Your Mouth to a Reporter.]

Paula Deen’s interview with the NBC Today Show and Matt Lauer is a living example of three common mistakes made by powerful people who fail to adequately prepare for a media interview.

Lesson One: Plan Your Quotes

Granted, the racial slur in question is the event everyone focuses on. But in the June 26, 2013 interview with Matt Lauer, it wasn’t her use of a slur, but her failure to plan great quotes and her propensity to ad lib statements that could be taken out of context, that created the greater problem.

“I is what I is, and I’m not going to change,” Deen said, as my wife and I shared a cup of coffee in the kitchen, watching Today.

As soon as she said it, I told my wife, there’s the sound bite of the day. Sure enough, that was the sound bite that showed up moments later on CNN and every other network. Outside of the context of the full interview, this is a damning sound bite. If you are a person who believed before the interview that Deen was a racist, and then you saw just that quote on the news, she essentially said to you, “I am a racist and I’m not changing.”

Wow? Every day spokespeople continue to say dumb things in interviews and it appears there is no end in site. I would really like to know what, if any preparation she did before this interview. I would love to know if Paula Deen had a media trainer, or if, like many high powered people, she decided to just “wing it.” Did she mistakenly believe that because she is on television so often that no preparation was needed for an interview worth tens of millions of dollars?

In media training, I tell every potential spokesperson, “When you wing it, you crash and burn.”

It is amazing that companies will spend countless hours negotiating multi-million dollar contracts, yet spend little or no time training a spokesperson for an interview that could potentially cause them to lose millions of dollars in revenue with a single misplaced word or sentence.

Lesson Two: Apologize, Yet Understand the Rule of Thirds

Deen does get high marks from me for agreeing to do an interview. If you are in trouble, you need to apologize and make the apology good. She tried, but failed to get full credit for her effort because of her ad lib, oh shucks, I’m from the south persona.

My rule of 3rds applies to Deen’s case. I believe that for any public figure, 1/3^rd of the people love you, 1/3^rd of the people hate you, and 1/3^rd swing like a pendulum, siding with the popular 1/3^rd. To that extent, Deen will never lose her loyal following. Media stories showed supporters, black and white, outside of her restaurant verbalizing their love for the southern cooking icon. The monetary loss of sponsors begins when the 1/3^rd in the middle decide not to buy your products any more, with, in my opinion, the nail in the coffin being a bad ad lib.

Great quotes must be planned, practiced, and delivered. Great quotes are not an accident.

Refer to this previous blog post and video for lessons on how a planned quote works, even to the point of making you a front-page headline.

Lesson Three: If You Could Attach a Dollar to Every Word You Say, Would You Make Money or Lose Money?

Ultimately, “I is what I is, and I’m not changing,” caused Deen to likely lose tens of millions of dollars. It became the trigger that caused more sponsors and retailers to drop her.

So let me ask you, before an interview, are you willing to ask an interview expert to help you prepare, or would you rather just “wing it?”

Tutorial #23: Now is the Time for PIOs and Official Spokespeople to Embrace and File CNN iReports

June 24, 2013/0 Comments/in CNN iReporter Tutorials /by gbraud

Tutorial #23 by Gerard Braud, iReporter Evangelist

(Editor’s note: In 2013, CNN selected me as one of their top iReporters, out of more than 11,000 reporters. This is part of a series of articles that share how to be a good iReporter and how to make CNN iReports a vital part of your crisis communication and media relations strategy.)

Click image to watch video

When public relations people, corporate spokespeople and Public Information Officers (PIO) tell me they can’t do something, I know they are right. Negative people are always right when they say they can’t, even if it means they won’t try. This makes me crazy.

Usually they blame it on their boss, who first says no. Sometimes, they won’t even try, out of fear of being told no.

As I’ve taught workshops on this topic of filing CNN iReports as part of your crisis communications and media relations strategy, I’ve had way too many people tell me they don’t think they could get permission to do it. That’s sad.

Of course, many of these people work for bosses who don’t want to speak at a news conference either.

I have some final thoughts in today’s video tutorial. You can watch it here.

My approach to crisis communications is that you, in an official capacity as a spokesperson, should be ready to talk to the media within an hour of the onset of your crisis. If you are willing to be interviewed by a reporter, you should be willing to record yourself on video and post it to the internet on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and in some cases, as a CNN iReport.

I think you can. I’ve done it many times as a way to show you what you can do. The challenge is now yours. Are you a positive person who says you can or a negative person who says you can’t?

This link will take you to my tutorials on the CNN iReporter website. I hope you take the time to view, study, and share all 23 videos and articles.

This link will take you to the index for all of the articles and videos.

If you, like many others, think this information would be valuable as a workshop at a conference or corporate meeting, please call me at 985-624-9976. You can also download a PDF that outlines the program, Social Media iReports.pdf, so you can share it with your meeting planner or training manager.

Crisis communication resources to help you protect your revenue, reputation, and brand.

Welcome to Our Crisis Communication Blog

Crisis Communications for Schools Part 2: Defining a Crisis and a Crisis Plan

Crisis Communication for Schools: Part 1

This CEO is a Train Wreck: 9 Crisis Communication Lessons You Can Learn

Three Media Lessons from Paula Deen

Tutorial #23: Now is the Time for PIOs and Official Spokespeople to Embrace and File CNN iReports

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