As an international student, I used to spend my evenings in my room curled up with a good book and a TV show blaring in the background. I used to wonder whether this was how I would spend my days as a student when a notification from my Outlook caught my attention.
I scrolled down the mail, yawning when a PRCA Crisis Comms event made me sit up ramrod straight. It was to occur on the 16th of April, somewhere near the Leeds Dock. I lost no time signing up for the event.
The event
Days leading up to 16th April slowly crawled by. The day was bright and sunny, quite unusual for the weather here. It was confusing to spot the location as there was no signage to locate it. I had to wait for my friends, and eventually we all found it.
Leigh Purves greeted us at the door before taking us to a room to familiarize us with the setting and beckoned us to try the welcome replenishments. We then logged on to the portal, Polpeo, through our laptops for our simulation program.
Tamara Littleton, the host for the event, first started by explaining what crisis comms denotes and how to delegate responsibilities.
She explained the various roles and their duties to handle a crisis. The roles included a leader, a scribe, a strategic planner, a monitor, and communications to the public and stakeholders.
Soon, we were divided into 3 teams of 5 members each and proceeded downstairs to start our task. Each team was a nice mixture of professionals and amateurs in the PR field, sharing their experience and learning something new.
The Simulation
With laptops on and a high adrenaline rush, my team and I plunged into the simulation. We had to work on a make-believe company, that had simulated social media platforms and a customer base, whose reputation was at risk after a data breach.
We had to navigate through the social media taunts and media houses’ articles while rushing to assist the CEO with his press conference. From drafting emails for the legal team to creating possible Q&As for the press conference, the entire process was nerve-racking for me.
Having never done this before, I was often at my wit’s end, but my teammates pulled me through. I was in charge of Comms and Monitoring along with two other girls, and we put up posts requesting our clients to give us time to sort out the matter.
Even though it was just a simulation, it felt so real. I realized while working on this how terrifying it must be in real life and that managing a crisis requires everyone to be calm.
At the end of the simulation, Tamara asks each team about their key learning. I voiced out how my team focused on integrity and filtering through the priorities and the non-priorities, all the while trying to secure our consumers’ loyalty.
Key takeaways
The crisis simulation event helped me see how I asses a crisis and how to improve myself. Data breaches are difficult to control and conversing across departments to find ways to control the crisis was interesting.
Though the practical approach was better than a theoretical one for this topic, I do wish some theoretical explanations were given before or after the event to get an even better understanding of crisis comms.
Nonetheless, learning how to draft press releases and communicate with the legal team was helpful.
In the end, photographs were taken, and LinkedIn connections were strengthened. PRCA truly brought every experience to the table for one night and helped everyone improve their skills more.
I smiled and made sure to check my emails regularly for any such events in the future.
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