Crisis Communications.

Crisis communications is a very specific sub.

Niche of the communications world.

Let's define our terms. A crisis in this context is when something happens to you or your organization.

Where the information put out by the.

Media is potentially so damaging that it.

Could do fundamental harm to your long.

Term brand and reputation, harm your business dramatically. Think of things like the oil spill.

In the Gulf from bp. Things that can make people, regulators, investors.

Want to flee you. That is by definition a crisis. Crisis communications is what you say in the aftermath of something like that. So at some level it's very different because the stakes are so much higher.

On the other hand, it's really no different from any other media interview. In any media interview, I always recommend.

That you brainstorm on message points.

Narrow it down to your top three. Make sure you've eliminated any message that isn't relevant and interesting to the reporter, relevant and interesting to the audience of.

That media outlet, and is something important to you. Make sure you've answered the basic questions.

You know will be coming from the reporter.

Next, you have to package your messages with sound bites, quotable elements, and if you want to know exactly what those.

Are, I'll email you a couple of my media training books that have chapters.

Outlining how to make a soundbite.

Just email me tjediatrainingworldwide.com to ask for.

The media training books. You have to prepare your sound bites and you need to practice your messages and sound bites on video. Now, in a crisis, you don't have.

A lot of time, but if you.

Prepared three message points and a few sound bites for each one, you should be able to say it all out loud in less than 90 seconds. Watch the video on your cell phone in 90 seconds. That's a total of three minutes. I understand you may have fire engines coming, sirens, TV crews everywhere, people pulling at you, but you still have three minutes to rehearse your message and your sound bites. So that's what you need to do.

And then when you are doing the.

Initial press conference or doing the initial interviews, you have to stick to what you know.

You cannot be positive and upbeat and.

Say, oh, I'm sure we're going to solve the crisis. The spill will be plugged by this time tomorrow. Don't predict the future.

You don't know the future.

Don't guess on what happened. Don't be optimistic about whether missing employees will be found or injured employees will.

Have a full recovery.

Stick to what you know.

Focus on what you're doing to solve the problem. Express sympathy for anyone who's been harmed. Focus on that and you will communicate effectively during your crisis.