Handling crisis is part of the job of any communications expert, and Nancy is an expert in this area. In part three of her talk, she explains more about crisis handling. >> It's when strategic communications is called on to help. Think about it. What do you have to do when you're dealing with a crisis? Just open a newspaper or listen to a TV and there are plenty of crises around. Most, unfortunately, end badly for an organization. There are a few which actually improve the brand. Why, what's the difference? Research has shown that the difference is not the crisis but how the crisis is handled. If that's the case, why does it go so badly for so many organizations? If you're a Chinese person and you know that the character for crisis, it's actually made up of two characters, one is danger and one is opportunity. What are the danger parts of the crisis? The danger comes because there's a lack of time. The minute a crisis happens, somebody's tweeting, or somebody has taken a photo with their smartphone and uploaded it and sent it off. That's even before the emergency responders have gotten to the crisis. Then there's lack of information if a crisis happens, you don't even know what's happened. So finding out takes time, there's lack of information and you can't speculate as to what's happened. They have to be very clear as to why, what and why has cause the problem. And finally there's that human nature desire to minimize the impact of any crisis. So you want to try and help the organization out, not say anything that may get the organization in trouble. So you don't want to take responsibility. You want to wait. Well, the longer you wait, the more the crisis is spiraling out of control. So what should the organization say? And also who should say it? Let's think about the goal. The goal is to try and reinforce the trust that you have, that you the audience has in the institution. And what we know from research is that there are four factors. First factor is honesty and openness. More honest, more open you can be the better. The second is that you want to exude competence and expertise. That's easier for a corporation, companies oftentimes have a lot of experience and are kind of known for their expertise. Then you want to have dedication and commitment. And actually, that's where oftentimes a non-for-profit is recognized in the minds of the audience. And finally, there's empathy and caring. Now what's interesting in the research is that in trust the first three I mentioned, honesty, competence, and dedication are all combined worth about 50%. The important thing is the empathy and caring that the organization demonstrates. Then you've gotta figure out whom do you put, now if it's a minor crisis, you don't want to put out the big guy, you want to actually, probably put out somebody who's an expert, somebody who's closer to the situation. Can answer a lot more questions, If it's a major crisis, it's gotta be the guy on top. And you also need to make sure that they're trained. Because what we know is that in a communication, it's much more the tone, and the body language, that's important, much more important actually than the words, although the words are important. It's that people will not hear the words, if the body language or the tone is wrong. So people have to be trained, if they want to be good at crisis communication. So let me summarize what you need to do if you have a crisis. First you have to react quickly. Second, you have to get your information out as quickly as possible. But don't speculate. Make sure you know, it's better to say I don't know, I'll get back to you than it is to say something that you speculate on. So, third is you need to have a solution. And remember that solution has to show your commitment, it has to show your competence, it has to show your honesty, and it has to show your caring. And finally, you want to have the right spokesman who can demonstrate, not only with the words but with the tone and the body language that you are conveying the message you want to deliver. Thank you very much and this concludes the lectures.