The 'day of action' eventually will arrive when an emergency incident calls for the crisis communications plan be made operational.

Will the site for crisis communications operations, be ready for the heightened activities that will consume the PIO and supporting staff to meet the demands of the crisis command team, the community most impacted and media?

As a lead public information officer, you need to ensure that those facilities and supporting technologies are clearly identified in the crisis communication plan and, they are in a ready to use condition.

One of the more concise and contemporary checklists comes from the document Basic Guidance for Public Information Officers (PIOs), National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) - FEMA 517/November 2007.

 It is important for the PIO to have tools and resources available for utilization during an incident. Although this is not a complete list, a Go Kit might include:

• • Communications Log Book
    
  • office supplies such as pens, paper, stapler, tape, etc.;
• • laptop computer and portable printer with an alternate power source(s), including accessories (e.g. memory stick, CDs, mouse, etc.);

• • maps;
  • television, radio, and/or broadcast recording equipment;
  • cell phones/Personal Data Assistants (PDAs);
  • fax machine;
  • agency letterhead;
  • PIO task list and other emergency operations plans;
  • camera with additional memory cards;
  • contact lists;
  • battery powered radio; and
  • pre-scripted messages and template releases.

Prior to an incident or planned event, establish agreements with businesses or agencies that can assist with the operations. Examples would be contracts with: translation services; printing companies (in order to publish brochures, fact sheets, or other emergency documents); and telephone companies to install hard-line telephones.

What we like about this list is that it applies whether the crisis communications operations site is already at an established location or that it includes the tools necessary to bring to a location created at the time of the incident.

 Since every situation will vary, we are providing additional PIO checklists in the resources folder for your reference for those PIOs who are likely to be deployed to remote locations or to the actual incident sites. Our suggestion is to 'mix and match' your essential checklist to meet your own realitiy.

Communications technologies are continually changing as well are the funding to purchase them. Consequently, the PIO should review the list and functioning of the components on a regular basis.

What we would add to this list is the software necessary to ensure a quick setup for searching, posting and responding to social media needs. These are time critical tools to ensure your messages are out there and your efforts are seen to be on top of the ongoing incident.

In larger integrated crisis communications team operations there is a trend towards 'virtual' communications facilities which are fully integrated into the emergency response systems. These include already established computer servers preloaded with the templates and data bases i.e. Maps, media listings and distribution services etc. The advantage of these systems are that they can be accessed from any authorized agency through wireless laptops or smartphones. These services are coming online now, but not yet the standard. Be prepared by having traditional backup technologies (as in the list above).

Nothing is fail proof!