November 12th, 2015 by Mary Kay Hyde-Bohn

The climate cycle continues in North America – it’s Winter in the mountains to the west of my office windows. Let’s review some of the scenarios that we might encounter for the next 5 to 6 months.

First on the list is the nuisance called Daylight Savings time: we need to change every device that displays time. The manual devices are fairly easy to remember and adjust; the electronic devices are going to be discovered for days after the change, then you either punch a teeny tiny button or unfold a paper clip to depress a hidden button multiple times and then repeat as you’ve over-corrected (sigh). It’s 2 weeks since change and I’m still finding devices to correct ?

Next is preparing your vehicle: do you need to change tires or pack chains in your truck? Check to see if chains are required on any of the roads you travel and then you’ll have them if needed. How about your personal winter kit?

Red Cross, FEMA, state governments (Colorado for example) and even TV channels offer these checklists.

• If your business has vehicles, your contracted maintenance provider should be ready to schedule checks on all your vehicles
• YOU/your company’s insurance agent should have a winter driving review session for anyone that drives company vehicles.
• Your company vehicles should add winter items to the existing emergency pack or check to refresh items already in the kit.

Third (or first) on your list are all the holidays coming up and what is your organizational vacation strategy or plan?

• The company’s plan for shut down or limited operations should be published already.
  • Do you have an existing personnel strategy around those plans?
  • What is the mechanical plan for the shut down? Is this time for maintenance?
  • Have the Facilities and Security teams been involved with plan?
• The individual vacation plans should be considered with the whole operation or team in mind. If a key person is going to be gone then what is the plan? Is their backup available? Has the training been refreshed?
• Ensure all the phone and email notifications mention that the person is away from desk and the expected date back at work.
  • Avoid mentioning any personal travel plans due to safety/security of personal nature.
  • If a backup is available, mention that person by name and phone number
• If company signage needs to be updated, schedule that task as soon as possible so it’s done when you close the door or the last person turns off the lights.

Next on the list is Calories to be consumed during the holidays:

• If this means at a company sponsored event, be sure that you self-manage your plate and glass.
  • Company event planning is whole separate subject — too many factors to discuss here.
• Consider reflecting on your calorie intake in 24 or 48 hour blocks of time.
• Plan for walks or exercise on a daily basis and keep to your schedule!
• Don’t beat yourself for enjoying the flavors available, just be aware of portions.

Last on the list is ‘time for reflection’:

• Take time to refresh & restore your energies
• Take time to reflect on the good business during previous year; celebrate the good stuff!
• What needs to improve? List any details you think of for the budgeting portion of the plan.
• What are you going to do in January or first quarter? You have the space and time to think about those ‘grand pans’ now

November 12th, 2015 by Mary Kay Hyde-Bohn

I had the chance to go to my first trade show in the ‘disaster’ industry last month, out of town, and did not know if any local ACP chapter members attending. Ever Onward!

One has to consider the cost of attending one of these events – both financially and time-wise.

• Will the education from speakers add to my mental and physical libraries?
• Will my cousin be available to host me (offset the hotel bill)?
• Can I get a good airfare?
• Will I find interesting exhibitors?
• Will I see anyone I know from other industries?

I did a quick review with my CPA on what would be deductible or not (and some items that are only 50% deductible), so I had the start of a budgeting process.

• Entrance fee
• Airfare
• Meals not covered at event
• COFFEE
• Transportation back/forth to event
• Trinkets to bring home

What to pack:

• Appropriate layers for outside the event.
• More layers for inside the ‘refrigerator’ convention center that will fit in my tote
• PC, new travel surge protector, several thumb drives
• All the charger cables for phone, PC and tablet
• Comfortable shoes (2 pair) to switch each day
• Materials to share (business cards, BCPWest rack cards and more business cards)
• Folder with agenda, map/list of exhibitors and pre-event postcards and solitations

The trip report:

I registered during the first ½ day – out of 4, and while organizing my tote ran into several folks from the local ACP chapter! We had similar list of classes so we compared our ‘2nd choices’ and agreed to divide and conquer, sharing notes later so we had better coverage of the 4 days – yeah!

Several of the seminars provided handouts or links to grab the handout later – wise choice. The event also had links to several of the main speakers, but not full coverage. The fellow attendees were always checking their phones for ‘hot situations’ back home, so were interrupting with questions covered in previous minutes — really irritating. I made a practice of checking email only on breaks so I could get the ‘full message’ while in session.

Exhibitor Hall was full of enterprise level products, so I challenged those companies to consider the smaller companies or the suppliers/vendors/contractors to the big companies – it takes all of them to keep production rolling. I had a list of vendors that I wished to ask about scaling for the small/medium business and found them to be interested in the conversation.

I have been listening to many webinars provided by several of the exhibitors and made sure to thank them for the continuing education – I have been able to forward several presentations to appropriate customers. The SWAG was normal stuff and I would load up on the last afternoon, so I would not have to carry the weight around and the exhibitors are willing to share so they don’t have to take home!

We are going to add a new tab to the web site called ‘Community Resources’ that will have listings, links and descriptions of products or service companies that I have found over the years. These are NOT endorsements, merely information for you and your team to consider.

August 15th, 2015 by Mary Kay Hyde-Bohn
Example of not wanting to have the conversation about Continuity or Disaster planning.

These 3 Buddha’s are sitting back, covering their eyes, mouth and ears. Just like an otherwise savvy business person … who does not want to have the critical conversation about Continuity or Disaster planning.

The last two months have been a flurry of webinars with similar themes – you have to communicate during a Crisis to your employees, your customers, vendors, suppliers and local/regional community! The right words and the right media for individual audiences or public/strangers will fill the void with inaccurate misinformation – in other words, info-trash that will ruin your business or your reputation!

The after-event internal reviews have consistently brought up communication omissions or shortfalls to all audiences. The clean-up work due to misinformation or false information may take months to correct.

To summarize the main points of the discussions/webinars (not in any order):

DO’s

• Define your audiences (internal & external)
• Define the best method to reach each audience in times of crisis (may be different by audience)
• Have draft texts ready for use by audience, type and severity of event(s)
• Respect the gravity/severity of each event
• Create checklists for each phase of crisis & decide communication actions
• Create, train & exercise the team doing the Crisis Communicating; create team structure (authority or approval levels) and backups.
• Make sure Communication team has IT authority to update media formats (add & remove)
• Have plan for press/media conference room, if appropriate; all else is electronic if power is available.
• Inform and train the employees on where to receive and send information
• Communicate with Customers with media they normally use, if possible.
• Engage with Emergency Response Team for ‘go/no go’ decision; confirm with internal Crisis Management team for severity level to work with.
• Monitor other media outlets for information or misinformation
• Post only most current information; remove old/dated information
• Keep a running total of team time & effort
• Log any IT issues for immediate and deferred correction – don’t try to fix a minor problem in the ‘heat of moment’.
• Have a plan for power outage scenario.

Do Not’s

• Forget the Communication checklist
• Use one message for every audience; tailor each message for each audience & delivery media
• Select only one media; use them all!
• Create new accounts during crisis (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Make the media only one way; give opportunity to send feedback
• Expect your company is the only one involved; share connections.
• Expect for power to be available at all times.
• Forget to keep a list of all messages sent, to what distribution list and what media.

The organizations that hosted these webinars have materials on their web sites for further reference:

FIRESTORM WEBINARS: http://www.firestorm.com/learn/form-download-brief-six-stages-of-crisis-for-communication-planning.html

Agility Recovery: http://www2.agilityrecovery.com/assets/slides/Agility-Social_Media.pdf

Everbridge; http://www.everbridge.com/control-communication-throughout-the-lifecycle-of-a-crisis/