Page 159 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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1 140 Crisis Communication
Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know. Also, be honest – but you don’t
have to tell the whole truth (everything you know).

Conducting the training

Training includes two important aspects – the learning or skill-
building and the practising. The more you practise, the better you’ll
be at crisis communication.
Our combined years of conducting general and crisis communica-
tion training sessions have taught us that the following elements are
essential to successful training.

Training concept 1 – engage the participants from the time
they arrive until they depart

Conduct a short interview with each person as they arrive. The
premise of the interview can be simply to gather information about
their company and their job, with maybe a company-specific ‘zinger’
included to get their attention.
As you build skills – messaging, how to handle tough questions –
conduct additional practice before you transition into the crisis drill.

Training concept 2 – put them on camera
Although participants dread it, training evaluations show they nearly
all say it was the most useful tool of the day. Video playback is a fan-
tastic way for spokespeople to really see how they perform. This is par-
ticularly useful for spokespeople who need to see their own speaking
peculiarities and learn how to control them. Playback is also a great
time to help them focus on the things they are doing well to help build
their confidence, as well as to provide tips on how to improve.

Training concept 3 – include actual journalists as interviewers

We actually disagree about the advisability of using journalists who are
currently working in news. One of us is more comfortable using
reporters, especially from TV, who are not currently working as jour-
nalists. In any event, their presence heightens the realism of the expe-
rience for the participants, and the journalists can provide real-life
experiences with companies that have handled their crisis communi-
cations well and some that have not.