EMERGENCY CALL HANDLING
Duration: 1 day/10am-4.30pm Max number of participants: 12

AIMED AT

Anyone, but especially those who have to handle telephone calls during emergencies and for those who are responsible for the planning phase. All responsible organisations have an obligation to plan for emergencies and civil contingencies and to warn and inform their clients, staff and public. This workshop is designed to give participants the practical skills required to cope with inquiries whether they are from the public, the media or partner organisations.

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

Approach to an Emergency or Crisis

A short discussion on the role of communications in an emergency or crisis from the general theory to the specific role you are expected to play in a real life situation. Participants are split into groups to examine a recent disaster from a number of different perspectives including the public and the organisation. Each group then presents its findings. By the end of this session participants should be able to appreciate: -

• The importance of reacting quickly
• The consequences of saying too much or too little
• The value of a corporate face when dealing with callers.

Emergency Call Handling

An emergency has been declared and you have been drafted in to the organisation's communications team as a telephone media handler. You have only very limited information when a journalist calls and bombards you with a barrage of questions. Everyone has the opportunity to handle a call, which is recorded for playback later. A chance to make and then listen to your call, together with other participants and to analyse your performance with appraisal from the workshop leader and your colleagues. By the end of this session you should:

• Recognise that knowledge is power
• Be able to deliver a clear and concise message from the available facts
• Know what to say when you don't have the answer to a question
• Know what to say when you do have the answer but can't give it.

Emergency Call Handling With Real Time Updates

Building on the skills acquired during the earlier session, you are given a more complex emergency to handle with frequent real time updates. Again your calls will be recorded for subsequent analysis. By the end of this session and the subsequent feedback you should:

• Be able to keep pace with a rapidly changing situation
• Know how to hold the line
• Recognise the potential for scoring "own goals?
• Demonstrate the value of setting ground rules and understanding the aims of both the authority and the media

Dealing With The Media

A led discussion on journalists and journalism and the varying demands placed on you by different sections of the media whether the calls are from local or national newspapers or from radio and television. By the end of this session you should:

• Recognise the dirty tricks journalists may use
• Understand the risks of tacitly agreeing with journalistic contentions
• Appreciate that different journalists are after different things

Being an Effective Messenger

Don't shoot me I'm only the messenger! Holding the line in the face of difficult and often hostile questioning can be a stressful experience. This brief session, which ends the day, aims to show you how to stay calm and confident under pressure.

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IN-HOUSE

...is the way we deliver training to most of our bigger clients. Depending on the workshop we can cater for up to a dozen people at a time - sometimes more. Contact us with your requirements.