Earlier this week, I taught two classes at the TTIA’s Tourism College at Texas State University. The program, in its second year, will lead students who participate all three years to a certificate called “Certified Tourism Executive” or CTE.

While teaching the sophomore class this week, we examined a mock crisis in small groups.  Our scenario was a historic hotel fire.  Each group of 5-7 assumed three things: 1) the fire had been reported; 2) the hotel was occupied; and 3) all members of staff and management were present when the fire began.

Their task was to figure out who should do what in a crisis. During the course of the activity, each group thought of additional things that would need to happen during their scenario—like what to take out of the hotel and who should write a statement.  As a communicator who has participated in numerous crises during her career, it was gratifying to see the groups thinking innovatively under pressure.

After the scenario, each group shared one role that they devised and what the responsibilities were for each role.  Here’s what they shared:

• Command Center – needs to include communication and operations components and use a hub and spoke approach
• Monitor – someone to monitor dialogue in all media spaces and report misinformation.
• Liaison – someone needs to be the go-between for fire, EMS and other first responders because in this scenario, they will be in command.  Someone in a maintenance or engineering role would be best suited to this task.
• Public Relations – Someone to serve as spokesperson, create statements and interact with media requests, preferably someone who is bilingual.
• Records – Since this was Tourism College, the group naturally knew that the occupancy list and other business records would need to be retrieved and that someone from the financial area of the leadership team would be most suited to do that.
• Sales – This function could serve by working with partner hotels to help relocate guests displaced by a fire.
• Housekeeping – One group thought that the housekeeping team could calm guests and assist them with blankets, water, etc in a café across the street.
• Leader – Last but not least, this function would most likely be performed by the General Manager who would be briefed throughout and most likely serve as spokesperson.

Other Roles determined by the team included the Front Desk Manager who could assist with guest evacuation, particularly special needs guests, and someone to do Vendor Outreach to get the supply chain restored.

This group activity highlighted the flexibility that small organizations might need during a crisis. It’s easy to assume that the role you perform each day is the same role you would perform in a crisis, but in small organizations, each member of the team often wears several hats.

Is your team ready for its next crisis? What roles will you assume?

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

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.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

It happens to every organization at some point.  Something sudden and unexpected happens which requires us to act.  In tourism organizations, it can be as simple as a weather event which affects daily operation.  Or as complicated as an event like the BP Oil Spill.  Most disasters fall somewhere in between, but the key to survival is to have a plan and use the plan.  Organizations who do not, often find themselves under more intense scrutiny and then, it’s easy to make mistakes.

1. Taking too long to respond is the most common mistake made during a crisis.  Communicate early and often, particularly in this 24/7, “always on” media environment.
2. Getting angry with the media.  It’s easy to lose your cool and the pressure from large volumes of media is unusual for most organizations, and they often have a hard time coping with it.  Stay cool and you will survive.
3. Internal panic – in the face of a disaster, you need every cool head and may need to calm down those who haven’t been through something like this before.  This makes it even more important to create roles and responsibilities for the team members responding to the crisis.
4. Dual roles – Many members of your leadership team will be wearing more than one hat during a crisis, which can complicate communication.  Clarify as much as possible and afterward, figure out how to adjust roles for future events.
5. Underestimating interest by the public – When you’re on the inside of a crisis, the level of detail that the media and public are requesting often seems out of line.  Organizations still aren’t used to sharing so often and it takes some adjustments to accept.
6. Leadership – This is the key to any organizations success or failure in a crisis.  Whether it’s lack of leadership or, on the other hand, too many leaders, a crisis is the time for the best leader to step in and take the team through the process.

Identifying potential issues before a crisis strikes, will help an organization avoid them and master their next crisis.

This series is a resource for the 100 tourism professionals from around the state that I am working with this week on how to prepare in a crisis, as part of Travel and Tourism College. The week-long educational opportunity is an initiative of the Texas Tourism Industry Association (TTIA) and is now in its second year.  Those who participate for 3 years will get certification as a tourism executive.

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