Breaths Of Fresh Air: The Art Of The Terry Gross Interview
From an article written by John Myers for AudibleRange.com: In January, I joined Audible’s Original Content team after spending seven years as a producer at National Public Radio’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. There, part of my job involved homing in on the most interesting parts of an interview: distilling longer conversations into tight, broadcast-ready […]
The Globe Can Spin; You Must Not
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] I recently returned from a media training assignment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and had a communications revelation: whatever your corner of the world, whatever your language, to gain the upper hand in a news interview, you must arm yourself with clear, quotable messages, you must believe them, and you must […]
Turning Crisis Into Victory as a Keynote Speaker
Mark Schaefer writes: In my career as a keynote speaker, I know that something can (and will) go wrong, and I like to think I’m prepared for anything. But after eight years as a keynote speaker, I came up against a crisis that turned into one of my most successful presentations ever. I wanted to […]
4 Crisis Communications Lessons from Kellogg’s
The way an organization reacts in the first hours of a crisis will probably determine whether it succeeds or fails in regaining public trust. The way brand managers at Kellogg Co. recently esponded to the release of a video depicting a disgruntled employee should serve as a model for handling a PR crisis. When crisis […]
You Can’t Spin Your Way Out of Bad Behavior
A colleague of ours, Don Etling, said it best: You can’t spin your way out of bad behavior. The Penn State situation exemplifies that. Joe Paterno & Co. knew that Jerry Sandusky was abusing children – and they looked the other way. They didn’t have a communications problem – they had a performance problem. Volkswagen is […]
Power Posing: Fake It Until You Make It
We ran this piece from the Harvard Business Review a number of years ago. This week, it showed up on our radar screen and given the tremendous response received last time, we thought it worthwhile to run again. Nervous about an upcoming presentation or job interview? Holding one’s body in “high-power” poses for short time […]
Engaging and Informing Employees During a Crisis
Most crisis communication plans depend at least somewhat on the ability and willingness of employees to come to work – but that assumption may not be valid. According to a Deloitte study, including employees in pre-crisis planning and keeping them updated during an organizational emergency are critical to ensuring their participation and maintaining consistent communications […]
Officials Use Twitter to Spread Information, Share Condolences After Brussels Attacks
Only four months after terrorist attacks rocked Paris, professionals’ crisis communications were put to the test as terrorists hit Brussels. On Tuesday morning, two explosions went off in the check-in area of Brussels Airport. Shortly after those attacks—at least one of which, Belgium’s federal prosecutor said, was likely caused by a suicide bomber—a third blast […]
How SeaWorld & the Humane Society Came Together
For decades, animal-rights activists have gone after SeaWorld and its Orca entertainment and breeding programs. And for years, SeaWorld has fought-off those activists, in the Court of Law, as well as the Court of Public Opinion. Rather than continue to fight in those two courtrooms, SeaWorld did a dramatic turnabout, announcing in full-page print and television […]
Training Near Terror
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] On March 22, Bruce Hennes and I were leading a day-long crisis management/media training program in the Netherlands when explosions ripped through Brussels Airport and the Maelbeek metro station. Though the terror struck more than 100 miles south of our training room, everyone’s smart phones immediately began dinging and beeping […]