1. FLOATING TO THE TOP
How crisis management and web strategy
literally rescued us from the flood.
Laura Byrne-Cristiano @NewYorkerLaura

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LAURA BYRNE-CRISTIANO
You can find me at @NewYorkerLaura. I have Tweeted out a link to the slides.
 Background: Marketing, Communications, and Teaching.
 I’ve written content for a variety of WordPress sites daily
since 2006 primarily for organizations in the areas of:
 Education
 Tech
 Entertainment
 Faith
 Currently work for Bet Hannon Marketing as a Content
Specialist

3. “YOU NEVER LOSE A
DREAM IT INCUBATES
AS A HOBBY”
LARRY PAGE, CO-FOUNDER OF GOOGLE
3

4. “
”
“Theatre, glorious
theatre.
It creates family for all
kinds of orphans.”
Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets
of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
4

5. Let Me Tell You
About My Second
Family and Home
Established in 1937 in North NJ
8 per year shows for adults/kids
We welcome all levels of
experience
No one is paid, all volunteers
Kind of like contributing to
WordPress
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6. Here’s a little glimpse behind the scenes
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7. 80 years worth of stock
pieces and yearly
supply purchases let us
do some amazing things
on a shoestring budget.
7
We Won Multiple Awards
for our Sets

8. Then This
Happened
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Source: Higher Ground YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-TsnLV1NAlM0khim85fiqg

9. The Power Of
Water
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“Water wears down the cliff
tops, the mountains. The whole
of the world. Water always
wins.”
--Doctor Who

10. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE
THE POWER OF WATER
10
The Aftermath

11. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE
THE POWER OF WATER
11

12. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE
THE POWER OF WATER
12

13. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE
THE POWER OF WATER
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• $50,000 loss of all furniture, molding doors, windows,
paint, historical documents, dressing room items, and
95% of props
• $5,000 heating system repair prior to labor
• $3,000 electric repair estimate at a steep discount
• $30,000 structural: mold abatement, new shelves, dry
wall, plumbing
And this was just for starters…

15. We Had To Empty The
Building
• We desperately needed 3 things
Volunteers
Money
Resources
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The clock was ticking. In 24
hours, this wasn’t a story.

16. Crisis Plan
Facebook
Instagram
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YOU NEVER
KNOW
WHERE
PEOPLE
WILL FIND
YOU
Twitter
YouTube
WebsiteYou never know where people will
find you first. But their conduit for
the most detailed information is
your website!
Crisis Plan

17. The Strategy:
Website
• Master Page of Needs and Progress
• Daily posts updating
• Plight
• Plan
• Progress
• Positive attitude
• Donate Call to action in posts, menu, sidebar
• Cross-posted this material to all MailChimp lists
with message tweaked for each segment:
• Members
• Patrons
• Auditions
• Subscribers
• Message was crafted by three people with
website as the main “spokesperson”
• Everyone instructed to quote and link
back to the website and then put their
spin on it in emails and social media. 17

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19. The Strategy:
Imagery
• Photos
• Of Damage
• Of People At Work
• Photos To Break Up Content
• Embedded Social Media Full Gallery
• Videos (Facebook/YouTube) embedded and
cross-posted
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20. The Strategy: Social Media
Twitter
• Direct outreach to news organizations
• Direct outreach to politicians
• Direct outreach to influential citizens
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Facebook
• Our Own Facebook Page
• Every local town Facebook group
• Every Theatre group
“Studio Players has devastating losses
from the flash flood that hit the area.
Please help if you can (link to website)”

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Don’t Count the Seniors Out!

23. Where Did Help
Come From?
• TV station 1: Twitter
• TV station 2: Facebook
• Print media local:
• Direct outreach
• Facebook
• Dumpster company: Facebook
• Donors who knew us: MailChimp
• New donors: social media and TV
• Volunteers: all the above
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Bigger Question: Why did
they cover us? When so many
were affected?
Short Answer: Detailed and easy
to navigate copy on the website
and an easy to find continued story
of success

25. WEBSITE:
BEFORE
YOUR
CRISIS HITS
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Contact Us
◎What does it say?
◎Where does it go?
◎Who responds?
Mission
◎Everyone has one
◎What is your niche?
◎How do you welcome
all folks in this niche?
You Are What and How You Write
◎Pam Aungst – Key words
◎Joost de Valk– WordCamp US 2016
News and
Updates
◎Current
◎Social Media in posts
◎Audit your site every
6 months
◎Get outside eyes
yearly
About Us
◎Not Boring
◎Active Voice
◎Our Story

26. $50,000
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In total, we raised
In 3 days, we raised in cash
and donated services
$150,000

27. Where Are
We Today?
• Expanded our vision to now do
10 shows a year.
• We were nominated for three
NJ theatre awards for the 2018-
2019 season.
• In process updating our website
with a modern theme and a
robust CRM to manage
volunteers and donors.
• Building a system to catalogue
our prop and furniture
collection
• Check out our latest set
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Thanks For Listening!
Support Your Local Arts Orgs!
LAURA BYRNE-CRISTIANO
CONTENT SPECIALIST AT BET HANNON MARKETING
@NewYorkerLaura