So much of communication occurs outside of the words we say and how we say them. We also convey our attitude about the subject or the person or group with whom we're communicating.
With that in mind, it's vital that we stay cool under pressure, especially during a crisis. You'll be encountering questions from the media and these can often be pointed and direct. When this occurs, remember that the public is looking past the words you say to the way you say them. Non-verbal language has a huge impact.
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Nothing destroys the impact of one's message more than the loss of credibility. One way executives and companies lose credibility is by looking or sounding tone deaf to the situation around them, especially when it comes to crisis communications.
For instance, a company announces sobering news, but the CEO can be seen smiling and laughing as he leaves the press conference. Hard to recover when that image can be replayed over and over again on TV or online.  When it comes to deciding whether to hold a press conference or other kind of media event, there are definitely two mistakes to avoid. The first is overestimating the importance of your event. The second is underestimating the importance of your event.
Overestimating Let's face it. Everybody thinks their story is newsworthy and that the media will just naturally beat a path to your door. We see it all the time. The concern, however, is that this very well may not be the case. Your story may hold little interest among the media, no matter how exciting you try to make it. What kind of events fall into this category? |
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