Hi!

We used to prepare for a crisis with a playbook and a straightforward set of scenarios. But lately it feels like even the best preparation can’t account for everything that might happen – multiple issues unfold at once, and often crises don’t have a clear beginning or end.

At our recent Comm Convo, Beyond the Binder in the Era of Constant Crisis, we explored how communicators can stay prepared in an environment defined by political volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and rapidly evolving media dynamics.

From keeping your company’s values top of mind when preparing a response to strategies for mitigating against AI-based misinformation, our panelists addressed some of the biggest challenges communicators face in keeping their teams’ prepared.

Top 10 takeaways on crisis communications today

1. Build a foundation of facts on the topics most likely to surface. Anticipating which topics could come up and drafting Q&As, fact sheets, and memos against them gives the team an established base, since starting without one puts you behind once a crisis hits.

2. Re-scope preparation as the company changes stage. Issues tend to grow more complex as a company matures, so a binary readout calls for scenario work six to 12 months out, and going public adds disclosure and board expectations.

3. Anchor decisions to engage or hold back in company values. After the rush to comment several years ago and the swing toward silence since, testing each call against values gives executives a moment to recommit and employees a clear rationale.

4. Let executives hear how their answers land through an AI reporter. Running mock-interview answers through a persona of a reporter you worry about shows a spokesperson how a thin, unsupported message will land, without asking them to take your word for it.

5. Prepare leaders for the lens of each channel that carries their message. Reporters reach investors yet look for tension, while investors generally want to keep backing a company they hold, so leaders fluent with one audience need practice engaging the channel that reaches it.

6. Pre-educate reporters on what is coming without giving away the details. Advance context and selective use of background help shape coverage, and one panelist watched ambiguous trial data paired with leadership additions draw a harsher headline for lack of that groundwork.

7. Brief the people who will be asked before they read it in the news. Executives on the conference circuit and employees both field questions, so give them points to make and points to leave to communications, pushing past the leadership instinct to stay quiet internally.

8. Size up AI-driven misinformation before fixing it at the source. Bot-generated articles can be hard to get corrected and may gain little traction, and where action is warranted, the fix runs through your website, releases, and earned media that feed AI engines.

9. Treat lingering issues as chronic conditions with acute flare-ups. An issue can ease without resolving and stay a priority for investors and journalists, so monitoring continues, and when waiting it out stops working, a sustained content effort can rebalance the story.

10. Define what you can still talk about while an issue persists. Thresholds for social chatter, agreed in advance with the executive and digital teams and flexible to change, show when paused posting, comments, or paid promotion can resume around a slow-burning issue.

Thank you to Jennifer Haslip (Google), Stephen Majors (Alliance for Regenerative Medicine), and Adam Silverstein (Narrative Strategies) for sharing their experiences and perspectives, and to Laura Hortas (Catalent Pharma Solutions) for moderating the conversation.

Miss the discussion? T2B Pro and Student members can watch the replay here.

Lynnea

P.S. - If you're in London for Jefferies next week, it’s not too late to sign up for our giveback event on Monday evening or our T2Bmeet on Tuesday night!

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