Virginia Tech, New Orleans and Other Crises
Posted by: Tom Keefe, in IABC, blogging, communications, podcastsDevote about 30 minutes to listen to crisis communications expert Gerard Braud share lessons learned from the Virginia Tech massacre and the devastation to the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina. The conversation is the focus of the latest CommaKazi Speek podcast, Show #6, available for downloading here.
Looking back, it was an eerie coincidence that I moderated a comment that Braud left on one of my IABC Cafe posts about emergency communications just minutes before the Virginia Tech student began his shooting rampage on Monday morning (April 16) that left more than 30 students and faculty members dead.
Braud and I had begun to discuss the idea of recording his thoughts on crisis communications related to Hurricane Katrina. Then the media frenzy surrounding the Virginia Tech massacre made us realize that we should expand our original discussion.
As Braud points out in the podcast, this is not a time to benefit from the misery of this tragedy. We do feel that the events at Virginia Tech and New Orleans provide an opportunity for communicators to engage in important discussions with their employers and clients regarding crisis planning.
Show Notes
CommaKazi Speek Podcast Show 6
April 18, 2007
An interview with Gerard Braud on the topic of crisis communication planning.
00:00 Show theme, “Rollin’”; by Barry McCabe
00:15 Introduce Gerard Braud
01:00 Virginia Tech tragedy
01:25 Flawed Crisis Plan / A Learning Experience
07:30 Phones and Text Messages
10:30 Leaders in Crisis
15:30 Denial in New Orleans
22:15 The Workshop and Tour
29:00 Yes, New Orleans is Safe to Visit!
Also, here is a link to a April 18, 2007 online Wall Street Journal article, regarding the value of text messaging in an emergency, that quotes Gerard. If you are interested in registering for the June 24, 2007 workshop and Katrina Bus Tour led by Gerard, register on the IABC website.
David Murray’s blog post: “Communicators: Always in trouble“Technorati tags:
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April 18th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Another reason to smile is that you can get free access to those WSJ articles from a site called http://www.congoo.com
April 19th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Thanks for the pointer, Frank. I had seen this article listed on Yahoo!, but didn’t know about http://www.congoo.com until now.
April 19th, 2007 at 6:47 am
This might be of interest re: the learning curve (as discussed last night on the late CTV newscast): “Mounties to gather blueprints of Cdn. schools”
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070418/rcmp_schools_070418/20070418/
“The RCMP plans to get blueprints and aerial photos of every school and university in Canada, as part of a plan to help its officers better deal with school shootings.
The program — School Action For Emergencies — was developed after the Dawson school shootings last September, and as part of a response to the growing trend of gunmen killing innocent people in North American schools….”