Using Technology to Enhance
Crisis Communications
Nora Carr, APR, Fellow PRSA
Chief of Staff
Guilford County Schools
“If you don’t prepare, you WILLtake more damage.”
– Jonathan Bernstein, Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc.
Major crisis categories - 2008
2.
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
Sources of negative news
2.
51%
31%
18%
Origins of Crises - 2008
Managers Employees Other
Source: Institute for Crisis Management, Louisville, KY May 2009
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%
Student ridicules veteran teacher on MySpace page by posting his photo online and calling him a pedophile.
Employee LawsuitsWrongful Termination Fortune 500 company Ordered by a court to turn
over any eMail that mentioned the name of a former employee
No policy in place for purging eMail
20,000 back-up tapes, containing millions of messages
Total potential cost for that electronic search: $20 million
Sexual Harassment Employee misuse of
corporate eMail can result in six-figure litigation costs and million-dollar legal settlements
Chevron Corp. was ordered to pay female employees $2.2 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit
Stemmed from inappropriate eMailcirculated by male employees
What have shared with your teachers about the potential for new media mishaps?
Where are you vulnerable?
Issues Admin Staff Students Bldg orCampus
Other
No. 1
No. 2
No. 3
No. 4
1. Protect health, welfare of staff, students, others
2. Fix problem, minimize damage
3. Promote healing, health, unity
4. Restore sense of normalcy
Four goals in every crisis
Be quick. Be accurate. Be consistent.
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
Pre-Crisis Preparations
GCS Crisis Notifications
PRINCIPAL
• 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
• Initiate crisis team (if needed)
• Notify School Safety Office: 370-8995
REGIONAL
SUPER
• 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 [email protected]; [email protected]
CHIEF OF
STAFF
• Call Superintendent, Chief Administrative Officer
• Call Interim Chief Student Services Officer
• COS and CSS coordinate additional district support as needed
• Notify BOE & Cabinet; update as needed
Smart press releases
Contact info includes email, IM address,
Web site URL Core news facts
(bulleted list preferred)
Link and RSS feeds to purpose-built page in del.icio.us
RSS feeds to other news releases
High resolution images
MP3 files for audio of preapproved quotes or Q&A embedded in release
MPV files/digitized video quotes
Hyperlinks to previous coverage
Tags for del.icio.us, Digg, other social bookmarks for easy sharing, uploading
0
1
0
00
5
38
10
88
3 5
52
5
0
5
0 0
11
0
40
80
120
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
School
Union County School
Wake County School
Cabarrus County School
Gaston County School
York County School
Art
icle
s
Total tonality of coverage for Charlotte-Mecklenburg School October 2008
Negative Neutral Positive
“We are always communicating. It’s just a matter of whether we are doing it well, or poorly.”
Communication in Times of CrisisNora Carr, APR, Fellow PRSA
Chief of Staff
Guilford County Schools
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