Blog Line

No, I am not a voyeur. The title of this post reflects some comments I made at a recent Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) seminar on crisis communications. My co-presenter was David Willis, of Media Profile. David is a great guy and made a solid presentation. We tag teamed somewhat in that David concentrated on traditional media and I attempted to address the impact of new media on traditional crisis comms. Obviously the biggest impact has been the contraction in time or the “five minute news cycle”. On that front blackberries or running a close second or vice versa with blogs. Basically, there are only a few questions to ask yourself, today. Is there a culture of quick response in your organization? Traditional organizations are used to dealing with traditional deadlines and longtime executives are trained to work within this established culture of responsiveness - particularly organizations that modeled on conventional hierachies. This leads to - Can you reach everyone required at any time? Specifically, if there were a crisis at 2 am could you reach your CEO, Executive Director - whatever the case may be? If you don’t know the answer to that question today, I would advise you to find out. This then leads to - Could you put up a blog or podcast within hours if you needed to? Find out the answer first thing. It is the same as having a flashlight, candles, and a first aid kit in case of a natural disaster.