Creating Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Communication Plans

1. Creating Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Communication Plans Annette Gonzales Taylor Director of Communications Cynthia Gill Bates New Media Specialist

2. Who is your audience during a crisis? Source: http://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/crisis

3. Types of Crises • Natural Disasters (Tornado, Fires, Floods, etc.) • Negative news events involving thedioceseor organization (Lawsuits, Incidents, etc.) • Helping families who have suffered loss (High profile funerals, victims of crime, etc.)

4. First Things First: You NEED a Point Person!

5. In this day and age of the 24-hour news cycle and instant sharing of information through social media, IT HAS BECOME CRUCIAL to have an experienced Communications professional.

6. Role of the Communications Director • Responsible for all internal and external communications • Serves as the official spokesperson • Handles all public relations matters • Communicates with local and national media regarding stories or issues involving organization and its entities • Oversees online presence (website, social media) • Available during off-hours for emergency response and Communications coordination

7. Why have a Director of Communications? • To direct the message • To serve as the spokesperson and primary contact for your organization • To determine the most appropriate member of the team to deliver the message • To prepare those who will share the message with the media or public • To build relationships with local media • To assist all entities of the organization to get out the most appropriate and positive message

8. Crisis Management Team • Create a small group of key decision makers who meet immediately when a crisis is reported to share facts, etc. • Discuss options on releasing information • Make recommendation to Bishop/ Pastor/ CEO/GM • Assign internal and external Communications tasks with deadlines Diocese of Dallas has 3-person team consisting of Senior staff who regularly advise the Bishop

9. When to call your Communications Director Call the Communications Director as soon as possible • When crisis situations have occurred • When media has called or is on church/school property • Call BEFORE the funerals of law enforcement, firefighters and service men and women who have died in the line of duty

10. How to reach your audiences

11. How to reach your audiences Parishioners & COMMUNITY

12. Parishioners and Community Communications channels that will help get the word out in an emergency situation • Email lists • Mass texts (Flocknote, etc.) • Online (website, social media) • Local media

13. Who Uses Social Media? • 65% of adult Internet users use social networking sites • 63% of people with disabilities use social media Source: http://www.flghc.org/docs/2013TS/TS-11-2.pdf

14. Challenges in Using Social Media During a Crisis Source: http://www.flghc.org/docs/2013TS/TS-11-2.pdf

15. How to reach your audiences EMPLOYEES

16. Employees • Include emergency response plan in employee handbook • Conduct emergency response training on-site • When weather might occur (ice, tornadoes, etc), remind employees of the safety procedures and communications channels before the weather hits • Instruct employees that all media requests must be referred to the Director of Communications

17. How to reach your audiences MEDIA RELATIONS

18. The Media-How We Are Alike We are all professionals and have a job to do. We all are working for the good of our client or organization. Most of us have a boss to whom we answer. We all think we are right

19. The Media –How we are different Reporters are working on immediate and urgent deadlines and need information now. Attorneys like a little more time to prepare and research. Communications/PR Specialists are usually somewhere in the middle. Attorneys don’t wait to divulge information, don’t like the people you represent to sit before camera and microphone to do interviews, reporters are all about providing as much information as possible to their viewers. And, again PR people are somewhere in the middle.

20. Media Relations during a Crisis • Remember that there is right way and a wrong way to decline an interview • In a cordial manner, advise the media representative that diocesan policy requires that all media requests be referred to the Director of Communications • Do not hide your face, push or shove the camera or media personnel, or get involved in any type of heated exchange. Simply continue to request that diocesan policy be followed • Do not allow children to be interviewed or be photographed without prior consent from their parent or guardian

21. Never say “No Comment” Throw the dog a bone!

22. Why is good Communications important in Stewardship? Donors are greatly impacted by what they see in the media (TV, radio, social media) This information can create a negative or a positive response

23. Get Positive Coverage in the Media Make sure to develop a relationship of trust and reliability with the media before a crisis happens • Notify your Director of Communications about notable events or people in your church or school so that he or she can pitch them as “feel good” stories to local media • When planning events, think about including some "action" aspect • Not every event will be deemed "newsworthy" by the media - you will probably not get coverage of every story idea you have

24. But you might get lucky and call on a slow news day …

25. How to reach your audiences Survivors affected by the incident & their families

26. Communicating in response to Major Humanitarian Crises Broadcast information to survivors and those impacted by regional/ national/ international crises: • Where people can go for help • Where people can donate goods and funds to help victims • Special collections in the parish • Catholic Charities • Catholic Relief Services • Charitable organizations such as St. Vincent de Paul • Sharing special prayers for those affected by the specific event (website, social media)

27. Crisis Communications Strategy Information Technology and Web Presence

28. Crisis Communications: IT Major items to put in place right now • Back up your data • Share your passwords and accounts • Build your online Communications channels now, so that they are well-formed when you need them

29. Back up your data Questions to ask your IT Director • What is your backup schedule for your computers/laptops? • Where is your network server? • Where are your databases located (parish memberships, payroll, etc.)?

30. Share your website and social media passwords & accounts • Share master list of accounts and passwords with at least 2 people • Keep this list in the cloud (Google Docs, Dropbox, etc.) • Train people to use these accounts • Add multiple administrators to Facebook, etc.

31. Build your Communications channels • Create a blog with an RSS feed • Maintain an email list of parishioners or diocesan employees • Start a Fan Page on Facebook • Have your Bishop or Priest join Twitter • Use Hootsuite to manage social media content

32. Your #1 To Do if you use Hootsuite for Social Media • TURN OFF all scheduled tweets when a crisis hits

33. Social Media during a crisis • Monitor what is being said about the crisis on Twitter • Learn how to use hashtagsand social media search to monitor online chatter • Be authentic and respond as much as possible • Don’t ignore negative comments and hope they go away – because they won’t • After the crisis, debrief and evaluate how things were handled and how things can be done better the next time around

34. For more information and a copy of this presentation www.cathdal.org/emergency

35. Thank you, and God Bless! Annette Gonzales Taylor Director of Communications agtaylor@cathdal.org Cynthia Gill Bates New Media Specialist cbates@cathdal.org