Rule number one during a crisis communications drill is to never have anyone accidentally think a real crisis is happening, when it is not. Hence, in all written communications and on every phone conversation and radio conversation, you must generously use the phrase, “This is a Drill.”
For phone calls, the first words out of your mouth when the other party says, “Hello,” should be, “This is a Drill.” When the other party hears these words from you, they should reply, “This is a Drill.”
These basic rules need to be covered by your drill facilitator before and during the drill.
Likewise, when your phone call is concluded, your last words should be, “This is a Drill.” At that time the other party should reply, “This is a Drill.”
The reason this is important is because you never want someone to overhear details that sound like a crisis and think there really is a crisis, which might trigger panic, rumors, or other unintended consequences.
If two-way radios are a part of your drill, the same protocol should also be followed.
If e-mails are used during the drill, the phrase, “This is a Drill,” should be used in the subject line. It should then open and close the message within the e-mail. If Word Documents, PDFs or printed documents are used during the drill, each one should have a bold message at the beginning and end of the text that says, “This is a Drill.” Also, create a 50% watermark on an angle within these documents that says, “This is a Drill.”
In addition to avoiding unintended consequences internally, this phrase is important so that agencies such as police, the fire department, or the media don’t somehow hear a radio transmission and respond.
As a courtesy, you may wish to call your local police and fire dispatcher to inform them that a drill is underway. Generally, I do not tell the media a drill is happening because I don’t want the media to attempt to create a news story about my drill, because I don’t want to enlighten the media about some ugly events that might actually be a possibility.
Sometimes when a drill involves a school or airport, and it is conducted in conjunction with police and fire departments, the agencies turn it into a news event designed to be a media event that shows their preparedness. I’m not a fan of this, because when things go wrong in a drill, I don’t want the organization’s unpreparedness to become part of a news story.
Remember, the goal of a drill is to create an opportunity for organizations to practice how to do things right, with that ability to allow people to screw up in private so they don’t screw up in public during an actual event.
“This is a Drill.” This is not a publicity event.
In our next article we will discuss some of the goals and objectives of your drill, so you will have a clear idea of how to measure success.
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Would you rather screw up in public or screw up in private? That’s really what a crisis communications drill is all about. On a clear sunny day you have the ability to practice for how you will respond and behave on your darkest day.
A crisis communications drill is designed to allow you to test your crisis communications plan and your crisis communications team. It tests how you co-exist and interact with your incident command plan, your risk management plan, and crisis management team.
In this series of articles, you will learn some of the sneaky things I like to do when I facilitate a crisis communications drill for my clients. Hopefully you will be inspired to be as sneaky in the drills you conduct.
The concept of messing up in private is foreign to many organizations. Often the people who lead companies think they can magically wing it on the day of the crisis. They think their public relations and communication team will magically make a crisis go away with a few news releases written in the heat of the moment.
Denial among leaders and an unwillingness to invest time and money to prepare for a crisis is frustrating to many in public relations. It is frustrating to me on a daily basis as I observe the same mistakes made in a crises and news events.
Yet, many PR people have discovered, as I have, that one crisis communications drill each year can produce amazing results.
A hard hitting, anxiety filled, realistic drill puts the fear of God into executives. They get a healthy dose of reality. If the reality check shows their weakness, they are more willing to help you budget time and money for important crisis communications tools and training. They may provide funding for a properly written crisis communication plan, budget for annual media training, and for an annual crisis communications drill.
Let’s face it – the annual holiday party will cost much more than all three of these.
Tomorrow, we’ll examine the most important words you can say during a drill.
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Within the office here, I ranted at the media relentlessly about the horrible live coverage of the tragic events unfolding at the Washington Navy Yard. Only my assistant Shannon had to hear my rants.
Fortunately, comedian Jon Stewart has the resource and video tape evidence to call out the media for the idiotic way they covered this event. Here is the link to the show, and believe me it is worth watching every minute of it.
On a daily basis I beg corporations and government agencies to write a proper crisis communications plan, which has features that allow spokespeople to give small amounts of information at regular intervals. It starts with the First Critical Statement, which I’ll give you below. This is a psychological feature of the plans I write because it wards off the stupidity, rumors, speculation and unprofessionalism displayed on Monday, especially by CNN, but by many local stations as well.
Your assignments for the day:
1) Watch this daily show clip.
2) Call me for a free chat about your crisis communications plan and whether it is perfect or if it could use some improvement. My number is 985-624-9976.
To download it for free, enter the coupon code CRISISCOMPLAN
An e-mail will be sent instantly. Make sure it doesn’t go to your spam filter by authorizing my e-mail address gerard@braudcommunications.com.
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The pretty stuff always gets more attention than the ugly stuff. Preparing for media interviews and crisis communications is not as sexy as a newsletter or brochure. But when “it” hits the fan, will your customers, employees, and the media be remembering your great graphics? Or will they form their opinion of your company based on dumb things said by a spokesperson or horrific images of your crisis?
Excuses are easy to come by for why these three things won’t get done before the end of the year. “It’s not in our budget” is the most common. Here’s a secret: Never take a “No” earlier in the year as a “No” at the end of the year. As sales, revenues, and the economy get better, most companies are seeing training budgets improve. Ask again. You may get a firm yes for this year. Remember: your company will spend far more on a holiday party than they will on any or all of these three tasks.
The second most popular excuse is, “We can’t get on everyone’s calendar.” Here’s a secret: Ask everyone involved if they have time on their calendar to play in a charity golf game. You will be amazed at how many people suddenly have an open day.
A crisis communications drill is the absolute best way to test everyone in your organization to see exactly how well (or how poorly) they will perform in a crisis. You get to test your crisis communications plan (if you have one), and your spokespeople. You will discover who on your leadership team has true leadership skills when “it” hits the fan and who will create constant roadblocks and impediments to success in both the drill and a real event.
Media training should be treated like a sport, with the understanding that regular practice is the key to being good. Every potential spokesperson should go through a rigorous initial media training class, then each year after that go through a refresher course. Too many executives think of media training as a bucket list item, which they only have to do once in their lives. Anyone who believes that may actually die at the podium when you need them the most. By the way, a crisis communications drill is a great time to realistically test your spokespeople. During and following a drill, many potential spokespeople realize that they are perhaps not as prepared as they should be. A little humility in a drill goes a long way toward instilling in people the concept of an annual media training refresher course.
Crisis communications plans have never been more of a necessity than they are now, in large part because of how a crisis now plays out in social media. Any crisis communications plan must equip you to communicate quickly through multiple means, including news conferences, web postings, emails to employees, and updates on social media. Yet many crisis communications plans really cannot help you achieve these goals because they were written with flaws from the beginning and because they haven’t been updated.
The biggest flaw with most plans is that they state only standard operating procedures. If your plan is only 6-20 pages long, chances are you need a major overhaul. I’m standing by to get the right plan in your hands through an intense two-day writing workshop that delivers to you a plan that is so thorough that nothing is forgotten, yet so simple to execute that anyone who can read execute it flawlessly. The plan is also ultra fast to use, because it contains a huge library of pre-written news releases that can be approved by your leadership on a clear sunny day, preventing time consuming delays on your darkest day.
If you are wondering if your plan is up to the task, you can always call me for a free review of your plan.
Ultimately, all three of these end-of-the-year tasks allow you to test your people and your plans on a clear sunny day, so you can perform your best on your darkest day.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2013-09-04 02:00:422021-05-21 00:38:173 Things You NEED to Finish Before the End of the Year
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.
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.
(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
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.
In crisis communications we focus on the serious, but 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.pnggbraud2013-06-19 03:00:362021-05-21 01:07:21Tutorial #20: Crap is King
(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
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
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.pnggbraud2013-06-17 03:00:422021-05-21 01:07:59Tutorial #18: How You Can Create Great Videos Holding Your iPad or iPhone at Arm’s Length
Few organizations in the world face the communications challenges of America’s Rural Electric Cooperatives.
On any given day customers could be protesting over electric rates. Workers could be under attack for disconnecting service. Board members could be scrutinized for per diems, travel or expenses. Add to that the growing influence of negative social media comments and big city media covering more co-op controversies, and you have a storm brewing. That storm demands effective communications from all executives, board members, and co-op public relations teams.
Here are three steps every cooperative should take:
There is no excuse, in this modern age of media, for any executive, board member or public relations person to mess up when talking to the media. But it still happens.
Many rural people tend to be friendly, honest and sometimes too chatty. Unfortunately many executives, board members and public relations people mistake the gift of gab for the ability to be an effective communicator with the media. Many board members mistakenly believe the respect they get from their status in their communities will transfer to respect from the media. That isn’t true. The fact is many of the habits you have in everyday conversation have to be avoided when talking with a reporter.
Don’t worry, there is hope. The secret is to set aside one day every year to sit down in front of a television camera with a media training coach to practice realistic interview scenarios.
Since most reporters really do not fully understand the history and inner workings of cooperatives, your media training must adopt the newest innovations in training. Never settle for training that provides only bullet points as talking points. This outdated method leads to bad ad-libs and ugly quotes.
Modern training requires a library of pre-written quotes, learned and internalized by each executive, board member and spokesperson. When written properly, internalized, and practiced, these verbatim sentences provide context, information and strong quotes. These are all elements reporters need in their story. Also, when written in a conversational sentence structure, these sentences are easy to work into everyday conversations by leaders and employees alike.
Consider that many executives who are interviewed complain that they are taken out of context and misquoted. A well-worded, pre-planned opening sentence delivered by the spokesperson can serve as a pre-amble statement that provides context to your cooperative’s goals and purpose. This forever eliminates the issue of being taken out of context.
With annual media training you will be a good spokesperson for good news, as well as when you have to speak to the media during a crisis.
The worst time to deal with a crisis is during the crisis. The best time is on a clear sunny day.
During good times, your cooperative must conduct a vulnerability assessment to identify all potential crises.
You must write a crisis communications plan that chronologically tells you every step you must take to effectively communicate during the crisis.
You must write a preliminary fill-in-the-blank statement to use in the first hour of your crisis when facts are still being determined.
You must create a more detailed news release style statement for each potential crisis that you identified in your vulnerability assessment.
If you identify 100 potential crises, then you need to write 100 potential news releases, using evergreen facts, fill in the blanks and multiple-choice options. This is best done through a facilitated writing retreat with your communications team.
A classic mistake cooperatives make is to prepare communications only for natural disasters, power outages and worker injury. A modern crisis communications plan must also cover smoldering crises such as executive misbehavior, discrimination, financial mismanagement, per diems, and even crises involving social media.
When pre-written on a clear sunny day, these documents are ready for quick release to the media, employees, customers, the Internet and other key audiences. This process is not easy and is time consuming, but it pays huge dividends during your crisis. Many organizations experience a crisis, then in the midst of it, look at a blank word document and try to spontaneously draft a statement. The statement then goes through unprecedented scrutiny and rewrites, resulting in massive delays. In the modern age of fast communications, this is lunacy. You should never put off until tomorrow what you can write today.
Writing your Crisis Communications Plan is the perfect way to get all employees, executives, and board members on the same page. On a clear sunny day you can all agree on the policies and procedures that need to be followed for effective crisis communications. Make sure your plan goes beyond standard operating procedures. Also, make sure it doesn’t rely on only the expertise of your public relations team. The plan must be so thorough that nothing in the process is forgotten, yet easy enough to understand and follow that it can be executed by anyone who can read.
Too many cooperatives make the mistake of thinking their executives can wing it in a crisis. They think a gift of gab equates to being a great spokesperson. They also think that knowledge of the business equips them to manage a crisis and the communications for that crisis.
The secret to getting it right on your darkest day is to set aside time on a clear sunny day to hold a crisis drill. During your drill your emergency managers can run a table-top exercise. Your communications team and executives act out a real-time exercise, complete with news conferences, using role players to portray the media.
When done correctly, a drill exposes bad decision-making, bad behavior and outright incompetence among responders, spokespeople and those in leadership roles. Conversely, annual drills teach your team members how to effectively work together during a crisis. Team members are taught to achieve effective communications while also working to end the crisis.
As more cities sprawl into rural areas, they bring more homes and electric customers into your cooperative territory. The sprawl also brings more media attention and more scrutiny of your operations.
The best way to prepare for the increased attention you will get, is to plan on a clear sunny day and never to wait for the dark clouds to roll in.
About the author: Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC has helped organizations on 5 continents communicate more effectively with the media, employees and customers in good times and bad. He facilitates writing retreats and workshops to help cooperatives write and complete their crisis communications plans in just 2 days. He also trains cooperative board members and leaders on how to become effective spokespeople.
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{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.}
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:
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2013-04-22 09:18:342021-05-21 01:20:09Learn to Use the Technology You Need for Crisis Communications Using Your Smart Phone
Rule number one during a crisis communications drill is to never have anyone accidentally think a real crisis is happening, when it is not. Hence, in all written communications and on every phone conversation and radio conversation, you must generously use the phrase, “This is a Drill.”
Sometimes when a drill involves a school or airport, and it is conducted in conjunction with police and fire departments, the agencies turn it into a news event designed to be a media event that shows their preparedness. I’m not a fan of this, because when things go wrong in a drill, I don’t want the organization’s unpreparedness to become part of a news story.
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