The PR world can be filled with excitement, running campaigns and creating stories for the best interest of a brand, an individual, or an organisation.
That is all good, but what about the parts of Public Relations and Communications that aren’t so fun…what would you do in a serious crisis communication?
I had to ask that question as I was thrust into a real-life crisis communication simulation event with the wonderful team from Polpeo.
Click here to listen to a summary of the simulation:
Polpeo’s bespoke crisis simulations give you the closest thing to real-life experience, to prepare you to communicate successfully in a crisis. Our content team will create a realistic crisis scenario that your organisation could face (anything from a societal movement campaign to a data breach),
Polpeo.com
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I was underprepared, to say the least, I had zero inclination as to what I was walking into, I thought it was going to be a sit-down talk about crisis simulation, still very valuable but this was above and beyond.
I walked into a conference room full of snacks and refreshments and there I was placed into a team. We were debriefed on what was going to happen and then it was time to go.
Ok, here’s the breakdown: the teams were on the communications team for a brand that resembled today’s Amazon, consumers have accounts and can buy different types of products that will be delivered right to their door.
The company had the standards for today’s digital age, sites made by the simulation that resembled LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, and email.
The simulation was an extreme data breach happening in real-time, the Polpeo team were role-playing as frustrated consumers not getting into their accounts and worried about their product delivery status.
A government entity from another country was actively getting a hold of consumers’ account details, the entire site was hacked.
What would you do?
As quickly as we could we handled the situations one by one as they came. We each had a job, a monitor, a strategic planner, a scribe, communications to the publics and stakeholders, and a leader.
I chose to be the communicator to the publics, my job was to make social media posts and reply to the the press on how we plan as a company to control this issue.
Easier said than done.
The first issue, I didn’t have my laptop (I said I was underprepared), luckily the monitor and I partnered up to handle both our situations together. The second issue, it was too much, too fast.
Once I posted one update, another huge issue would happen and the rumours from the consumers would spread like wildfire.
The nasty comments, the memes, and the questions were all coming from every corner and it was truly almost if not just simply impossible to contain.
But my team worked, and we worked hard.
I will say my shining achievement was an email I had sent to the CEO of our plan of action that the Polpeo team saw and was very impressed with.
It made me feel I have a true future in this field.
I love my schooling at Leeds Beckett University because it has taught me all the necessary skills to handle situations in the real world but an experience like this was unforgettable because it’s not just about what you learn in school but how you put it into practice in the real world.
Get out of the books and make career-changing moves.
You can do it and this experience taught me that I can too.
To learn more or to get involved in the next crisis simulation event visit Polpeo.com