Crisis Communications: How to Work with the Media, Talk to Stakeholders, and Share News (Good and Bad) in the Midst of Turbulent Times
COVID- 19 crisis has caused drastic upheaval for businesses, and tech leaders are faced with numerous communications challenges. How well you rise to the occasion could impact your business and your brand for years to come.In this free webinar, communications veteran Kelly Schwager will offer best practices for communicating in difficult times:
How should you share bad news, like layoffs, or good news, like community service?
How can you pitch stories to the media that will resonate at this moment?
How can you communicate skillfully with customers, employees, and investors?
Kelly Schwager currently serves as Vice President, Global Communications for Oracle. Previously, Kelly served as Executive Vice President and General Manager for Edelman, the largest public relations firm in the world. Edelman Silicon Valley represented brands including Adobe, eBay, HP, GE, Juniper Networks, and Samsung. Prior, Kelly held various leadership roles with tech players including SAP, Streetline, Symantec, VERITAS, and USWeb.
Link to the Edelman study, "Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic," referenced in the presentation.
View the speaker's slideshow.
Full Transcript:
Christina: Welcome, everyone. I'm Christina Henderson, Executive Director of the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. Welcome to our webinar, Crisis Communications: How to Work with the Media, Talk to Stakeholders, and Share News (Good and Bad) in the Midst of Turbulent Times. This event is part of a series of free webinars the Alliance is hosting in April in May, you can find the full schedule and recordings afterwards at mthightech.org/webinars. Our next event, Two Bear Capital: Why Montana, Why Now? Transformational Opportunities in Life Science with Mike Goguen, will be this Thursday, April 16 at 4pm. So check that out on our website and sign up for that as well. I would like to thank the board of the Alliance and our members for making this series possible. And we are pleased today to welcome the chair since 2019 of our Montana High Tech Business Alliance board, Kelly Schwager, as our speaker today. Kelly currently serves as Vice President of Global Communications for Oracle. Previously, Kelly served as Executive Vice President and General Manager for Edelman, the largest public relations firm in the world. Edelman Silicon Valley represented brands including Adobe, eBay, HP, GE, Juniper Networks, and Samsung. Prior, Kelly held various leadership roles with tech players including SAP, Streetline, Symantec, VERITAS, and USWeb. Kelly works globally from her remote office in Columbia Falls and today is here to share with us best practices for communicating in difficult times. We'll start with Kelly sharing some key concepts and takeaways and then we'll open it up for Q&A. I will serve as moderator. If you have questions during the program, please type them in the chat box or the Q&A tool. And I also have a few questions that we collected in advance. So I would now like to turn the webinar over to Kelly.
Kelly: Excellent. So thank you guys all for taking time to join and certainly it's unprecedented times. It's absolutely awesome though, that we're all gathered here online. When Christina and I met with the board in December, we had talked a lot about different ways that we can increase engagement across the membership with the Alliance. And one of the things we had talked about is virtual gatherings such as this. So, lo and behold, here we are, with this unusual situation in front of us, and it's really afforded us the opportunity to bring some interesting programming over the last last few weeks. And as Christina mentioned, we have some great things in store the next few weeks. So today, the topic is a pretty meaty one, and I think is probably one that's on most of our minds. And that's the whole idea of communicating in turbulent times. What I'm going to do is run through a bunch of different concepts. And there are so many different directions we can go with this conversation, but I wanted to at least share some high-level, actionable tips that you can take away, not only for the moment that we're in right now, but kind of standard practices that, just as you're thinking about communications in general, whether it be internal or external, that you can have in your back pocket for good times and in bad. So with that we will dive in. So as we all know, this is really an unprecedented situation and how you respond in this moment really is going to have a big lasting impact on not only brand, but your company reputation. And this really applies to companies of all sizes. There is no one in the market right now that is immune from what's going on, and so whether you are a multibillion dollar company that has offices globally, or you're a small family-run business, you know, that's trying to figure out what this means for you in your single location, this is one of those moments where communication plays such a big role, and your tone and your response will have lasting impact. So for the purpose of the conversation, I thought it would be helpful to put up some assumptions that, you know, just as you think about the next few months, as you think about even the next several years, that you can kind of ground yourself to start putting together an action plan. As we've seen, all things related to COVID-19 have really changed the dynamics quite drastically, just in a few weeks. It really is having an impact not only on your internal audiences, but your external audiences. And the assumption to think about is that this is going to have a lasting impact on a number of levels for quite some time and it could go in waves. So as you're planning, just keep that in the back of your mind. The messaging in both your marketing and communications activities that is perceived as insensitive could really position your company in a negative light right now. So one of the things we're going to talk about today is the importance of looking at your communications through a filter. What worked yesterday may not necessarily work again today. In the near term, as we're seeing not only in our local news, but in national and global media outlets, the primary focus right now really is all things COVID-19. And even as various markets around the world move in and out of the situations at a different pace, all things around the economy will be front and center for quite some time. So again, as you're planning from a marketing or communications perspective, keep that in the back of your mind. When it comes to events, a lot of business activity was done in person. If you look at even the events calendar for the Alliance, we relied very, very heavily on getting together face to face for meetups for CEO roundtables, etc. Right now, it's really worthwhile to just go ahead and make the assumption that most in person business activities are going to be fundamentally changed, if not cancelled, between now and June. And for planning purposes, going into the mindset that this could even be in, you know, an impact for even longer. So how can you rethink the use of virtual platforms like we're on today? Rethink different ways to communicate with your stakeholders, if you were very reliant on in person activities, it's definitely something that all of us should really give some thought to. Demand for virtual events will increase, both small and large, customer events, internal sales meetings, the way that you're engaging with media and with your employees. I think even once we get to the point where live events and in person activities do begin to pick up again, we're all learning a lot of really great ways that we can engage more effectively in a virtual fashion. And so some of those things will stick and continue on. So really giving some thought to the virtual elements is another assumption that's worth looking at. Finally, employees may need to work from home on and off for quite some time. Many companies have already embraced very flexible work from home policies. But this current situation has forced all of us to really look at work from home in a whole new light. And so as you're thinking about communication, this aspect is another dynamic and assumption that you should bring into the mix. So with that, I thought it would be helpful to step back for a moment--I always like to in these situations, take a look at what third parties are out there saying. There's some great information from various industry analyst firms like Gartner, Forrester, IDC and others. This particular report that I'm just going to quickly run through is from Edelman. So as Christina mentioned, I have a history with Edelman, an organization that I absolutely respect. And every year they put together what's called the Brand Trust Barometer. They just did a study, very fresh as it relates to the current COVID situation. And a couple things that I just wanted to highlight. So at the highest level, they surveyed about 25,000 people, and at the highest level, people are looking for brands that are really demonstrating how they're protecting and partnering at this moment. So what are folks doing, whether it's a large company or a small company, what are they doing to really show that they're engaging, showing that they're protecting their employee base, working within their communities. How are they informing and empathizing right now? People want brands to focus the message on solutions, not selling. So as we talk about tone, that's something that's going to be very important to keep in the back of your mind. And finally, educating and connecting. One of the things that is really resonating right now with folks is kind of that 'how to.' So as you're looking at your communications, the more that you can really take that educational slants, versus that hard sell slant, to show examples of how others are solving problems in this time. That kind of content is resonating really well with folks. So I'm happy to send the link to the full report, but wanted to toss up a couple of the interesting highlights that came out in the study. So, this first point: 77% say that they want brands to only speak about products in ways that show that they're aware of the crisis and the impact on people's lives. This really underscores the importance that we need to not just rely on evergreen content. Again, that idea that what worked yesterday might not work again today should be really, really front and center for you right now. And so re-look at all of your content through this new lens. Something that was developed in February, you know, the world is a little bit different. So rethinking the tone, the approach and maybe even, you know, hitting pause on something that was previously planned. If jump ahead, 54% are not paying attention to new products, you know, unless they're designed to help with, you know, the current situation right now. That really is something that should be taken into consideration as you're thinking about product launches, it may now not be the right moment in time, or you could be in a situation where this is, in fact, a really relevant product. And getting that message out right now is more important than ever. So worth thinking about that. Again, that last point, 85% of respondents want brands to use their power to educate. You'll notice a theme today as we're talking. This whole idea of education is something that continues to come up front and center. So whether it's an internal communication or an external communication, again, that educational tone is really something that works well in these types of situations. Some additional interesting stats, I'm going to call your attention to the ones on the bottom for the purpose of today's conversation, but again I'm happy to share the link so you can download this report and look at it at a later time. But there's more belief right now in earned media than brand advertising and brand social media. And you can see the breakdowns between national media and local. That is definitely worth noting. For those of you who are doing advertising, I've heard many questions about whether this is something you should continue right now or something you should dial back. Advertising in this kind of environment is very, very tricky, and the tone of the message needs to be, you know, again, relevant in the moment. So if you look at this data, dialing up your activities around say PR, or rethinking your social media approach. Those are things that you may want to consider. And, you know, if you do go down the brand advertising path, making sure that you're really thinking through some of the concepts that we're talking about today. The most credible combination, according to the Edelman research right now, is that combination of mainstream media plus email. So we will be talking about how you can work with the media during this time. But again, don't forget tried and true email. That is another great way to get information out there. And it's one that some folks don't necessarily have at the top of their priority list in terms of marketing and communication. So where to begin? First step whenever you need to communicate is identifying your audiences. All of us have many different audiences, I noted a few of the less likely suspects here. So employees, customers, investors, me, media, your board, etc. So step back and think about all of the different audiences that you have to communicate with. For the purpose of today we're going to touch on a few key ones. Primarily employees, media, and then a little bit on customers. But again, as we get into Q&A, if you have questions on the other areas, we can touch on those as well. From an internal communications perspective, employees are key. And so whether you want them to be or not your employees, will be talking about the current situation, and they will be talking about your response in this situation. And if you're not providing information, they will be filling in the void. And so from a productivity perspective, you want to make sure that internal communication flow is happening. So what are some tips? First thing is to identify your core team. You want to make sure that of those you've identified, who in your company is going to be responsible for communication. And make sure that you're identifying those roles. In some cases that may be HR. In some cases that may be a senior leader. In some cases, you may need to have information you're sharing with your management team so they can communicate with their teams. So make sure that you're identifying who are all the folks within your company that will have a communications role, and what role you expect them to take. It's also very important to make sure that employees at all level are receiving the same kind of information as close to the same time as possible. In these kinds of environments when it's stressful, information does tend to flow. And so make sure that you really are thoughtful about the timeline that you're setting for any communication and you're making sure to share relevant information across the entire company, not just to a small group. The second point, don't expect employees to come to you. Some employees will be very vocal. But in most cases, there's a lot of questions out there that they're not necessarily going to raise their hand and ask. So making sure that you have some kind of a system in place on a couple different levels, making sure that there's a notification system when you need to communicate quickly. But also you have a system in place. And it can even be a basic email, but some kind of system in place where you can consistently go back and communicate to your internal audiences. In some cases, what we're seeing in this kind of a setting is folks rely on email. Some companies are using things like Slack, some companies have a portal set up where they have a regular place for employees to go to, whatever your system is, make sure that you're using it regularly and your employees know that that's the place to go for updated information. In these kinds of situations, it's often first instinct to try to get your employees not to say anything. And in this day and age of social, it's really hard to do. So instead, what we would recommend is putting guidelines and information out there. So that if employees are sharing information, they're sharing it, you know, accurately, and that you're providing information to them in a timely fashion so that they're not filling in the blanks. So that kind of leads into you know, these last few points: acting quickly. Speed in these kinds of situations is certainly important, but you don't want to do that at the price of accuracy. If you don't have all the information, that's okay. The situation is is changing. And it is absolutely okay to say, you know what, I hear your question, we're going back and we're gathering some additional information and we will circle back. Just as soon as we have more details to share. Acknowledging that the employee has been heard or the topic is being looked into sometimes is all that's needed to ease minds and to get folks to hit pause for a minute while you can gather that information. Keeping it simple and repeating. For those who are on the front lines doing the communication, oftentimes it feels like you need to continuously have something new to share. You don't. Oftentimes, it's really about keeping the message simple and pointed, and then repeating it and repeating it again, because sometimes the information is not necessarily heard completely the first time that it's shared. So don't feel like you need to continuously come up with something new, reinforce, reinforce, reinforce, and then finally reevaluate. Again, what was the response? Has anything changed? And again, keep that idea of what worked yesterday might not work again today, front and center. It's a dynamic situation that we're all in right now, and so making sure that you're continuously re-evaluating your plan and re-evaluating the information that you have to work with is key.From an external perspective, bottom line, anything related to marketing communications, the teams need to be agile, the market dynamics are changing. And as we just touched on, what worked yesterday might not work again today and there's new information that is continuously being made available. And so, making sure that you're quick on your feet, and you're continuously re-evaluating your programs is really, really important. Based on the Edelman feedback, again, focusing on those high scale channels in this environment, is really the place to guide your focus. So your website, your PR, media relations programs, social, anything community building, so virtual events like this, really are key in these kinds of environments. Ensuring your communication across all channels is sensitive. So anything that you have previously written or prepared, look at it, you know, again through this new lens, is it being sensitive to the moment that we're in? Is it being sensitive to all the audiences that you have to work with? One example that I've seen is, you know, a company that works with a lot of retailers was continuing to push some webinars and activities for how those retailers should be planning for holiday activities in their physical stores. At the moment, when we're working in an environment where a lot of retailers are not in operation, the social backlash to that was pretty harsh. And so again, making sure that you're really thinking about the audience and the moment, and hitting pause or re-evaluating the tone of certain communications so it doesn't come across as tone deaf. Updating social media policy, we have a couple slides in here with some tips for that. And then adjusting your marketing mix and tactics to, again, create community engagement and thinking about things in new ways. If you are planning an in-person event, how can you bring it online? If your sales team was planning to do training, you know, in a couple months, maybe there's an alternative way that you can approach that and break it into smaller chunks. If your teams can't go out there and sit down with customers face to face, how can you do something creative in a virtual setting. So really giving some thoughts to how you can still engage and create that community, but maybe do it in a different way than you had originally intended. From a media perspective, these are a snapshot of some of the features That's coming from national media, but if you look at the local media, a lot of these same patterns are emerging as well. So everyone is really looking at things through the lens of COVID-19. And so it's impacting, you know, whether you're a Wall Street Journal in the type of stories that you're, you're writing, or if you're here locally in the Flathead, how you're thinking about the impact on the local economy, what's happening locally with schools and the businesses and sports; that lens is impacting what our reporters are writing about. And so as you're thinking about reaching out and working with reporters, do make sure that you're really staying in tune to what they are writing, and in most cases, it will have some kind of COVID-19 or economic oriented flavor to it. So from a media approach, when we're out there talking to journalists, we are hearing loud and clear regardless if they're a local media outlet, a US-based media outlet or a media outlet abroad, we are absolutely hearing that those newsrooms see COVID-19 and the economic impact on the media agenda for the foreseeable future. So the types of stories that they're going to be looking for have shifted. And with that said, they are concerned about this whole idea of COVID overload. They are looking for happy stories, they are looking for the goodness in this. They want to hear the stories of how your company or your customers are helping or doing really interesting things at this time. I think many of us have seen some of those stories where there are businesses that are kind of pivoting and shifting their focus in this moment.So those kinds of stories are absolutely stories that they do want to hear. So if you have those, those are ones that are garnering attention in this moment. And with that said, proceed with caution. So every story that you're thinking might be relevant in this moment, do step back and really think about it through the lens of what's going on. Just as there are many fabulous, beautiful stories to be told, in this instance, there are some stories that really are coming across as insensitive or tone deaf. So again, making sure that you're educational, helpful, not looking like you're, you know, chest beating or coming across as too salesy. Those are really important things to think about in this moment. And focus on stories that will be helpful to readers. So reporters are looking for resources, they're looking for stats, facts, figures, authority. So if you have an expertise in, say, security, that is such a relevant topic right now with so many people working from home. If you have an expertise in supply chain--supply chain has never been a sexier topic. It's, you know, one of those topics that right now very much is of the moment, and if you have an expertise in that area, reporters will want to hear from you. So making sure that the recommendations that you're making are timely and relevant is absolutely critical. From a social media perspective, here's a few tips and suggestions as you think about how you should approach not only the social media handles for your business, but perhaps even coach your employees to think about their social media. And again, we're happy to share this information with you afterwards, so you can take some of these and use them as appropriate. But you'll notice some threads here. So timely, accurate, specific, really thinking about the tone. You know, things like, just because it worked yesterday doesn't mean it'll work again today, this idea of not pre scheduling content. Many people use tools that allow you to pre-schedule social content. Make sure that you're very cautious with that, because again, things are moving so quickly, that you could have set up campaigns that even, you know, 48, 72 hours from now could come across as totally inappropriate given the dynamics in play. So making sure that you're just being thoughtful about the timing and the cadence. Applying some of these principles to your own social social channels, particularly when sharing information about your company or for your work. Again, in these moments, things are changing so drastically, that, you know, being cautious and applying some of these ideas even in your own personal social, is certainly prudent. And then in terms of using social in a productive way, think about using things like video, that's a way that you really can portray more empathy. And you know, rather than just having it being brought text that may be taken out of context, having someone actually hear your voice and and hear the passion come through might be the appropriate path to take. Or even something like a blog, if you want to provide a little more detail, blogs are a great way to do that. Here are a few more and again, we'll share these out with everybody afterwards. But again, not exaggerating how your company can help in the situation, not posting assets that were generated prior to the current situation, stepping back and reevaluating those in the current context, not being silent. That's really key. Right now there is a void, and people want to hear from your company, whether it's your employees, your customers, and so making sure that you're not silent is really important. And social can be a great channel to use to stay in touch with folks. And again, it doesn't have to be a new message every single time. It can be a great way to reinforce messages that you've previously shared.Finally, I wanted to touch on layoffs. It is one of those questions that came up as folks were registering and unfortunately it is one of those communication moments that in a difficult time may be the reality for for some of us on this collective call today. It is not ever an easy thing to communicate. And the key here again, is that idea of not going silent. Employees often know when something is not going well. And in these kinds of situations, showing empathy and making sure that your leadership is being straight up about the fact that this is a difficult time will really go a long way. The most important thing, when you're in these moments, is to give the most pressing information first, don't sugarcoat it. If the question on everyone's mind is, is this meeting going to be about a layoff? Is there bad news ahead? Set the context right up front and say, today we're going to be having a very difficult situation and I'm going to have to share some news that is going to be difficult for all of us, but this is what you can expect. Just to get folks in the right mindset to hear the conversation and it's not a shock if you start off by sugarcoating. Not only do you come across as not credible, but it's also very, very difficult for those on the receiving end to hear and absorb that news. And never delegate pain. This is one of those things that no one likes to deliver bad news. And it's very, very easy in these moments to want to delegate and perhaps have HR handle the tough conversations or not have the senior leadership involved. And really, truly, the more that the senior leaders can step up in these moments, I know that it's difficult, but it really will go a long way. Not only for those employees that are impacted, but for those employees who are quote unquote survivors--they are still part of the company and need to be on the go forward plan, if they see their leadership step up it really will help to transition into the next phase once the difficult news is delivered. When the news is delivered, again, you're delivering it in person, personally and respectfully, and allowing the opportunity to have the person share how they're feeling is really important. So listening, again, it's not about you having all the answers and filling in the blanks and trying to fix it. But again, being respectful and empathetic in the moment. The idea of supporting the survivors too--oftentimes the employees that are not impacted have to go through their own processing of what has just happened. So making sure that you address that. In many situations, it might be worthwhile to let the folks that weren't impacted also have some time so they can process it and understand what this means for them and answer their questions about their role and what the expectations will be. Because again, they will fill in the void if you don't provide that guidance, so the more information you can share the better, and again, you can't reinforce enough. The CEO and the senior leaders really should be front and center in these moments. While you know HR is absolutely most often in the driver's seat in these kinds of situations, the more that the senior leaders can step up in the moment and be present. It really will go a long way.So with that, if you remember nothing else from today's conversation, just remember empathy when you're communicating in a turbulent time. This is the single word that will really help you and guide you to look at things through the filter that is right for the moment. So whether you're communicating internally with your employees, you're thinking about how to approach your marketing message, you're thinking about what content might be appropriate for your social channels, you're thinking about how to deliver difficult news like layoffs, you're thinking about how to engage with reporters that are having to cover all that's going on, empathy will will guide you and will help you look at it from a perspective of what is going on in the moment and the various audiences that you're trying to reach. And so with that, Christina, should we have some questions?
Christina: We have about 10 minutes where we can take questions. Folks can share those either via chat or the Q&A tool. You also should be able to raise your hand and I could enable talking if folks wanted to voice a question as well. But this is your opportunity if you have a specific communications challenge that you are dealing with in your organization, this is your opportunity to ask the expert, so we can take some very specific questions. Or we also have some questions that we pulled together in advance that we can share out there too. I'm not seeing anything yet, so Kelly, let me ask you a question that I have heard come up, especially as we're talking with smaller companies and startups, if they stop communicating, or stop marketing all together, stop launching products, they could literally be out of business. And so they're in a situation where that sales cycle was already underway that product development was already in process and kind of just by the nature of their launch aligning with this moment, they're almost forced to either put it out in a less than ideal scenario, or business could just stop. So if somebody is in a position where they really do need to launch their product or really do need to move forward with their sales pitches and marketing in spite of what's going on, how would you suggest they go about it in a way to be optimally effective, even though it's not ideal?
Kelly: You don't want to full scout stop. You really do want to step back and kind of look at what the particular situation is and how to best pivot in this moment. It really depends on what your product is, but if your launch is planned right now, rethinking the approach, perhaps instead of it being a big ta-da moment and event, it becomes something that's very targeted, and you roll it out to a specific group of customers. Perhaps it's reframing the messaging, so if you were going to be focused in one direction, are there things happening in this moment, where your solution or product is even that much more relevant, where you should kind of reframe and change the tone in the message. So, it's not ideal, but it's not impossible. Again, it's, you know, stepping back to who is that audience? What is the information that you're trying to share with them, and how is it relevant in this moment, how is it going to help them? And so really, you know, stepping back and kind of thinking about how the landscape has changed is really key.
Christina: Kelly, we have a question from the audience related to balance, you speak of not going silent, but also not to speak too frequently, what kind of balance have you seen to be most effective as the news changes day to day, how frequently should you comment?
Kelly: So there's a couple different ways to look at it. Just in terms of, you know, how we're thinking about things day to day, we have a pipeline on any given day that shows us all the various activities in play, whether it's media engagements, an online event like this, some kind of content that we want to publish on the website. And literally, there's a small group of us every single day that are re-evaluating what's happening, and so if there is a shift we can quickly hit pause, or if something becomes more relevant, pull it in, and maybe hit go sooner on something because it's more of the moment. I would suggest that you do something similar. So, you know, think about the next four to six weeks, what are those things that you want to communicate? How can you have a consistent cadence and vary the channels? So maybe there will be some activities that you do via an email, some activities that you're doing via a web event like this, some activities you would be doing in terms of engaging with the media, and look at your cadence, and just make sure that's balanced. But then, you know, continuously go back and re-check--it doesn't necessarily have to be daily but regularly--several times a week, making sure that you're just course correcting along the way really is key. In terms of your engagement with the media, that kind of depends. If you're trying to reach the same person, the same media outlet, you certainly don't want to bombard them. So making sure that you're thoughtful about the fact that you're not the only person reaching out to them is certainly important. But if you have new information to share, or you've shared something, and you really think that it's the perfect story for their audience in this moment, and you haven't heard back, there's nothing wrong with circling back in a couple days, and saying, "Hey, I sent this to you on Monday, I wanted to circle back it's now Thursday, this is really relevant to your audience. This is why it's of the moment." So again, think about how you want to receive information and use that filter as well. But again, dialing things down. You don't want all of your radio stations blaring at the same time. You don't want to be the one that's overwhelming someone, and following up in an obsessive kind of way, particularly in this moment, and so pacing and using the different channels is really key.
Christina: I have a follow up question about communicating good news. So let's say your company has a fantastic volunteer project or some positive news story. Do you have any suggestions about pitching this idea of earned media, how to frame that, how to go about approaching reporters, and particularly, for us in Montana right now, a lot of news outlets are having to furlough reporters because they are facing downturns in advertising themselves and have less capacity. Do you have any suggestions on how to frame up that story and present it to the media in such a way that it's more likely to get picked up?
Kelly: The key is acknowledging the moment. Everyone is hungry for good news, but you don't want to approach the media in such a way where you're not even acknowledging what's going on. And so acknowledging the fact that, hey, I understand that we're in a really difficult situation, but I'm super excited about what this group in my community has done. This is what it is. And this is why I think your viewers or your readers would really love to hear the story right now. So again, acknowledging, and then going into why you believe that the story is relevant to their audience in this moment.
Christina: Kelly, one of the functions that we serve at the High Tech Business Alliance is to share those good stories about our companies with the news media. Let's say that a reporter comes calling, either to do a phone interview for the newspaper or an on-camera interview, properly distanced, for TV. Do you have any tips for those spokespeople on how to manage those interviews effectively?
Kelly: We could do a whole session just on that yet. Doing a broadcast interview in this environment has been really interesting. And I've enjoyed it because it's also humanized so many executives. There are tips that you can give them, many of which I'm not following very well right now. Thinking about things like if you're going to have your executive in a broadcast kind of setting, having them think about their background. You don't want to have, you know, some strange photo on a bookshelf that people are going to be so distracted trying to figure out what it is in the background rather than listening to the spokesperson. Investing in a really, I mean, for like 25 bucks, you can get a lapel mic that your executive can have at home. The audio element is really, really important, and so just investing in a little lapel mic that you could order online and have delivered to your house just to have handy for that kind of situation. Lighting is key. Again, I'm probably not the best example right now, but you don't want to have the computer in front of a window. The backlight will make it very difficult to see the spokesperson, so making sure that the lighting source is behind the camera. Even placement of the camera, so again, not the best example today. But think about your screen in thirds. You want to make sure that their eyes are right there in the top third of the screen. And that's how you make eye contact on camera. Clothing option, you want to make sure that it's not a busy crazy pattern. So there's tips where you can, even in a zoom type of setting, still have a very effective broadcast interview. In terms of just in general preparing executives for dealing with having a media interview in these kinds of situations, I go back to the word empathy. Understand that they're going through the situation with all of us, they're trying to do a job, and making sure that as you send the executive into that situation, that you've given, the background on what are the kinds of things that this reporter has been covering lately. What are those topics that could come up in the situation and whatever it is that you're planning to talk to them about, again, making sure you're prepared to answer any questions about how it relates to what's going on. So yes, it's very much still possible to do interviews in these kinds of situations. And again, I think, you know, the fact that we're seeing some creativity, particularly in broadcast, is really humanizing.
Christina: Well, that's fantastic. Kelly, thank you so much. We're to the end of our time. If anybody had a burning question, or thinks of something after the fact that you didn't get to ask, feel free to send it to us via email, we'd be happy to forward that to Kelly and have her ask the resources that we've heard about today. Kelly's slide deck, the Edelman report, any other fantastic resources and guidance that she has available. We will email out to everyone who's registered and we’ll also have a recording of this webinar and a transcript available after the fact as we can get those items prepared and those will be posted on our website, mthightech.org/webinars and also emailed out to participants. So thank you so much everyone for participating. And thank you so much Kelly, for sharing your wise words today.
Kelly: Thanks, everyone.
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