There’s a crisis every day somewhere in the world and plenty of advice from marketing and public relations professionals on how organizations should handle communicating when they happen. But rarely have I seen an attempt to outline the supplies you need to have on hand before your crisis hits. When I was the communications director for SeaWorld San Antonio, many of these things were at the ready when preparing for a crisis; others we developed over time or as part of post-crisis evaluation. So here is a list of essentials for organizations just starting to visualize their readiness.
- A Ready Room – A place from which you will work the crisis. It can be a room, or it can be a box, or it could be a folding table in a hallway.
- Paper stuff – You need paper, pens, notepads, notebooks, business cards, markers and a phone book. Yes, really. The most routine crises are weather driven and usually result in an interruption of power. It’s best to assume you will not have power while working through your crisis plan.
- Lists – Media contact list, community contact list including the PIO at police, fire and public utilities plus leadership team list. If the power is out, you may not have access to your computer and don’t want to waste what’s left of your cell phone battery to check phone numbers.
- Call Log – Make a simple chart with these headings: Date, time, media outlet, request, deadline, call-back number or URL, then make 25 copies and put it in the box. In a time of crisis, the phone lines may be jammed with callers and this will assist multiple people in effectively answering and tracking incoming inquiries.
- Timeline log – As soon as the crisis starts, start writing down the events as they unfold. It’s amazing how quickly you will forget key points in managing a crisis. All participants contribute to the log and it can be on a whiteboard, in a notebook, or on tear off sheets that are taped to the wall.
- Sign In Sheets – If you end up calling a press conference, or doing multiple media briefings, these are very helpful for tracking who was present.
- Other supplies: Two way radios can be effective if you are trying to communicate over long distances, as well as batteries, camera and flash drives.
While I haven’t covered it here, there are plenty of other items that might be specific to your workplace or industry that you want to have on hand during a crisis. Some that were mentioned during our crisis planning exercise included a schematic of your building or facility and a passenger or guest manifest. And don’t forget the first aid kit!
Part 1: First Advice in a Crisis: Do No Harm
Part 2: 6 Mistakes Organizations Make During a Crisis
Part 3: Crisis Planning Includes Packing a Bag
Part 4: Before Your Next Crisis: Assign Roles and Responsibilities
This series is to support the 100 tourism professionals from around the state that I worked with earlier this week who attended my session on crisis planning. They are attending Tourism College, a week-long educational opportunity which is an initiative of the Texas Tourism Industry Association (TTIA) and is now in its second year.