BOLD Kicks Off October With A Workshop Centered Around Crisis Communications
BOLD kicked off spooky season with an interactive meeting about crisis communication on Tuesday, October 6th. The meeting consisted of two guided activities led by President, Carlos Ortiz; Director of Culture, Daniela Gil; and Director of Public Relations, Alejandra Chahine. The first interactive activity was called ”Crisis Communications Do’s and Don’ts.” In this activity, members were presented with different crisis responses and they had to decide whether or not they were effective. The second activity was called “What Would You Do? Crisis Edition”. This activity consisted of two hypothetical scenarios involving a crisis. Members then had to pick the best responses to these crises.
After going through several crisis responses, Carlos ended the first activity with a quote by Katie Garcia: “A crisis is not necessarily a disaster. When handled in a timely and effective way, a crisis can actually become an opportunity to gain competitive advantage, to build trust and confidence, and move the organization forward.” One of BOLD’s goals is to prepare the future generation of professional communicators. This includes providing members with the proper tools to effectively handle possible crises that might arise in their work. “Do not just look at a crisis as a negative thing, it is something that happens naturally. Things are always going to get better, make sure that you learn from it and that the company comes out better because of it,” said Carlos Ortiz.
The meeting was concluded with the second activity where members were challenged with choosing between two possible solutions to a hypothetical crisis. One of the crises touched on the topic of cultural insensitivity and dove deeper into the effectiveness of public apologies. “People know when something is authentic and genuine. An apology needs to really speak to people and form a relationship with the public,” said Daniela Gil.
Credibility amongst the Gen Z generation is a topic that is commonly discussed during BOLD meetings. Young people are paying more attention to the ethics behind a company’s actions and whether or not these actions are authentic or performative. “It is important to back up any words or apologies with an actual plan to change. Without that, an apology is just words trying to put a bandage on a situation rather than actually fixing it, “ added Daniela.
BOLD is a student-run strategic communications agency at Florida International University. Click here to learn more.
Written by: Alejandra Chahine, Director of Public Relations