This was a presentation on crisis communications I made to Nonprofit Connect, an organization of major nonprofits in Kansas City as a request to be part of their expert's breakfast series. Visit Nonprofit Connect at http://www.npconnect.org/

1. Crisis Communications
Management
Taking Advantage of the Calm Before the Storm
Matt Tidwell, APR
Nonprofit Connect – Dialogue Series
July 10, 2012

3. What Have I Learned?
 Crisis
communications planning is not a
“nice to do” … it is a “have to do”
 It’s our job in PR/Communications to
push this agenda so that we can classify
ourselves as a “crisis prepared” entity

4. What is Crisis Communications
Management?
 The
practice of communicating during an
organizational crisis with certain goals –
chiefly to preserve reputation
 A management function, as well as
communications
 Pre-planned
 Integrated and comprehensive

5. A key difference
“Crisis communications”
vs.
“Crisis management”

7. Crisis Typology
Internal
External
Issue that rises to crisis status and
originates from within the organization
Issue that rises to crisis status and
originates from outside the organization
Financial misconduct or misappropriation
Employee misconduct
Medical error or deliberate malpractice
Internal deliberate IT Security breach
Workforce unrest or work stoppage
Fire
Tornado, flood or other severe weather
Violent perpetrator (gunman, hostage)
Massive IT infrastructure failure
Chemical/biological agent spill exposure
Supply shortage
Facility failure (e.g. elevators, food service)
Regulatory sanctions
Chemical/biological terrorism
External investigation by govt./reg. agency
Out-of-town workforce accident/fatality
Massive utility failure (electric, gas, etc.)
Epidemic/pandemic
Mass casualty incident
Radiologic/chemical exposure

8. A Crisis Strikes, and You Are
Prepared
 Your
plan will be“turn-key”
 You will know...
◦ what to do
◦ who will do what
◦ when you will do it

9. Getting Started
 Define
your crisis scope:
◦ Identify the types of crises your organization
will face
◦ Determine the range of potential responses
required to defuse a crisis and preserve
reputation
◦ Obtain leadership buy-in to sign off on the
value of crisis communications planning

10. Who’s involved in planning?
Comprehensive and cross-functional
◦ PR/Corporate Communications
◦ Facilities
◦ Legal
◦ Security
◦ HR
◦ Information Technology

11. Set Goals, Deadlines, Milestones
 Define
accountabilities on the team
 Set milestones and goals for plan
completion
 Establish the “post-plan” timeline to keep
the plan a living document

12. The four-phase approach as a
template for a crisis
communications plan

13. Phase I
Issue identification, Phase II
reporting & ongoing Crisis communications response strategic planning
training
Phase III
Response and
tactical execution
Phase IV
Evaluate

16. Case Study
USAirways Flight 1549
Watch for:
◦ Coordinated and integrated response
◦ Changing nature of how the news “flows”
◦ Not just preserving reputation—but
enhancing it

17. Thank you!
Matt Tidwell
Email: mtidwell@saint-lukes.org
Phone: 816-932-4894
Twitter: @matt_tidwell