2021 Events
As noted by Sir David Attenborough, “Saving our planet is now a communications challenge.” As such, it is surely the biggest crisis communications challenge currently facing humanity, and will require huge behavioural changes from both people and nations.
For this event, the Crisis Communications Network brough together two PR professionals, who work to make that change happen.
Paul Calahan is a former national newspaper journalist who is now Head of Communications at Chapmanbdsp, a leading design consultancy specialising in building services engineering and environmental design. Chapmanbdsp have long championed the integration of environmental principles throughout the building design process.
Paul’s role is to persuade the construction industry of the importance of engaging with the climate change agenda. Given that about 40 per cent of carbon emissions in the UK is accounted for by the built environment, the role of communicators such as Paul is vital.
Sharon Bleese has spent much of her career working in the environment industry. She manages communications for Coastal Partnership East, a partnership of four local authorities working along the Norfolk and Suffolk coast: North Norfolk District Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council and East Suffolk Council.
Sharon helps stakeholders to understand the impact climate change is having on our changing coastline. As the temperature increases, sea levels rise and communities are put at risk. Sharon herself has been at the sharp end of communicating to flooded communities, deploying all the crisis communication techniques that come with the need to evacuate and save lives.
The session was chaired by Chris Tucker.
Some argued that COVID-19 has created a brave new world. In reality, the global pandemic simply accelerated multiple existing dynamics already making their presence felt. Combined with the continued rise of ESG and integrated reporting, these trends have created a reputational risk environment of unprecedented complexity for professional communicators.
Our inaugural event aimed to help you assist your organisations put in place the processes, structures, policies and mindset required to detect and manage reputational risk and crises. Chris Tucker (Chair) and Rod Cartwright (Special Advisor) took issues of risk and resilience head-on in a conversation with Mark Hutcheon (Director and Reputation Lead at Deloitte UK), based on Deloitte’s 2020 report “The World Remade“.
They were joined by Joe Stockman, who spent 2020 working on New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 as a Strategic Communications Coordination Manager and Chief Adviser to the Head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine. Joe described how decisiveness, a successful communications strategy, a committed civil service and a degree of luck enabled New Zealand to navigate this crisis with enviable levels of public goodwill.
The Crisis Communications Network presented at CIPR’s annual conference in November 2021.
If the world before 2019 felt crisis-heavy, the global pandemic has raised the risk stakes for professional communicators even higher. Organisations across the private, public and non-profit sectors are facing an Expectation Tsunami, accelerated by COVID-19 and spanning the entire stakeholder arena – from employees, investors and customers to communities, suppliers and partners.
Whether it is #diversity & #inclusion, #mental health & #wellbeing and hybrid working or corporate transparency, #accountability and #governance, the reputational risk environment for reputation managers and crisis communicators has become more complex than ever before.
With #ESG giving a far harder edge and sharper focus to notions of #corporate responsibility and purpose, this session explored how professional communicators can navigate these fast-moving waters and manage the rising tide of #stakeholder expectations.
Speakers:
Chris Tucker MCIPR, Chair, CIPR Crisis Communications Network (facilitator)
Rod Cartwright MCIPR, Chair, EACD Crisis & Risk Communication Expert Group
Charlotte West, Executive Director of Global Corporate Communications at Lenovo
Claire-Marie Mason MCIPR, Senior Media Engagement Manager, RNLI