Crisis Communications: New Academic Year Brings a New Set of Crises

crisis communications

School is back in session, and in the crisis communications field that means a new year of school-centric crises. Expect some of the following in the coming months:

  • Viral videos of students fighting, bullying and ganging up on defenseless kids;
  • In-classroom videos of teachers saying or doing improper things;
  • Reports of drug overdoses or illicit transactions taking place on school property;
  • Questionable class assignments or test questions from teachers that show up on social media or in the news media;
  • Teachers or students arrested or investigated for questionable activities outside the classroom;
  • Reports of improper relationships between some teachers and students;
  • Outrage from parents in the media and at school board meetings over decisions, policies or events;
  • And tragically, more active shooter situations.
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Before You Put Your Faith in AI for Crisis Communications, Learn About “Automation Bias”

Crisis communications

In closing chapter of my book, The Essential Crisis Communications Plan, I touch on one of the most transformative developments to come along in recent years when it comes to crisis communications. That is the emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).

First, I’ll recap what it says in the book, and then I’ll elaborate further:

“As a tool, (AI) will be powerful.

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The Art of Fatherhood Taps Some Things We Learn in Public Relations

Father's Day

I almost never mention my personal life in my professional communications. This is an exception.

With the Father’s Day holiday coming up this Sunday, I’ve been thinking about the decades that I’ve been a dad, which have also coincided with the large part of my career in the PR business.

We often hear someone talk about a business that they “fathered,” or a special idea or project that they “gave birth to,” or more commonly today, their “fur babies,” as they self-identify as a cat-mom or a dog-dad. … Read the rest

Remembering Camp Ketchum

Ketchum

During the ten years I spent at global PR firm Ketchum, one of the things I benefited from was the firm’s commitment to professional development. In addition to gaining the experience of working with some of the world’s leading companies and organizations as clients, on some of their more challenging problems, if you worked for Ketchum, you knew you were an investment.… Read the rest

Media Relations: The Best Clients I Never Got

Media Relations

When interviewing for what would have been one of my first PR jobs, the CEO of a hospital asked me who I knew in local media. She wanted to find out if I brought a network to the job that would help her organization. Because I had worked in radio, TV and newspapers prior to this, while I knew most everyone in town, I also knew that didn’t matter.… Read the rest

March Reminds Me of the Need to Act

St. Patrick's Day

March is a month of birthdays in my growing family, so much so, that we now combine the celebration of a bunch of birthdays into one day. Of course, March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day, always an important day on the calendar in my family since I was a kid. But as I’ve said before, not as important as July 4th, from a love-of-country point of view.… Read the rest

A Holiday Gift for Yourself: A Fresh Start

New Year

My first impulse for this blog post, which is centered on wishing you the very best holiday season, was to search my past for a story that might resonate. Or, to try to think of a unique perspective or lesson from the holiday season that we could apply to the work of public relations.

But the truth is, if your holiday season is like mine, you have mixed feelings.… Read the rest

Tech Workers: Nothing is Off the Record

media coaching

With all of the recent media attention on Silicon Valley, layoffs, economic troubles and oftentimes rogue employees talking to reporters, I came across something called the Tech Worker Handbook, which apparently is an online guide to help tech workers navigate media relations, legal issues, surveillance, and telling their own stories to the media or others.… Read the rest

Public Relations: How to Use Tactics to Get to Strategy

PR Strategy

Back when I worked at The Big Agency, I as in charge of the executive visibility program for the CEO of a major national consulting firm.  We had established a general strategy, a message platform, complete with over-arching themes, and had built the program primarily around two tactical areas: speeches and bylined articles.

To any experienced public relations pro, this is nothing fancy.… Read the rest

Five Ways to Change Someone’s Mind

persuasion

For as long as I’ve been in the business of public relations, the Holy Grail of communication is being able to change someone’s mind. To persuade that person.

To be sure, there are no full-proof techniques or magic tricks, but it is possible. As you might suspect, there are a couple of foundational ingredients you need before you can do so.… Read the rest