Emergency Communications Training

Training opportunities in emergency management and communications, is a growing industry across Canada. Academic institutions, emergency response agencies and communication consulting companies offer a wide variety of course study. You have only to enter "emergency communications training" into a search engine on the internet and you will see our point.

Programs, in the emergency management, security and business continuity fields, are available in many post-secondary institutions, from private organizations (such as ICOR), but some courses are also available online (from Emergency Management Ontario for examples).

As emergency responders specializing in the communications aspect, we have found a need for some criteria to allow you to evaluate these study offerings particularly in emergency and crisis communications.

Does the emergency management course offer the following communications content:

• Is the communications role clearly defined within the context of the Incident Command/Incident Management structure?

• Does the course teach basic media relations for use during an emergency?

• Will my 'on camera' interview skills be enhanced?

• Is there a recognition that social media is now one of the leading tools, people turn to in a crisis?

• Does the course outline how, when and where to set up social media tools for emergency communications?

• Does the course show how to monitor and respond to public enquiries through social media

• Is there a methodology for the creation of key messages?

• Are there sufficient opportunities for developing some of the skills that the course identifies e.g. Key messaging, using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and the major monitoring tools?

The bottom line to the above criteria is that the training should be keeping pace with what people in the world are using to obtain information during a crisis. If you are receiving only course content that meets the needs of the past few decades, are you really being prepared to be an effective emergency responder?

See the effective use of social media during Japan's crisis. Google stepped up to the plate and provided an necessary service for people seeking to find others. Their contribution garnered media attention just as these event unfolded. That alone should signal to emergency managers that 'times have changed'.

Validation of your training program will come from exercises (in addition to real crises!). So a program that involves communications into the design and control group for any exercise is a must. In addition, it's also a good idea to run specific training exercises for your communications team. These exercises don't have to involve a lot of preparation or time and they can serve as a motivation and team building initiative.

The key is to remember that exercises test your plans and NOT your people. Applying lessons learned, taking corrective actions, strengthening training and realigning objectives with the reality of today's world, will keep your team current and motivated.

For more, consult the latest additon to our running crisis communications plan template.