Crisis Communications Tech
- 1. Using Technology to Enhance Crisis Communications Nora Carr, APR, Fellow PRSA Chief of Staff Guilford County Schools carrn@gcsnc.com
- 2. “If you don’t prepare, you WILL take more damage.” – Jonathan Bernstein, Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc.
- 3. Major crisis categories - 2008 1990 2007 2008 Workplace Violence 3.8% 15.0% 17.0% White Collar Crime 20.4 19.0 17.0 Labor Disputes 10.3 9.0 11.0 Mismanagement 24.1 11.0 10.0 Facility Damage 5.5 7.0 10.0 Casualty Accidents 4.8 7.0 9.0 Class Action Lawsuits 2.2 9.0 5.0 Defects & Recalls 5.4 4.0 4.0 Financial Damages 4.2 4.0 4.0 Consumer Activism 2.8 4.0 4.0 Discrimination 3.3 3.0 3.0 Source: Institute for Crisis Management, Louisville, KY May 2009 2.
- 4. Sources of negative news Origins of Crises - 2008 Managers Employees Other 18% 51% 31% Source: Institute for Crisis Management, Louisville, KY May 2009 2.
- 5. New media mayhem on the job News = 29% Investment = 22.5% Porn = 9.7% Travel 8.2% Entertainment = 6.6% Sports = 6.1% Shopping = 3.5% Other 14.3%
- 6. Student ridicules veteran teacher on MySpace page by posting his photo online and calling him a pedophile.
- 8. Employee Lawsuits Wrongful Termination Sexual Harassment Fortune 500 company Employee misuse of Ordered by a court to turn corporate eMail can result over any eMail that in six-figure litigation costs mentioned the name of a and million-dollar legal former employee settlements No policy in place for Chevron Corp. was ordered purging eMail to pay female employees 20,000 back-up tapes, $2.2 million to settle a containing millions of sexual harassment lawsuit messages Stemmed from Total potential cost for that inappropriate eMail electronic search: $20 circulated by male million employees
- 9. What have shared with your teachers about the potential for new media mishaps?
- 10. Where are you vulnerable? Issues Admin Staff Students Bldg or Other Campus No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4
- 14. Four goals in every crisis 1. Protect health, welfare of staff, students, others 2. Fix problem, minimize damage 3. Promote healing, health, unity 4. Restore sense of normalcy
- 15. Be quick. Be accurate. Be consistent.
- 17. Pre-Crisis Preparations Mass notification system Dark site(s) ready to launch Breaking news header or pop-up for main Web site Database of crisis team, “friends,” VIPs, key publics Pre-written messages; templates “Reader’s Digest” quick guides Scenario-based planning; Drill and practice
- 18. GCS Crisis Notifications • Call 911 or SRO (police, fire, medic) • Call Regional Superintendent and Media Relations Desk: 574-5730 or Haley Miller – 370-3200 or 669-8927/cell • Send email/written report and updates to Regional Superintendent PRINCIPAL • Initiate crisis team (if needed) • Notify School Safety Office: 370-8995 • Call Chief Academic Officer: 370-2313; 451-9528 cell • Call Chief of Staff: 370-8106 or 669-0289/cell or 704-491-3204 • Send email/written report and updates to COA and COS REGIONAL carrn@gcsnc.com; folgere@gcsnc.com SUPER • Call Superintendent, Chief Administrative Officer • Call Interim Chief Student Services Officer • COS and CSS coordinate additional district support as needed CHIEF OF • Notify BOE & Cabinet; update as needed STAFF
- 24. Smart press releases Contact info includes MP3 files for audio of email, IM address, preapproved quotes Web site URL or Q&A embedded in Core news facts release (bulleted list MPV files/digitized preferred) video quotes Link and RSS feeds to Hyperlinks to purpose-built page previous coverage in del.icio.us Tags for del.icio.us, RSS feeds to other Digg, other social news releases bookmarks for easy High resolution sharing, uploading images
- 25. Total tonality of coverage for Charlotte-Mecklenburg School October 2008 120 5 88 0 80 Articles 5 11 38 0 40 0 52 10 0 0 1 5 3 0 0 5 0 Charlotte- Union County Wake County Cabarrus County Gaston County York County Mecklenburg School School School School School School Negative Neutral Positive
- 26. “We are always communicating. It’s just a matter of whether we are doing it well, or poorly.”
- 27. Communication in Times of Crisis Nora Carr, APR, Fellow PRSA Chief of Staff Guilford County Schools carrn@gcsnc.com
- 34. Obama Campaign • MyBarackObama.com users • Deployed social media networks, including Fac • Created 2 million profiles • Planned 200,000 events • Formed 350,000 volunteer groups • Posted 400,000 blogs • Raised $30 million on 70,000 personal Web pages