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Write and Complete a World-Class Crisis Communications Plan in the Two Most Intense and Productive Two Days of Your Career

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Join Global Crisis Communications Expert Gerard Braud in Denver, CO

October 29 & 30, 2012

Save Time – Save Money – Save Lives

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You need a Crisis Communications Plan, but you don’t have time to write one on your own or you know you don’t have the expertise to do it correctly. You need a Crisis Communication Plan, but every price you’ve gotten from an agency is expensive and outside of your budget.

You need help. We have the solution.

Only Gerard Braud offers this intense 2-day program that generates his exclusive, world renowned Crisis Communications Plan, used around the world by corporations, non-profits and government agencies.

You bring your team of writers and Gerard Braud will provide you with the most amazingly designed communication documents. You and your team of writers will customize your plan under his personal supervision.

You’ll leave the workshop not with theory, but with a finished document.

You could struggle on your own and after a year of work never create a Crisis Communications Plan that is this well thought out and perfect for every crisis.

You could hire an agency and spend more than $100,000 and not achieve the same level of success.

Your cost to attend this amazing workshop is just $7,995 per company/organization.

For one corporate price, you are invited to bring up to 6 writers to participate in the 2-day process of customizing your company’s new plan.

This isn’t touchy-feely collaboration. This is you and your team locked in a room for 2 days getting real work done without distractions.

This is going from your “to-do list” to your “done list.”

This is going from “I wish we had” to “we did it.”

Size & Price Matter

Many organizations spend 6 months and $25,000 to $100,000 to create a six page plan that will fail them every time, which is the document on the left side of this photo. In just 2 days we create the document you see on the right. It is 3 inches thick and full of everything you need to do and say in a crisis.

Register before Monday, October 15, 2012 and receive an immediate $500 discount.

Earn an additional $500 discount for each additional company that you recruit to join us for the 2-day workshop.

For registration details, call Gerard Braud at 985-624-9976.

Can’t Make These Dates?

Call us to discuss your options.

About Your Instructor

Known as the guy to call when “it” hits the fan, Gerard Braud (Jared Bro) is an expert in crisis communications and media issues. He is an international trainer, author and speaker, who has revolutionized crisis communications for organizations on five continents.

Versed in the daily struggles of corporations, non-profits and government agencies, Gerard developed this exclusive 2-day workshop as a remedy to cries of “we don’t have time to do it on our own” and “we can’t afford to hire an agency.”

Only Gerard Braud bridges the gap by offering an affordable alternative in a time frame that fits everyone’s schedule and budget.

What’s his secret? As a senior communicator with more than 30 years experience as a journalist and a corporate communicator, Gerard has been on the front line of crises his entire career. He has invested more than 1,500 hours of time into capturing the most perfect behaviors any communicator could dream of… and he’s put it into a sequential plan. It is a plan so thorough that nothing is left out, yet a plan so perfectly organized that it can be successfully executed by anyone who can read, regardless of their job title or communication experience.

What You Need to Bring

  • A laptop for each writer
  • 6 of your best writers
  • Specific documents you will be asked to prepare in advance.

For full details and answers to all of your questions, call 985-624-9976 or email gerard@braudcommunications.com

The Fine Print: Each Crisis Communications Plan is the intellectual property of Diversified Media, LLC, dba Gerard Braud Communications. As such, your organization is technically purchasing a license to use the plan. Your organization is granted rights to use the plan, but it remains the copyright product of Gerard Braud Communications. As such, you are prohibited from ever sharing your plan with anyone who is not an employee of your organization.

Beware the Ides of March: Wisdom for Crisis Communications & Public Relations

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The phrase, “Beware the Ides of March,” has always been a favorite chant of mine.

Beware the Ides of March

Billy or B-Shakes, to his friends, also known formally as William Shakespeare, penned the line for his play Julius Caesar. A soothsayer warns Caesar, “Beware the Ides of March,” forewarning that Julius would be killed on… you guessed it, March 15th, the Ides of March. Twenty-three stab wounds right there in the Roman Senate sent Caesar to his grave, as he looked at his lead assassin and one-time friend, Brutus, and said, “Et tu, Brute?” which translates into, “And You Too, Brutus?”

Why should you care? What should this inspire et tu to do?

Like the soothsayer, I’m soothing to you that today and every year, March 15 is a great day to evaluate what might go wrong – fatally or not – within your organization.

In the world of Crisis Communications, we call it a Vulnerability Assessment. Today is a great day to conduct a Vulnerability Assessment.

A Vulnerability Assessment is the first step you should take before sitting down to write your Crisis Communications Plan. Your plan needs to anticipate all that might go wrong, so that you can have a pre-written communications template in your Crisis Communications Plan that addresses each vulnerability.

Hence, if your vulnerability assessment identifies 95 likely vulnerabilities, you’ll want to write 95 templates, which will sit in the addendum of your plan. That way, if and when that event actually happens, you can communicate quickly to the media, employees and other key stakeholders, because you’ll be simply filling in the blanks on your template, rather than staring at a blank computer screen and writing from scratch while under pressure, with, of course, people looking over your shoulder while you write. Best of all, these templates can be pre-approved by your executives and Crisis Management Team. This will eliminate that exhausting exercise in which non-writers try to wordsmith and re-write your communiqué, when you are under pressure to beat the clock.

As you assess your vulnerabilities, remember that you must consider the smoldering issues as well as the sudden issue. The smoldering issues will include things like executive misbehavior, internal theft. Penn State’s scandal is a perfect example of a smoldering crisis, which eventually reached a flash point. The sudden crises are the ones most people can name quickly, such as a fire, explosion or shooting at your facility.

I’m here to tell you, as your official soothsayer, that something is going to go wrong where you work and if you’re in PR, you’ll need to communicate to the media, your employees and other stakeholders. Heck, the Mayan’s are even forecasting the end of the world. Shouldn’t that be reason enough to make this Ides of March your day to prepare?

For details on how to conduct a successful Vulnerability Assessment, give me a call at 985-624-9976.

If you’d like to write a complete Communications Plan in just 2 days, I hold the secret that will allow you to complete a year’s worth of work using your team and working their fingers to the bone for 2 days.

National Speakers Association (NSA) New Orleans: Home of New Orleans Keynote Speakers

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The National Speakers Associations of New Orleans (NSA New Orleans) has been the foundation of my professional speaking career, positioning me as a keynote speaker in New Orleans, as well as a conference presenter and keynote speaker on 5 continents. NSA New Orleans has allowed me to focus on being an expert in media training and crisis communications.

This Saturday, March 3, 2012, I will have the opportunity to give back to my NSA chapter, with a special program that focuses on writing for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The amazing thing about writing for SEO is how much I’ve learned by accident. This blog post will serve as one of the examples.

Media Training Tip: What to do Before the End of the World

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The Mayan calendar ends in December 2012 and many have wondered if this signals the end of the world. One colleague jokingly asked me if her company could forgo Media Training and writing a Crisis Communications Plan in 2012, because the world may end. She has been putting off these tasks for two years. Each quarter she reminds me it is still on her to-do list, but that she neither has the time nor budget. I laugh and remind her that her company spends more time and money preparing for their company picnic than they would spend writing their Crisis Communications Plan.communications planning photo

So I asked, “If the world were to end in 2012, do you think your company might face a series of cascading crises leading up to the end of the world?”

I’m not proclaiming the end is here, yet I’m not saying it might not happen. So I asked, “If we are headed to a gradual end rather than a single catastrophic day, might your company experience an earthquake in February, an explosion in March, civil unrest in April, financial troubles in May and so on?”

The colleague responded with a look of doom and said, “Hum, I haven’t thought of that.”

The fact is, whether you believe the end is coming or a series of events may happen leading up to the end, or whether you just use common sense, the reality is you are always better to be safe than sorry. If you fail to plan, then plan to fail. Just look at my 2011 Top 10 List of Mishandled Crises and you’ll see that most of these could happen to any organization. The list proves how unprepared big name organizations are when it comes to a crisis. It also proves how quickly millions of dollars can be lost in a single, poorly handled crisis. Reputations and careers can vanish quickly in a crisis.

As a supporter of always being opportunistic, I suggested to the colleague that she use “the end of the world” premise as a reason to revisit the plea with her boss to make 2012 the year they finally write a Crisis Communications Plan and put their executive team through comprehensive Media Training. Plus, I suggested starting the year with a good comprehensive writing retreat for her entire communications staff, so they can begin the calendar year with a great library of key messages to use in both good times and in bad.

If you are thinking about making 2012 a great year, here are the programs I’d suggest.

Kick-Butt Key Message – A one day writing retreat for your entire communications team. I’ll teach you my exclusive Key Message Tree writing system. I promise it will change the way you write forever.

Media Training – I always suggest a strong one-day course for starters. For best results, I suggest a maximum class size of four people, which allows each person time for three strong rounds of on-camera role playing. If you have a large team of potential spokespeople, plan on adding an extra day or two.

Executive Team Vulnerability Assessment – A well facilitated 3 hour Vulnerability Assessment will usually scare the pants off of everyone in the room. They’ll quickly see how prone to a crisis your organization is and how a well written Crisis Communications Plan will be their ticket to surviving a crisis. Gather your entire leadership team together for a life changing day.

Crisis Communications Plan – In just 2 days you can have an entire Crisis Communications Plan written. My exclusive system lets you use the strength of your team to accomplish a year’s worth of work in 2 days. And there are 3 pricing options, so one is bound to fit your budget. All 3 pricing options cost less than the company picnic!

Crisis Communications Drill – Every Crisis Communications Plan needs to be tested at least once a year. An intense 4-hour drill, followed by an honest evaluation after the drill, moves you and your executives one step closer to being ready to tackle a real crisis. And remember, the presence of Social Media in your Crisis Drill makes it more realistic and complicated.

If discussing these options will benefit you, just give me a call at 985-624-9976. Managing a crisis is no picnic and preparing to deal with a crisis costs far less than any company picnic.

Media Training Tip: Don’t Leave The Audience Thinking “What Does That Mean?”

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What bugs the ever living daylights out of me is hearing people speak in mumble jumble that they think means something, but it means nothing at all. This mumble jumble is corporate speak, buzzwords, jargon and government acronyms.media training gerard braud

I’m fortunate enough that people pay me an honorarium to speak at numerous conferences, corporate meetings and association meetings every month. I always make a point of listening to what other speakers say so I can incorporate their lessons into my presentation.

But many of the speakers fill their presentations with so many buzz words, jargon and mumble jumble that I find myself sitting in the audience asking, “What does that mean?” The speaker thinks they have said something profound, but they’ve really said nothing at all.

I hear things such as, “If we work in a customer centric capacity to increase productivity and to create a win-win situation for our partners in a collaborative fashion, then we can achieve our goals for the betterment of our strategic partners in the hopes of benefiting those with whom we do business?

What does that mean?

Were you trying to say put customers first?

What is a win-win situation? (With all due respects to Steven Covey…)

What are examples of collaboration?

What are the goals?

Who are the strategic partners?

Please, spell it out. Please give me meaningful examples. Please give me tangible examples. Please give me anecdotes. Please communicate with real words. Please put some emotion into your communications. Please make the communications more visual by describing who and what you are talking about.

Would those words work at career day with a 6th grade class? A friend of mine uses this test: If you said it to your grandparents at Thanksgiving dinner, would they know what you mean?

Let’s touch on one other important point that I find in the politically correct world, especially among non-profit organizations. There is a propensity to say things in a way that will not offend the people that you serve. However, in the process of crafting your statement with sensitivity, you become so ambiguous that no one really knows what you are talking about, including… and sometimes most importantly, even the people they are trying to help. That’s right — the people you are trying to help don’t know what you mean, because the organization is being so sensitive and so politically correct.

If you keep changing the labels and the terminology out of sensitivity, the audience, the reporter and the people you serve will be left asking, “What does that mean?” This could lead to you accusing the reporter of taking you out of context and it affects your bottom line when you use terms that your audience cannot understand because of the politically correct ambiguity.

Consultants and trainers are also guilty of trying to coin clever phrases. A few years ago my wife, who works at a small private school, mailed out the class schedule for the fall semester. Her phone started ringing off the hook because after years of promoting the school’s top notch computer lab, computer classes were no longer listed on the class schedule. She told concerned parents she would check it out and get back to them. As it turns out, someone on the school staff had taken the term computer class off of the schedule and replaced it with the term “information literacy.” Yes, it seems someone had gone to a summer workshop in which the trainer/consultant preached that “it’s so much more than just knowing the mechanics of a computer, the internet and the programs – It’s really about ‘information literacy.’” What does that mean? It’s a dumb term. Call it what it is. It’s computer class.

If you’d like more examples from my “What Does that Mean?” file I have a great PDF that I’d be happy to share with you so you can share with the offenders. It is available as a download at www.braudcasting.com

Call or email me to talk about your media training and crisis communications training needs:

Direct: 985-624-9976

Email: Gerard@BraudCommunications.com

So… The new International Media Training No-No

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Media Training - Gerard Braud - Braud CommunicationsSoooooo…. I’ve noticed a new trend. Soooooo…. it appears people think every sentence needs to start with “Soooooo….” Soooooo…. stop it already!

I first noticed this alarming trend while teaching media training to a global defense contractor in Los Angeles in 2010. One engineer — a lead engineer –started every sentence with “Soooooo….” It was driving me nuts and I worked with him to eliminate it.

When I came back to Los Angeles for their annual media training class one year later, “soooooo….” had spread like an epidemic. Much like corporate jargon spreads like a virus, so had soooooo…  In the 2011 refresher course,  nearly every engineer was saying soooooo…. as the open to every sentence.

Normal people don’t talk like that. But it is spreading, not like any ordinary virus, but like a global pandemic. I was teaching media training in Europe recently and a petroleum engineer with a major oil company had the same bad habit. During our media training role playing on camera, she began every answer with “Soooooo….”

As best as I can tell, this bad habit is rooted among engineers and IT (information technology) employees. If you hear it, please try to put a stop to it. Otherwise the pandemic will infect every conversation and media interview in the future.

Media Training Coach Tip: The #1 Technique to Shut Down Reporter Speculation

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As a media training speaker and media training coach, my clients can sometimes find themselves asking, “What’s the worst that could happen? How much worse could it get? But what if…?”Braud Communications media training tip

Oh, those great “what if” questions – reporters love those.  Why?  Well, reporters love a great story and sometimes the story doesn’t materialize the way they hoped it would.

Such questions indicate that the reporter is as disappointed as a 4-year-old who was hoping you would stop to buy them ice cream, but you didn’t.  Beware of reporters who ask you to speculate, because you are heading into very dangerous territory. If you do speculate, you’ve made the story bigger than what it is.

The most important phrase you can use when addressing such questions is to say, “I couldn’t speculate on that, but what I can tell you is…”  Another variation of that answer is to say, “It would be inappropriate for me to speculate on that, but what I can tell you is…”

In my media training work, I often recommend that when you’re asked to speculate, apply the Block, Bridge and Hook Technique:

  • Block: “It would be inappropriate for me to speculate…”
  • Bridge: “But what I can tell you is…”
  • Hook: Redirect the reporter back to one of your key messages and one of the facts that you have previously confirmed.

Ideally, you should create an additional hook that keeps the reporter from asking another speculative question as a follow up. But the most important thing that you are doing is immediately putting an end to the speculation and sticking to the facts.

Use the Block, Bridge and Hook Technique when a reporter asks you to speak for someone else.  The block response should be, “I can’t speak for them, but what I can tell you is…”

One more media training lesson we should address here is how to handle the reporter that misstates certain key facts in their question.  It has been my experience that most spokespeople try to gingerly work their way back to a key message and then correct facts without ever clearly telling the reporter they are wrong. Well my friends, that seldom works.

If a reporter misstates a fact in their question you have permission to stop them dead in their tracks if necessary and say, “I’m sorry, but you misstated a key fact in your question.” At that time you should give them the correct fact. Another variation is to use the phrase, “I can’t agree with the premise of your questions.”

Over the years many spokespeople have confessed to me that they are afraid that such an approach could be perceived by the reporter as hostile. I personally think you can do it without being hostile.

In fact, I have found that the dynamics of the interview or news conference will change in your favor because the reporter sees that you are in charge and that you are holding them accountable. The reporter will not only choose their words more carefully in the remainder of the interview, but they will also choose their words more carefully when writing their script.

Final media training tip: In the end, you must realize that YOU are in charge of the interview. Don’t relinquish control to the reporter. Tell your story your way and you win!

Media Training of the Future for Your Emergency Operations Center, Emergency Manager, and Public Information Officer

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How to Improve Your Crisis Communication During a Disaster

It was a surprise to many Emergency Managers and Public Information Officers. After being in demand for telephone interviews during Tropical Storm Lee on September 3-5, 2011 near New Orleans, The Weather Channel opted to start taking live reports from a resident on the front porch of his home on Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville, LA. In some instances, the live reports from this citizen were more compelling and ran higher in the broadcast than The Weather Channel’s own reporter in New Orleans.

That resident is Gerard Braud (Jared Bro). Yes, I’m that Gerard Braud — a former storm chaser and television reporter turned media trainer and crisis communications trainer.

So how and why did the Weather Channel select me. Well, I knew I was seeing something more compelling than anyone else was offering to the network and my journalistic instincts kicked in. I could show images of waves crashing out of Lake Pontchartrain, flooding streets and yards.

I was also able to use the newest technology to bring viewers across the nation directly into the rising floodwaters, while Emergency Managers and Public Information Offices were locked inside Emergency Operations Centers using old technology, otherwise known as the telephone.Braud Communications Plan Flood

Every Emergency Manger and Public Information Officer needs to recognize times are changing and they must change with those times. They must adopt a combination of new Media Training techniques that also teach how to use new technology such as iPhones, iPads and Skype software, in order to report live on the scene for the media.

If you would like to learn more, please download this article that explains how Emergency Managers, Emergency Operations Centers and Public Information Officers can master this new technology as part of their Crisis Communications Plan.

Social Media Revolutions & How to Write a Social Media Policy

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How to Write Your Social Media Policy
March 1st Webinar

Plus the Social Media Revolution – What You Can Learn from Global Events

The time is NOW. Social Media is changing nations. But are you watching from the sidelines or digging in and learning how this affects your communications where you work and with your audience. For all the benefits of Social Media, there is an ugly flip side most people won’t talk about, or fail to recognize, or turn a blind eye to. I’m ready to talk about it.

Join me March 1st for a powerful teleseminar that will cover 2 aspects of the dangers of Social Media. First, learn how to write a Social Media policy that is perfect for your company.  Then we discuss the impact of Social Media during a Crisis, what your leaders don’t understand about Social Media, and what you need to be aware of from this day forward.

Join us for this thought provoking webinar.

Just $79 for your entire team to listen and learn.

Register with this link

Top 3 Goals for Communicators in 2011

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When we look back at the last year and look ahead to this year, I see 3 things that every communicator should do in order to be successful.

The 3 things are:

1) Be strategic

2) Be opportunistic, and

3) Be Persistent

When communicators ask for advice, I often tell them to know the difference between your job and your purpose.

Why is this important? Because everything you do in your job each day should lead you in the direction of your strategic purpose. If it doesn’t lead to your strategic purpose, you shouldn’t be doing it.

One of the best corporate communications departments I’ve ever seen was at Best Buy. For a short time I stepped in as a Vice President and got to see the machine at work.

Each year the team built its strategic communications plans around the company’s strategies for customer service, employee relations, and corporate growth. Hence, all communications was built toward those goals.

Inevitably, during the year, people would rush in asking us to crank out a news release for something they thought was special. My sarcastic reply was, “ask them if they want a burger, fries and large drink with that news release.” In other words, we were not order takers, cranking out releases on demand. We were strategists who helped achieve corporate goals through communications.  We had a plan and we were sticking to it. We were not publicists.

So, #1 is, be strategic. Your job is not to take orders to write news releases. Your job is to know your strategic purpose and communicate toward that purpose.

# 2 is to be opportunistic.  Every year communicators want advice on “how to get a seat at the corporate table.” The answer is to always be opportunistic. So when something big happens in the news, that is the time to contact your leaders and ask for a meeting to discuss how a crisis might affect your company and what strategic communications tools need to be in place.

You’ll be shocked when you read this month’s article about a survey I conducted with IABC following the BP Oil Spill in 2010. It shows just how un-opportunistic communicators are.

For example, there was no better opportunity to get the time or money to write your crisis communications plan or to run your executives through media training, or to conduct a crisis drill, than during and after the BP oil spill. Yet, as you’ll see in the survey, most communicators missed the chance to be opportunistic and get a seat at the table to review long term crisis strategies, strategies that should be part of your annual communications plan.

Most people fail to realize that the crisis communications plan you wrote last year is obsolete or out of date if you don’t update it this year. And your spokespeople will perform as poorly as Tony Hayward if they don’t strategically set aside time in their schedule for media training, at least once a year.

Many communicators think some day they will be magically invited to take a seat at the corporate table. Don’t hold your breath. The only way to get a seat at the table is to be opportunistic and take it. Take the opportunity to show your leader you are looking out for them. Take the opportunity to let them see your face, hear your thoughts and realize you are a strategic thinker and not just an order taker. There are more tips in the article.

And #3 is to be persistent. Because of the recession, many people have had their budgets cut. But just because you are told “no” at the beginning of your calendar year or at the beginning of your budget year, doesn’t mean you can’t go back and ask for funds again later in the year, provided you have a good reason.  For example, if you are told at the beginning of your year that you can’t have funds for media training or a crisis communications plan or drill, go back and ask again while a big crisis is in the news. You see… this ties back to being strategic… and being opportunistic. Wise communicators who do this tell me their bosses almost always free up special funds for special training. Likewise, many CEOs have told me “no” doesn’t mean “no” forever. It only means “no” for right now, under the current conditions with the current reasons.

If you have questions about implementing these strategies, just give me a call at 985-624-9976 and we can talk further.

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