Crisis Communication Skills

Why Attend

What do the 2010 British Petroleum spill, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370, and the financial crisis of 2008 have in common? They were all unexpected crises that rocked the world and created seemingly insurmountable Public Relations (PR) challenges for the organizations involved. This course provides participants with the opportunity to identify how a crisis can impact an organization and what should be done to mitigate its effects. The course focuses on how to prepare the communication function to respond rapidly and effectively in the event of a crisis in order to be able to manage perceptions in the media and online.

By attending this course, you will learn best practices in crisis communication management, situation analysis, risk assessment, crisis team formation and responsibilities, protocols, and resources to be used such as crisis manuals and communication tools.

Overview

Course Outline

Schedule & Fees

Course Methodology

The workshop is designed to be interactive and participatory with the occasional use of various educational and training tools. The course also relies on the use of real life cases aimed at helping the participants translate the theory into application in an effective and efficient manner. The course is built on four learning pillars: concept learning (lectures and presentations), role playing (group exercises), experience sharing (roundtable discussions) and exposure to real world crises and policy choices which participants may confront.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Identify the different types of crises and their aspects
List the various principles of crisis communication
Devise crisis management processes aimed at mitigating potential crises in their organizations
Demonstrate the benefits of using the media in a crisis situation
Evaluate and prioritize the dimensions involved in crisis communication management
Analyze and interpret results achieved through crisis communication management

Target Audience

This course is targeted at team leaders, supervisors and managers of public relations sections as well as any staff member who may be involved in managing communication issues during a crisis.

Target Competencies

Public speaking
Verbal and non- verbal communication
Influencing audiences
Building rapport
Motivating subordinates
Organizing and leading projects

Introduction

Definition of a crisis
Overview of communication
Various types of crises
Key aspects of a crisis
Evolution of a crisis

Principles of crisis communications

Setting your clear objective
Responding quickly
Accepting responsibility
Appropriate messaging
Profiling your audience
Showing and maintaining credibility
Coordinating with others
Continuous monitoring

Crisis management process

Pre-crisis phase

Crisis Management Plan (CMP)
Crisis Management Team (CMT)
The spokesperson's role

Crisis event phase

Initial response
Reputation repair

Post crisis phase
Lessons learned
Follow up with communication

Crisis communication and media

Media and communication
Media as a partner in crisis response
Social media and crisis communication
Social media as a beneficial tool or a challenge
Dynamic use of social media in crisis communication

Dimensions of crisis communication management

Standard operating decisions dimension
Victims management dimension
Trust and credibility dimension
Behavior dimension
Professional expectations dimension
Ethical dimension
Lessons learned

How to measure your results in a crisis

Measuring outputs
Measuring impact
Measuring outcomes
Steps for a measurement program

Defining your objectives
Defining your audience
Defining your criteria and benchmarks
Deciding upon your timing, budget and measurements tools
Analyzing results for conclusions and recommendations

Arusha

Arusha (Tanzania)2025-11-17$1975

Kampala

Kampala (Uganda)2026-04-20$2100