Association Leadership - November/December 2007 - (Page 25)

organizational adaptability designed not only to help members with their individual responses, but also to educate the general public. options, may be necessary and useful for large and complex organizations, a simple approach can be equally effective. Saari said, “We’ve all seen the crisis communication plans that are so detailed and can be very valuable, particularly for large companies with lots of resources. But, for an association that has two people on staff, there won’t be that kind of time. The basics are the key: feeling comfortable talking to the media, crafting your message and keeping your eyes open as to what’s going on in industry.” The ﬁrst step, she said, is to identify a contact person. “In crisis communications, the most important thing is to have a spokesperson that is comfortable in front of the media and has been trained to speak to the media. And this is the most difﬁcult thing to come by, because everyone is not comfortable in this role – in every industry there are lots of people that are very knowledgeable and aware and passionate about what they do, but translating that into speaking with the media can be very difﬁcult, and you can get tripped up pretty easily.” Bringing in outside help may be warranted, depending on the events at hand, and identifying who that help might be before a storm hits is wise. Lopez said during the worst of the media frenzy that descended upon Laredo, the CVB hired a San Antonio public relations ﬁrm to help. “We brought them in, because it was a crisis situation that we had to address. We were getting requests for interviews from various national entities – Lou Dobbs, Rita Cosby, the networks – on a constant basis. We needed a concerted effort, and this ﬁrm worked hard to pitch new story ideas.” With a spokesperson so designated, the carefully crafted message is critical when you’re trying to “talk louder” than the hype. Once the message has been decided upon, marshalling the troops to convey that message is the next step. “In any type of crisis situation, you want to make sure you have the broadest support behind you, that it’s not just your lone voice out there,” Saari said. “You are speaking for others that agree with you and getting your message out, there should be a lot of competing messages.” Lopez agrees. “We took a very holistic, community approach,” she said. “Our city managers, chamber of commerce, Be Positive, Be Proactive And correcting public perception is often the biggest hurdle faced by membership. Blasita Lopez, acting director for the Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), has spent the better part of three years educating people on the vast difference between Laredo, Mexico, which has been wracked with drug cartel violence, and Laredo, Texas, which has not. “Though we are on the border and share a name with the Mexican city, it doesn’t seem like there’s been much of a distinction in the media coverage,” she said. “As a result, we did suffer a loss in our bus tour business. Though our community has continued to thrive economically – population-wise, building permits, education attainment, every economic indicator you can think of – the negative media perception was out there.” For the Laredo CVB, the answer has been to take these positive indicators and, said Lopez, “talk louder about them.” On the other hand, sometimes the answer is to stop talking. Lisa Vercher, executive vice president for the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association, said, while ﬂat-out ignoring media or other requests for information is never a good strategy, sometimes issues are best passed on. “The national associations are usually staffed for these situations. They’re in Washington and they’re used to dealing with this scene. For us, our national group sends information about the top issues to us – ‘here’s the response’ – and that helps us, when and if we want to talk.” Vercher said that, as it weathers fallout from the burst real estate bubble, the local association has for now decided to acknowledge requests, but defer response to national staffers. “We’ve all seen the crisis communication plans that are so detailed and can be very valuable, particularly for large companies with lots of resources. But, for an association that has two people on staff, there won’t be that kind of time. The basics are the key: feeling comfortable talking to the media, crafting your message and keeping your eyes open as to what’s going on in industry.” Wendy Saari Director of Communications, Texas Restaurant Association economic development foundation are all separate entities, but everybody came together, realizing that we needed to be carrying the same message and saying the same things, concentrating on the positive to counteract the negative.” The foundation supporting these two efforts involves doing what associations do best: constantly taking your industry’s pulse. Saari said, “Know the issues that are key to your industry – food safety, immigration, wages, employment – and be on top of them. Know what’s happening in not only your state, but in others as well. Know what your response will be, and anticipate what negative things could happen and have those responses and talking points in mind. Then, you’re not surprised when someone calls.” With some upfront planning, a crisis, big or small, can come next week. Lopez said, “You can apply these ideas to even the most minor occurrence or challenge and always present the best face for your organization.” ◆ Vicki Gervickas is a freelance writer based in Gainesville, Fla. We Have a Plan As these three associations demonstrate, there is no one answer when it comes to dealing with a public relations issue. What is clear, though, is the need for a plan. Crisis communications planning has become an industry in itself, and though a highly researched and documented plan, with multiple contingency November/December 2007 | Association LEADERSHIP 25

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Leadership - November/December 2007

Association Leadership - November/December 2007 Contents Chairman’s Column Homepage 60-Second Solutions TSAE Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Award Winners Event Sponsors Conference Highlights Adaptability During Difficult Times/Reinvented Associations 7 Measures of Success: Organizational Adaptability Crisis Calling Association Case Study: Who is Minding the Store – External Factors Between the Covers New Members Community Spotlight El Paso Index to Advertisers/Advertisers.com Board of Directors

Association Leadership - November/December 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.