Thank you to all the communications professionals who joined IABC Calgary, CPRS Calgary, PAAC, and The Centre for Crisis and Risk Communications on October 24, 2024 at a crisis communications networking event.
With panoramic views of the city, mountains, and skyline, over 75 communications professionals gathered on the stunning 54th floor of The Bow Tower in Calgary to hear from leading experts in crisis communications.
Dr. Timothy Coombs and Dr. Vincent Covello, globally recognized for their expertise in crisis communications, shared their insights alongside other leading experts in the field.
The Centre for Crisis and Risk Communications, based in Calgary, supports organizations in preparing for and managing crisis communications. This year, it hosted Crisis Compass, its inaugural two-day symposium that brought together global thought leaders, communications professionals, and leading crisis communication experts to share insights and foster collaboration.
The networking event capped off Crisis Compass and welcomed communications professionals from across all industries in Calgary.
According to Dr. Timothy Coombs, working in communications has become the most challenging and complicated environment that practitioners have ever experienced.
However, he likens the current communications environment to a crisis. The challenges in today’s environment can be seen as threats or embraced as opportunities to strengthen relationships with publics and stakeholders.
“Misinformation has always been there, but then you add in social media, and you layer in generative AI, which gives it more credibility as AI can build better messages and images” he explained. “Then, you layer on top of that polarization which we’re seeing socially and globally occurring where you have very willing groups out there who want to embrace misinformation and share that misinformation with others.”
Coombs highlights the challenge of deciding which groups to engage with, noting it can be daunting. However, he emphasizes that events like Crisis Compass, where leading experts and organizations come together to share insights, are invaluable. Embracing continuing education allows professionals to exchange knowledge on navigating current challenges and adapt to rapidly evolving technologies.
He also highlights a recent crisis with Target in the U.S to share an important lesson for organizations to remember – know your audience. Target began selling items designed for Pride month and targeted to the LGBTQ community, and received immediate backlash from activists and conservative people who boycotted the brand because they said some of the items were risque. In more extreme cases, employees felt targeted by violence and Target pulled the products from stores, angering the LGBTQ community.
As a result of the boycott, Target experienced a sales loss for the first time in six years. Coombs explains the Target crisis highlights a common problem organizations are now facing.
“When they get pressure from one side, they cave in and they turn to the other side and then at the end, neither side likes them,” says Coombs.
“What it really reinforces for organizations is that you need to know who you are, what is your identity, what is your purpose, and then when you make choices it needs to be based around and reflect your purpose and your identity”.
Bob Jensen is a crisis communications expert with over 38 years experience and spoke at the event as well. He has led the U.S. government crisis communications response after the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and more than 30 major disasters in the U.S., including Hurricane Sandy response for FEMA.
Jensen agrees with Coombs that the environment has never been more challenging and believes the key element making the job of crisis communications professionals harder today than ever before – misinformation/disinformation and the increasingly rapid rate of information dissemination.
“We are combating disinformation in a post-truth era,” says Jensen and this is impacting every aspect of the crisis communications team response.
Read our upcoming blog in December for more information from Jensen and how to best combat misinformation and disinformation as communications professionals.
Check out a video below of highlights from the evening!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14IcEEDVYWQ77tRzbtVok-hdrT_93WqpJ/view?usp=sharing
