Although this series teaches public information officers (PIOs), emergency managers, and corporate spokespeople to upload videos to the web as an effective crisis communications strategy, it’s also important to note that “crap is king.” In this tutorial, I encourage you to report on not just the serious crisis stories, but report on fascinating side stories about your events as well. The media love a great side story and social media users are more likely to share the side story.
Click image to watch video
In his song Dirty Laundry, singer Don Henley says, “crap is king,” referring to the fact that television news often gives more attention to silly things, rather than the serious. Likewise, the audience also likes those silly things, like the water skiing squirrel story on the news. You may have seen that video clip in the movie Anchorman.
Often there are stories of human victories that are sweet and need to be told to the media and the media’s audience. Keep your eyes and ears open for these stories.
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.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-07-02 03:16:132021-05-20 01:34:56Tutorial #20 “Crap is King” How to Report on the Not-So-Serious, but Fascinating Topics with Your Smartphone
As more media outlets cut back on the size of their news staff, they are seeking more videos provided by eyewitnesses or experts. This is where you come in… and this creates a huge opportunity for you. I am publishing this series of tutorials to show corporate spokespeople, public information officers (PIOs), emergency managers and public relations professionals that uploading your own videos to the web during your crisis needs to be a part of your crisis communications strategy. The ultimate goal is for a major media outlet, such as CNN, to view your video and reach out to you to seek your official information.
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.
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.
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.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-29 11:34:432021-05-20 01:36:57Tutorial #17 Using Skype as Part of Your Crisis Communications Plan
Public relations professionals, emergency managers, corporate spokespeople and public information officers (PIO) need to create quality smartphone videos to communicate with their audiences effectively during their crises. Among many elements to consider when creating your own smartphone video, lighting is another tricky, but crucial one. After viewing this tutorial, make sure to practice this skill on a clear sunny day in advance of your crisis or newsworthy event, so when your darkest day comes, you have it perfected.
Professional photographers know how to adjust the iris on the lens of their expensive cameras. But when you take a video with your smart phone or tablet, you become a slave to the automatic iris on the device’s built in camera.
The only control you have is based on what you are shooting.
If you are appearing in your video, as I do in many of my CNN iReports, your goal is to have good flesh tones. The brighter the objects behind you, the darker your flesh tones will be. The darker the objects behind you, the brighter and more natural your flesh tones will be.
If you like to move while shooting your videos, you have to constantly be aware of what happens to the iris on the device as you move. While you are looking at the camera lens for your report, you must be looking out of the corner of your eye to have a sense for what the image looks like on your screen.
Persons with dark skin have an even harder time managing their skin tones on video.
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.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-22 03:00:352021-05-20 01:41:13Tutorial #12: How to Create Proper Lighting When Creating Videos on Your Smartphone
Learning to properly shoot smartphone videos as part of your crisis communications and media relations strategy is a skill every corporate spokesperson, Public Information Officer (PIO), or public relations professional should practice and perfect. You will want to also include training for your emergency manager who heads your emergency operations center. It is crucial to practice where to look and how to hold your device in order to create a professional looking video. This can be extremely difficult during your crisis, and should be practiced on a clear sunny day when you are not under the pressure of a natural disaster, hurricane, or other crisis event.
If you are recording yourself, your eyes are drawn to the screen, because you see yourself. But to produce a great web video or CNN iReport, you have to avoid looking at yourself on the screen and instead, look at the camera.
This is one of the most unnatural experiences you will ever have. The camera is so small… barely a dot on the side of the device. It is so much easier to look at a big video camera lens. With a big lens, you can usually see your reflection. Not so with that little dot of a lens on your iPhone, iPad or computer.
So here is what you must do — you must take out your smart device of choice, then shoot a video of yourself and then watch it.
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.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-19 03:00:062021-05-20 01:41:39Tutorial #11: Where to Look When Using Your iPhone or iPad for a Smartphone Selfie Video
When making smartphone videos or CNN iReports, you need to plan your storytelling. Whether you are communicating as a public relations spokesperson, a Public Information Officer (PIO) for a federal or state agency, or for state, county or local government, it is crucial to manage the expectations of your audience. Predetermining and planning your storytelling may not seem like an easy task when it comes to hurricane season or natural disasters, but in this tutorial you will learn to do exactly what I’ve done in the past.
Click image to watch video
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 story telling,
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 to 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.)
Take a look at today’s tutorial to learn more about this, and view some of my Hurricane Isaac CNN iReports to observe what I did.
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. Additionally, 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 survivor 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. And 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. So 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 a) tells it to the audience straight without any public relations B.S., 2) it manages their expectation for how bad things may get, and 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. Often government will call for an evacuation for public safety. Many people don’t want to evacuate because a previous hurricane did not significantly impact them. But government should emphasize that no two storms are alike and that 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, the inability to cook or buy supplies.
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.
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.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-18 03:00:402021-05-20 01:42:13Tutorial #10 How to Manage the Expectations of Your Audience When Shooting Smartphone Videos During Your Crisis
This tutorial is part of a series of articles posted in the month of June that explain how to be a good iReporter and how to make CNN iReports, or smartphone videos a vital part of your crisis communication and media relations strategy. The tutorials are more relevant than ever in the month of June due to hurricane season. Make sure to plan and practice what to say in your videos on a clear sunny day, in order to be prepared on your darkest day. In this particular tutorial, I walk you through the steps of what to say on video and directly to the media in regards to your crisis.
Click image to watch video
Talking is easy, but saying the right thing is hard. Media training classes often expose who talks too much and says the wrong things and who knows how to practice and choose their words carefully.
Unlike a normal media interview, in which you might be asked hard questions or face the wrath of someone who edits your statements, when you file an iReport you, your mouth and your video are your first line of editing. You are shooting a short video and do-overs are allowed if you say the wrong thing or mess up — that’s the good news. The bad news is, if you are not careful you will be too critical of what you say and keep doing do-overs.
You can watch my iReports and analyze what I say. During my Hurricane Isaac videos in 2013, most of the time I start by saying, “This is Gerard Braud in Mandeville, Louisiana. Today is (give date) and the time is (give time). Hurricane Isaac is coming ashore. Winds are (give details). So far we’ve had xx inches of rain.” I then narrate what is most news worthy at that moment.
If you break down my first :15 seconds, it goes like this:
1) Who? – Gerard Braud
2) What? – Hurricane Isaac
3) When? – Date and time given
4) Where? – Mandeville, LA
5) Why? – Explain what is news worthy
6) How? or How Much? – Rain and wind updates
My narration of what is most news worthy begins with a major statement that is designed to serve as a headline or summation of what I am about to share. In journalism, we call this the inverted pyramid. You begin broad and you built to the details. Think of a traditional newspaper, which has a headline at the top, then a summary statement, then more details.
With that in mind, my report may go on to say, “At his time, flood waters have overtopped the sea wall and there are now white caps rolling down my driveway. The waves are beginning to cause damage to my storage area and tool shed. There is a good chance my tool shed will wash away.”
A dissection of that statement would go like this:
1) Headline: Flooding
2) Broad detail: White caps
3) More details: Tool shed washing away
I like to call my style of iReporting a 1-2-3 A-B-C approach. In
other words, if “A” happens, then “B” will be the next thing to happen, then “C” happens. Hence:
A) Flooding
B) White caps
3) Damage from waves
The biggest mistake you can make is to give too many details, followed by talking too long. Look at it this way: When you read a story in the newspaper, do you read the entire article and value the details at the end of the story, or do you generally read the headline and the summation sentence, then move on? Most people never read the entire story. Here is another test: When you watch an online or YouTube video, how long do you watch before you get tired of it? When you watch video online, do you watch for deep information or do you primarily watch for entertainment?
This entire process is easy and intuitive for me because I started learning all of this in 1976. I did it everyday as a television reporter for 15 years, through a career with an enormous number of live reports.
But if you haven’t done this a lot and if this does not come natural to you, then you must practice, practice, practice.
You cannot and will not be instantly successful on your first try. You’ll be even worse if you are trying to do this for the first time in a middle of a crisis.
In many respects, your training needs to combine some media training skills and a significant amount of video production skills. In some cases you may have someone shooting the video for you with a video camera or smart device. In my iReports, I am the videographer using an iPhone or iPad.
If you need help with your training or if you would like to have this content shared as part of a workshop or conference presentation, please contact me at gerard@braudcommunications.com
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-17 03:00:122021-05-20 01:42:56Tutorial #9: Smartphone Videos for Crisis Communications Start by Saying the Right Thing
As mentioned in all my tutorials this month, my goal for you, if you are a spokesperson, public relations expert, or Public Information Officer (PIO) for a government agency, is to make iReports part of your crisis communication and media relations plan. Now I’m asking you to think in terms of telling compare and contrast stories, especially during hurricane season or your natural disaster. Here is why:
Think about when you watch television news. If there is a natural disaster, in order for you to appreciate the magnitude of the disaster, don’t you really need to know what things looked like before the disaster?
The best stories are told when the audience can see before, during and after an event.
I want this to always be your goal when you file your CNN iReports. This means not just filing one report, but filing several.
During Hurricane Isaac in 2012, as it impacted my home in Mandeville, Louisiana, 30 miles north of New Orleans, I filed CNN iReports for five days.
My first report was on a clear sunny afternoon, as I told the audience how Lake Pontchartrain would flood portions of the community. You can watch that original video here.
The next day, I filed several more iReports as the storm moved in, and specifically, as Lake Pontchartrain caused flooding, just as I had predicted in the previous video.
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.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-16 03:00:202021-05-20 01:43:17Tutorial #8: Telling Compare and Contrast Stories to the Media During Hurricane Season
Tutorial #5 By CNN iReporter Evangelist Gerard Braud —
So far this month, we have reviewed why you should be a CNN iReporter, or at the very least why you should learn to effectively shoot your own smartphone videos. We have learned how to set up your CNN iReporter account and how to determine what is newsworthy and what isn’t. Now it is time to learn exactly how to effectively communicate through video on your darkest, stormiest day. Here are a few lessons for telling the story of your organization’s crisis, ranging from natural disasters to tragic events like workplace shootings. As with our previous lessons, this one is also based on my video documentation of Hurricane Isaac in 2012. Enjoy!
Click here to watch video
It is important to evacuate when an approaching hurricane is going to be a bad one. Staying in your home in destructive winds and killer flooding is dumb. Hurricane Isaac was not a strong storm and mandatory evacuations were not called. So, I decided to stay in my home on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville, LA, which is 30 minutes north of New Orleans. The storm winds at the eye of the hurricane were just over 75 miles per hour, making it barely a Category 1 hurricane. The eye was forecast to pass 50 miles to the west of me, which meant the winds would not be destructive where I was. The path would push water from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Pontchartrain, resulting in localized flooding from storm surge.
As an experienced storm chaser, my goal was to document the hurricane, from the preparation stage, through the flooding, then through the aftermath and cleanup.
My home is a small cottage, raised on steel 10-foot pilings, with steel beams. Below my house is a carport and storage area that is 5 feet above sea level. That places the floor of my living quarters 15 feet above sea level and makes for a great perch to view mother nature. The storage area is constructed with mandatory breakaway walls, which will wash away in a storm, and they did.
Two days before the hurricane I began to document the flurry of activities and preparations in the community. There were long lines at the gas stations until every pump ran dry. I documented empty grocery store shelves, as water and canned goods were snatched up. At the hardware store I documented long lines as people purchased electrical generators and filled propane tanks.
On Tuesday, August 28, 2012, the evening before the storm made landfall, I filed an iReport that showed a calm lake, a green parkway and the green grass in my yard. I explained to viewers that the next day the entire area would be underwater, which all came to pass and made for a great follow up report. That was the iReport that lead CNN Headline News (HLN) producers to ask me to do a live report on Evening Express as the hurricane made landfall on August 29. By then, electrical power had gone out and I was broadcasting live using my iPhone 4, a G3 phone signal, and Skype
The big surprise with Hurricane Isaac was that the storm stalled and stayed in the same place for nearly 2 days, all the while causing the floodwaters to get higher. A fast moving storm would have come and gone in 12 hours. This one would cause flooding from Tuesday until Sunday.
By the time we hit the air live on Evening Express on the evening of August 29, there were whitecaps rolling down my driveway. After dark I did a live report for the Dr. Drew Show. Shortly after I signed off with Dr. Drew around 9 p.m., I began to hear strange creaking noises in the house. Occasionally there were unnerving vibrations. When I turned on the faucet there was no water. This wasn’t good. #understatement. I grabbed a flashlight and walked downstairs, where I could see that the breakaway walls in the storage areas on my carport began to wash out. As they did, debris in the waves broke the water supply, leaving me without running water. Then I realized that near the water pipes were natural gas lines. #causeforconcern
I phoned a neighbor and asked if I could sleep at his house just in case mine had a gas leak. I shut off all of my pilot lights, blew out all of my hurricane lanterns and candles, grabbed my life vest and paddled my canoe to his house. By this time, the water was so deep I simply paddled over my fence.
Overnight, the eye of the storm began to move again. The morning of August 30th I paddled home to find there was no gas leak, so I filed more iReports showing the damage as the water level dropped some.
I was surprised at how much debris had washed into my yard. Then nature revealed unwanted guests. First, there were 10 alligators swimming in my yard. As it got warm, dead nutria, a large swamp rat the size of a large muskrat, began popping up out of the water. I counted 50 carcasses. As the water drained off further, it revealed a blanket of swamp grass 12-24 inches deep, filled with thousands of snakes. I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie. Such anomalies mean just one thing: file more iReports and do more live reports for Evening Express and Dr. Drew.
For me, the beauty of iReports is the ability of ordinary people to take their stories right to the world’s leading news network. News happens fast and there isn’t always a professional news crew present to capture it. A citizen with an iPhone can capture and report the news even when no news crews are around.
What people who work in public relations need to be aware of is that you too, have the ability to be an iReporter. If you fail to do so, your story will be told by a citizen on the street, who may have great pictures, but not always the correct information. This is true for all spokespeople. This is true for Public Information Officers (PIO).
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-11 03:00:592021-05-20 01:46:10Tutorial #5: Hurricane Season Crisis Communications Lessons from Hurricane Isaac
Tutorial #4 By Gerard Braud, CNN iReporter Evangelist —
Creating and filming your own CNN iReports or smartphone videos is a useful tool for communicating with the media, your employees, your customers, and key stakeholders in your crisis. Not only is it a useful tool during hurricane season, but it is useful during any crisis or natural disaster. However, if you plan to do these videos, it is important to understand what the media consider newsworthy. Often, what you consider newsworthy and what the media consider newsworthy are two different things.
Click here to watch video
For the 15 years that I worked as a reporter in print, radio and mostly television, people questioned me daily about why certain things got in the newspaper or on the air, and why other things did not.
News is traditionally defined as what is new, unique or different. Also, acts that tend to be violent, explosive and bloody often dominate the news, hence the old expression, “If it bleeds it leads,” as in, it leads off the newscast.
News and the decisions about what gets into a newspaper or broadcast on the news, is further based on “who cares?” If it is something people will talk about, i.e., they care, it is more likely to be considered news worthy.
What is considered news worthy and what gets on television today is far different than what was considered news worthy 10-15 years ago. News programs and news networks have shifted more toward what I would consider as “info-tainment.” Information and entertainment is blended together and sometimes it is difficult to separate them, or determine where one ends and the other begins.
A loud mouth television or radio commentator often shouts out an opinion in an entertaining way to a significant segment of the audience and produces a large amount of advertising revenue. This, in my opinion not only represents bias in the media, but is also the blurry line that bleeds from news into info-tainment.
Social media has also impacted news coverage and what gets reported. News was once defined as information designed to inform the electorate, so we could understand public issues and elect good leaders. However, today, more people care about — and the media is more likely to report on — the popularity of a viral video on the internet.
For your purpose, as a public relations professional, spokesperson or Public Information Officer (PIO), if a news worthy event happens where you work, your gut and experience tells you that a certain event is news worthy. What you must decide is whether you will be an active participant in providing official information to the media, or whether you will remain silent and allow the narrative to be told by the citizen on the street, armed with a cell phone.
My hope is that these tutorials encourage you to not only participate, but to also become an iReporter for CNN.
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.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-06-10 03:00:532021-05-20 01:48:37Hurricane Season Tutorial #4: When Shooting Smart Phone Videos Consider “What is News?”
The day is coming when you will need to be an expert in crisis communication using smart phone technology and social media. Actually, you should already be an expert and it is just a matter of time before we discover if you are prepared.
Saturday morning I turned on the Today Show and learned of the devastating earthquake in Nepal. As I flipped through the channels to CNN, Fox, Good Morning America, and to CBS, I was disappointed to once again watch a global crisis covered by reporters stationed in places such as London. Trust me when I tell you the reporter in London knows as much about the crisis as the reporter in New Orleans or New York. Only a person on the ground in that location can provide us with real details.
Eventually, one of the networks showed a smart phone video report filed by Arjun Vajpal, from a base camp on Mt. Everest, where we learned that there were avalanches on the mountain and climbers killed in base camps one and two. The selfie style video was posted to social media, where the mainstream media found it and began using it.
How well are you prepared to do what that climber did? Are you able to pick up your phone and in one take, record a narration with video that takes television viewers directly to the scene of your crisis? My experience while teaching workshops to public relations professionals is that most are shocked to learn just how hard it is to produce an effective video. My 15 years as a television reporter doing live shots daily have prepared me to use this technology. But people without live shot experience struggle to find the words to tell a story in one minute, without messing up the narration and defaulting to 10 to 20 tries to get one good take, if they can ever get one.
My fascination with smart phone and social media news coverage began with my reporting for CNN and The Weather Channel during Tropical Storm Lee in 2011. I took it to a whole new level during Hurricane Isaac in 2012. I reported for both networks for five days, while living without electricity and being surrounded by seven feet of flood waters, four ten foot alligators, thousands of snakes, and more than 50 dead animals killed in the storm.
Often video of a crisis is provided by an eyewitness, who usually provides poor quality video that is often laced with f-bombs or crazy comments. Imagine how much better it would be when a crisis happens at your company if quality video and a quality narration were provided in expert fashion? Imagine if that video was narrated by a well trained spokesperson with real facts, rather than the crazy speculating eyewitness?
The report from atop Mt. Everest was better and more accurate than the on-camera narration from the reporter in London. Likewise, my reports in Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Isaac were more visual and informative than the reports being provided by network correspondents. Those reporters were much farther from the storm than I was, leading the networks to lead each newscast with my reports.
If you don’t know how to do a great video, please take time to view a free tutorial I built on the CNN iReport website. If you’d like to take your skills up a notch and do the same for your colleagues, please contact me about setting up in-person training at a future conference or workshop.
Effective communications is in your hands. The reality is that you can be the expert who provides effective crisis communication or you can take your chances by relegating your responsibility to the reporter in London or the random eyewitness with a smart phone.
Experience tells us that trying to perfect this skill in the midst of your crisis is the wrong time. The best time to prepare for your effective crisis communications is on a clear, sunny day when you have all the time in the world to practice. Practice until you can call yourself a crisis communication expert who can effectively use a smart phone to file stories to social media and with the mainstream media.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2015-04-28 08:50:332021-05-20 01:59:02Crisis Communications Through Technology and Social Media: The Earthquake Video
was posted to social media, where the mainstream media found it and began using it.