Crisis communication

Teacher(s)

Groetaers Lionel; Van Overstraeten Mathieu;

Language

English

Main themes

The course aims to address the areas of crisis and sensitive communication from an operational perspective. This will include: crisis communication, communication and sustainable development, communication on risks, communication of acceptability, communication on controversial subjects, combat communication and disinformation. Crisis communication will be the main focus of the course.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1.	Design a crisis communication device for his/her organization; Public authorities, local authorities, enterprises, associations ;
2.	Mastering crisis communication tools, including, of course, digital media ;
3.	Organize the operation of the crisis unit of his/her organization ;
4.	To deal with the crisis situations that he/she will have to face in his/her professional life ;
5.	Decrypting media attention on crisis situations ;
6.	Be able to control his/her message in crisis situations, both in external communication and in internal communication ;
7.	Integrate the theme of sustainable development into his/her communication by avoiding the drifts of greenwashing ;
8.	Organize stakeholder relations on corporate social responsibility ;
9.	Deciphering communication on sensitive topics (nanotechnologies, GMOs ...).

Content

The course aims to address the areas of crisis communication from an operational perspective, based on theory and examples.
This will include: crisis communication, communication on change, sensitive communication on risks and controversial subjects to ensure a social license to operate.
The full crisis management cycle will be reviewed, involving risk or issue management (prevention & mitigation, preparedness) and incident or crisis management (response, recovery).
- Map risks based on occurrence and seriousness
- Map and organize stakeholder relations
- Organize monitoring and decrypt online & offline media attention
- Design a crisis or sensitive communication strategy for his/her organization
- Master crisis communication tools, including digital media
- Organize the operation of the crisis unit of his/her organization
- Be able to define and control his/her message in crisis situations
- Crisis evaluation, to learn what the organization did right or wrong during a crisis

Teaching methods

The interventions will be given in English in plenary sessions of 2 hours. Each course will be supported by slides that will integrate the main points discussed orally.
During each session:
- Two blocks of half an hour will be devoted to theory. Many examples from real-life situations will support the explanation of the key concepts of crisis communication.
- Two blocks of half an hour will be devoted to group exercises. The objective of these exercises is to confront the students with realistic crisis communication situations.

Evaluation methods

Active participation: 20% of the total
Crisis exercise: 30% of the total
- Groups of 4 to 5 students
- Real crisis situation during a 4 hours session
Oral Exam: 50% of the total
- 2 theoretical questions

Faculty or entity

COMU