Are you ready for a crisis?

This morning saw Padua Communications’ MD Nicky Rudd presenting with Annie Wright of Rough House Media for a CIM workshop on Managing a Reputation in a Crisis

Inspired by the lovely tea and cake at beautiful RHS Wisley (where we met to plan the course), we decided to use this venue as the subject of an imaginary crisis – what would happen if an outbreak of Norovirus happened a couple of days before a Halloween extravaganza. We had a morning session of brainstorming and feedback with several different  groups of  ‘Wisleys’ explaining away the situation and culminating in some ‘on the spot’ interviews. The feedback has been great and you can see the slides from our presentation here.

Top 6 dos and don’ts

When Annie and I were writing the course, we decided we needed a top 6 dos and don’ts. If you don’t have time to look at the slides, they are:

1. Don’t wait for a disaster to happen – have a crisis strategy in place
2. Know overarching key messages in advance
3. React quickly, factually, pro-actively & frequently
4. Choose spokespeople in advance & get them trained
5. Never relax!
6. Preparation, preparation, preparation

We are also collaborating on a new project where together we can help businesses sort a crisis audit – please let us know if you want more information on this by emailing [email protected]

We’re also interested in hearing from you about spokespeople that you think are truly inspirational or links to media interviews that are brilliant or completely off the scale dreadful. Please let us know if you think there is anyone better than Richard Branson in a crisis!

Oh and just to reiterate, today’s example was completely fictitious – RHS Wisley is brilliant and did we mention it does amazing tea and cake…(note to self, must do more planning…)