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.
Third (or first) on your list are all the holidays coming up and what is your organizational vacation strategy or plan?
Next on the list is Calories to be consumed during the holidays:
Last on the list is ‘time for reflection’:
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.
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.
What to pack:
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
Do Not’s
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/