Crisis Communication: Guidelines for Action
Planning What to Say When Terrorists, Epidemics, or Other Emergencies Strike

0.5 CM points, 0.25 CEUs, and 0.25 COCs

Prerequisites: None. This is a basic, though comprehensive, introductory self-directed course.

Learning Outcomes: Learn the keys to crisis communication! Effective crisis communication is the key to saving lives during times of threat or disaster. Dr. Sandman’s 25 Key Crisis Communication Points offer actual examples, suggestions, and solutions that every professional involved with handling an organization’s communication needs to know and understand before a situation arises!  Learn the 25 Key Crisis Communication Points with case study examples, including:

• Don’t over-reassure
• Err on the alarming side
• Acknowledge uncertainty
• Share dilemmas
• Acknowledge opinion diversity
• Be willing to speculate
• Don’t aim for zero fear
• Legitimize people’s fears
• Tolerate early over-reactions
• Establish your own humanity
• Tell people what to expect
• Offer people things to do
• Ask more of people
• Don’t lie, and don’t tell half-truths
• Aim for total candor and transparency
• Be careful with risk comparisons

Course Specifics: September 11, Anthrax, SARS …NOW more than ever, knowing how to communicate and deal with a fearful constituency in a crisis is as important as having the skills to deal with the immediate threat. It determines whether you build trust and encourage cooperation with your crisis management plan, or sow the seeds of skepticism, denial, or even panic instead. This new Crisis Communication course on CD-ROM/DVD provides content that is counterintuitive for almost any professional caught in the midst of a crisis. It is instinctive to be over-reassuring, overconfident, over-calm, and less than completely candid with those looking for guidance. Crisis managers who follow their intuitions often get it wrong, and their management of the crisis often suffers as a result. That’s why professionals need to get themselves and their staffs trained BEFORE the crisis strikes!

Course Outline: Learn about Crisis Communication TODAY, BEFORE you find yourself needing it! You must ARM YOURSELF with Crisis Communication: Guidelines for Action. This new CD-ROM/and DVD course will enable you to protect those around you by learning from real examples on:

• The Levels of Fear
• Emotional Responses to Crisis
• Six Focus Areas in Crisis Communication
• The Communication Mistakes Officials Usually Make

Time to Complete: This course will take three hours to complete. You will have up to 12 months from your enrollment date to complete it.

Instructors:

Peter M. Sandman, PhD
Dr. Peter M. Sandman, one of the world’s preeminent risk communication experts, has worked with many corporations and government agencies in the midst of serious crisis communication problems. After 9/11, Dr. Sandman reoriented his work to focus more on crises such as terrorism, bioterrorism, and natural epidemics and was key in developing an emergency risk communication CD-ROM with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For more information about Dr. Sandman’s approach to risk communication and crisis communication, visit www.psandman.com. 

Jody Lanard, MD
Dr. Jody Lanard, a psychiatrist by training, is a risk communication consultant and writer who, since 9/11, increasingly specializes in public health crisis communication. Dr. Lanard received her MD from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and did her psychiatric residency at Harvard.

Course Components:

• Two hours and 45 minutes of streaming video viewable on any computer or DVD player
• Presentation outlining the 25 Key Crisis Communication Points
• Over 50 PDF pages of specific how-to guidelines and self-test exercises
• Final exam and course evaluation
• Certification points, 0.5 IH CM point, 0.25 CEU, and 0.25 COC