8:30 am - 4:00 pm both days
(networking lunch at approximately noon both days, breaks taken in morning and afternoon)

Day One

Advanced Media Relations: Balancing Your Resources, Your Office, and the Media

Take another look at what you're doing for your organization's communications strategies in a competitive environment.

• Targeting the right audience

• Capitalizing on your web strategy

• Using tracking, monitoring, and evaluating to build on your success

• The benefits and values of tracking, monitoring, and evaluating

The Evolving Internet: What This Means for the Public Affairs Professional

The Internet is the console to all communications in the digital age. Learn how public affairs professionals must adopt new ways of thinking, talking, and acting. Effective communication requires you to evaluate where your colleagues, clients, and competitors are on the Internet adoption curve, and to adjust your messages and methods of communication accordingly. During this session, find out where you stand as an Internet user.

The Public Affairs Professional's Toolkit

• Strategic use of social media

• Finding your audience

• Selecting platforms

• Blogging and buzz

• Web videos

• Creating social network content

• Retrofitting your organization

• Analytics and tracking

Attendees share communications strategies and efforts that have worked for their organizations.

Day Two

Different types of interviews and how to prepare your Principal for them (whether he/she is a "hog" or a "mouse").

• Tools and tips for TV, print, radio, and online interviews
• Steps to take in the interview
• How federal agencies should handle the investigative reporter
• Using resources at your disposal

Preparing for the Crisis: The Crisis Communications Plan

• Conduct a vulnerability audit-what can go wrong and who is best prepared to deal with it

• Determine what is within your organization's control and what's not

• Sell your idea for a crisis plan to your organization and principal

• Get an agreement in advance on what assets and personnel can be utilized during a crisis

• Who should be on your crisis communications team and what procedures should be enacted?

• How you'll develop your message

• Emergency response materials: information brochures, fact sheets, explanations of complicated technical systems or in-house procedures

• Emergency response drills

• How to select and train the right media spokespersons

• Lawyers

• Prepare answers/key points in plain language

• Placement of the media center: distance it from the offices of the crisis communications team

• Determine the locations for interviews and press briefings

• Don't change the way you deal with the media during the crisis

• Treat all media equally

• Communicate immediately in order to control events; tell the truth; don't overreach or speculate; and provide factual information

• Don't hide behind "no comment"

• Your first news release should include at a minimum the who, what, when, and where of the situation

• Systemic

  • Facilities

  • Consumer

  • Employee

• Adversarial

• Image

Attendees will have an opportunity to prepare a communications plan for one of the following crisis situations:

• Web attack
• Embarrassed executive
• Criminal indictment
• Natural disaster