I had the pleasure being a guest on the new online show dedicated to all aspects of crisis management and communication called “The Crisis Show.” This show is hosted by crisis communication professionals Jonathan Berstein, Melissa Agnes, and Rich Klein. All three are leaders in the field of crisis communications, so it was wondering being able to chat with them about emerging trends in the field as well as current crisis situations.
All three professionals are very active on social media and you should follow them on Twitter. Melissa had a great post discussing the Back to School themed show last night on her blog.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M8XKCCwF0g[/youtube]
It was an absolute pleasure to be on the show. I thought it was very cool to have not only a show where we got to talk about crisis communications, but it is a cutting edge show that is using new technology in the process. The Crisis Show is done by using Google+ Hangouts, which I have used previously to host online virtual office hours for my students.
Google + Hangouts is a great tool to bring in multiple panelists (I believe you can get up to 8-10 people on Google+ Hangouts) from around the country and even world. What Rich, Jonathan, and Melissa are doing with this show is not only innovative, but a great resource for researchers, educators, students, and professionals who are interested or involved in the crisis communications profession. In case you are not able to make the live showing (airs every Wednesday at 7 pm EST), you can view the previous episodes on YouTube.
The topic for this week’s episode focused on “Back to School” topics related to crisis communications. During this episode, we talked about case studies affecting universities that are currently being discussed like the shooting case that recently happened near Texas A&M University, issues related to protests on campus, increased awareness of university presence during special events (ex. Louisville and the Kentucky Derby), security on campus both physically and virtually (cyber attacks), as well as best practices for crisis communication professionals in general.
Being one of the panelists on the show, it made me realize that we are most likely going to see more of this face-to-face virtual communication practices emerge in various formats – which raises the question of what are some of the best practices in terms of presenting yourself online in interviews / panel presentations on sites like Google+. Here are a few I thought of after reflecting my experience on the show on Google+:
- Make sure to make eye contact w/ the webcam: This is important – they always tell us in broadcast exercises to look at the camera, and the same goes with online presentations, panel discussions, and conversations online.
- Be aware of what people see behind you: I noticed this when I was part of the panel discussion – for me, I was in my office in my apartment and it did look like my personality. 🙂 I had some books in the background and I did make sure to have my USC blanket in my office. 🙂 Fight on!
- Check the lighting to make sure it is not too bright/dark: You want to make sure you are in the best light possible – and so you may want to check this before your online presentation.
- Have notes in Word on your screen on points you want to discuss: Always good to have this open and make sure you are addressing the right points and thoughts related to the discussion. This is what I did – I made some general notes for myself on what cases or issues related to crisis communications I wanted to address during the presentation.
- Invest in some good headphones or earbuds: I got some great Sony earphones for not only for my iPhone, but also for this online presentation. This was great since everyone came out very clear and I was able to focus on my points and listening to the other presenters without worrying about any sound issues.
In summary, I really had an amazing time on “The Crisis Show.” I am super excited to see a show dedicated to crisis communications with some of the leaders in the field. Big thanks to Rich, Melissa, and Jonathan for this wonderful opportunity. Definitely a show you all should check out!
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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