Agenda

First Stage of Crisis – Crisis Breakout

Organizations are exposed and vulnerable to crisis. It is unpredictable and damaging if it is not attended to timely. The changing landscape in communication has eliminated the days where organizations could try playing ostrich, burying your heads in the sands and hoping the problems would go away.

When a crisis occurs and one is under pressure to react in a timely fashion, negotiation is of the essence. We would begin our day 1 conference by looking at the crisis communication landscape today and explore if there is possible a one size fits all strategy that could prepare organizations to be on the safe side when crisis breakout.

Keynote Address: The Need for Speed: Crisis Management in the Brave New World of Fake News, Citizen Journalism and Social Media and ShareholderActivism

Jacquelynne Willcox
Managing Director
Powell Tate (Division of Weber Shandwick)

Jacquelynne Willcox leads Australia’s multi award winning Corporate & Public Affairs firm, Powell Tate (a division of Weber Shandwick). Jacquelynne has considerable experience in the management of complex policy reform, influencing legislation, government relations, corporate profiling, litigation communications and crisis and issues management.

Jacquelynne is Deputy Chair of the board of Australia’s leading think tank, The Sydney Institute and is a trustee of CEDA, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. Jacquelynne is a former television, radio and newspaper journalist. She has produced and directed television documentaries and is the author of two successful books.

Jacquelynne led the award-winning crisis and recovery campaign for Danone Nutricia during the Fonterra botulism scare (which was a multi market recall), and the subsequent and unrelated threat to poison all infant formula.

Crisis, Communication, and the Attention Economy

Crisis communication, and the closely related discipline of issues communication, are more important today than ever for organizations and businesses. In order to develop a better contemporary understanding of crisis communication, it’s important to grasp how crisis communication is situated within and shaped by the larger context of today’s digital media landscape.

Our modern media landscape is characterized by the mainstreaming of the Internet and social media, the ripple effects of new and often disruptive technologies, and the massive tectonic impact of the digital economy for the business sector. New technologies have changed how organizations communicate with stakeholders and how people communicate with one another.

The idea of an ‘attention economy’ is now an influential lens which is being used to study the contemporary media landscape – we live in an era of informational abundance, and attention is a scarce commodity that is being sought after. This results in new possibilities for action, and also new pitfalls for communication.

What insights for crisis communication can we gain from looking at today’s digital media landscape in terms of an ‘attention economy’? In seeking best practice, we can address topics such as viral messaging, the vexed question of the relationship between social media and reputational capital, and how the Internet acts as an accelerator and/or trigger for crisis.

Dr. Collin Chua
Lecturer
School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales

Dr Collin Chua is the Program Convenor for the Master of PR & Advertising and the Master of Journalism & Communications at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. His research addresses questions about the role of the media in producing value, desire and sociality, in an era increasingly driven by connectivity and the digital economy. One of the specialist courses he teaches at UNSW is on the topic of Issues & Crisis Communications.

First Stage of Crisis – Crisis Breakout

The first 24 hours of crisis breakdown are often regards as the most crucial stage of the crises as it would be the first indicator on whether the crises would remain under control or erupt into a full blown crises that not only damage your organization reputation, but the bottom line too.

While organizations need to buy time to understand and gather the information required to develop a credible and sensible key messages to stakeholders involve, it is crucial for the organizations to release a holding statement that is designed to be used instantly after a crisis emerged.

The following sessions would explore the importance of factual information in holding statement and key messages development. We would explore on how to shape the key messages development that attributed to all stakeholders and media.

• Value of Image: Protecting your branding and image during crisis breakout
• The Angry Public: Addressing and assuring the general public to maintain your company’s image

• Author of The Wailing – a National Black Oral History (William Heinemann), recommended by Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson for inclusion in the Library of Alexandria
• Author of Ashes of Vietnam – Australian Voices (William Heinemann and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), the first oral history of Australians in the Vietnam War

Also published in:

• The Best Australian Essays (Craven, Black Inc);
• The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing – A 200 Year Collection (Headon, Black Inc);
• The Best Australian Sports Writing (Hutchinson, Black Inc;
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• The Saturday Paper

Case Study: Calling Your Lawyer in Crisis Communication to Protect Your Corporate Image and Reputation

• Examples of Different Crises and What They have in Common
• Talking to Your Stakeholders – The Media, Regulators and Public
• The Consistency of Your Information to Prepare for Media and Litigation Calling

Neil Wallman
Special Counsel
HWL Ebsworth

Neil is a Special Counsel in HWL Ebsworth’s national Litigation Group. Working on a variety of litigious matters, he specializes in resolving disputes where there is potential for significant financial and reputational loss for clients in the media, health, FMCG and transportation industries. His technical experience spans commercial litigation, equity, defamation & media disputes and trade mark and copyright infringements.

Neil also has extensive experience in acting for clients seeking to obtain urgent injunctive relief in the Supreme Court and Federal Court to either avoid or minimize reputational and financial harm from occurring or to prevent the distribution of unlawfully obtained assets.

Understanding the media and their agenda formed an integral parts of crisis communication. An organization need to have the ability to communicate with clarity in crisis communication as once story is told, it is impossible to take it back. Stakeholders are capable to misinterpret information about your organization based on the media. Thus, it is the organizations’ responsibilities to minimize the incident from happening.

The optimal way to react appropriately is to ensure that your spokeperson is capable in dealing media interview when the emotion and stress are running at its peak. The following sessions seek to understanding the shift in media reporting from a media’s perspective and how could organizations avoid creating an information vacuum by not communicating with media when crises breaks and intensified.

Keynote Address: Looking Though Another Lens: How would the Media View & Publicize You During a Crisis

• Understanding the Media’s Agenda today – What is the Key Message?
• The Press Today: The Paradigm Shift in How Journalist is Interviewing and Reporting News
• Understanding how the media works: Insights from Recent Major Incidents

Communication Channel Strategy During Crises

• Who is the audience in a crisis?
• Which channels should be prioritized in a crisis?
• What do we do when the lights go out (or: what if there’s no Internet anymore)?

Grant Smith
Head of Corporate Communication
Melbourne Airport

For more than a decade Grant has led crisis communication programs around the world, working on projects including Australia’s largest ever pharmaceutical class action, workplace incidents resulting in major fatalities, and one of the world’s first truly global social media crises.

As the Head of Corporate Communications for Australia’s second-largest airport, Grant has a hands-on role in crisis and risk communication every single day. He is responsible for all external communication for the airport, and is frequently a spokesperson for issues of public interest.

Grant’s career includes roles in both in-house and consultancy environments, and he has worked on the ground in markets as diverse as Japan, India, Hungary, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining Melbourne Airport, Grant was the Global Manager for Media and Communications at the Global Carbon Capture & Storage Institute, where he developed the global communications framework to support the Institute’s mission to accelerate deployment of carbon emissions reduction technology.

He is a previous General Manager of Edelman Public Relations in Melbourne, Chair of Edelman’s South-East Asia Crisis Practice, and Associate Director of H+K Strategies London. He remains a Director of Grant Smith Communications.

Cyberspace is now officially a war zone, and Islamic State (IS) has the capability to dominate the virtual front line. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS, has it all figured out. His slick social media campaign has put the terrorist group out in front in this critical future battleground. Social media and technology have blurred geographical boundaries and allow communication with a global reach in real-time. In this new age, Australia’s geographic isolation from the rest of the world gives us no protection from messages being spread by the international Islamic militant groups. Extremists use these new communication tools to reach into the homes of Australians.

Fireside Chat: My Life in Crisis: Lessons Learned over 25 years in Global Crisis Management

Alistair Nicholas has more than 25 years of experience managing major corporate crises in countries as culturally diverse as China and Australia. For example, he has managed crises that have included worksite deaths, sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace, product liability, product contamination, serious counterfeiting, corporate fraud and corporate extortion, investigations by police, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and parliamentary and government inquiries. He has developed communications strategies and messaging, and has even acted as official media spokesperson for clients in these situations. Alistair will share his experiences and lessons learned during this interactive session.

Alistair J. Nicholas
Executive Vice President – Director, Special Projects
Powell Tate

Alistair J. Nicholas is Executive Vice President – Director, Special Projects at Powell Tate Australia. He has considerable crisis management experience covering Australia, the United States and China. Alistair’s career of more than 30 years includes senior positions in public affairs agency and in-house roles, in political advice, in government and diplomacy, and in journalism.

In his current role he advises corporations on issues and crisis management, corporate and public affairs, and government relations.

From 2000 until 2013 Alistair was based in Beijing, China, where he provided strategic advice to a range of companies including many Global Fortune 500 companies, and to the Chinese government and foreign government embassies and agencies on a range of public affairs, government relations and crisis management issues.

Before moving to China, Alistair was the Trade Commissioner at the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC, where he was responsible for promoting Australian business and trade interests to the World Bank and United Nations.

Earlier in his career Alistair worked as international trade policy and media advisor to Australia’s Federal Coalition. He has also been a research analyst at Australia’s leading free market think tank, the Centre for Independent Studies, and a journalist for The Australian, Pacific Defence Reporter and The Optimist.

Alistair currently acts as Honorary Media Counsel for the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce; he is a member of the Agriculture Committee of the Australia-China Business Council; and, he is a member of the private sector advisory board to Macquarie University’s China Business Research Network. He is a widely quoted media commentator on China business issues and he has written opinion articles for The Australian and The Australian Financial Review as well as regional publications.

Alistair holds a B.A. (Hons.) in Political Science from University of New South Wales and a Certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University.

Panel Discussion : The Role of Communication Going Forward

• The Role of Communication in the Next Decade
• Crisis Management in Australia and the Challenges Faced
• How PR / Communicators are going to add value to company in the realm of Crisis Management and Brand Reputation

Catherine Ellis, Director, Media and Corporate Communications, Corporate Affairs, NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation

Luke Enright, Head of Corporate Communications, Jetstar Airways

Stuart Rintoul, Senior Media Officer (Emergencies), World Vision Australia

Enjoy a glass of champagne whilst networking with other like-minded individuals on topics that are of most interest to you and fellow delegates.

Social Media and Crisis Communication

As reported in the The New York Times, “anger is the emotions that spread most easily over social media” . With 28% of the world’s populations are actively in social media platform and have internet access over mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets, This statement essentially means that “citizen journalism” is a phenomena where no organizations could afford as a small crisis might be erupted into an uncontrollable events in social media if it is not handle appropriately,

The first two sessions of Day 2 seek to understand how social media has vastly complicated the challenges faced by the organizations in the aftermath of a crisis, shedding lights on how to establish a scalable social media strategy. As a result, delegates will gain the know-how and best practices to communicate with public in social media to provide the most updated and accurate message to avoid public outrage. Last but not least, delegates will gain an understanding of the framework on how to integrate effective social media communication strategy across the organization.

FACEBOOK Presentation: This session will look at the latest tools and insights from Facebook that can be used to assist communities in a disaster, as well as some trends and best practice tips on how emergency responders can best leverage Facebook

Mia manages policy for Facebook in Australia and New Zealand and works with government, child safety and other stakeholders to promote greater awareness about Facebook’s policies and products.

Prior to joining Facebook, Mia was the Assistant Secretary for Digital Economy and Convergence Strategy at the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy during which time she served on the Government 2.0 Taskforce, which advised the Government on how best to engage on social media and adopt a more open data policy. Mia joined the Department after working in Silicon Valley as the Product Counsel for YouTube and, prior to this, the General Counsel for the non-profit Creative Commons. She has a Bachelor of Arts and Law from the University of New South Wales and a Masters of Law from Stanford University.

• How social media behaves in a crisis?
• The Constant – What Social Media Does Not Change in Crisis Communication Landscape?
• Success Leaves Traits: Best Practices of the Social Media Crisis Communication

Reputation and Image Restored

Image and Reputations is how stakeholders perceived an organization. Image and reputation are generally regards as a valuable and intangible asset that organization strive to and worth protecting. The increase in attributions of an organization for a crisis would likely increase the likelihood of negative-word-of-mouth and undoubtedly counter -productive to an organization.

These sessions seek to overcome the increasing challenges in dealing with the volume and complexity of the public scrutinization in organizations when the crises erupted. It would also look into how could organization minimize the litigation impact in the course of workplace crisis. Through panel discussion, we will also be exploring the questions on the various roles of stakeholders  in different stages of crisis. Last but not least, we would also look into how all parties could collaborate in building a resilient risk management plan.

• While it’s normal to feel a crisis is nothing but negative, there are opportunities
  in every negative situation. It’s about understanding crisis archetypes
• In the United Airlines and the Dave Carroll “United breaks Guitars” fiasco, Taylor Guitars maximized the situation. How appropriate was their response?
• Newsjacking happens daily – how appropriate, how relevant is this in a crisis?

• What are the value of Social Media’s in Crisis and how could organizations
  derive value from it?
• What is Ethical Social Media Engagement in a Time of Crisis
• Corporate Social Media Spokesperson: The Best Person to Speak on behalf of the organization in times of crisis?

Julie Delaforce, General Manager of Online Community and Social Media Management Leader, Quiip

Jane Jordan, Founder and Managing Director, Gaia Coaching Group

Pre Crisis Management – Anticipating Crisis

Pre Crisis Management generates returns. If an organization is being proactive and preparing for all the potential crises that could occur in the organization, there are apparent benefits that would follow through the preparations.  First of all, organization may finds that some crisis are preventable by simply activating the initial crisis management plan in place. Secondly, organization could have prepared the stakeholders with all the possible responses, the best and worst case scenario and ultimately enhance the stress limit that the organization could undertake in a crisis.

The following sessions explore the importance of a pre-crisis crisis management plan in developing organization’s capacity in dealing with crisis, coupled with the live simulation on safety measures in time of attack and crisis. Delegates will be able to learn the latest development and framework in developing an early warning systems and integrated crisis response team to mitigate the potential risks that might arise before, during and after a crisis.  Last but not least, hear thought provoking presentations on how a comprehensible pre crisis management plan could increase your ROI.

Issues & Crisis Management – Glimpse from the Public Sector

• Integrating risk planning into communications
• Issues management & government service delivery
• Taking the sting out of it – tactical decisions on sharing information with stakeholders

Catherine is Director of Media and Corporate Communications for the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation. Her team covers media relations, public affairs, content creation, internal and corporate communications for a diverse range of agencies, including ICT and Digital Government, NSW Fair Trading, SafeWork, Office of State Revenue and NSW Procurement.

Catherine’s experience in corporate affairs spans state and federal government and the corporate and consulting sectors. Previously, she led award winning work, partnering with a range of clients dealing with regulatory, stakeholder and reputation challenges whilst at Ogilvy PR’s specialist public affairs consultancy. She has also worked at the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet and as a Commonwealth ministerial adviser.

Catherine holds a Master of Arts (Global Media & Communications) from The University of Melbourne.

Preparing for Crisis – Enhancing business resilience through crisis preparation?

• Crisis can occur due to an emergency being managed badly, or the company being out of step with community expectations
• Resilience plan through considering the worst case scenarios when considering a business’s requirements to continue delivering its service or product in a way society trusts. Select the most significant crisis situations to be prepared for in terms of emergency response and communication
• Crisis preparation includes rehearsal with multi-functional agreement about the outrage-mitigating positioning, posture and key messages as well as ongoing responsiveness

Katherine Teh-White, founder and managing director of Futureye, is a leading expert on social licence to operate, sustainable development, and project approvals. Through her 25 years experience in corporations and as a consultant she has developed unique experience in transforming organizations to be more proactive. She has successfully created social license for projects including dealing with activism and complex issues such as agriculture, climate change, mining and construction. She is a former journalist and government relations/ public policy manager in a resources company.

Post Crisis Management

Crisis management includes having a comprehensive Crisis Management Plan and strong leadership in order to execute the plan with swiftness and decisiveness. Leadership in times of crisis is vastly different from leadership  under normal circumstances. In times of crisis, leaders will be under pressure on all fronts, having to deal with various factors such as time, stakeholders implicated, communication, media and so on.

Thus, identifying the right leader in such situations is of utmost importance. The leader must have the expertise in handling such situations and have the composure to remain calm and in control. Last but not least, the final session would explore the need of having a rapid response crisis management plan that would allow the organization to be crisis ready at all time.

Demonstrating Leadership in Crisis Management

• How to Identify the Right Spoke person – Control and Public Assurance in Crisis Communication
• Guide to demonstrating Strong Organization Control and Expertise in time of Crises
• Leadership in Engaging Internal and External Stakeholders in Crisis Management

Mark was appointed a Constable of the NSW Police Force in July, 1986 and served as a Police Officer for just under 17 years. Mark commenced as the Assistant Manager Operations with the New South Wales State Emergency Service in January, 2006. He was appointed as the Director Special Operations, Assistant Commissioner with the NSW State Emergency Service on 1 September, 2010.

Throughout his period as a Senior Executive within the NSW SES Mark has fulfilled the position of Deputy Commissioner for some 3 years. This coincided with a period of significant review of the organization by a number of bodies including the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), NSW Public Service Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman.

Mark has significant experience as a Level 3 incident controller throughout various major state-wide operational events including the substantial flooding events throughout the 2011-12 financial years and the significant storms and floods which occurred in the Hunter Region of NSW throughout early 2015 along with every other major operational response by the NSW State Emergency Service over the past 10 years.

• Framework of a Comprehensive Crisis Management Plan
• How to Develop and manage an integrated crisis response team
• Lightning Does Strike Twice: Review and Feedback, Lay the Groundwork for the next hit

Andrew Gissing is the Risk Frontiers Director Government Business and Enterprise Risk Management. Andrew has over 15 years emergency management experience, including in executive management positions.  He previously held the position of Deputy Chief Officer / Director Emergency Management and Communication with the Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) for four years. Before joining Risk Frontiers he was the Director Enterprise Risk Management at the Department of Family and Community Services.

At Risk Frontiers, Andrew has led engagements to assist Government agencies to better understand management practices in relation to catastrophic disasters, review disaster management plans, develop emergency risk management frameworks and improve community engagement practices.

Andrew holds Masters (Hons) of Science and Bachelors of Economics degrees, and is the author of some thirty journal and conference papers.

End of Day 2

How social media could be used effectively in crisis communication highly depends on the strategy an organization’s have in place.  The workshop is designed to guide participants on how to leverage on social media and new technology to communicate with stakeholders during each crisis stage and avoid the potential social blunders one may make in the social media platform.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand how to incorporate social media as part of your crisis management plan to avoid backfire in social media communication
• Understand the characteristics of social media platform to identify the best fit for your organization’s crisis communication channel
• Create a scalable  social media strategy that could be widely adopted by organizations and crisis management team in different stages of crisis.

Mark Carrick is one of Australia’s most experienced counter-terrorism practitioners. He offers more than 20 years of law enforcement experience that includes crisis management and response, general policing, witness protection, close personal protection, crime management, change management, and ultimately counter-terrorism intelligence.Mark delivers business resilience across organizations, leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver integrated crisis management, contingency planning, and business continuity. By combining the attributes acquired from years of countering terror, managing multiple, complex crisis situations, and practicing as a business consultant, he brings a unique skill set to the business world. The ability to apply the rigor of systematic, intelligence-led methodologies to contemporary business practices places Mark as a unique individual with a proven record for achieving excellent results in high-pressure environments where the consequences of failure can be catastrophic.

Mark Carrick has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Sydney and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), which has a diverse membership of directors and senior leaders from across a wide range of industries in the commercial, private, nonprofit, and government sectors. He currently writes thought leadership articles for the ACID Center of Excellence and co-developed the new Crisis Management Course for board members, he also delivers Courses and webinars designed to prepare large organizations to respond to crisis situations across the broad spectrum of Crisis planning, preparing responding and recovery, including Crisis communications and utilizing social media for west effect.

5:00pm

Dealing with the Media During a Crisis – Handling Interviews, Negative Publicity and Difficult Situations

This workshop is designed to equip participants with the insights and practical tools and techniques on how to engage with the media, maintain organization’s image and integrity regardless of the situation.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the media agenda and reporting style today to ensure the key message is communicated
• Insight into how to handle difficult interview questions in time of crises and under pressure
• Tools and techniques in controlling the Q&A session in an interview
• Insight into the four stages the media report a crisis and what this means for spokespeople

Founder and CEO of GAIA Coaching Group – a boutique coaching, training and advisory firm – Jane is a coach and adviser to executive management with a focus on strategic communication, reputation and women’s leadership. As a professional “devils’ advocate,” she takes a broader focus than say a legal and accounting adviser might.

A leader in the field of crisis media management, Jane has been at the forefront of crisis media training since the early nineties, when she co-founded the Australian-based Media Skills, which became the highly respected training consultancy, The Jordan Templeman Group (The JT Group). The methodology from Media Skills and The JT Group is now licensed and used internationally.

Her crisis experience also includes auditing crisis communication and crisis management programs, facilitating desk top exercises as well as crisis communication planning and training, including a two-year program for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. A strong strategist, Jane excels in high-stakes situations and has used her skills and experience to effectively coach high-level clients in high-risk situations.

She has worked in and around the media for more than 25 years, starting her working career as a journalist with Australian giant, Consolidated Press. Her media experience was strengthened with an in-house communication role and as a public relations consultant. Many of the programs Jane designed and implemented for her clients won prestigious awards from her peers in the public relations and communications industry.

In 2011, her book, The Four Highly Effective Stages of Crisis Management (CRC Press) was launched to critical acclaim. It has been called the ‘gold standard for who says what and when in a crisis.’ The first edition sold-out and Jane is currently working on the second edition.

Jane has a Masters in Communication Management from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), a Train the Trainer certificate from Macquarie University and has taught Organizational Communication at the leading Australian communication school, Charles Sturt University plus Strategic Communication at Masters level at UTS. She also has various certificates in adult learning.

She is based in the Hunter Valley in NSW, Australia, and travels frequently for guest lectures, public speaking and training programs.