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10 a.m. Update – Hurricane Zeta will be hitting me today. I am evacuating. I may or may not be on the chat during the presentation. Feel free to Tweet to me real-time @gbraud or email me real-time at gerard@braudcommunications.com and I will answer your questions. Crisis Communications in the Age of COVID-19: PRSA ICON 2020 Presentation

It was both the weirdest and most challenging presentation to prepare for. After years of preparing my presentations for PRSA, this particular presentation for PRSA ICON2020 has adapted and evolved in a number of ways due to the smoldering COVID-19 crisis.

What I can promise to you crisis communications and public relations professionals, is valuable lessons on what has gone right, what has gone wrong, what we can do moving forward, case studies, tools, and takeaways that you can start using immediately in your organization.

https://youtu.be/67jG8M4pDR8

See you on October 28, 3PM Eastern Time.

Download the slides here if you would like to prepare, take notes, review, or debrief: https://braudcommunications.com/prsa/

Use this link to schedule a free, private call, or in other words, a virtual “drink” with me after the presentation to debrief, discuss, and ask questions: https://calendly.com/braud/15min

For the video course to write your crisis communications plan visit: https://braudcommunications.com/5-steps-to-effective-crisis-communications/

Twas the Night Before Christmas With Edits

By Gerard Braud

The poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas, is only 56 lines long. As writing goes, it’s pretty perfect. But we all know there are people where you work, who feel compelled to make edits, no matter how perfect your writing is. Maybe it’s the CEO or CFO, or an engineer, IT guy, accountant, doctor, or even the lawyer. Sure, they just want it to be more accurate and legally correct. But are all of those edits really necessary?

So for those of you who feel compelled to make edits, and to those of you who have been victimized by a red pen, I offer to you this special version of the poem, with edits. ©2018

Twas the Night Before Christmas With Edits

 

 Twas the nocturnal period preceding the annual Christian festival, when throughout the domicile

 

No one of consequence was moving, including the rodents

 

Long socks receptacles were suspended near the thermal unit, with safety as a top priority

in expectation that a legendary Christian Bishop, born in the region of modern day Turkey, in or about 280 A.D., who was later Canonized by the Pope, would arrive post-haste

 

The humans below the legal age of majority, were reclined comfortably within their sleeping apparatuses

 

While apparitions of dehydrated fruit, filled their subconscious

 

And the maternal figure donning a headscarf, and I, in a consensual relationship, did likewise

 

Had just reached a state of extended hibernation

 

When in an external grassy zone, a ruckus occurred

 

I spontaneously ejected myself from my sleeping device, to evaluate the situation

 

Away to an opening in the wall I expedited myself

 

With vigor, I forcefully opened a set of protective panels

 

The satellite of the earth unified with the flakes of ice crystals

 

Gave the reflective quality of noon, to objects below

 

When, while visibly curious there appeared

 

A smaller than common vehicle of transport and eight proportional deer, common to subarctic regions

 

With a demure heavy equipment operator, so agile and prompt

 

I surmise instantly that it must be the aforementioned Saint

 

More rapid than birds of prey, the mammals came

 

And he exuded a high-pitched sound, then proclaimed their given names

 

You may Google the historic names if necessary, since corporate policy prohibits us from releasing names without consent… and because some of the names imply behavior that may be deemed as inappropriate or suggestive, and not in keeping with our policies regarding sexual harassment in the workplace

 

To the top of covered shelter protecting the entrance to our domicile

To the top of the vertical structure supporting the inner and outer cladding

 

Now run or travel somewhere in a great hurry, bolt, and/or gallop

 

As foliage void of moisture within a tropical cyclone, having winds exceeding 74 miles per hour

 

When they encountered structures that hindered forward progress, they accelerating upward

 

So up to the structure’s ridgeline the beast maneuvered

 

With the vehicle at capacity with objects of play; and the Bishop inside as well

 

And then like chimes, I heard on the ridgeline

 

The exaggerated movement, and clatter of horny feet

 

As I extracted my head from the framed opening, and was moving in a circular motion

 

Down the vertical channel for combustion gases, came the Saint, with great haste, void of OSHA required protective gear

 

His wardrobe consisted of natural mammal pets with hair still attached, covering his entirety, much to the protest of certain animal rights activist

 

The garments were discolored with combustion residue

 

A sum of replicas were suspended to the rear of his torso

 

And like a merchant of goods, he displayed all of his wares

 

His visual organs – how they reflected the light

His facial indentions exhibited great joy

 

His face just below his eye socket, was reminiscent of blooming thorn-filled plants; his nostril area like ripe, round fruit

 

His pursed lips, they provoked such dry amusement

 

And his unshaven facial hair was similar in color to the crystalized precipitation

 

The extension of a tobacco burning device was clinched within the enamel-coated structures of his jaw

 

And cancer causing carbon particles were visible in a circular shape

 

His facial structure was wider than it was tall

His spherical abdominal region


Vibrated upon guffaw, resembling a food basin at capacity with sweet, semisolid preserve

 

His weight-to-height ratio was disproportionate; while he correctly personified a character portrayed in a seasonal holiday movie classic starring Will Ferrell

 

And there was humor in his antics, despite my presence

 

A non-flirtatious closing one eye, and a rotation of his neck

 

Soon indicated he was friend and not foe and therefore there was no need to seek outside mutual aid

 

He remained silent and demonstrated a commendable work ethic

 

And he filled the long sock receptacles; then made a quick, sudden movement

 

And he placed his index digit beside his nostril trunk

 

And with acknowledgement, he ascended the combustion chamber vent

 

He extradited himself to his transport, then repeated the high-pitched sound

 

And away the individual and his mammals departed through a control ascent in the atmosphere, similar in nature to the seed disbursement mechanism of certain plants

 

But I was able to discern his verbal proclamation as he departed from vision

 

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night… despite the edits.

 

©2018 Diversified Media, LLC dba Gerard Braud Communications

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

Please Pick Me to be Your Media Trainer

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

3 Traps Public Relations Folks Fall Into

spider-web-1031615_19201) Too many people in public relations fail to ask for help when they need it.

There are many sources for expert help and advice. There are great professional organizations like the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRA), and the Southern Public Relations Association (SPRF).

Many members of these associations are willing to pick up the phone for free to answer a simple question. If most don’t know the answer to your question, they’ll gladly refer you to a colleague who is an expert. You could even give them a shout on social media.

2) Public relations folks cause greater problems for themselves by trying to tackle tasks that they are not good at or for which they have no professional passion.

In my own career, my passion for dealing with the media and crisis communications lead me to develop a niche’, rather than opening a full-service PR agency. If I need other aspects of PR, I call other experts who have PR agencies in New Orleans, New York, Toronto or other cities around the world.

Trying to do what you don’t know how to do is noble. Trying, learning, and achieving great things are commendable. But reaching beyond your capabilities often leads to failure, which then leads to you being further undervalued by your employer. Sometimes you get fired when the failure is too big. Often the difference between success and failure is simply asking for professional help.

And based on the personality type, you need to realize that most of your employers do not understand your craft or your profession. They think it is easy. Business leaders think you can work miracles. CEOs expect you to create magic on a shoestring budget. And often you do create magic with no budget and it feels great when you do. But when you do, you reinforce the notion of every CFO that you don’t need a bigger budget to do what you do. In reality, often you need to push back and say, “No, we need an outside expert to help us with that because the value of success is important and a potential failure would be more costly.”

Some of you are blessed to be in organizations with a huge PR team with experts in many areas of social media, internal communications, employee engagement, corporate social responsibility, and media relations. Many of you wear too many hats and do it all by yourself, including marketing, branding, advertising, and customer service.

3) Public relations folks often wear too many hats and do it all by themselves, including marketing, branding, advertising, and customer service.

Before you reach too far and fail, consider picking up the phone and reaching out to a professional colleague to ask for advice, help, and mentorship.

 

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

3 Lessons the Melania Trump Coat Can Teach All Public Relations People

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

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What’s the best piece of public relations advice you were ever given? Sharing follower’s answers

You may have been educated for years on public relations strategies, attending presentations, sitting in classrooms, joining professional PR associations like PRSA or PRSSA, hearing from advisors, professors, instructors, and professional speakers. Maybe you have heard some expert tips from your colleagues, or an influential boss. Maybe you have had some excellent public relations professionals or consultants help you strategize your PR plan for your company, school, hospital, or organization. Crisis communications expert Gerard Braud asked his social media followers, public relations professionals, and media relations experts, “What’s the best piece of public relations advice you were ever given?” Their answers are in and now you and your colleagues can benefit from these excellent answers.

We want you to add to the discussion and comment here and on our social media pages to share some of the best public relations advice you were ever given.

 

This question is one of a series of debates in the media relations, crisis communications, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations with each other. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite-size bits of best practices. Here is how:

Step 1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

Step 2: You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

Step 3: Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

Step 4: Watch the follow-up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

What is your best tip for writing great quotes for news releases?

By Gerard Braud

Each week we seek your best public relations practices on the BraudCast. Your discussion question this week is, “What is your best tip for writing great quotes for news releases?” As a corporate writer or public relations professional, capturing the attention of your audience and writing effective news releases is not an easy task.  That is why I am asking you to contribute by sharing your best advice with your colleagues.

Thumbnail BraudCast

Click image to watch and subscribe to The BraudCast

This question is one of a series of discussion questions about media relations, crisis communications, public relations, and social media. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite size bits of best practices each week. Here is how:

Step 1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

Step 2: You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

3: Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

Step 4: Watch the Follow up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

IABC Calgary Conference Podcast: Top Takeaway Crisis Communications Lessons

Delivering the closing keynote for IABC Calgary. Taking off my pants to prove a point  about the LuLu Lemon crisis of yoga pants wearing thin on the inner thighs.

Delivering the closing keynote for IABC Calgary. Taking off my pants to prove a point about the LuLu Lemon crisis of yoga pants wearing thin on the inner thighs.

As a keynote speaker at the IABC Canada-West Region Conference, I was asked to do a podcast discussing crisis communications lessons for public relations and communications professionals.  Vice President of IABC Calgary, Will Tigley interviews me to talk about crucial communications issues in today’s industry.

Here were a few of the major crisis communications planning aspects to consider that were discussed in the podcast:

First, the need for speed is one of the greatest issues in the industry.  With the speed of Twitter and all social media, there is no longer time to wait multiple hours discussing semantics of a press release.  The key to speed is pre-written news releases. Put the systems in place on a clear sunny day so that when your darkest day comes, you are prepared.

Will Tigley asked, “How do you go from being good at crisis communications to great at crisis communications?” You must have a robust crisis communications plan with pre-written news releases. You must practice in private, media train your spokespeople at least once a year, and act out realistic, high-chaos, yearly crisis communications drills. 

Another aspect to consider in crisis communications planning includes conducting vulnerability assessments. This means walking throughout your organization, interviewing employees, and conducting meetings to determine everything that could ever possibly go wrong.  Categories range from white-collar crimes, to hurricanes, to violence, explosions and even social media crises. Again, these crises are remedied with a simple, yet thorough crisis communications plan, as well as pre-written news releases for each scenario.

If there is one thing to walk away with when leaving the IABC Calgary Conference, or any conference in the future, do not file away your stack of notes. A dream without a deadline is still just a dream. Narrow your list, prioritize it, and set a date to follow through with these crucial crisis communications strategies.

Listen to the podcast here.

BraudCast Answer: When should your CEO be your spokesperson?

By Gerard Braud

Public relations professionals and corporate communications managers have weighed in across the globe to answer the question, “When should your CEO be your spokesperson?” Listen to the video to hear their responses as well as my professional recommendations then share your thoughts.

CEO spokesperson Gerard Braud

Click image to watch

This question is one of a series of debates in the media relations, crisis communications, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations with each other. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite size bits of best practices. Here is how:

Step 1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

Step 2: You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

3: Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

Step 4: Watch the Follow up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

Please Share Your Public Relations Smarts: Here is How

braudcast image

Click image to watch

Because you are so darn smart, it is time to share YOUR smarts. Your bite size bits of best practices are valuable to others just like you. So — ta-dah, drum roll – behold, The BraudCast 2.0 where you are invited to share your best practices in public relations, media relations, social media, crisis communications and employee communications.

Step 1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

Step 2: Each Monday we will pose a question and I’d love to know your opinion.

You can post comments on The BraudCast YouTube Channel, on LinkedIn at Gerard Braud, or on Twitter @gbraud.

Step 3: After you post your opinion, follow the discussion online to compare your approach to those of your professional colleagues.

Step 4: Watch the Friday follow-up video. We’ll share a short video with some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our Friday BraudCast video. And of course, for you, that means fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, etc.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast. The first question begins Monday.

6 PR Questions: Are You a Rug or a Flying Carpet?

Gerard Braud * 15By Gerard Braud

In your public relations and communications role, which are you? Are you a rug or a flying carpet?

My dream is for you to soar as a PR expert, being both a thought leader and a brilliant, innovative, practitioner of your craft. My fear is that you let the so-called leaders in your company walk all over you, dictating what you can and can’t do.

Here are 6 questions to help you determine the answer, if you don’t know it already:

#1 Do your corporate leaders comprehend the monetary benefit of what you do OR do they see you as a financial burden?

#2 Do you hear “no” so often that you are feeling defeated and underappreciated? OR do you get summoned on a regular basis to serve as strategic council?

#3 Is it hard to focus on your tasks and know what your goals are because your leaders spontaneously throw new tasks at you? OR Do your leaders give you room to develop a communications plan with strategic goals and editorial calendars?

#4 Are you in constant reactive mode to emerging issues and crisis communications? OR do your leaders encourage preparation by having a crisis communications plan tested with crisis communications drills?

#5 When it is time to do a media interview, do you hold your breath fearing what your leaders may blurt out to a reporter? OR do your leaders willingly participate in media training and actively prepare for an interview?

#6 Do your leaders lump together tasks such as marketing, graphic design, internal communications, public relations and social media? OR do they recognize that unique talents and skills are needed to properly master each task?

If you are agreeing with the negative premises above, then you are a rug. You allow your employer to walk all over you. You are in a low place. You probably hate your job. Chances are you need to hire a headhunter and find a new job.

If you are agreeing with the positive premises above, then you are a flying carpet who can soar in your career. The sky is the limit. Life is good and rewards will follow.

Life is too short to be unhappy. The decision to control your happiness should be in your hands and not the hands of someone else.

Crisis Communication & Media Hide and Seek: The ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery Explosion

By Gerard Braud

Where is the ExxonMobil news release for the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery explosion? An explosion is a crisis, which requires expert crisis communications. The media would expect information on the corporate news release page. Media want it fast and easy to find.

But look what you find on the ExxonMobil news release page – A fluff release about a summer jobs program.

ExxonMobile-#1-No ReleaseReally ExxonMobil?

Oil may have come from the age of the dinosaurs, but public relations in 2015 shouldn’t be prehistoric in nature.

Is ExxonMobil playing hide and seek with their news release?

At the bottom of the ExxonMobil page I found three social media links. I clicked on Twitter and found a statement that I’ve written about before – the dreaded and preposterous, “Our top priority statement.” The Tweet says, “Our top priority is the safety of our employees, contractors and neighbors in Torrance.” Obviously it isn’t your top priority, otherwise you would not have had an explosion with four people sent to the hospital, right?

ExxonMobil-Twitter-TopPriority

Come on PR people: Enough with the bad clichés that you can’t defend. My top priority is to get public relations people to stop saying, “Our top priority.”

The link on Twitter sends me to this news release page, which did not appear in my initial search. Note the time stamp on the hidden news release – 10 a.m. ET on February 19, 2015. Now note the first sentence of the news release – it indicates the explosion happened at 8:50 a.m. PST on February 18, 2015. If there is an earlier release, it is hidden from me.ExxonMobil-2-release

I have to question, why does it take nearly a day for a news release to be posted? This is absurd. This is 2015 and we live in the age of Twitter. No corporation should go more than one hour before a news release is posted. And don’t blame it on your lawyers or your executives. An expert public relations leader must learn to deal with lawyers and executives before a crisis so that your crisis communications can move with haste and professionalism. Your crisis communication plan should be filled with pre-written and pre-approved news releases. Geez!

Even on Twitter on the day of the explosion there is no ExxonMobil Twitter post related to the explosion, yet citizens are posting images and details about the crisis trending on #torranceexplosion.
ExxonMobil-Twitter-Feb18

Now let us examine the news release as ExxonMobil plays hide the facts and details. Compare the ExxonMobil release that mentions an “incident,” to the headlines on Google, which uses words such as “explosion” and a host of descriptors such as “rips though refinery,” “rocked by large explosion,” etc.

 

ExxonMobil-Google

 

While ExxonMobil uses clichés such as “top priority” and “incident,” the NBC Los Angeles website describes, “Crushed cars, mangled metal, flames and a health warning.” Their lead says, “Hours after an explosion ripped through a Torrance refinery, residents for miles around continue to grapple with ash, a gas odor and concerns over poor air quality…”

Something tells me this was more than an “incident.”

 

ExxonMobil-NBC

In a crisis, it is important for official sources to provide official information. It is also important to control SEO. From a control perspective, the corporation should be controlling the flow of accurate information, rather than surrendering to the rumors and opinions for the public.

In the 2014 Fortune 500 list, ExxonMobil is listed as second. Some might wonder if their PR is second rate.

So what do you think about how ExxonMobil manages its crisis communications?