death of a president

History teaches us many things. Not least how we have responded in times of crisis.

by Will Mapplebeck

"The Lincoln continues to slow down. Its interior is a place of horror. The last bullet has torn through John Kennedy's cerebellum, the lower part of his brain. 

"...at first there is no blood. And then, in the very next instant there is nothing but blood...Gobs of blood as thick as a man's hand are soaking the floor of the back seat..."

I recently read The Death of a President, William Manchester's brilliant unflinching account of the events leading up to and the aftermath of the assassination of John F Kennedy in November 1963.

You can see the Wikipedia entry about the book here.

Everything is in here, from the paintings on the wall of the hotel room where Kennedy spent his last night alive to the layout of the emergency room the president lay in at Parkland Memorial Hospital as doctors tried vainly to save his life. 

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crisis comms: it's about people not processes

People often argue about the definition of what's a crisis and what's an emergency. That's maybe missing the point. This post highlights the really important thing - how it affects people.

by Christine Townsend

Having been asked to be part of the judging panel for the UnAwards is a real honour for me. Seeing colleagues and fellow comms people work hard in the public sector is always heartening and I'm proud to count myself amongst their number.

The crisis comms category sits comfortably with me as it's where my experiences lie. For once, I want to be comfortable and not challenged - this is something I'm enjoying doing without running on adrenalin, squinting at a screen, getting wet whilst plastic tape flickers in the background and I'm trying desperately to get reception on my mobile. I've had sleep, I've eaten a meal that consists more of a soggy sandwich and countless donuts and I'm ready to go. 

However, this made me wonder what a crisis really is and seeing the entrants has done exactly the opposite of what I was looking forward to - challenge me. Or rather, challenge my perceptions of what a crisis is. 

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why you should go to bluelightcamp

An annual free event that has grown to be an essential event for public sector comms people who may be involved with emergencies of any description.

by Ben Proctor 

comms2point0 sits at the heart of a fantastic community of people who want to make communications better, want to innovate with digital tools and want to drive change in organisations, especially public sector organisations.

We need that community to turn that energy and focus to emergency situations. Organisations are already doing great work to communicate with the public in emergencies but we can do more and one thing we know is: emergencies are always different.

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comms as a lifesaver during the #ukstorm

Driving rain and storms have battered Britain - but how have the emergency services coped in communicating the warnings?

by Dan Slee

If ever you needed proof that sharing out access to social media was a bright idea take a look at the January storms that struck Britain.

High winds, 30-foot waves and flood warnings struck across the country.

It was imperative that messages were sent out and a network of Environment Agency, local government and central government accounts on Twitter helped spread key messages and point people towards the Environment Agency website.

Google news reveals 32,500 news items online with the terms 'Britain' and 'storm' as weather swamped the conversation and the news agenda.

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how social media can play havoc with your business continuity

It's normal now for the time between an incident hitting and 'first tweet' to be just 30 seconds. Armed with that knowledge, what can be put in place before that incident happens to help reassure and ensure business continuity?

by Steve Finegan

“We don’t have an official company policy. We know being social is quite popular, especially with some of our younger staff.”

“I don’t really place that much importance on social media.  I use twitter to market our products.  Sometimes I promote our voluntary work with local communities.”

“We don’t really bother with it.  We created a Twitter account because it’s the in- thing to do.  Most of our customers communicate with us via our website which has a range of interactive services.”

“We don’t use social media at all, it’s not a priority, besides, there’s less chance of us being criticised if we’re not online.”

“Our business is very active on social media.  We have our own Facebook and twitter accounts, and we regularly engage in conversations directly with our customers.”

If any of the above statements apply to you, then your business continuity plan needs to be ready.  Ready for what exactly?  Well, it’s really quite simple.  Whether or not your company has developed an approach to social media or chooses to leave all this social stuff to others, like generation Y (those born between 1981–2000), I’m afraid there really is no escape.  

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