How prepared are you? Every organization is vulnerable to crisis and, in this age of 24 hour news cycles and social media, how you respond can inflame or quell the crisis. Yet most organizations don’t have a crisis communications plan and when it ‘hits the fan’ they aren’t prepared to deal with the onslaught.
On May 17, please join us a case study session on how three companies navigated their way through a crisis and what they learned along the way.
Della Smith and Xenia Dandridge from Q-Workshops will facilitate this panel session and will share their wisdom gained from preparing organizations for crisis.
The panel will address oil spills, patient health and more!
Those that take this session will learn:
- How to overcome internal objections and barriers
- Best practices: the CCO and other messaging tools
- The value of a crisis communications plan
- How social media has changed how we deal with crisis
Who should attend?
Any Communicator who has not gone through a crisis, or does not feel prepared for the worst.
Recommended audience experience levels:
- Communication Management Professional — for people established in their careers as communication managers and looking to demonstrate their competence.
- Strategic Advisor — for highly skilled professionals practiced in providing strategic communication advice and counseling to an organization’s leadership.
- Business Leader — supporting highly experienced professionals who wish to demonstrate their mastery and leadership.
Speaker Biographies
Theresa McCurry
Senior Director, Agency & External Communications
Provincial Health Services Authority
Theresa McCurry has been in the communications field for more than 25 years primarily in healthcare. She’s held a number of progressive positions in the biotechnology industry including Vice President and VP Corporate Communications.
Feeling the need to be closer to home, Theresa started her own consulting practice. Once again, she enjoyed work so much for one of her clients, she accepted her current position of Senior Director, External and Agency Communications for the Provincial Health Services Authority. In this position, Theresa is responsible for all communications for the key hospital and health agencies in British Columbia, media relations and issues management for the entire organization of 19,000 people.
Find her on Twitter – @TheresaMcCurry
Tobin Postma
Strategic Issues Manager
City of Vancouver
Tobin studied at the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR) in the UK and began a career in Corporate Social Responsibility working for the world’s largest metals and mining company, ArcelorMittal, in London.
While there he developed community engagement programs and social reporting strategies for operations based in countries that included Kazakhstan, Liberia, South Africa, India and Romania. Later on he would lead the company’s Global Media Relations team with a specific focus on crisis communications as well as leading their sponsorship of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
After a long-desired surf trip to South East Asia, Tobin came back home to Vancouver where he currently works for the City of Vancouver as a Communications Manager with responsibilities for media relations and strategic issues management.
Tobin has a BA in Communications from Simon Fraser University and an MBA from the Nottingham University Business School.
Carly Jokic
Director, Events
BC Children’s Hospital Foundation
With more than 19 years of communications experience, Carly Jokic has held senior roles in the public, private, and non-profit sectors including corporate high tech, philanthropy, sport, and world-class events and hospitality. Her current position as a director at BC Children’s Hospital Foundation leads a team focused on creating and marketing exceptional event experiences as the organization prepares to open the new hospital. Previously, Carly spent five seasons at Vancouver Whitecaps FC as director of communications and community relations, where she provided strategic communications direction as a key member of the executive team.
Prior to Whitecaps FC, Carly served on the communications senior management team at VANOC, liaising with 65 corporate sponsors on day-to-day and long-term issues management and strategic communications planning. Carly also managed communications for the Vancouver Convention Centre in preparation for major facility expansion, and has held a wide range of roles at leading high technology corporations.
Carly lives in North Vancouver with her husband and six year old twins, Nicolas “Nico” and Alexandra “Lexi.”
Find her on Twitter – @commscarly
Simi Heer
Media Relations & Issues Management Manager
BC Hydro
Simi Heer is the manager of Media Relations and Issues Management for BC Hydro, the province’s largest electric utility, serving four million British Columbians. Simi and her team set and deliver the media strategy for BC Hydro and deal with media from all corners of B.C. They manage a variety of issues, ranging from power outages to rate increases. Simi is B.C. born and raised and is a graduate of Simon Fraser University.
Co-Facilitators/Workshop Planners
Della Smith & Xenia Dandridge
Q Workshops
Co-facilitators for this event are Della Smith and Xenia Dandridge of Q Workshops. Q has extensive crisis management experience and now provides workshops to organizations looking to enhance existing preparedness programs, create new plans or test messaging.
Past crisis experience includes everything from food product recalls, organizational errors, major accidents, forced mergers & acquisitions, sexual harassment cases, corporate theft, strikes, lockouts and more. Now they package up their knowledge and ongoing study of current issues into practical workshops.
No matter how gritty the topic, these two create a safe environment where people can share experiences and knowledge…. and have a bit of fun the process.
Check them out on their website (QWorkshops.com), LinkedIn and Della’s blog (DellasDeck.com).
If you have any questions as to whether this session would be a good fit for you, please email pdevents@iabc.bc.ca
Fees:
Members: $50.00
Non-Members: $75.00
Students: $30.00
Snacks and refreshments will be served.
Deadline to register is May 13, 2016
This event is sponsored by
