1. J. Vander Stoep Principal Sound Counsel Bruce Cordingly Principal Sound Counsel WHO WE ARE

2. CURRENT CRISIS Susan G. Komen mistakes Not forthcoming Was not prepared Did not express empathy for those affected No social media plan

3. HUMAN COST

4. AGENDA Crisis communications best practices Obstacles to good crisis communications Preparation: What you can do now Discussion

5. POSSIBLE CRISIS SCENARIOS Management deceiving consumers/investors Mislabeling Technological breakdown Business discontinuity Organizational crisis Bribery Sexual harassment lawsuit Race discrimination lawsuit Misuse of funds/lavish spending Embezzlement Wrongful dismissal Workplace violence Congressional Hearings 20/20 Investigation Company truck hits school bus, driver found using drugs Crane collapse Executive DUI accident Repeated employee injuries Oil spills, chemical releases, toxic waste spills Fire, earthquake, flood, terrorist incident Executive giving money to controversial organization Product tampering

6. The response is often more important than the event.

7. GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF CRISIS RESPONSE Credibility Speed Be Prepared to Own the Problem

8. GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO A CRISIS RESPONSE 1. CREDIBILITY

9. CREDIBILITY Be honest Be forthcoming Assume damaging information will out If you deliver it, you help shape narrative If you don’t, you look like you are hiding If you don’t know the answer, say so Use third-party validators Apple and Fair Labor Assn Keep employees informed

10. CREDIBILITY: BP & Deepwater Horizon Declared 1K barrels leaking into ocean every day; it was 5K. CEO claimed environmental impact, “very modest.” Now called worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Would not release live feed of spill. Bad publicity = U.S. President saying, “My attitude is, we have to verify whatever it is they say about the damage.”

11. GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO A CRISIS RESPONSE 2. SPEED

12. SPEED The “Beast” will be fed, with or without you. Either you help shape the story or it will be shaped by others without you. Press is trying to create narrative of good & bad guys Establish yourself as the primary source of information for the story. This must begin immediately. Credible allegations that go unanswered are assumed to be true.

13. GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO A CRISIS RESPONSE 3. BE PREPARED TO OWN THE PROBLEM

14. BE PREPARED TO OWN THE PROBLEM If you are at fault, accept some responsibility. If you do not accept, you will anger constituencies, and that will prolong the crisis. Express empathy. Tony Hayward, “I’d like my life back.” Do what you can for victims. Develop and communicate a plan to fix the problem. Consider steps to become an industry leader in the area in which you had problems.

15. IT’S HARD TO DO WELL We are human Lawyers Adrenaline Not core competency Incomplete info

16. IS YOUR COMPANY PREPARED TODAY? “If possible we want to avoid any negative publicity.”

17. CRISIS READINESS: How organizations prepare Clear chain of command Identified spokespeople Trained executives & spokespeople History of your company’s safety preparedness Supporting collateral Dark Sites Draft press releases Video Technology audit Contact lists Third party experts identified Relationship with PR firm

18. SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter People will use Twitter to talk about you. You should be able respond using the same medium. In a crisis you want to use that channel to broadcast messages. For industry-wide issues, SCRA has a Twitter feed and can respond Video -- increasingly large portion of the social media world

19. SC&RA ISSUES Applying this principles to your industry risks: Crane Collapse Worker Safety Fleet safety Environmental issues Labor issues

20. ABOUT US: EVENTS SINCE LAST YEAR Food tampering Food packaging Food contamination Product recall CEO indictment Labor/management conflict Management conviction Negative air pollution publicity

21. SERVICES WITH SC&RA Specially-priced services Media Training Crisis Communications Plans Crisis Communications Readiness Training Annual Crisis Communications Audits

22. Thank You. Contact us with questions, soundcounselcrisis.com