This Thursday: Crisis Communications

The April conversation has arrived! This Thursday, April 26, we’ll address crisis communications on several levels, from standard, institutional crisis planning to a more social media-focused crisis management case study. We’ll test a new hangout time–5 pm EST–on Google hangout. To join the conversation, visit gplus.to/TalkingAboutTalking where you’ll find a hangout underway. Participate between now and then by posting questions and links here and/or on our Google + page. To get started, some resources (many from AAM’s excellent information center):

• Planning for Crisis Communications, AAM webinar (90 min.)
• Mission Controls Fact Sheets on Crisis Management, Nonprofit Risk Management Center
• What Reporters are Likely to Ask: Questions Relating to a Crisis, TMT Worldwide
• 10 Steps of Crisis Communications, Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc.
• Do’s and Don’ts (but mostly Don’ts) of Crisis Communications Management, PRSA prnewspros blog
• Crisis Communications Plan: A PR Blueprint, Northern Illinois University
• LinkedIn Crisis Communication group and related discussions in the PR and Communications Professionals group  

Resource Roundup

Suzanne returned to Lamplighter's chalkboard to illustrate a communications idea. Tactics may constantly evolve but basic strategy remains simple - send out a carefully packaged message to inspire. We weren't certain our "message in a bottle" actually communicates, but after a week at the beach, I love the graphic.

And we’re back after a brief travel break! I was in Panama for a friend’s wedding and Suzanne in New York for business and fun. I came back to a virtual pile of resources from colleagues, friends, and mentors. Here’s a digest:

• Forbes interview on the power of the nonprofit brand fueled by this article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review  (source: Suzanne)
• Evidence that web and social media play a leading role in public’s decision to visit museums from IMPACT’s National Awareness, Attitudes, and Usage study (source: my colleague and partner in crime on the Phillips’s blog Sarah Osborne Bender)
• Storify allows users to tell stories by bringing together scattered social media content; the Met has started to share its encyclopedic collection on Pinterest using categories like “Lady in Red” and “The Radiant Peacock”(source: Sarah)
• “If Twitter is a Work Necessity,” on continuing education in social media for mid-career professionals and resources like Lynda.com that offer subscriptions to workshops on software, tech, and design (source: New York Times)
• Sketchbook Project at Brooklyn Art Library (source: friends Brandon Bloch and Kelly Ferraro Bloch in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood)
• PRSA’s new definition of public relations (source: PR and Communications LinkedIn Group)