A crisis can strike at any time and take many forms. Overcoming a crisis will test your organisation to the full. In today’s world of social media and 24-hour news, perception is everything. Your corporate reputation may be in excellent health, but it will come to nothing if a crisis is not managed effectively.
The course looks at communicating with the media, communicating with internal audiences, what a crisis comms plan should contain and the importance of staying in touch with the public mood. The morning session is all about planning while the afternoon allows the participants to leverage their newly acquired knowledge during a crisis simulation.
It’s a friendly and invigorating event and a must for anyone who wants to be crisis ready.
Course Outline
Morning Session
- Top Story
- We consider at a current news story with a crisis PR angle.
- Preparing your response to a crisis
- This session looks at the essential ingredients that will form an effective crisis comms plan.
- The cyber-threat
- Many rate a cyber-attack as among the most damaging to an organisation’s reputation. How does a comms response to a cyber-attack or data-breach differs to other crises?
- Crisis comms and the new threat landscape
- We scrutinise companies and individuals caught up in a media storm. Particular attention is given to the rise of social media and how to combat a digital attack. Case studies include United Airlines ‘re-accommodating’ passengers and the Samsung Note 7 phone bursting into flames.
Afternoon Session
- Crisis Simulation Exercise
- Prior to the event Crisis Solutions will develop a crisis simulation exercise relevant to all participants. The delivery of the exercise will include news stories, social media and TV news broadcasts to ensure the scenario feels as close to a real crisis as possible.
- Delegates will be tasked with formulating a comms plan to tackle the crisis; this will include drafting Q&As, determining lines to take and communicating with both internal and external stakeholders.
- Towards the end of the exercise players will have the opportunity, if they so choose, to face the press.
- They will prepare for and then undertake on-camera interviews. The recordings will be made available to those who take part after the event.
Course objectives:
Participation in this course will help you gain skills and knowledge on:
- What should be contained in a crisis communication plan.
- How a cyber response differs to other emergencies.
- How to manage effective relations with the press.
- How to respond to a social media attack.
- The importance of internal comms during a crisis.
Training level: Advanced
To enroll on this course, please register online or email community@mepra.org
For any additional inquiries, please call Sabrina De Palma, our Executive Director, on +971 55 5318 920
Facilitator: Course leader Jim Preen is a seasoned communications professional with extensive experience of working in the corporate sector. He is Head of Media Services at Crisis Solutions where he provides client specific advice on issues management and creates and tests crisis communication plans. He has two books published by the British Standards Institution: ‘Business Continuity Communications’ and ‘Business Continuity Exercises and Tests’.
Jim is a former journalist who worked for the American network ABC News. He was with the US Marines in Somalia, covered the Concorde crash in Paris and the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk near Murmansk. He won two Emmys while at ABC.
Accreditation: MEPRA has partnered with UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) to establish a continuous professional development (CPD) program. MEPRA members will receive access to CIPR’s CPD platform, which includes more than 1,200 learning resources and enables practitioners to map their training journey and earn their way to becoming MEPRA and CIPR Accredited Public Relations Practitioners. This course is worth 10 CPD points. For more information on CPD and accreditation click here.
Please note that there are no cancellations & refund upon confirmation.
