Red Alert!

Developing a crisis-communication plan

By Dan Shortridge

Lost campers. Tornadoes. Vehicle crashes. Boating accidents. Food poisoning. Wildfires. These are emergencies that summer camps anywhere in the country may have to contend with. Your camp likely has emergency-action plans to guide staff through the initial response—what to do, whom to call, where to go—that ensure the safety of campers and staff members.

© Can Stock Photo / skylight

But have you prepared for the longer-term impacts of a crisis? Have you figured out how to share key information with parents and families? Have you mapped out how to handle the media when reporters show up at your gates? Do you know how to communicate your next steps and instill confidence in the camp and its leadership?

How we communicate in a crisis is almost as important as how we respond. Even if an immediate action is a textbook-perfect response, you will lose in the long run if you don’t communicate properly. Parents will become frustrated with the lack of information. The media will tell the story they’ve obtained from other sources without waiting for you. And if no one knows that you did everything right, they’ll be questioning whether to send their kids to your camp next year.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed
Summer camps pose a unique challenge in the field of crisis communications. Resident camps may have the risks of a wilderness trek, the population of a small town, or the rumor mill of a busy high school. Day camps may operate on rented property or transport children on field trips. Camp directors of all stripes have to deal with both people problems and logistical issues of security, food service, and severe weather.

It’s a lot to think about, and it’s easy to become swamped when developing a crisis-communication plan. But it doesn’t have to be. Here is a checklist of 10 key items to include in crisis planning:

• A crisis-communication team. Generally, separate from a crisis-management team, this group should include staff members: the camp director, marketing coordinator, and social media specialist. An attorney should be included as well. Assemble a team in advance and work through some scenarios. If everyone knows their role in a crisis and what they are empowered to do or say, they will have more confidence.

• A designated spokesperson. This person might be the camp owner, camp director, program director, marketing coordinator, or other well-spoken, mature senior-staff member who is comfortable in front of a television camera in handling questions and refraining from speculating and using jargon. It does not have to be the subject-matter expert (i.e., you don’t need to stick the aquatic director in front of the camera after a boating accident). The person should be trained and practiced, and should know what can and can’t be said.

• Established relationships. Well before camp season begins, have good working partnerships with local law enforcement and emergency responders. They will be sharing key information with the press and public during the initial stages of a crisis. Make sure you’re clear on what they release and their approval processes. Have on hand the names, cell numbers, and email addresses of key public information officers.

• Information channels. A plan should include a list of information channels and how to access them. These include the camp’s website, any automated notification systems, social media accounts, a media contact list, and an outgoing voicemail message. A backup staff member should also be prepared with the usernames and passwords of these accounts so you can delegate that job as necessary.

• A holding statement. A holding statement is a temporary measure designed to stave off calls and inquiries, that can be replaced as soon as possible with approved details. In case of camper injuries after a storm, for example, a holding statement might express concern and sadness for the incident; reinforce that the safety of campers is the top priority; share that all affected campers are receiving medical treatment; emphasize that you are grateful for the quick response of authorities; reinforce that staff members acted quickly and were in the process of getting campers under shelter; explain that the families of the injured campers have been notified; and share that counseling services are being made available to other campers as needed.

© Can Stock Photo / daisydaisy

• Message consistency. Make sure that messages are identical, no matter how they are shared or who is sharing them. If an email to parents says X and a social media post says Y while families calling the main office are told Z, it creates a trust gap.

• Translation capabilities. If the camp serves a multilingual population, resources must be available to translate key messages into those languages—people who won’t mind getting a call in the middle of the night. Google Translate will not suffice, and may even be confusing.

• Backup locations. If the crisis is severe, reporters will show up in person trying to get information, photos or videos, and statements from campers or parents. While you can control access to private property, that won’t stop reporters from doing a remote broadcast from across the road or stopping people on a sidewalk. To protect a camp family, have a neutral-ground location for a media briefing already arranged that brings reporters away from the camp. A local school, college, community center, or government agency may have a conference or meeting room that can be used in an emergency.

• Social media assets. If you have a social media specialist on staff, that person should spend some time developing images and text before an emergency. Images are especially important because they increase a post’s visibility. For example, in a case of a lost camper, prepare simple images with text reading “Camp Parsons Statement” for the initial holding statement, and “Camper Found Safe” for the hoped-for outcome. That type of preparation will save crucial minutes during a crisis.

• Anticipated questions and answers. You can’t prepare to answer every question about every subject, but you can try to predict what the top questions will be about the primary risks and threats. For example, if you have an active motorboating and waterskiing program, you can guess that, after an accident, there will be questions about the training and certification of staff members, the maintenance and age of boats and equipment, safety inspections, and PDF regulations. If a wildfire is a critical concern, expect to be asked about evacuation plans, fire monitoring, forest health, and underbrush-clearing practices. That’s all material that can be written ahead of time.

Plan For The Worst-Worst Case Scenario
There are three or four emergencies that will rise to the top of your mind almost immediately. You need to develop plans for dealing with the unconventional problems. Think about your worst nightmares, and prepare for those. What happens if a counselor is accused of sexual assault? What do you do if a non-custodial parent shows up angry and carrying a firearm? How do you respond if there’s an outbreak of rabies among wildlife in the area? Work closely with an attorney and local authorities on these topics.

Additional Resources
Know that you aren’t alone. Other camps have dealt with similar crises and weathered them while using the experience to improve their operations and response. There is a variety of training providers and communications resources that can help prepare for an emergency or crisis situation:

• The American Camp Association has a crisis hotline and a quick-reference communications toolkit, available at acacamps.org.

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency has some basic, free training online, including Public Information Officer Awareness and Social Media in Emergency Management, available at training.fema.gov/is.

• Your local or state emergency management agency may also make in-person training available for free. While these programs are often designed for first responders, ask your local agency if it can arrange for a course for the business community. One course from the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium, “Working with the Media,” is an excellent introduction to communicating in an emergency situation. A web-based version is also available at ruraltraining.org.

• The book “Masters of Disaster” by Christopher Lehane, Mark Fabiani, and Bill Guttentag provides a high-level view of crisis communications anchored by excellent case studies and examples.

• If you can afford it, consider putting a local public-relations firm on retainer. These professionals will work with you to guide the planning and make sure you are prepared. You can locate a local agency that is a member of the Public Relations Society of America at apps.prsa.org/network/findafirm.

Dan Shortridge is a public-relations professional in Delaware, where he has led communications efforts for a public school district and multiple state agencies. A former journalist, he worked on summer camp staff in his youth. Reach him at danshortridge@gmail.com.