The other role of the PIOs

Hello Everyone! It's been a little while since my last post. Getting very busy at work preparing for the G8 and G20 summits in June.

But the recent events in Haiti have prompted me to do a lot of thinking on the many aspects of the functions of a Public Information Officer during a disaster. We all know the basics of emergency information: providing the public with what they need to know to protect themselves, their property, the environment ... and the other aspect, providing info that will help ensure that audiences adopt the behaviour emergency management professionals wish them to adopt: prepare, shelter, evacuate etc., ...

But there's also another critical function of a PIO ... put your organization's response under the best light possible. To sum up ... it's the PR aspect of the job. How many examples of bad PR associated with not-so-disastrous responses have we seen? Katrina and FEMA come to mind.

Now, with the international disaster response in Haiti, I've been doing a lot of thinking about that. Seems everything is magnified. Lots of good work is being accomplished, and despite some criticism (nothing is ever perfect!) ... the relief efforts are finally achieving results.

We see the outcome on TV, in news stories and on social media platforms .... I bet you that there are many PIOs at work in Haiti helping project their country's or their organization's response on the global scene. Fairfax County HUSAR has been referred to many times ... and the same applies for the Israeli Defense Force deployment ... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/01/israel-working-in-haiti.html

I'm sure there are all kinds of motivation for publicizing your response in international deployment to many audiences: external and internal ... I believe that it's an essential part of our jobs as PIOs. What better way to prepare to respond in your own jurisdiction, than going out and doing the real thing somewhere else ... beats every training scenario I know!

It's all about perception ... if the public and other key constituents perceive the response as flawed or ineffective, the way out of that particular problem might be a difficult one.

So I ask the question: are there ethical issues associated with that aspect of our work? Particularly in large-scale disasters such as the one we're dealing wih now, with unfathomable loss of life and suffering?

I await comments ....

Post-crisis communications

Thanks for my good friend Gerald Baron for raising the issue of what to do when a crisis dies down (in terms of traditional media interest) but lingers on, even flourishes, on social media platforms.
http://emcrisiscomm.blogspot.com/2009/12/social-media-makes-crisis-last-much.html

So, a crisis occurs bringing with it the usual public scrutiny, hyper-increased media attention, and more and more often, a huge spike in the number of conversations about the incident and your organization on social media platforms. You react according to your plans, perhaps set up a JIC ... A few days later, the media attention dies down ... you think: I've survived! ... but wait, the online world is echoing with the many voices discussing the incident and your response ... how do you react to what's being said ... do you stop caring because the TV cameras have gone.

Certainly not! I dare say that all organizations should have as a starting point a monitoring program that allows them to hear/see what's been said about them online and by traditional media. That way (as I've said before) you can effect a prompt and effective response if you have a good crisis comms plan in place ...

The key if flexibility and scalability. The monitoring program can be the work of one person ... let's call that routine monitoring ... when your situational awareness is tweaked by an emerging situation ... you bring more people along: one does media monitoring, another does social media ... you handle the review of existing messaging ... let's call this enhanced monitoring ...

Or maybe, right out of the blue, you're in the middle of it and you have to fully implement your plan. Full activation of a JIC ... all hands on deck. While this lasts, you concentrate on the key elements of your mandate: making yourself heard with the right info for your audiences, ensuring you get the right behaviour out of the people you need to reach, and also, putting the best face on your organization's response.

I'd suggest that once the "activation" phase has passed ... you pay real close attention to the demobilization phase ... in terms of crisis comms, that probably means staying at enhanced monitoring for a few days and weeks ... to be able to react immediately to unfavourable comments posted by "influencers" ... whether they be misguided, misinformed or even have an agenda that differs from yours.

Eventually, monitoring reverts to a routine nature ... with you integrating newly identified blogs, twitter lists and the such in the areas you keep track.

What I'm saying is that it never really stops ... you adapt, become flexible and learn for the next one.

Because while you're now keeping a close eye on what's just happened ... there's another potential issue looming on the horizon. We need to mirror the situational awareness that our operations colleague maintain every day ...

A few observations

Lot's of stuff in the recent days that's caught my attention ... how a "tiger" has been declawed ... a very good post from Steve Rubel's posterous page about engagement in the social media age, a very good analysis on the political class and emergency management/information from Gerald Baron ... a piece by Christa Miller from Cops 2.o ... and finally another good analysis from Gerald Baron on how "old" media is using social media ...

1- Tiger ... enough's been said ... you waited ... you lost the opportunity to get your story out in time ... you didn't drive the agenda ... now you're puttering about ... lesson: act quickly, decisively when your reputation's at risk ... no other way ... no sense in burying your head in the sand...trap

2- a link to a fantastic resource from a leading PR agency on engagement in the social media age ... a must read in my opinion ... you can find it here: http://www.edelman.co.uk/public-engagement/
What makes our job so different now ... in one word: listening ... to engage in conversations ... to get your message across, you first need to listen ... so monitor social media platforms ... and watch your tone!
You don't enter a room at a party to deliver a message ... you mingle and have conversations where you deliver the info you need to convey in the appropriate context ...otherwise people won't listen to you if you "preach" ... the same applies in social media outreach ...

3- How do you engage and educate the political class on emergency management and emergency information? When is it proper and necessary for a political leader to be the face of your response to an incident? when should that be done by emergency managers/experts?
The key is in preparing the political class (or your CEO) and involving them in training and exercises ... so they understand the process and the need for operational requirements and latitude ... the post here:
http://emcrisiscomm.blogspot.com/2009/12/when-political-opportunism-and-nims.html

4- what kind of social media policies should law enforcement agencies adopt? Is it necessary, or wise, to separate the professional and the personal, where officers identify themselves as cops and their duties/assignments? In my modest opinion, the two go together ... if you keep your posts professional in tone, even if you're talking about personal experiences, that should be ok ... people want to know their dealing with humans ... showing a private side is not necessary a bad think for LEOs.
http://cops2point0.com/2009/12/02/the-cost-of-transparency/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cops20+%28Cops+2.0%29

5- finally, does old media see the light ... maybe some do ... if you make your readers, (or viewers, listeners) part of your team ... you're more present, more involved and more deeply rooted in the life of your audiences ... they'll want to share ... and you'll have a platform where people experience "news" ... live it ... share it ... generate content and make YOU relevant ...
http://crisisblogger.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/when-old-media-starts-acting-like-new-media-orlando-sentinel/

Looking forward to your comments on these ...

Toronto Emergency Management Symposium, Day Two

Another interesting day at the Old Mill Inn ...

Started with a keynote from Peter Power, a major player in emergency management and biz continuity planning from the UK ... ex-copper ...with lots of experience in crisis management (he co-invented the gold - silver - bronze command structure ) ... very entertaining speaker ... lots of jokes and anecdotes ... a big hit with the crowd ... perhaps a bit light on actual concrete learning ... but not the best forum for that ...

As surprising (and refreshing ... see post from yesterday) outlook on the use of social media from a member of the Toronto Police Service. Tim Burrows is at the forefront of the effective use of new tools to reach new audiences by police ...in routine communications as well as in time of crisis. He's got a good degree of latitude from his superiors on how to do that ... find him on LinkedIn ... and here's his blog:

http://trafficservicestps.blogspot.com/

Speaking right after lunch was Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, Dr David McKeown. He reflected, among other things, on the communications challenges around H1N1 ... first, how you communicate about risks ... and obviously, the difficulties in putting out uniform messaging when many levels of government are involved (municipal, provincial and federal) ... his observations on the fight against the current flu pandemic somewhat restored my faith in the ability of public health officials and agencies to communicate effectively. He also gave a pretty thorough update on the pandemic situation and the efforts to immunize the population.

Some highlights:

1. herd immunity concept ... don't need to force everyone to get immunized
2. Toronto public health has had more than 800 meetings with groups of stakeholders since the pandemic began ... that's great outreach
3. they undertook largest immunization campaign in their history
4. talked about revising pandemic planning ... always had been focused on "worst case scenario" and what that entails re: school closures,workplace issues ... critical infrastructure ... but what do you do when you deal with the "best case scenario" in a not-so-virulent pandemic such as the current one? how do you revise your plans on the fly ? Jimmy Jazz has blogged on this ...http://breakglass.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/the-big-one/
5. it was hard to calibrate messaging ... one day ... lukewarm interest in immunization but after the deaths of two teens in Ontario ... sudden outpouring of concern and stress resulting in huge lineups to get the flu shots ... how do you adjust your messaging ?

Finally, a very illuminating presentation by a Toronto Police Service officer specializing in intel and anti/counter-terrorism. Lots of experience across the planet ... including with the NYPD ...

Some scary stuff out there ... really drove home the point about not being too complacent here in Canada about the risk/threat of terrorism ... it's here and some groups are very active ... with the G8 and G20 summits coming to Ontario next year ... that's a challenge for us at the Integrated Security Unit.

He noted some particular challenges in interoperability and cooperation between different agencies ...

It was informative and somewhat comforting to see that police and security agenc`ies are "on the ball" ! A big thanks to all of you guys and girls !

Teaching in Second Life Part I: Emergency Management

Teaching in Second Life Part I: Emergency Management

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Here's a very good resource ...

Toronto Emergency Management Symposium, Take 2

In the afternoon, there was a session on the impact of new tools (social media among them) on the media ... We had reporters/editors from key media outlets in Toronto ... one each from print, radio and TV.

I found it very interesting that they were a bit dismissive of the news gathering and informative aspects of social media ... they even suggested that emergency management and first responders organizations only accredit members of traditional media and not bloggers and the such ... stating lack of professional standards and ethics ...

They obviously overlook the major impact that some bloggers and online writers have in very specific domains, some of them have thousands and tens of thousands readers ... some of them are acknowledged as very credible and are sought after by traditional media and corporations about whose products they write about ...

I thought I was hearing the last roars of dinosaurs !!!

As a former reporter (nearly 10 years at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada) ... I can tell you that there is generally a high level of ethical conduct in most Canadian media outlets but by the same token, everyone these days is subject to the "Get it First" ... mentality where "getting it right" is often a secondary consideration in tough media markets ... where conglomerates squeeze the last ounce out of any newsroom.

So as far as ethics go ... mainstream media don't have that solid a leg to stand on ... I found their position very surprising because more and more traditional media themselves are using social media platforms as KEY sources of information and news gathering elements... more than a few report what's being posted on social media sites WITHOUT verification ...

Again ... that kind of exchange made this first day of the symposium a very interesting and successful proposition ... I'll write about the second day tomorrow evening ... until then, your comments and opinions are welcome!

Very nice conference today

Really a small meeting of about 20 communicators from the federal and provincial government who'd play a role during an emergency. It was a very valuable initiative from a colleague of mine and his counterpart at the federal level.

We had a presentation on critical infrastructure and interdependencies among all sectors ... the whole "system of systems" approach. Another one on crisis communications from a former Canadian naval public affairs officer ... punctuated with lots of anecdotes and examples. A very entertaining and instructive affair ...

And I gave an update on G8 security and communications planning for the 2010 meeting in Huntsville, Ontario. Overall, a very good get-together.

a couple of observations:
1- these kinds of meetings are essential building blocks for good cooperation during emergencies ... after all, what we do is all based on relationships ... a crisis is not the time to start exchanging business cards ... you need to be able to pick up the phone, talk to a connection and say: we need this or that ... can you help ? can you run this by your people real quick?

2- it's critical to get people from different levels of government used to each other's way of doing things ... goes a long way in managing expectations and establishing solid liaison protocols ...

Now a question: how often do you hold these meetings? do you involve people from other jurisdictions or levels of government? other agencies? and even the private sector (if you're dealing with critical infrastructure. their presence is essential ...)

Let me know !