Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

Crisis Comm Best Practices

Kelli Matthews
September 10, 2018

Crisis Comm Best Practices

Kelli Matthews

September 10, 2018
Tweet

More Decks by Kelli Matthews

Other Decks in Education

Transcript

  1. WHAT WE’LL COVER ‣ WHAT IS A CRISIS? ‣ WHAT

    ARE THE STAGES OF CRISIS? ‣ WHAT IS EFFECTIVE CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS? ‣ WHAT DOES A “REAL” CRISIS LOOK LIKE?
  2. TEXT WHAT’S A CRISIS? “… a significant business disruption which

    stimulates extensive news media coverage. The resulting public scrutiny will affect the organization’s normal operations and also could have a political, legal, financial and governmental impact on its business.” 
 -- Institute for Crisis Management
  3. SUDDEN CRISIS VS. SMOLDERING CRISIS Sudden: Occurs without warning Smoldering:

    Business problem not known or recognized, but may become “known”
  4. Tell it FIRST, tell it FAST and tell them what

    you’re going to do about it! ! What happened ! How do you feel about it ! What are you doing about it ! Guidance to media
  5. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? ▸Know what you want to say.

    What are your key points? ▸Have a written statement & company backgrounder ▸Hold media conference as soon as possible. ▸Email & post release or statement. ▸Follow up call to most important media outlets.
  6. WHAT ROLE, SOCIAL MEDIA? ▸ Disseminate Information ▸ Relieve media

    queries (via phone) ▸ Thought leadership ▸ Humanize & personalize ▸ Provide company’s point of view ▸ Create outlet for advocacy 
 (if appropriate)
  7. THE REALITY OF CRISES TODAY ▸Erupt with unprecedented speed ▸People

    have an insatiable thirst for news ▸Anyone can break news ▸Porous boundaries between social & mainstream media From: Tactical T
  8. TEXT FIRST PHASE: JUST THE FACTS ▸ Who? ▸ What?

    ▸ When? ▸ Where? ▸ Feeding the media beast.
  9. FEEDING THE MEDIA BEAST THE OREGONIAN KEZI MSNBC REGISTER-GUARD KVAL

    CNN REUTERS KEX RADIO ASSOCIATED PRESS TODAY SHOW (NBC) ABORIGINAL VOICES RADIO SEATTLE TIMES KUGN ROSEBURG NEWS REVIEW KPNW NBC NIGHTLY NEWS GOOD MORNING AMERICA (ABC) DOUGLAS COUNTY NEWS KATU FIREHOUSE.COM INSIDE EDITION KGW KOIN NW CABLE NEWS
  10. SECOND PHASE: PERSONALIZING THE STORY ▸ Who were the people

    involved? ▸ What’s the human interest?
  11. THE SECOND NEWS CYCLE Day 2 and 3 Personalizing the

    Story What we said… “They were closer than most and the hole they leave is enormous…” “We’re just like family…it’s like losing your own sons..” “They were fine, well trained firefighters who knew our safety rules… “One of best safety records in industry” What they said: “Crew was ‘band of brothers’ linked by loyalty, now death” The Oregonian “Boss of fire crew, Oregon town stunned by loss of 8 young men in crash” Seattle PI “Ill fated crew lauded as hard and safe workers” Roseburg News Review
  12. THIRD PHASE: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? ▸ Is it a

    trend? ▸ Do policies need to change?
  13. THIRD NEWS CYCLE ▸Why did this happen? Is this a

    trend? “Inquiry Looks at No Passing Zone”
 - The Oregonian, August 27 “Youth, Inexperience, Grueling Hours Increase Accident Risk”
 - The Oregonian, August 27 “Loss of Logging Leaves Few Options for Ore. County’s Young”
 - Associated Press, September 1 “Firefighters’ Families Begin to Search for Answers to Crash”
 - KATU Channel 2, August 27 “Training Questioned in Firefighter Deaths”
 - OPB News, August 25 “First Strike Safety Record is Solid”
 - The News Review, August 27 “Ill-fated Fire Crew Lauded as Hard and Safe Workers”
 - The News Review, August 27 “Ill-fated Fire Crew Praised as Safe and Well-Organized”
 - KATU, August 27
  14. THE ALCOHOL ALLIGATOR On our alligator hunt, we found out

    the following: • Alex Pulaski from The Oregonian called and told us that he’d spoken to a convenience store clerk that says he sold beer to the First Strike Firefighters in Vale (20 miles from crash site). • About 2 weeks later, Sherriff Bentz called and told us that preliminary tests showed the driver had a .13 Blood Alcohol Content
  15. ALCOHOL: MESSAGES & STRATEGIES ▸ Take the steam out of

    the sheriff’s report by jumping to solution rather than defending any practices and put the statement out. ▸ Acknowledge weaknesses in company policies that were brought to light by the accident. Remind the audiences of the company’s excellent safety record and performance evaluations. ▸ Tell audiences how you feel about what has happened. As president of a good company, Bob will do whatever is necessary to learn from it and address areas of weakness. ▸ Acknowledge the truth, but bridge back to your feeling about what happened, what you’re already doing and what you plan to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
  16. We are saddened to learn that the Malheur Sheriff’s department

    investigation of the tragic First Strike traffic collision August 24 indicates that alcohol was a factor. We are struggling to come to terms with this news. They were trained. They knew better than to drink and drive. However, this news today does not take away the fact that they were elite firefighters who gave the best of themselves to their love of firefighting. I am proud of my firefighters and my company. STATEMENT
  17. FIGHTING BACK AND STAYING COOL
 FSE MEDIA RELEASES 9/4 FSE

    to use fresh drivers 10/20 FSE schedules drug and alcohol training 10/31 Families to receive donations 11/6 ODF lifts suspension as training completed 11/18 FSE files motion to dismiss; ‘Company is a victim, not a defendant, says attorney’ 11/18 Retest shows FSE driver not drunk 2/4 Judge dismisses charge; DA admits toxicology no good, SAIF agrees 2/18 Malheur County D.A. drops all charges against First Strike Environmental
  18. BEST PRACTICES ▸ Respond quickly, accurately, professionally, with care ▸

    Be transparent and accessible ▸ Treat perceptions as fact ▸ Acknowledge mistakes ▸ Tailor messages to address the “angry” party ▸ Note other side’s concerns ▸ Make no public confrontations ▸ Emphasize existing relationships
  19. Richard Moore | Ricky Ruiz | Paul Gibson | Mark

    Ransdell | Leland Price
 Jesse James | Jeff Hengel | Matt Hammer Shawn Blazer | Scott Charleson 
 Edrik Gomez | Caleb Renno | Bryan Rich | David Steele