3. ABOUT MYSELF
• Thomas Dybro Lundorf
• Born 1976
• Head of communications unit at
DEMA since 2008
@BRStdlundorf (most tweets
are in Danish!)
Email: tdl@brs.dk
4. About DEMA
• Employees: around 1.700 (including
conscripts and volunteers)
• HQ at Birkerød, six fire and rescue
centres around the country
• Established 1938
12. Nuclear preparedness
• National preparedness plan
• Radiation level measuring 24/7
• Plume clouds prognosis
• Coordination of crisis communication
13. Check DEMA out at
• BRS.DK
• Twitter – @brsdk (in Danish)
• Twitter - @fsnielsen (Flemming S.
Nielsen, head of international disaster
management unit)
15. Basic principles of crisis
communication i Dennmark
• Sector responsibility
• Principle of subsidiarity
• Principle of action
• The national emergency management
organization
• The national operative staff and the
central operative communication staff
16. DEMA and
crisis communication
Crisis communication courses
Crisis communication is a central
part of DEMA‟s national
exercises
Crisis communication is one of
the five core elements in
DEMA‟s emergency
management planning guide
17. PITSTOP! Five minutes in pairs:
• What is crisis communication?
• What is the purpose of crisis
communication?
• What is/are the most important
element/-s in crisis communication?
18. Crisis communication
should
Cushion the effects of accidents
and disasters on society and
prevent harm to people, property
and the environment
Empower the people! Make
them part of the response
21. Media and social media
monitoring helps your
organization manage the
situation as it evolves.
Without it, you‟re blind.
LOOK
AND
LISTEN
22. You have limited
ressources, so choose
your channels wisely:
Press? Homepage? Social
media? Hotlines?
Pigeons? Knocking
CHOOSE doors?
CHANNELS
23. Nominate a dedicated
spokesperson.
She must be convincing
and empathic.
Go fast. Address
uncertainty. Tell what you
know - and what you
SPEAK don‟t know.
Tell „em you‟re on it.
24. Be open and transparent.
Let other key players
know what you‟re saying,
how and when.
Keep your collegues
updated
COORDINATE
25. Crisis communicators
can‟t be everywhere.
Empower the people –
make everyone a crisis
communicator.
UNLEASH Potential: social media.
THE
CROWD
26.
27. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
28. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
30. Tasks
• Media and social media monitoring, home
page editing, press handling, social media
platform editing
Leadership
• Competence, tasks, responsibilities
Plan
Organization
• Functions (web editor, press officer etc.),
physical setting and replacement procedures
Ressources
• Dark site, hotline, press conference facilities
Procedures
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30
• ‘How to’-descriptions: web article publishing,
press handling, hotline managing
31. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
32. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
34. Exercise
Some times are better
for making mistakes
than other times
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34
35. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
36. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
37. Evaluate and
adjust
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37
38. ” The ability to recognize risk and to
learn from exercises has been to weak
The ability to carry out what has been Evaluate and
adjust
decided and to use the plans that have
been developed has been to weak
”
QUOTES FROM THE PREFACE OF THE 22. JULY COMMISSION REPORT
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38
39. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
40. Exercise
Crisis Evaluate
Plan
communication and adjust
Educate
46. PITSTOP! Writing a press release
• First things first
• Put yourself in the audience‟s
situation – what would YOU like to
know?
• Be accurate, don‟t speculate
• Address uncertainty - tell what you
know and what you don‟t know
47. WRITE A PRESS
RELEASE
• First things first
• Put yourself in the
audience‟s situation –
what would YOU like
to know?
• Be accurate, don‟t
speculate
• Address uncertainty -
tell what you know
and what you don‟t
know
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47
54. 08:00: Main messages:
1) A release of radioactive substances in Japan will under no circumstances
affect Danish territory
2) Persons in Japan should follow the instructions of the local and national
Japanese authorities
3) DEMA is following the situation closely
55. 9:28: Press release sent to
all Danish national media
56. The following two weeks
• Special webpage on
Fukushima
• FAQ-list in Danish
and English on brs.dk
• News and press
releases on brs.dk
• Media handling
• Hotline
• Mails from citizens
Kommunikation ifm. Fukushima-
9. marts 2013
hændelsen
Side 56
57. Daily visitors on brs.dk
Week 11 – and week 2
• Week 11 = 876.060
hits on brs.dk.
• 1,6 times as many
as week 2.
58. Most viewed pages on brs.dk
Week 11 – Week 2
• Special web page and FAQ
viewed approx. 10.000
times.
• FAQ used by the media
(pol.dk and dr.dk).
59. 12 press releases sent out in 2 weeks
• ”Jordskælv og tsunami i Stillehavsregionen”
• ”Japansk kernekraftværk overvåges tæt”
• ”Ustabil situation på japansk kernekraftværk”
• ”Temaside om kernekraftsituation i Japan”
• ”Forhøjet strålingsniveau ved Fukushima”
• ”Hotline om japanske kernekraftværker oprettet”
• ”Alle rejser til Japan frarådes”
• ”Danmark sender assistance til Japan”
• ”Danmark sender 23.000 tæpper til Japan”
• ”Nukleart måleberedskab udvidet til Grønland”
• ”Ufarlig radioaktivitet målt over Danmark”
• ”Hotline om japansk kernekraftværk lukker”
60. Press contacts
• 50-60 contacts from the
press per day
• DEMA received around 400
calls from the press during
week 11 of 2011.
61.
62. 2/3 of the population got
the main messages right
64. Medier
Journalists wanted more proactivity
Kommunikation ifm. Fukushima-
Side 64
hændelsen
9. marts 2013
65. What could we have done BETTER?
• Better planning on replacement of
ressources
• More expert spokespersons
• More training to spokespersons
• More extensive use of social media
66. QUESTIONS?
(quickly! Hit the mousebutton, Thomas!)
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66
69. » Mats Eriksson
» Örebro University
» ”On-line strategic
crisis communication
– In search of a
descriptive model
approach”
» October 2012
70. • Based on interviews with 24 Swedish strategic
communication practitioners
• The paper describes five crisis communication
models/strategies:
1) Additional one-way channel
2) Platform and hub
3) Palpus
4) Networks
5) Action-nets
71. Research on CC so far
• Greer/Moreland: United Airlines used their own website for one-
way comunication during 9/11
• Taylor/Kent et al: the web should be used for two-way
communication
• Conway et al.: gap between attitudes of PR-practitioners (two-
way) and the actual output (one-way) during crisis situations
• Schultz, Uts, Göritz:”The medium is the message: less negative
crisis reactions using Twitter (!)
• Eriksson: effective strategy is more about crafting strategy than
implementing it (Mintzberg)
• Why is that gap
73. The classic approach
Organization = a mechanical system
Crisis management = function of
command
Centralized organization
Seeks control through planning,
regulations and instructions
Communication = transmitting a
message
Actors create relationships
74. The new approach
Based on social constructivism and
neo-institutionalism
Crisis management = ongoing activity
where ”action-nets” are formed
Decentralized organization
Relationships create actors
Communication = two-way (or more!)
75. New approach implications
• Improvisational theater
• Don’t ”overplan”- set a frame and
improvise from there
• Don’t train for the purpose og testing
predetermined crisis plans – get used
to chaos and unpredictability
77. MODEL 1: Crisis communication as an
additional one-way channel
78. MODEL 1: Crisis communication as an
additional one-way channel
• All platforms = one-way: press,
social media, homepage
• Crisis team: senior
communication management
• Unified message through
various channels
• No interaction (explained with
lack of ressources)
79. • ”Communi
”Communication then becomes more
unidirectional than dialogue- and relationship-
based in character”
- Crisis communicator on the use of Twitter during a crisis
80. MODEL 2: Crisis communication as an
interactive platform and hub
81. MODEL 2: Crisis communication as an
interactive platform and hub
• Storing of information on a
webpage which becomes the
primary source of information
• Unified message through
various channels
• No interaction
83. MODEL 3: Crisis communication as a
palpus
• The internet as a tool for signal
detection
• Media monitoring & social
media monitoring
• Issues management –
countermeasures to emerging
crisis
• Goal: to control the situation,
and reduce uncertainty
85. MODEL 4: Crisis communication as
networks
• The internet as a support tool
for crisis communication
• Web based crisis response
systems
• KRISAM, ”Crisis commander”
87. MODEL 5: Crisis communication as
action-nets
• Crisis coms occur with a large
degree of improvisation
• Not solely linked to pre-
determined, formal crisis
managers
• Primary and situational actors
are created in an ongoing
process
• Case: SAS Facebook / the
Finnish surf-club in 2004 during
the tsunami /Googles crisis
center
89. Tendencies
• Struggle between ”classical” and ”new”
logic
• The more serious the crisis is, the more
”classical” organizations tend to crisis
communicate
90. PITSTOP! Choosing the right strategy
for online crisis com
• Which model is the best in your
opinion – and why?
• How should emergency responders
use ”action-nets” for crisis
communication during a crisis?
