When truly horrific incidents happen, our mettle is tested beyond our wildest imagination. In that regards, we can only attempt to define the pain felt by the families of the victims of the school shooting in Sandy Hook, CT. Also, the lasting impressions in the minds of the first responders who attended the scene will certainly haunt them for a while.

What can we learn from this event. The first thing is that, although you are never fully prepared for this sort of thing, having an effective, well exercised plan with trained people in place, will mitigate the risks from something going horribly wrong with your communications response. Seems local hospitals did a good job responding to the incident. Do you think you'd do well under this kind of scrutiny?

The Public Information Officer for the Connecticut State Police, Lieutenant Vance, has been doing a great job in very difficult circumstances.

So, if you're experienced and well trained, things would normally work well for you and your organizations, But it's easy to become unglued and be fazed by the events, even for veteran professionals ...What to do? Train, train and then train some more. Ask the local Medical Examiner in Sandy Hook how he feels today?

It's easy to make mistakes in situations like these. How many media outlets misidentified the shooter? This error led throws of journalists to the shooter's borther address.

Now add to this the complexity of the social media inputs. Social networks can provide a valuable outlet for collective grief during such events but they can also be a fertile ground for all sorts of rumours and misinformation. People are curious, they turn to tools the know and want to find out more. Sometimes, the results can be misleading, even devastating. It's a paradox that the best tool to counter rumours and false information is the same channels where they spread.

So, a new level or crisis comms preparedness presents itself. How are your social media properties ready to withstand scrutiny during an incident? Are your internal policies strong enough to avoid making terrible mistakes ... such as the one K-MART made on twitter? Even the National Riffle Assocation seems to have learned from a previous mistake involving automated twitter posts after the Aurora Shooting a few months ago.

Now, their accounts simply vanished after the Sandy Hook incident.

So, to be ready, your crisis comms plan needs to revolve under the five following Ps ... or components:

1. Procedure: clear, simple, flexible 
2. People: trained relentlessly, right mix of skills and mental strenghts, alternates in numbers 
3. Preparation: pre-approved messaging to effect a quick response 
4. Practice: exercise, exercise, exercise ... at every opportunity
5. Platforms: social media and mobile technologies that will make your relevant (speed on social networks) and give you a chance to be heard (on mobile devices)