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February 14, 2012 Transcript of CommsChat with John Evans

For #CommsChat on Monday 13 February, we were joined by John Evans from Weber Shandwick to look at the use of mock crises in social media crisis training.

John is the head of digital corporate, PA and financial EMEA at Weber Shandwick which has recently launched its crisis management tool, Firebell, in Europe.

We looked at the challenges of a social media crisis, the benefits of running mock crises in crisis training and which departments should take part in the simulation.

It was a lively chat, resulting in 35 pages of transcript and attracting participants from Europe, Canada, and South Africa. The transcript can be viewed below and we’ve also pulled out a few of our favourite Tweets from the course of the hour.

@patricecloutier I’m gonna get things going … first question should really read: how crucial are the first 12 MINUTES of a crisis

@helenblundell A series of holding statements is vital to buy time while assessing situation

@robertcgage  A2 – crises rarely conform to textbooks. They grow organically. Simulations can grow like this too.

@alexpackham The initial ‘panic’ feeling of an online crisis in SM as its so quick, can’t be emulated without simulation.

@johnevans23  and seeng non social depts like HR, legal etc see it for “real” often makes them focus on the threat

@AntonioKing1 Aside from the usuals, Marketing and CS departments need to see and understand what happens during social media crises.

@charlibate  I agree. The length of some corporate processes is not at all conducive to social media!

@amandacomms  would have to include spam, attacks and protest all online. Test speed of response

@stuart_baird  best scenarios are always very close to real examples & need to get under the skin of the organisation

@AllthingsIC  I’ve found having hard-copies of crisis manuals invaluable, particularly if your systems are down as part of the real crisis!

The transcript can be seen here: Transcript February 13 with John Evans

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