Date post: | 17-May-2015 |
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Crisis CommunicationDisaster shouldn’t mean silence
2011.07.20
brownsville325 East Park Drive
Brownsville, TX 78520
956.266.9613
houston945 McKinney
Suite 115Houston, TX 77002
281.793.5928
san antonio23705 IH-10 West
Suite 209San Antonio, TX
78257210.824.3229
gilbertovelasquez.com/docs/disastercom.pdf
Audience Messaging
Opening Statement
Gilberto Velasquez & Associates lives by one single core belief:
Amat Victoria Curam
“Victory loves preparation”
We believe, in all things, that proper preparation prevents poor performance. This is why we believe in preparing and presenting not only
those things which are requested, we expand upon the possibilities.
This document, prepared for Sandra Fernandez, is part of our commitment to local government & non-profit entities to enable you to be prepared so
that you remain victorious no matter what the challenge.
Lessons learned herein were drawn from the Gallery Furniture fire.
gilbertovelasquez.com
wheel of readiness
Wheel of Readiness
Leverage the Wheel
From infrastructure to returning back to normalcy, make note of your organization’s role in the community (both citizen and business communities)
Build aspects of your wheel according to your abilities (are you a team of 3 or 3,000 or somewehre in between?)
Don’t be afraid to use emergent technologies or media exchanges
Don’t forget the old media channels, they matter as well
Check ego at the door
gilbertovelasquez.com
infrastructure
Wheel of Readiness
Before developing a comm plan for disasters – where are you on the building itself?• Are your servers stuffed in the rear of the janitor’s closet?• Is your server room the intern’s work area?• Do you have a dedicated secure hardline for linking to the servers from an external source ?
Make critical changes to your infrastructure now before disaster strikes Think like Sun Tzu in the Art of War: "The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of
the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”
Put servers, comm, and telephony in the place most resistant to the elements if you cannot afford to have the rooms built to fire / hurricane / disaster resistant standards
gilbertovelasquez.com
data back-up
Wheel of Readiness
There are a host of data back-up plans available on the market – many offer government and NPO / QGO discounts
Don’t rely on the intern backing stuff up on his thumb drive
Ensure at least two people have access to the data – one IT personnel and one member of executive staff (preferably not the head of the organization in the event of a military or terrorist threat)
Automate the data back-up – the front desk secretary should not be the one scheduling the daily back-up
Plenty of choices and stylesAvailable: Pick a plan.
gilbertovelasquez.com
designated comm tree
Wheel of Readiness
Designate who will say what when disaster strikes, and account for their whereabouts
• Designate the Disaster PIO• Designate the Twitter & Facebook Posters• Designate the Blog & Tumblr Writers• Designate the Email Traffic handler for your
“common accounts” (like info@ or media@) In the event any one of the above become
unavailable for contact, make sure each one has a back-up person for them, or that others are adequately trained to pick up the slack
Keep the flow going, everyone needs to at minimum send copies of work
Remember, FORGIVE errors
gilbertovelasquez.com
alternate channels used
Wheel of Readiness
Now that you have the people on the comm tree in place, make sure that the public is aware of these alternate communication channels
Ensure everyone internally and externally has your Email addresses spelled correctly, Twitter account handle, and Facebook / Tumblr URLs
Daily issue progress / status reports on where you are, what has been accomplished, and don’t be afraid to publicize set-backs (you’d be surprised at volunteers who step-up to the plate to help)
In these times, landlines of your entity may not be available, don’t fear giving out cell phone numbers publicly to those who can handle the communications – we live in a world where instant communication and being able to get someone is now required, not a luxury
While using your alternate channels, you will need to be prepared to understand that many people will become “faces” of the institution in the public eye – that happens: check your ego at the door and focus on getting your institution back to 100% readiness
gilbertovelasquez.com
migration back
Wheel of Readiness
As you slowly come back on line, whether at a temporary location or other, and when all data channels are restored, bring everything back to your Standard Operating Procedures
Individuals who may have inadvertently become part of the public face need to now tone-down themselves and allow the institutional norms and pre-disaster public perception to come back
gilbertovelasquez.com
Message Delivery
Once you get back, you need to make an immediate assessment of the disaster communications plan you have in place, ask yourself the following questions:• Did we execute the plan as laid out?• Did we make changes as we went, and if those changes impacted positively,
should we implement them in the future or was this a one-off situation?• What changes SHOULD have been made, and how will we roll those in?• Was the plan an overall failure or success?
Based on your answers above, work internally and with external consultants to determine your best practices in reworking your disaster communication plan
return to normalcygilbertovelasquez.com
audience messaging
Audience Messaging
Audience MessagingMessaging during a disaster needs to be accurate, professional, and CAN
be somewhat emotional. People need to know that you, and your organization, are human. This is your chance to gain a positive valence
with a new audience, and take a European approach: show your humanity. That gains more respect and added value.
audience messaginggilbertovelasquez.com
audience messaging
Audience Messaging
Audience Messaging
You are interconnectedYou are interconnected
Your community is a part of you – that community is inclusive of both people and companies that make the society
your institution resides in function.
From brand identity to public relations, traditional media to social media, government to industry, a disaster communication plan allows your
messaging to remain active with this community.
The designated PIO for disaster has to not only execute the plan, but assure they have a head-check and let things
happen. Mistakes will be made in messaging, be ready for that – correct,
forgive and move on.
Your community is a part of you – that community is inclusive of both people and companies that make the society
your institution resides in function.
From brand identity to public relations, traditional media to social media, government to industry, a disaster communication plan allows your
messaging to remain active with this community.
The designated PIO for disaster has to not only execute the plan, but assure they have a head-check and let things
happen. Mistakes will be made in messaging, be ready for that – correct,
forgive and move on.
gilbertovelasquez.com
Audience Messaging
Closing StatementGilberto Velasquez & Associates reminds you:
Plans always look great on paper, but even Donald Rumsfeldthought Iraq was going to be a cake walk when he had it typed out.
To that end, we value one other piece of wisdom gained from ol’ “Rummy” that we take heart to in every endeavour we get into:
You go to war with the army you have, not the army you want.
Too often, marketing and brand / PR firms advise you on pie-in-the-sky tactics, always keep in mind when designing a plan that you work with the best of what you have can
immediately obtain. Don’t rely on ideal concepts of hardware, software, telephony, etc.
When you have a firm grasp of your own reality, then you can make a realistic communication disaster plan that leverages your institutional strengths.
gilbertovelasquez.com