Public Relations Presentation and Communication Skills (2011/10)

Lecture 9Crisis Communications

Developed and Presented by

Roy Ying, Msc., B.Comm.

Note: Pictures used in this power point file

is for academic Purpose only

DA010 - Professional Diploma in Public Relations - COMM6005EP

What do we mean by crisis?

Risk, incident & crisis management

Media protocol & action hierarchy

Emergency Personnel Team

• You – as PR manager

• Spokesperson (1-2)

• Phone team (talk to media)

• Researcher and writer

• Decision maker

• Legal council, if applicable

First determine what’s wrong, e.g.

• Human error

• Clerical error

• Unauthorized procedures

• Inadequate supervision

• Inadequate quality control

• Misuse of confidential information

• Errors of judgement

• Inadequate standard operating procedures

Develop your core message

• You want this message to be heard in every step of how people assimilate news

Prepare different version of core

message for different media

Prepare different version of core

message for different media

Media cycle

Media Statement Preparation

Tell everyone your core message!

1. Emergency Personnel Team

2. Board of Directors

3. Employees

4. Members

5. Other Stakeholders

Example – Michael Jackson

• Died on 25 June, 2009

Crisis communications

• "The world lost a kind soul who just happened to be the greatest entertainer the world has ever known," Randy Phillips, chief executive of AEG Live, said in a statement. "Since he loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death.“

29 June 2009

Emergency crisis media interview

Designated Spokespersons

• Must be a senior officer

• Interest and empathy

• Honesty and authenticity

• Responsive and proactive

• Open to criticism

• A good story teller

Lack of crisis communications

preparation

Interview skill - Bridging• Don’t Know: I don’t know, but I can tell

you…

• Time: That may have been the case in the

past. Now we are…

• Importance: That once was important. What

is most important now is…

• Completing: I think you would have a more

complete picture if you considered…

• Yes and No: No, let me explain. Yes, and

furthermore…

1. A list of the members of the crisis management team

2. Contact information for key officers, spokespeople, and crisis management team members

3. Fact sheets on the company, each division, each physical location, and each product offered.

4. Profiles and biographies for each key manager in your company

7 Must Have Elements in Your Crisis Communication Kit

5. Copies of your company, division and product logos, your press release format and the scanned in signature of your CEO on disk

6. Pre-written scripts answering key questions that you have generated through your crisis scenario analysis

7. Contact information for each of your key media contacts both locally, nationally, and if appropriate, key financial press and analysts.

7 Must Have Elements in Your Crisis Communication Kit

Key considerations

Crisis media strategy should…

Remember…

What NOT to do

Using the 10 golden rules

• Outline what you think the Tokyo Electric could have done a better job in communicating this crisis to the public

Credit: Ike Pigott