Communicating in High Profile Crisis Situations

Workshop Description:

Leaders in today’s schools must be prepared and skilled at handling controversies, crises, and critical incidents. In this session, Tom DeLapp applies his considerable experience in helping school districts throughout California deal with high profile emergencies and crises including school violence, shootings, accidents, natural disasters, personnel actions, sexual misconduct by employees and volunteers, misuse of computers, racial conflicts, labor unrest and strikes, and controversial board decisions on topics like boundary changes, campus closures, textbook adoptions, etc. In today’s high intensity media environment, even small issues can spiral out of control and become fodder for the six o’clock news.

In this workshop, attendees will receive in-depth training on:

• Creating a practical, self-executing emergency response plan
• Understanding the dynamics of the first thirty minutes of a crisis
• Managing the onslaught of the news media
• Maintaining campus security and access restrictions
• Operating an effective control and command center
• Rapid response to reach key stakeholders
• Swimming with the sharks – avoiding tabloids and talk show terrorists
• Reacting to the new media: Internet ambushes
• What to do if you have to face the cameras and microphones

This session can also be tailored to your organization’s specific needs in which we work with your team to create an emergency response plan that meets local, state and federal expectations and practices. For additional fees, our consultants can draft your written plan.