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 […]
Sponsors Cut Ties After Maria Sharapova Drops Drug-Test Bombshell
From Ragan’s PR Daily: When tennis star Maria Sharapova hastily called a press conference, many reporters expected the athlete would be announcing her retirement. Instead, Sharapova dropped a startling admission: She had failed a recent drug test for the Australian Open. Sharapova’s drug test results came back positive for meldonium, a drug used to treat […]
The Mistakes That Make a PR Crisis Even Worse
From Entrepreneur Magazine: Managing a public relations crisis feels like piloting an out-of-control plane. You want to minimize the damage, not point the nose toward Earth and push the throttle. Keep your business from going into an uncontrollable free fall by avoiding these big PR mistakes. Don’t reinforce what everyone is saying. In 2012, Matt […]
Shape Up Your Body Language (Six Eternal Truths)
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] If I had a share of Apple stock for every time I’ve been asked “what should I do with my hands?” in my nearly 20 years of facilitating presentation training and media training, well… It goes without saying that as a presenter, you must rehearse your material until you have […]
The Definitive Guide to Selecting The Right Spokesperson
[By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications] One of the most common decisions we encounter when clients face a crisis situation is helping them choose the individual who will serve as their spokesperson. Rarely does anyone volunteer for this assignment and most draftees accept it with grudging resignation. In truth, being a spokesperson is a high-risk job […]
Why Cleveland’s Reputation Can Survive Republican National Convention Protests
[By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications] As of July, I’ll be able to say I’ve worked in the cities that played host to two of the last three Republican National Conventions. Given that I was in St. Paul, Minnesota, serving as editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press during the 2008 RNC, people have asked what […]
Crisis Management and Your Reputation in the Supercharged Era of “Confirmation Bias”
[By Howard Fencl and Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications] It’s a nightmare scenario in every organization’s 21st century communications plan: Your reputation is under attack and it’s all playing out on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Social media trolls light a digital wildfire, igniting a massive, cascading misinformation campaign about your business. Rumors, false accusations and outright […]