Don’t get burnt this Christmas
On December 20, 2017
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Are you storm ready?
On December 1, 2017
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has issues a heavy rainfall warning for Melbourne, stating that the forthcoming rainfall is “unprecedented“. News outlets are suggesting that lives are on the line and sand bags are being distributed to prevent major flooding. Regions across New South Wales and Victoria are bracing for over 250 mm of rain over a 2-day...
Scorpions glow in the dark and other things we’ve learned in recent weeks
On November 22, 2017
Who knew? Many scorpions glow in the dark under ultra violet light. If this news does not sting you, maybe learning that the personal details of 50,000 Australians was mistakenly posted online by a government contractor will. Details posted included full names, emails and credit card transactions. Data breaches are becoming increasingly common and organisations...
What ‘no comment’ really means
On March 1, 2017
When it comes to issues management, more often than not there is a tension between the law maker and the communication expert. The lawyer doesn’t want to ring alarm bells with stakeholders unnecessarily. The communicator wants to proactively provide information to build report, trust and goodwill. A little game of give and take begins until...
Crisis Management – Planning and Execution
On June 7, 2016
Talking about Crisis Management Planning and Crisis Response Plan is not easy, but when it comes to definitions, it gets even harder... Reflections from day 1 of the World Conference on Disaster Management. Are definitions really important in the incident management space? The first hour of the World Conference on Disaster Management workshop focused on the definitions of an incident...
Former American Airline comms executive urges the importance of planning for a crisis
On April 14, 2016
Crisis communication plans are an imperative tool in any crisis response. An effective plan can reduce the response times by identifying efficient approval processes, and the most appropriate communication tools and resources. Former corporate communications executive of American Airlines, Andrea Hugely, agrees, stating that she “doesn’t know a C-suite executive out there that will fault...
Proud of your crisis response?
On March 4, 2016
Every day we make choices about what we do and what we say. We live with the impact of the choices we make. It’s the same during a crisis. Two recent and similar incidents caused me to reflect on the choices two companies made and the impacts on their business. People died or were injured...
Crisis communication: This is not a magic show, it’s a crisis
On November 18, 2015
One weekend, not long after I started out in public relations, I went to watch a good friend go skydiving. There was a storm brewing but the company took a risk and decided to go ahead with the jump. While I waited for my friend to land on the beach, the panicked owner of the...
What the #ParisAttacks tell me about #CommunityResilience
On November 16, 2015
When all sense of humanity seems lost, a hashtag emerges and from a moment of fear and vulnerability, comes an infinite supply of solidarity and support. It is amazing that a simple keyboard key- two sets of parallel lines, perpendicular to one another- has such immense power in such a power hungry world. The devastating...
We want to be innovative (maybe)!
On November 10, 2015
As I sat in the meeting, I heard the words ‘This is an important issue to our members. We need to adopt an innovative approach to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.’ So we drafted an innovative strategy, based on and tested through focus group research with the stakeholders that we needed to influence....