Higher Ed in Crisis: Strategies for Managing Response and Communication

"Everything is more magnified in the era of 24/7 social media and constant attention in the news. The pressures from Washington, D.C., have created a much different stew that people are dealing with for the first time." - Jordan B. Acker, Board of Visitors, University of Michigan

For years, forward-looking colleges and universities developed plans for potential emergencies and how to mitigate risk. But today's higher-ed leaders operate under heightened public scrutiny from federal and state lawmakers, the media, and a skeptical public, making thoughtful, rapid, a decisive responses more important than ever. As experts from Blue Moon Consulting Group put it: “The perceived effectiveness of the response can have more influence on an institution’s reputation than the underlying event or issue.” 

Join The Chronicle on November 12 from 1 - 2:15 PM ET for a premium webinar on managing crisis through strategic response and communication. This virtual event will offer practical strategies for navigating fast-moving crises, improving communications, and protecting your institution's reputation in a volatile environment. 

Designed to help trustees, presidents, provosts, and other senior administrators get ahead of a potential problem, we'll cover:

• How to develop plans for crises that risk the public reputation of a college or university;
• Ways to improve communications and decision making in an emergency;
• Advice for how to evaluate a developing situation and decide who is required to respond.

In addition to being able to attend the session and ask the panel questions live, registrants will be able to submit questions prior to the webinar, receive Chronicle materials related to the topics, and get access to a special followup Q&A.  

Please note that the program will be recorded and distributed to registrants upon its conclusion. If you won’t be able to join us live, you can still save your spot to access the recordings and resources at a later time.

Event access instructions will be sent separately, from Zoom and from workshops@cs.chronicle.com. Please add workshops@chronicle.com and workshops@cs.chronicle.com to your approved senders to ensure that communications arrive directly to your inbox.

Speakers:

Simon Barker, Managing Partner, Blue Moon Consulting Group

Simon Barker is Managing Partner at Blue Moon Consulting Group. Simon provides issues and crisis management advice and counsel to clients spanning high profile product recalls, protests, cyber attacks and data breaches, active aggressor events, natural disasters and a broad range of ethical, financial, and social issues.  He applies hands-on experience to helping clients in advance of a crisis or issue and has developed crisis management and crisis communications plans for clients in the higher education, technology, financial services, consumer goods, healthcare, and sports industries amongst others. 

Teresa Flannery, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)

Teresa (Terry) Flannery is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, she directs the divisions of Education; Membership, Marketing and Communications; Data, Research and Technology; and Strategic Partnerships. Terry is a strategic, innovative, and collaborative higher education leader with more than 35 years of experience in a wide range of functions, including advancement, admissions and enrollment management, and student affairs. She has worked at large, medium, and small institutions, both public and private.