I attended the “Managing PR in a Crisis” panel discussion at the New England Expo. John Kellogg, Sr. Public Relations Strategist at Commonwealth Creative Associations was the moderator. The three panelists were Donna Morrisey, Director of Public Relations and Corporate Affairs at the American Red Cross, Tomas Lee, Partner and Director of Public Relations at 451 Marketing, and Vic Beck, U.S. Navy Chief of Media Relations Multi-National Force-Iraq.

The first topic centered around recognizing a crisis. Donna said it was important to have a plan and train your staff to identify something and react. She gave an example from her position with the American Red Cross. She said that they had been scaling down collections to more tightly manage the blood supplies they had due to expiration dates. The Boston Globe printed an article that the American Red Cross didn’t need any more blood, which was the complete wrong message. Donna said that it was important to get the information up the ladder and out to the press as fast as possible. She said that PR people, especially with new technology, need to be available at a moment’s notice.

Tom said sometimes a crisis can take you by surprise, and sometimes you can avoid them. He said you need to have a protocol because, chances are, a crisis is going to happen. “If you have a business long enough,” he said, “you are going to have a crisis situation.”

Donna said to create a crisis protocol, you need to establish who is authorized to speak, who has access, and how to communicate internally and externally in the beginning, middle and in the aftermath of a crisis.

Vic said it is important to keep the culture of an organization in mind when creating a crisis plan of action. He said that in the Navy, “We practice, we prepare, and we train. The same thing holds true for communication. Prepare now so you can be reactive in a crisis situation.”

Tom said that one time he was burned by the Boston Globe while working at MWRA. “Some reporters never call for a good reason,” he said, “they are looking for trouble. If you want to see if you can trust a reporter, give them something that you say is off the record and see if he prints it- something that won’t come back and bite you.” When a reporter asked him how many people worked at the MWRA, he said he wouldn’t give an answer on the record until he could get the exact number the next morning at his office and instead gave the reporter an off-the-record ballpark that was double the actual number. The next morning, The Globe reported a story that the MWRA was bloated and had too many people and Tom got to call him back and say “We cut our staff in half overnight. ”

Tom also said it is human nature to answer someone and give them all the information you have, but you need to train yourself to give a forthright answer so you don’t look like you are hiding anything, but one that promotes stability and works to fix the crisis.

Then each panelist gave their five top principles for PR in a crisis.

Vic Beck

1. Preparation.
2. Transparency and honesty.
   
3. Clarity.
   
4. Accuracy.
   
5. Communication channels: what are you going to communicate to whom.

Vic said speed comes after all of that.

Tom Lee

1. Prepared phone list of legal department and pr person.
2. Get all the facts. Stay calm, don’t ask how it happened but ask how to fix it.
3. Find your own vulnerabilities.
4. Air a response: clear, concise, to the point. Make each sentence stand on its own- it will be chopped up and taken out of context. Stick with your response and make it reassuring and strong. Monitor the messages out there via twitter and other social media platforms.
5. Take action: sometimes you need to fire someone, change a policy, hire an expert or create a solution.

Donna Morrisey

1. Have a plan, flu preparedness.
2. Don’t put anything in writing you don’t want everyone to see.
3. Be mindful of the cycle of news. If you miss a deadline, you will be reacting, not proactive.
4. Have a seat at the table, have a voice.
5. Be mindful of the court of law versus the court of public opinion.

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