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Tutorial #3: How to Plan for Your Next Hurricane on a Clear Sunny Day

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Tutorial #3 CNN iReporter Evangelist Gerard Braud

Everyday in June I will be sharing tutorials for effective crisis communications during hurricane season.  The lessons apply to tornadoes, floods, blizzards, and other natural disasters. The future of crisis communications is in video, particularly CNN iReports, which allow organizations to tell the story of their crisis to their customers, audiences and key stakeholders, rather than speculating eyewitnesses. When speculating eyewitnesses videotape your crisis on their smartphones and it gets shared across local or even national media, your organizations reputation and revenue suffer.

Tutorial #2 Still image Gerard Braud

Click image to watch video

CNN iReports should be added to the crisis communications, media relations and social media tool kit of every corporation, government agency, and non-profit organization in the world. Should your organization experience a significant crisis that gets significant media coverage, iReports are your direct path to adding perspective and official information about your breaking news story.

Just as most of you have established an account at Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, you should have an account pre-established at www.cnn.com/ireport so it is ready to use if you need it. Unlike other social media sites, you will use this one less often.

The set up process is fast and simple. If you have created any online profile in the past you can figure it out and complete the task in 5-10 minutes.Isaac Ireport Gerard Braud

Some leaders and executives may question whether the company needs an iReport account. My philosophy is that if you experience a newsworthy crisis, you have two options.  You can either have your story told by an unofficial eyewitness on the street that has an iReport account or you can provide better video, more factual details, and dispel rumors.

Shortly after your video is filed, a team of CNN iReport producers will watch your video. if they like it, they label it as vetted by CNN. The link is then shared with producers for the various CNN news programs. If those producers like it, they may place all or part of the video on the air in their news program. If your video proves that you have great visuals, a compelling perspective and compelling information, expect to get a phone call from CNN producers, asking you to do a live report via Skype, using your computer, smart phone or tablet.

You will learn more about how to properly produce a newsworthy CNN iReport in an upcoming article. But before we go into depth on that, your assignment is to set up your official account right now.Gerard Braud Media Training and Crisis Communication with IPad IPhone

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.

 

Tutorial #2 Lessons from Game Changing Crisis Communications for Hurricane Season

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Tutorial #2 by Gerard Braud, iReporter Evangelist

With hurricane season upon us, and other violent weather such as floods, hail, and tornadoes hitting much of the United States this time of year, we are focusing on how to effectively use video to communicate in a crisis. Today’s lesson stems from what we learned eight years ago about the power of video, especially when it is uploaded directly to CNN as an iReport.

Tutorial #2 Still image Gerard Braud

Click image to watch video

Think back to April 16, 2007, the day of the Virginia Tech massacre. Thirty-two people were murdered. The image that may stand out the most for you would have been a cell phone videos, shot by a student, capturing the sounds of gunshots.

The student shot the video, then uploaded it as a CNN iReport.

This was the moment, for me, that the world of news coverage and crisis communications changed.

You can watch today’s tutorial video to learn more.

I’ve worn and still do, wear many hats. My primary job is as a crisis communications expert, teaching organizations how to effectively communicate with the media, their employees and other key audiences during a crisis. I also worked for 15 years as a full-time journalist. And occasionally, I’m a citizen journalist, filing CNN iReports.

From a crisis communications standpoint, Virginia Tech failed to effectively communicate with the media, their students, their faculty, and many other audiences on the day of their massacre.

Furthermore, had they communicated properly and evacuated the campus in a timely manner, that student would have not been on campus with his cellphone, and therefore would not have captured that video, and therefore would not have been able to sent it to CNN, and therefore the media would never have had the video.

At the same time, had the university’s own public relations team been aware of the power of a CNN iReport, they could have actually provided their own statement directly to CNN by filing an iReport.

This entire sequence of events was a game changer. It signified to all public relations people, to all spokespeople, and to all Public Information Officers, that someone is going to tell your story. It can either be you, as a professional with official and accurate information, or the story will be told by an eyewitness with a smart phone.

Yet here we are in 2013, six years later, and I’d be willing to be the vast majority of public relations people and Public Information Officers (PIO) have never given it a second thought. I’d bet most people do not have an idea how to do this? I know this to be true because when I suggest it in the workshops I teach, a portion of the class is amazed that they’ve never thought of it. Another portion can only make up reasons as to why they think their boss will reject the idea, admitting that they do not have the tenacity to stand up to the boss and make a strong, legitimate case for why web videos need to be an important part of their crisis communication and media relations plan.

Who do you want telling your story during your crisis?

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 of the program description: Social Media iReports.pdf, so you can share it with your meeting planner or training manager.

Hurricane Season Crisis & Emergency Communications: Why You Should be a CNN iReporter

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By Gerard Braud —

Click here to watch video

Click here to watch video

The future of crisis and emergency communications in hurricanes, natural disasters and other weather related events,  is in creating CNN iReports. It is a brilliant way to add to your crisis communications and media relations strategy. This strategy is perfect for public information officers (PIOs), emergency managers, and any corporate communications experts. Best of all, what you do for your iReport can be re-purposed and posted to YouTube, shared with The Weather Channel, and in many cases, uploaded through links with your local media outlets.

I started pioneering these reports as an experiment during Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 and then took it up a notch during Hurricane Isaac in 2012. You can do what I have done, provided you are willing to train and practice before the event is upon you. Since many of you will never have the chance to attend one of the live training sessions I teach at emergency management and public relations conferences, I thought you might benefit from this online tutorial.

I’ve created 23 online videos with associated articles on how and why you should be a CNN iReporter. When your organization faces a major crisis or news event that gets significant attention from your local news media, and has the ability be get national news attention, these will be useful.

I have extensive experience as an iReporter. In 2013, CNN selected me as one of their top iReporters, out of more than 11,000 reporters, for my in-depth coverage of Hurricane Isaac near New Orleans on August 28, 2012.

Most iReports are eyewitness accounts of events. They are filed by the average person on the street who sends photos, video and narration directly to CNN, in the very same way that they can send videos to YouTube. What you will learn in these 23 lessons also applies to placing videos on YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter and your official website.

Who would you rather have posting photos, videos and narration? Should it be someone speculating about what they see? Would it be better if it came from an official source, with real knowledge of the event? Shouldn’t the media have official information from someone like you?

A CNN iReport is a direct path to one of the world’s premier news networks.

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 with a description of the program: Social Media iReports.pdf, so you can share it with your meeting planner or training manager.

 

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

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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

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.

 

 

Tutorial #22: Keep it Short

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Tutorial #22 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

Click image to watch video

Think about your own habits when you watch a video on the web? Do you like long videos or short videos?

Chances are, you prefer them short.

So today’s advice is to keep your videos as short as possible.

Take a look at today’s video tutorial. I hope it isn’t too long.

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.

 

Tutorial #21: Great New Gadgets for iReporting and Web Videos

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Tutorial #21 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

Click image to watch video

In my previous tutorials I’ve talked about lighting, audio, and holding your smart device at arm’s length. However, I have recently purchased several cool items that I want you to know about.

Watch today’s video tutorial to see them in action. They include device that allow you to attach your iPhone or iPad to a camera tripod. This can help to keep your shot steady, while still allowing you to move it some.  I paid about $12 for the iPhone attachment and about $69 for the iPad attachment.

You’ll see a really cool LED video light that mounts to the top of the iPad bracket using what is known as a “hot shoe.” This helps to put light on your face and maintain flesh tones when your face might otherwise be too dark. I paid about $25 for it.

For good audio, I’ve purchased a lavaliere microphone that plugs into the headphone jack on my smart device. This gives me better sound for my on camera narrations. I paid about $25 for it.

Each can make your CNN iReport or web video a little better. Best of all, I bought all 4 item at a great price.

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.

 

Tutorial #18: How You Can Create Great Videos Holding Your iPad or iPhone at Arm’s Length

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Tutorial #18 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

Click image to watch video

What amazes me about iPhones, iPads and other smart devices, is that I’m able to shoot high quality video and perform all of the tasks on my own, that would otherwise require a news crew with a videographer, producer, reporter, engineer, and a broadcast camera tethered to a satellite truck.

And best of all, I can do it all while simply holding my smart device at arm’s length. At that distance, if framed correctly, no one can see my arm and no one knows that I’m doing this all by myself.

This also gives me the freedom to move, which I couldn’t do if the device was stationary on a tripod. In some situations, a colleague may want to act as your photographer, but often the video is shaky. I find it is much smoother when I hold it myself. It gives me control of movement, lighting and sound

Watch today’s tutorial, then practice this skill yourself.

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.

Tutorial #17: Using SKYPE.com for Live Reports on CNN & HLN

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Tutorial #17 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

Click image to watch video

My goal in these tutorials is to first encourage public relations professionals, corporate spokespeople and Public Information Officers (PIOs) to file CNN iReports as part of your crisis communications strategy and media relations plan. My second goal is for CNN to then reach out to you and extend an invitation for you to be interviewed live, on the air, during one of the CNN or HLN news programs.

These days, they will likely ask you to be interviewed via Skype.

If you are unfamiliar with Skype, visit www.skype.com and download the free application for you computer, smart phone and smart tablet.

The app allows you to make regular phone calls to regular telephone numbers, or it allows you to make a call from computer to computer with voice only, or you can set up a video chat from computer to computer.

CNN and the other news outlets want you to know how to set up the video chat.

Start by downloading the app. Next, set up your profile. Much like most social media sites, you can add your contact information and a photo.

CNN producers will then either call you or ask you to call them at an assigned time, during the news program. When it is time to go live, your Skype call is what the audience at home will see.

Take a look at this specific video tutorial to learn more.

The quality of the image on Skype varies, based on the strength of your internet signal. Sometimes the image may freeze while you are live on the air. Sometimes the call will get dropped completely.

The networks know they are taking a risk when they do a Skype call, but if your location and event is news worthy and they have no news crew of their own nearby, they are willing to take the risk.

In one of my previous tutorials I mentioned that a set of ear buds or a USB headset can be useful during your live report. If you use these, you will need to find the audio button on the Skype software and select input and output for the headsets, rather than using the computer or smart device’s external speakers and microphone.

The secret to getting it right is to practice on a clear sunny day, rather than attempting to learn the hard way under the time constraints of a crisis and significant news event. Set up your account, study the account until you know all of the buttons you need to push, then establish a call between you and a colleague so you can practice.

During your practice, you’ll want to incorporate many of the other lessons you’ve learned through these tutorials, including managing audio, lighting and movement, as well as what to say.

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.

 

 

Tutorial #15 Determining When to Use Ear Buds and Headphones for Interviews on Your iPad or iPhone

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Tutorial # 15 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

Click image to watch video

One of my goals in this series of articles and video tutorials is to help you, first file an online news report about your crisis, which then would lead to a live interview. This is geared toward news events where you work that could get national news coverage, and this is geared toward spokespeople, public relations people and Public Information Officers (PIOs) with government agencies.

If CNN sees your iReport and they like the content, a CNN producer will visit your profile page on CNN.com. They will collect your phone number and e-mail address and contact you, asking you to be a live guest on one of their programs.

Once a SKYPE connection has been established, you must be able to hear the producer talking to you and you must be able to hear the news anchors talking to you. If you are in a quiet location, you can turn up the volume on your smart phone or tablet and likely hear them just fine. But if there is a lot of background noise or blowing wind, you may find it necessary to use ear buds to hear the producers and news anchors.

Some ear buds have a built in microphone, which is optimal. Chances are, if it is too noisy for you to hear them, it may also be too noisy for them to hear you.

One option I select in some of my live reports is to use a USB SKYPE headset with my laptop. These headsets plug into my computer’s USB port. The headsets have earmuffs, that block out external noise so I can hear the news producers and news anchors. It also has a microphone on a flexible arm that gets very close to my mouth. This microphone makes it much easier for them to hear me, without them hearing the background noise.

Watch today’s video tutorial to learn more.

The ear buds come free with most smart devices. The USB headphones can be purchased at any electronics retailer.

As with all of the skills shared in these tutorials, you’ll want to practice on a clear sunny day by having a SKYPE call with a colleague. Don’t wait until the day of your crisis to try to sort out the technical aspects of this. The networks give you only one change to get it right. If you blow it, you are blacklisted and they will call someone who knows what they are doing.

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.

Tutorial #14: Framing and the Rule of Thirds for Your Web Videos

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Tutorial #14 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

Click image to watch video

Think about your vacation photos and videos. When you are in the image, do you see just a little of you and a lot of other stuff around you? Is your head in the middle of the picture, with your body at the bottom, and a bunch of sky above your head?

If so, you are likely not framing your images properly.

Photographers and videographers generally practice what is known as the rule of thirds. Photographers, especially when framing an individual in a photo or video, leave no space for sky above your head. Your hair or forehead fills the top of the frame. Your nose generally fills the center third. Your chin and neck would then fill the bottom third.

While this addresses the horizontal elements of your image, you must also consider the vertical portions of what you have framed. Often, you fill the left or right third of the frame, leaving the other two-thirds as positive space to your left or right.

Much of the poor framing we see today is the result of an entire generation of people using digital cameras. Because the yellow focus square in the viewfinder is in the middle of the viewfinder, most people stand far away from the person in the photo, then frame their head in the focus square. This is horrible. Stop doing it.

Step forward and get closer to the person whose photo you wish to take, then frame it as I have described above.

This is best understood by watching today’s tutorial video.

As with all of these video skills, you must practice in order to get it right. So after viewing the tutorial, take out your smart phone or tablet and record a video. You can also go home to your computer and look at some of your old photos. You’ll likely see that you’ve been framing pictures incorrectly for a long time… but soon you’ll be doing it right every time.

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.