Speaker
Sophie Tesauri
(CERN)
Description
Big research infrastructures such as CERN are increasingly in the media and therefore well known to the public. In case a crisis strikes, it is vital for the reputation of the laboratory to be able to react in a timely and appropriate manner. Handling a crisis is not only done on the operational side but also on the communication side. Communications with all internal and external stakeholders and interested parties is vital in an incident. Even a small technical incident can give rise to a bigger crisis if it is not handled properly from the communication point of view. In addition, crisis communication can come from all kind of areas inherent to such big infrastructures and not necessary to the big machines that it hosts. Having a suitable crisis communication plan is thus important as is knowing how to implement it.
Training of the communication team is important. We have found that training should be regular and involve as many members of the communication group as possible.
This talk will present the CERN Crisis Communication Plan and how the CERN communications group trains for its implementation. We will discuss topics such as frequency of training, approach and which issues to include in the training. Sharing best practice on this topic among other participants would be an asset.
Primary author
Sophie Tesauri
(CERN)
