Crafting a Crisis Blueprint

What is a Crisis? 1 Any unexpected event that that threatens the integrity of an organization and its ability to conduct everyday affairs

Common Crisis Components 2 Components Minimal control over diffusion of story Inability to chooses circumstances of response On the defensive Allegations Uncertain details about an event Public assumes guilt

Causes of Today’s “Crisis of Crises” 3 Audience has more personal involvement in communication experiences Facebook, Twitter and other social media forms More access to athletes causes fans to have greater emotional ties to their teams Potential for disappointment has reached new heights

Preventing a Crisis Unlike a normal audit of practices, crises often require action within a very short time frame 4

Essential Questions to Consider When Confronting a Crisis What are the charges? Who are key players and biggest stakeholders? What information is missing and easily attainable? Should we respond right away? 5

Evaluating a Crisis 6 Tom Brady on Deflate-Gate Some situations are better handled when a target does not respond right away What is the reputation of the source of the charge? Is there a prevalent public demand for response? Will our position change if we respond later? Questions to consider when choosing whether or not to respond in the first place

Options for Response 7 Denial Ex. Ryan Braun on his positive steroid test Mortification Ex. Michael Phelps DUI dui-arrest-/ / dui-arrest-/ / Evasion of Responsibility Reducing the Offensiveness of the Event Corrective Action

Preparing Crisis Respondents 8 Stage crisis simulations and appoint spokespersons Many responses to questions should be organized into introduction, body, conclusion Three types of questions: obvious, probable, off-the wall

Trap Questions Pick Your Poison Questioner poses two unacceptable choices from which a spokesperson is asked to choose Do not accept the premises; provide an answer consistent with the organization’s values and positions Secret Agent Questioner refers to information from an unknown source Never verify an unsubstantiated position Jeopardy A series of questions asked rapid-fire Do not get caught in the barrage of questions; answer those which are most important to the crisis at hand Try a Little Tenderness Questioner is impassioned and uses an emotional appeal to cast your organization negatively Express sympathy and reassure that all necessary measures will be taken to correct the issue. If available, give specific examples of how the problem is currently being addressed 9

Conclusion 10 Need for Intervention Crisis management has become increasingly important in the contemporary sports world Relationships are Stronger Money, competition, and technological changes have intensified the relationship between organizations, fans, media, and sponsors Organizations Must Be Effective Organizations must determine the type of response and the channel through which to distribute it in shorter periods of time than ever before