iReports for Public Relations and Crisis Communications: Why Your Company or Government Organization Should Create a CNN iReport Account Today

Get the Right Technology to be a CNN iReporter

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

Everything you need to do in a crisis, you can practice on a clear sunny day. This is especially true using when iReports as part of your crisis communications strategy.

You need to know how to record yourself with your iPhone, iPad or other smart device. Take your device out on a clear sunny day and practice shooting videos. Practice uploading it to YouTube and other social media sites. You will quickly discover it is not as easy as you would think. Often your first problem is that your video is too long to upload. You’ll find that sometimes your bandwidth limits the size of the files you can upload. Other times your internet service provider has limits on file sizes. Discover what the stumbling blocks are on a clear day, because you can quickly lose 30 minutes to an hour of time trying to sort through your technical difficulties. If you need to get a video report filed quickly, you are out of luck when the technical problems start. Speed is a critical part of crisis communications, so don’t let your lack of practice impede your speed.

While teenagers use phones easily and quickly, it never ceases to amaze me how many adults do not know how to do relatively simple things, such as how to reverse the direction of the video camera. You want to have a device that allows you to have a camera facing you while you can see yourself on your own screen.

You also need to spend a significant amount of time learning to use Skype. If you are asked to do a live news report from your iPhone or other smart device, the media will want to call you or will want you to call them on Skype. Little mistakes here also slow you down significantly. When the media is on a tight deadline and they’ve blocked out a window of time for you, you can’t miss your time slot. Hence, set up Skype on your device on a clear sunny day, then practice receiving video calls and making video calls.

Visit Skype.com to get the app for your device or download it from your app store. Much like your social media apps, you’ll need a login and password. There is also a slight learning curve, like there is with any new app. The only way to get use to your Skype app is to use your Skype app. Get a colleague to set up their device also, so you can practice. Learn to use the buttons correctly so you will know the difference between a traditional phone call and a video call.

Additionally, Skype will give you the option in the audio preferences settings to use the microphone and speakers on your device, or to plug in headsets or ear buds. If you use headsets, you need to know what buttons to push so that Skype feeds the sound into your headphones, rather than your speakers, as well as how to make sure what you say is being picked up by the dedicated microphone, rather than the devices microphone. Your device may automatically convert to headphones and a dedicated microphone on its own when you plug them into your audio plug, but you won’t know until you test it out.

Try it both ways and see which one you like the best. If you are in a noisy location when you record your video and when you are broadcasting live, headphones and a microphone are a must.

Practice using the technology. Once you have the technology perfected, we will start focusing on tips to make you great on camera.

Here are the links to other articles on this topic:

Crisis Communications for West Texas Fertilizer Plant in Waco: Why PIOs, Emergency Managers, and PR people should be using CNN iReports

IReports for Public Relations and Crisis Communications: Why Your Company or Government Organization Should Create a CNN iReport Account Today

Compare and Contrast News Stories: Secrets of the Media

Hurricane Isaac: iReports Before, During and After. Is This Guy Crazy?

How a Guy in Mandeville, Louisiana Became the Source of Breaking News

And thank you for your daily votes at http://www.cnn.com/ireport-awards/#nom=indepth

Get the Right Technology to be a CNN iReporter

April 19, 2013/0 Comments/in CNN Ireport Awards /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

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

In one of our earlier articles we talked about buying the right type of smart phone or tablet to be a good iReporter. But in addition to your hardware technology that you may already have as a corporate communicator or government Public Information Officer (PIO), you need the right software and the right technology for transmitting your reports.

Start with Skype, the free web broadcasting software available at skype.com

The networks all depend upon Skype as their pathway to you. Over time, they may adopt other options, including FaceTime on iPhones and iPads. But at the time I’m writing this, Skype is their number one choice.

Skype is not perfect. Occasionally the signal is blurry or the image will freeze. Sometimes there is a lag time in which your news media and their audience can hear your voice, but the video image lags behind the sound.

The quality of Skype is often dependent upon the quality of your phone signal or your internet connection signal. Skype can be used on your desktop computer, laptop, smart phone or smart tablet. As you know, WiFi signals can be fickle; sometimes you have a great signal and minutes later your signal is weak. In many crises, you will not have electricity and therefore not have an internet signal or a WiFi signal. If phone systems are still working and if the system isn’t over loaded, you can operate Skype on your smart phone or tablet using a telephone G3 or G4 signal.

When I filed my reports during Hurricane Isaac, the electricity had already gone out. That meant my only option was to rely on my G3 signal, which worked just fine. I used G3 to both upload my videos to CNN and to broadcast live to CNN using only Skype and my iPhone.

If you don’t have Skype on all of your devices, download it right now and practice using it. As with all phases of crisis communications, to be effective you must practice on a clear sunny day. Never wait until you are in the middle of your crisis to try to take these steps.

In our next article, we will talk more about how to use this technology effectively.

If you’d like to learn more, here are the links to my previous articles on this subject.

Here are links to previous articles on this topic:

Crisis Communications for West Texas Fertilizer Plant in Waco: Why PIOs, Emergency Managers, and PR people should be using CNN iReports

IReports for Public Relations and Crisis Communications: Why Your Company or Government Organization Should Create a CNN iReport Account Today

Compare and Contrast News Stories: Secrets of the Media

Hurricane Isaac: iReports Before, During and After. Is This Guy Crazy?

How a Guy in Mandeville, Louisiana Became the Source of Breaking News

And thank you for your daily votes in the In-Depth Storytelling category. Click on the Community Choice voting tab to help me be selected as CNN’s iReporter of the Year.

Crisis Communication for West Texas Fertilizer Plant in Waco: Why PIOs, Emergency Managers and PR People Should be Using CNN iReports

April 18, 2013/0 Comments/in CNN Ireport Awards /by gbraud

By, Gerard Braud

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

As I write this article, the media are reporting on the crisis in Waco, Texas at the West Texas Fertilizer Plant, which blew up.

In a news conference I’m watching on television, the Sheriff is admonishing the media that he has received their request to take video at the scene, but that he cannot yet accommodate them. This is exactly the kind of case that lends itself to the training and lessons I’ve been discussing in this series of articles about CNN iReports. Companies, Public Information Officers (PIO), public relations practitioners, Emergency Managers, and government officials have the ability to use iReports to get critical information and pictures to the media.

As we watch this news cycle, the video we see the most, was captured by a citizen sitting in his truck with is daughter. He was video taping the initial fire, and then accidentally captures the horrific explosion. There are many other online images, as well as video on iReports and YouTube.

This one, specific video that captures the explosion will continue to run until someone provides new, updated video.

In most cases like this, Emergency Responders are so overwhelmed with the damage, dead and injured, that no one in the community is designated as the person who will provide new information and images to the media. The media crave images. The media crave new information. The media on the scene are bombarded by producers and editors back in their offices who are screaming, “Get me something new!” This is true in small towns and large communities alike. I’ve watched this happen repeatedly when I was a television reporter.

Every community, every company, every responding agency, needs to have either a trained public relations person on staff or a public relations and crisis communications expert that can be brought in quickly to manage the media and get the media new information. A modern media relations expert needs to know how to use an iPhone, iPad or other smart device to shoot short 30-second videos that can be uploaded as a CNN iReport, uploaded to YouTube, and uploaded to local media sites, so the media can download and use that video.

Using your smart device you can shoot and upload images of the damage in areas currently not accessible to the media, but open to investigators and responders. You don’t have to take the media in physically, when you can take the media in virtually.

Please read the other articles that I’ve written on this topic for more tips. We’ll have more coming as voting continues for this year’s nomination of CNN’s top iReporter.

If you have questions, please reach out to me at gerard@braudcommunications.com

Here are links to previous articles on this topic:

iReports for Public Relations and Crisis Communications: Why Your Company or Government Organization Should Create a CNN iReport Account Today

Compare and Contrast News Stories: Secrets of the Media

Hurricane Isaac: iReports Before, During and After. Is This Guy Crazy?

How a Guy in Mandeville, Louisiana Became the Source of Breaking News

iReports for Public Relations and Crisis Communications: Why Your Company or Government Organization Should Create a CNN iReport Account Today

April 17, 2013/0 Comments/in CNN Ireport Awards /by gbraud

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

As you read this, please be so kind as to also click this link to vote for me as CNN’s iReporter of the Year… I’m one of 36 finalists and your 30 seconds of support is greatly appreciated.

Here is something you’ve likely never been told to do — start a corporate, business, or government CNN iReport account as part of your crisis communication plan.

Why? Just as you might use YouTube and your social media brand pages as part of your crisis communication strategy, you can use CNN iReports. With iReports, you get an accelerated path to the premier cable news network in the world.

Not every crisis warrants shooting a video and posting it to the web, and especially not to CNN iReports. However, if your crisis event is big enough that the media will show up to cover the event, then your crisis is big enough for you to shoot a short video and upload it to iReports.

The account is easy to set up. Visit cnn.com/iReport and follow the instructions. You’ll need a traditional e-mail address and password, just as you have for any of your social media accounts. You’ll be asked to post a photo of yourself and create a bio. It is important that you list your phone number and any way that CNN might contact you about one of your videos.

Some corporate leaders or government officials might object to this strategy of having an iReport account. Here is the reality about your possible crisis — if a crisis occurs, there is a strong chance that someone with a smart phone will photograph and/or videotape your event. They may share it on social media and send it to either your local media or CNN iReport. This means that during your crisis, you can either have your story told by an eyewitness, who may speculate and spread rumors, or you can post a report with better pictures, better video, and credible facts. Given the choice, you should choose the option that gives you the greatest control over the flow of accurate information.

All day and night, CNN has a team of producers monitoring all of the videos that get posted to their website. A selected group of videos get “vetted” by the CNN producers, which is essentially a stamp of authentication or endorsement that a given video is worthy of stronger consideration by web viewers.

The iReport vetting team then notifies the producers of the CNN news programs when they see a video that might be worthy of being put on the air. Sometimes the live programs will run just video or still pictures from the event. Other times they will run all or a portion of the narration that might be on the video. On numerous occasions, CNN has run my video with my short narration. Then they take it a step further and contact me by e-mail or phone call to ask me to do a live report.

In each instance, I was acting as a citizen observing an event, but I could have just as easily done the same thing if I had been serving as a corporate spokesperson or if I was a Public Information Officer (PIO) for a government agency or for state, county or city government. This would also be very useful for Emergency Managers.

If your local media offer options for uploading pictures and videos, you should create an account using their website as well. All of this should be done on a clear sunny day, because you don’t want to try to rush through this on your darkest day when you are in the middle of a crisis.

Don’t put it off. Stop now and set up your CNN iReport account. While you are there, take a look at my videos that have been nominated as some of the top CNN videos of the year… and of course thank you for taking a moment to click on vote for me in the In-Depth Storytelling Community Choice award.

In our next article, we’ll look at the technology you need to effectively be an iReporter.

Manage the Expectations of Your Audience: Story Telling Secrets of the Media and a CNN iReporter

April 16, 2013/0 Comments/in CNN Ireport Awards, Crisis Communications /by gbraud

Compare and Contrast News Stories: Secrets of the Media

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

As you watch television news, especially live cable news and live breaking news in a crisis, observe the questions from the news reporters, news anchors and members of the media. They want to know how much worse will the event get?

If you recognize this, you can make this a part of your planned storytelling, whether you are filing a CNN iReport, communicating as a public relations spokesperson, or communicating as a Public Information Officer (PIO) for a federal or state agency, or for state, county or local government.

During Hurricane Isaac, my goal was to manage the expectations of the national audience and the national media so they would know just how bad things would get. For the most part, it was all predictable for me, because I had been through and reported on so many hurricanes during my career as a television reporter. As a resident of Mandeville, Louisiana and as someone born in New Orleans, I had a pretty good idea of what was to come. (Although the 4 10-food alligators, the 50 dead nutria and the thousands of snakes were a surprise.)

Electric utility companies are a perfect example of the kind of company that should build their media training and crisis communications strategy around managing the expectations of their audience. Some people in New Orleans were very mad at Entergy of New Orleans when the electric company didn’t have electricity restored to all of their customers on the day following the hurricane. The angry citizens called the media and complained non-stop on social media. Although all were without electricity after Hurricane Katrina, they expected faster restoration after Isaac, which was a Category 1 hurricane. Restoration to 99% of the customers may be great, but the 1% without power can still cause a public relations problem for a company.

To their credit, Entergy was holding news briefings and using social media where possible. But here is what I would like to see every investor owned utility and every Rural Electric Cooperative (Co-op) say to their customers before any big, predictable weather event:

“This storm will disrupt electrical service. You may lose electricity early as trees fall on power lines or as winds blow power lines down. Your home may survive the storm, but in the days immediately after the storm, you may be very miserable. You won’t be able to turn on any lights. You won’t be able to cook on electric stoves. If you have an electric hot water heater, you may not have hot water. Your air conditioning (or heating) may not work. While our electric crews and those from other communities will begin restoring power quickly, we cannot say when everyone will have their lights back on. Furthermore, if the electric meter to your home is damaged or if the electrical wiring in your home gets wet or damaged, it may be weeks or months before your power can be restored. For that reason, we suggest you follow the advice of your local government and evacuate to an area outside of the predicted disaster zone, then return home when you can once again have modern conveniences.”

That type of statement

1.) Tells it to the audience straight without any public relations B.S.

2.) It manages their expectation for how bad things may get

3.) It gives them a clear reason as to why they should evacuate — because many people are in denial about whether or not the wind or flooding will harm them, but they don’t want to be miserable and without creature comforts.

State, county and city governments can also benefit from this approach. The government will often call for an evacuation for public safety. Many people don’t want to evacuate because a previous hurricane did not significantly impact them. Government should emphasize that no two storms are alike. A zone that survived one hurricane might be destroyed by the path of another storm. Government public information officers and spokespeople should also emphasize the loss of creature comforts associated with the loss of electricity, water, operating toilets, and the inability to cook or buy supplies.

This technique goes hand in hand with my previous article on explaining the compare and contrast of what is and what will be. Please read that article for more valuable tips.

To continue to manage the expectations of the audience before, during and after an event, any corporation or government agency, can do exactly what I did as a citizen — they can create a CNN iReport account and file multiple iReport videos just as I did. We will look at that in our next article.

Thank you again for your daily votes through May 5th at http://www.cnn.com/ireport-awards#nom=indepth

My reports are in the In-Depth Storytelling catigory under Isaac’s Aftermath.

To learn more, here are links to previous articles on this topic:

Hurricane Isaac: iReports Before, During and After. Is This Guy Crazy?

How a Guy in Mandeville, Louisiana Became the Source of Breaking News

Compare and Contrast News Stories: Secrets of the Media

April 15, 2013/0 Comments/in CNN Ireport Awards, Crisis Communications, Social Media for Crisis Communications /by gbraud

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

As you read this, please be so kind as to also click this link to vote for me as CNN’s iReporter of the Year… I’m one of 36 finalists and your 30 seconds of support daily through May 5, 2013, is greatly appreciated.

The news media love to show the contrast between what was and what is. If the media are going to do this anyway, you should anticipate it and plan your public relations strategy, media training strategy or crisis communications strategy to take advantage of this.

It is disappointing that the videos shown in my nomination for In-Depth Storytelling for the iReporter Awards focuses only on my reports after Hurricane Isaac. It was actually my CNN iReports before Hurricane Isaac that got the attention of network news producers, which triggered their calls to me to appear live on HLN during the CNN/HLN Evening Express program and the Dr. Drew program.

Here is the how, why and what I did, so you can do the same thing.

Reporters, anchors and media unfamiliar with a particular location don’t know what to expect. Sometimes they have misconceptions, which lead to inaccurate reporting. Sometimes their lack of knowledge makes the audience think the media are biased. Sometimes the local audience thinks the media are stupid. Your effort to make the story easy to tell makes reporters smarter and more accurate.

Since my house on Lake Pontchartrain afforded me a front row seat to the storm, I saw an opportunity to tell an accurate story to and for the media, through my iReports. My experience as a storm chaser and former journalist, positioned me to know that conditions were going to change drastically during Hurricane Isaac. So, my first video iReport foretold that a calm Lake Pontchartrain would overflow its banks, flooding my neighborhood. My video including me showing the calm lake and the beautiful green grass of my yard near New Orleans, then telling how all that you see would be covered with water in 24 hours.

This prediction, as an iReport, got the attention of CNN producers. My strategy all along was to show my flooded neighborhood in my second iReport, which I did.
This contrast further got the attention of CNN producers. This, in turn, triggered the phone call asking me to do live reports via Skype, G3 and my iPhone 4, all while I had no electricity and 7 feet of water surrounding my house.

These news reports further set the stage to keep telling the story as conditions deteriorated. Next came the report of the physical damage to my home, followed by stories of massive amounts of debris, followed by reports of dead animals, and the reports of live alligators.

The compare and contrast story should be a standard part of your story telling, whether you are filing an iReport, writing a news release, or communicating directly to the media during a crisis. Recognize what is… recognize what was… then compare the two in order to add perspective to your story and situation. This should be done by your corporate spokesperson, Public Information Officers (PIOs) at the state, county and city level, and anyone who must serve as the spokesperson during an unfolding news event.

In our next article, you’ll learn how to manage the expectations of your audience.

Thank you again for your daily votes through May 5th

My reports are in the In-Depth Storytelling category under Isaac’s Aftermath.

To learn more, here are links to previous articles on this topic: