Emergency Public Information Workshops
The media and emergencies
Whether it is a forest fire threatening a community; a snow or ice storm that cripples a town or a contaminated water source that endangers the health of residents two things will happen almost simultaneously: the City or Town will activate its emergency plan and the media will appear in the community.
An important part of any municipal emergency plan is a Communications plan. This plan identifies the key members of the emergency response team who will be tasked to communicate essential information to the public.
Effective Public Information during emergencies can save lives and help manage the work of your emergency response team!
Immedia Communications has been delivering Emergency Public Information training for close to ten years as part of the Emergency Management courses offered by the Canadian Emergency Preparedness College.
We are pleased to offer a solid and highly practical two-day workshop that will help your spokespersons become more comfortable when facing reporters and enable them to deliver the important messages that will contribute to the health and safety of your citizens; assist your emergency response team and contribute to the positive public perception of your community.
Course Objectives
This custom two-day workshop is intended to meet the needs of elected officials, municipal managers, first responders and experts who occasionally have to give interviews to the media during an Emergency. The workshop is designed to provide participants with a basic knowledge of the media and to increase their comfort level during interviews, through a combination of formal presentation and practical exercises.
Components
Practice constitutes the key element of the workshop. Each participant is interviewed twice on camera. Two more media encounters (a media "scrum" and a news conference) are conducted through the workshop. The interviews are then reviewed with comments by the instructor identifying strengths, weaknesses and ways to improve performance. Two practical exercises are also conducted during the workshop: one exercise at crafting powerful "key messages" and an exercise at writing a news release.
A realistic Emergency situation is used as the scenario for the different exercises.
The workshop covers familiarizing participants to the needs of the media, developing and articulating powerful messages, identifying and using "trap" questions and nurturing a professional relationship with journalists. This portion of the workshop is presented using computer-animated slides and pertinent audio-visual material.
A manual summarizing the workshop content is provided to each participant.
The workshop covers the following areas:
- Basic understanding of Emergency Communications Planning
- Overview of the media and their needs
- Negotiating with reporters
- Preparing for interviews
- Structuring information
- Delivering "sound bites"
- The art of "bridging"
- Taking advantage of "trap" questions
- Writing news releases
- Conducting media "scrums"
- Organizing, conducting and moderating news conferences
- Working proactively with the media
Class size
In order to provide optimal personalized coaching, each workshop is limited to sixteen participants. Two instructors lead the workshops.
Venue
This workshop is offered across Canada at preset dates. Please consult the for dates, locations and cost.
Workshop agenda
Day One
08:30 Introduction, course outline, participants’ expectations
09:00 Emergency Communications Planning
09:30 Overview of the media and their characteristics
10:15 Coffee break
10:30 Exercise: First interview (Face-to-face)
11:15 Debriefing and critique
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Structuring information, target audiences, key messages
13:45 Exercise: Developing three key messages
14:00 Coffee break
14:15 Conducting interviews; Telephone interviews
14:45 Exercise: Second interview (Stand-up)
15:15 Debriefing and critique
15:45 News releases and media advisories
16:15 Assignment: writing a news release
Day Two
09:00 Reviewing news releases
09:30 Trap questions & bridging techniques
10:15 Coffee break
10:30 Media scrums
10:45 Exercise: Conducting a media "scrum"
11:15 Review
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Organizing and conducting a news conference
13:30 Preparation for news conference
14:00 Exercise: Conducting a news conference
14:30 Coffee break
14:45 Review
15:30 Maximizing media opportunities; working with the media
16:00 Conclusion and evaluation
