Opening Case Forty-Seven in the Creek

The water was three inches deep on the rehabilitation wing floor and still spreading when Nettie Armbruster-Gao pushed through the fire door at 6:14 a.m.

“Don’t step on anything,” Dinah Womack-Sforza said from somewhere behind the row of fiberglass tanks. Her voice was flat, the kind of flat that came after crying. “I’ve already found two on the tile.”

Nettie looked down. The water around her sneakers was silty, carrying that faintly mineral tang of recirculated saltwater. A juvenile Gulf sturgeon—maybe seven inches, olive-backed, its barbels still twitching—lay on its side against the baseboard. She crouched and cupped it with both hands, the way Dinah had shown her during the open-house prep last October, and slid it into the nearest intact tank.

“How many?”

“Forty-seven were in Tank Six.” Dinah came around the corner carrying a five-gallon bucket with a battery aerator clipped to the rim. Her rubber boots left wet prints on the dry half of the floor. “I’ve recovered eleven. The rest went through the floor drain.”

Nettie’s stomach dropped. “The floor drain goes—”

“Straight to Scipio Creek. I checked. The backflow valve on the outfall line was propped open with a piece of PVC pipe. Maintenance was flushing the line yesterday afternoon and didn’t close it.”

Thirty-six federally threatened juvenile Gulf sturgeon were now in Scipio Creek, which fed directly into Apalachicola Bay. Nettie had been the social media coordinator at Brackish Tide Municipal Aquarium for six months before the communications director resigned in January, and no one had replaced her. Now she was “acting comms,” which mostly meant scheduling Instagram posts about the touch tank and writing copy for the summer camp brochure. Not this. Never this.

“Have you called Herschel?” she asked.

“He’s on his way. I called Fish and Wildlife twenty minutes ago. They’re sending someone from Panama City.”

Nettie pulled out her phone. She had four text messages already—two from board members, one from her mother, and one from a number she didn’t recognize. She opened the unknown number first.

Hi Nettie, this is Kirby Sandoval from the Apalachicola Times. We’re hearing reports of a tank failure at the aquarium involving endangered fish. Can you confirm? I’m heading over now.

The text was timestamped 5:58 a.m. Sixteen minutes before Nettie even knew.

She heard the front entrance bang open, and Herschel Thibodaux-Pryce’s boots came down the hall at a half-run. The aquarium director was fifty-seven, silver-bearded, and had spent fourteen years turning Brackish Tide from a two-room fish display into a legitimate Gulf Coast rehabilitation facility. He ducked into the wing, saw the water, saw Dinah’s face, and stopped.

“How bad?”

“Thirty-six juveniles in the creek,” Dinah said. “Tank Six cracked along the lower seam. The floor drain was open.”

Herschel closed his eyes for exactly one breath, then opened them. “Fish and Wildlife?”

“En route from Panama City.”

“Good. Nettie—” He turned to her. “I need a written statement by nine. We’re holding a press conference at ten in the education pavilion. You’ll draft the statement, I’ll read it, and you’ll moderate questions.”

Nettie felt her hands go cold. “Herschel, the reporter from the Times is already on his way. He texted me before six.”

“Then we’re behind. Get the statement started. Four parts: what happened, what we’re doing, what Fish and Wildlife is doing, what comes next. No speculation on cause until we know more.” He looked at the cracked tank, at the waterline still visible on the fiberglass. “And do not—do not—say anything about the inspection.”

The inspection. Nettie’s throat tightened. Dinah had pulled her aside in the hallway ten minutes earlier, hands shaking, and told her something she’d been carrying since January: the tank sealant on Tanks Five and Six had been flagged in last quarter’s safety inspection. The repair was estimated at $8,200. The board deferred it to the next fiscal year, which started in October. That was nine months away.

“Herschel,” Nettie said carefully. “If the sealant was flagged—”

“I said not now.” His voice wasn’t angry. It was the voice of a man looking at fourteen years of reputation standing in three inches of water. “Legal counsel gets a call before anything about the inspection goes into writing. That’s procedure.”

“We don’t have a crisis communication plan,” Nettie said. She’d looked for one in January, when she’d inherited the comms role. The closest thing she found was a laminated hurricane evacuation route taped to the break room wall.

Herschel paused. “Then you’re writing one today. Right after the press conference.”

He turned back to Dinah, and the two of them bent over Tank Six with a flashlight, tracing the crack. Nettie stood in the doorway, wet to the ankles, phone in one hand, nothing in the other. She had three hours and forty-six minutes to write a statement she’d never been trained to write, prepare for a press conference she’d never run, and figure out how to tell the truth about forty-seven sturgeon without saying the one thing that might explain why it happened.

She walked to her office, sat down at the desk that still had the previous comms director’s succulent on the windowsill, and opened a blank document.

The cursor blinked.

Getting Started

17.1 Delivering a Negative News Message

In this section, we’ll examine several scenarios that can be communicated internally (within the organization) and externally (outside the organization), but recognize that the lines can blur as communication flows outside and through an organization or business. Internal and external communication environments often overlap. The rumor of anticipated layoffs may surface in the local media, and you may be called upon to address the concern within the organization. Similarly, a product that has failed internal quality control tests will require several more tests and improvements before it’s ready for market. But if that information leaves the organization, it can hurt the business reputation, prospects for future contracts, and the company’s ability to secure financing.

Communication is constantly present, and our ability to manage, clarify, and guide understanding is key to addressing challenges while maintaining trust and integrity with employees, stakeholders, and the public.

There are seven goals to keep in mind when delivering negative news, whether in person or in writing:

1. Be clear and concise so you don’t require additional clarification.
2. Help the receiver understand and accept the news.
3. Maintain trust and respect for the business or organization and for the receiver.
4. Avoid legal liability or erroneous admission of guilt or culpability.
5. Maintain the relationship, even if a formal association is being terminated.
6. Reduce the anxiety associated with the negative news to increase comprehension.
7. Achieve the designated business outcome.

Let’s look at our first scenario:

You’re a supervisor and have been given the task of discussing repeated tardiness with an employee, Chris. Chris has frequently been late for work, and the problem has grown worse over the last two weeks. The tardiness is impairing not only Chris’s performance but also that of the entire work team. Your manager has instructed you to put an end to it. The desired result is for Chris to stop his tardiness behavior and improve his performance.

You can

1. stop by Chris’s cubicle and simply say, “Get to work on time or you’re out”;
2. invite Chris out to a nice lunch and let him have it;
3. write Chris a stern email.
4. ask Chris to come to your office and discuss the behavior with him in private.

While there are many other ways you could choose to address the situation, let’s examine each of these four alternatives in light of the goals to keep in mind when presenting negative news.

First, you could approach Chris in his workspace and speak to him directly. Advantages include the ability to get right to the point. Disadvantages include the strain on the supervisor-employee relationship from a public display of criticism, the possibility that Chris may not understand you, the lack of a formal discussion you can document, and the risk that your actions may not bring about the desired results.

The goals include the desire to be clear and concise to avoid requiring additional clarification. This possible response doesn’t provide the opportunity for discussion, feedback, or confirmation that Chris has clearly understood your concern. It fails to address the performance concern and limits the correction to the tardiness. It fails to demonstrate respect for all parties. The lack of tact apparent in the approach may reflect negatively on you as the supervisor, not only with Chris but with your manager as well.

When you need to speak to an employee about a personnel concern, it’s always best to do it in private. Give thought and concern to the conversation before it occurs, and make a list of points to cover with specific information, including grievances. Like any other speech, you may need to rehearse, particularly if this type of meeting is new to you. When it comes time to have the discussion, issue the warning, document it in writing, and don’t give the impression that you might change your decision. Whether the issue at hand is a simple caution about tardiness or a more serious conversation, you need to be fair and respectful, even if the other person has been less than professional. Let’s look at the next alternative.

Say you invite Chris to lunch at a nice restaurant. There’s linen on the table, silverware is present for more than the main course, and the water glasses have stems. The environment says “good job” in its uniqueness, presentation, and luxury. Your words will contradict this nonverbal message. The juxtaposition between the environment and the verbal message will cause tension and confusion, which will likely hinder the receiver’s ability to listen. If Chris doesn’t understand the message and it requires clarification, your approach has failed. The contrast between the restaurant setting and the negative message doesn’t promote understanding and acceptance of the bad news or correction. And it doesn’t build trust in the relationship, as the restaurant invitation might be interpreted as a “trap” or a betrayal. Let’s look at yet another approach.

You’ve written Chris a stern email. You’ve included a list of all the recent dates when he was late and made several statements about the quality of his work. You’ve indicated he needs to improve and stop being late, or else. But was your email harassment? Could it be considered beyond the scope of supervision and interpreted as mean or cruel? And do you even know if Chris has received it? If there was no reply, do you know whether it achieved its desired business outcome? A written message may indeed be part of the desired approach, but how it’s presented and delivered is as important as what it says. Let’s look at our fourth approach to this scenario.

You ask Chris to join you in a private conversation. You start the conversation with an expression of concern and an open-ended question: “Chris, I’ve been concerned about your work lately. Is everything all right?” As Chris answers, you may demonstrate that you’re listening by nodding your head and possibly taking notes. You may learn that Chris has been having problems sleeping or that his living situation has changed. Or Chris may decline to share any issues, deny that anything is wrong, and ask why you’re concerned. You may then state that you’ve observed the chronic tardiness and name one or more specific mistakes you’ve found in Chris’s work, ending with a reiteration that you’re concerned. This statement of concern may elicit more responses and open the conversation into a dialogue where you come to understand the situation, Chris sees your problem, and the relationship is preserved. Alternatively, if the conversation doesn’t go well, you’ll still keep a positive attitude even as you document the meeting and give Chris a verbal warning.

Regardless of how well or poorly the conversation goes, if Chris tells other employees about it, they’ll take note of how you handled the situation, and it will contribute to their perception of you. It guides their expectations of how you operate and how to communicate with you, since this interaction isn’t only about you and Chris. You represent the company and its reputation, and your professional display of concern as you try to learn more sends a positive message. While the private, respectful meeting may not be the perfect solution, it’s preferable to the other approaches we’ve considered.

One additional point to consider as you document this interaction is the need to present the warning in writing. You may elect to prepare a memo that outlines the information concerning Chris’s performance and tardiness and have it ready should you want to present it. If the session goes well and you have the discretion to make a judgment call, you may elect to give him another week to resolve the issue. Even if it goes well, you may want to present the memo, since it documents the interaction and serves as evidence of due process should Chris’s behavior fail to change, eventually resulting in the need for termination.

This combined approach of a verbal and written message is increasingly the norm in business communication. In the following two sections, we’ll compare and contrast approaches, verbal and written, and outline several best practices in terms of approach. But first, we’ll outline the four main parts of a negative news message:

1. Buffer or cushion
2. Explanation
3. Negative news
4. Redirect

The first part of a negative news message, verbal or written, involves neutral or positive information. This sets the tone and often serves as a buffer or cushion for the information to come. Next, an explanation discusses why there’s an issue in the first place. This may be relatively simple, quite complex, or uncomfortable. In a journal article titled “Further Conceptualization of Explanations in Negative News Messages,” Mohan Limaye makes the clear case that not only is an explanation a necessary part of any negative news message, but it’s also an ethical and moral requirement. While an explanation is essential, never admit or imply responsibility without written authorization from your company, cleared by legal counsel.^[2] The third part of the negative news message involves the bad news itself, and the emphasis here is on clarity and accuracy. Finally, the redirect may refocus attention on a solution strategy, an alternative, or the subsequent actions that will take place. Table 17.1 “Negative News Message Sample Script” provides an example that might apply in an external communication situation.

In Table 17.1 “Negative News Message Sample Script,” the neutral or positive news comes first and introduces the customer to the overall topic. The explanation indicates the purpose of the communication, while the negative message directly addresses how it affects the customer. The redirect discusses specific actions to take. In this case, it also includes a solution strategy enhanced with a soft sell message, a subtle, low-pressure method of selling, cross-selling, or advertising a product or service. Whether you’re delivering negative news in person or writing, the four main parts of a negative message can help you meet all seven goals.

Before we move to the verbal and written delivery of the negative news message, we need to offer a word of counsel. You want to avoid legal problems when communicating bad news. You can’t always predict how others are going to respond, but you can prepare for and deliver your response in ways that lower the risk of litigation in four ways:

1. Avoid abusive language or behavior.
2. Avoid contradictions and absolutes.
3. Avoid confusion or misinterpretation.
4. Maintain respect and privacy.

Sarcasm, profanity, shouting, or abusive or derogatory language is an obstacle to clear communication. Such language can also be interpreted as defamatory, or harming the reputation of the person, which may negatively impact their future earnings. In written form, it’s called libel. If you say it out loud, it’s called slander. While slander may be harder to prove, no defamatory remarks should be part of your negative news message. Cell phones increasingly serve to record conversations, and you never know if your words will come back to you in short order. Represent yourself, the business, and the receiver of your message with professionalism and avoid abusive or defamatory language.

You also want to avoid contradictions, since they only invite debate. Make sure your information is consistent and in agreement with the general information in the conversation. If one part of the information stands out as a contradiction, its importance will be magnified in context and distract from your main message. Don’t provide more information than is necessary. Polarizing, absolute terms like “always” and “never” are often part of sweeping generalizations that are open to debate. Instead of saying, “You are always late,” choose to say, “You were late sixteen times in May.” To avoid confusion or misinterpretation, be precise and specific.

Always maintain respect and privacy. Making a negative statement about an employee in front of a group of coworkers can be considered ridicule or harm, and in some cases may be actionable and involve legal ramifications. Beyond the legal responsibility, you have the overall goal of demonstrating professionalism as you represent yourself and your company in maintaining the relationship with the employee, even if the end goal is termination. Employees have retaliated against their organizations in many ways, from discouraging remarks to vandalism and computer viruses. Your goal is to avoid such behavior, not out of fear, but out of professionalism and respect for yourself and your organization. Open lines of communication in a relationship can help reduce the risk of relational deterioration or animosity. The sidebar below provides a checklist for delivering a negative message.

Presenting Negative News in Person

Most of us dislike conflict. It may be tempting to avoid face-to-face interaction for fear of confrontation, but delivering negative news in person can be quite effective, even necessary, in many business situations. When considering a one-on-one meeting or a large, formal meeting, evaluate the preparation and implementation of the discussion.

The first step involves a clear goal. Stephen Covey (1989) recommends beginning with the end in mind.^[3] Do you want your negative news to inform, or to bring about change, and if so, what kind of change and to what degree? A clear conceptualization of the goal allows you to anticipate the possible responses, to plan, and to get your emotional “house” in order.

Your emotional response to the news and the audience, whether it’s one person or the whole company, will set the tone for the entire interaction. You may feel frustrated, angry, or hurt, but displaying these emotions is often more likely to make the problem worse than to help solve it. Emotions can be contagious, and people will respond to the emotional tone of the speaker.

If your response involves only one other person, a private, personal meeting is the best option, but it may not be available. Increasingly, people work and contribute to projects from a distance, via the Internet, and may only know each other via email, phone, or videophone/videoconferencing services. A personal meeting may be impractical or impossible. How, then, does one deliver negative news in person? By the best option available to both parties. Written feedback may be an option via email, but it takes time to prepare, send, receive, process, and respond, and the written word has its disadvantages. Miscommunication and misinterpretation can easily occur, with little opportunity for constructive feedback to check meanings and clarify perceptions.

The telephone call allows both parties to hear each other’s voices, including the words, the inflection, the disfluencies, and the emotional elements of conversation. It’s immediate in that the possibility of overlap is present, meaning not only is proximity in terms of voice as close as possible, but both parties may experience overlaps as they take turns and communicate. Telephone calls allow for quick feedback and clarifying questions, and give both parties an opportunity to recycle and revisit topics for elaboration or a better understanding. They can also cover long distances with reasonable clarity. Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) allows you to do the same with relatively little cost.

While there are distinct advantages, the telephone lacks part of the nonverbal spectrum available to speakers in a live setting. On the phone, proximity is a function of response time rather than physical space and the degree to which one person is near another. Time is also synchronous, though the telephone crosses time zones and changes the context, as one party may have just arrived at work while the other party is leaving for lunch. Body language gets lost in the exchange as well, although many of us continue to make hand gestures on the phone, even when our conversational partners can’t see us. Paralanguage, or the sounds we hear that aren’t verbal, including pitch, tone, rate, rhythm, pace, articulation, and pronunciation, are all available to the listener. As we can see, the telephone call allows for a richer communication experience than written communication, but can’t convey as much information as would be available in person. Just as a telephone interview may be used for screening purposes while a live interview is reserved for the final candidates, the live setting is often considered the best option for delivering negative news.

Live and in person may be the best option for direct communication with immediate feedback. In a live setting, time is constant. The participants may schedule a breakfast meeting, for example, mirroring schedules and rhythms. Live, face-to-face communication comes in many forms. The casual exchange in the hallway, the conversation over coffee, and the formal performance review meeting all have interpersonal communication in common.

If you need to share the message with a larger audience, you may need to speak to a group, or you might even have to make a public presentation or speech. If it needs a feedback loop, we often call it a press conference, as a question-and-answer session follows the speech. From meeting in the hallway to live, onstage, under camera lights, and ready for questions, the personal delivery of negative news can be a challenging task.

Presenting Negative News in Writing

Writing can be intrapersonal, between two people, group communication, public communication, or even mass communication. One distinct advantage of presenting negative news in writing is the planning and preparation that goes into the message, making the initial communication more predictable. When a message is delivered orally in an interpersonal setting, we may interrupt each other, we sometimes hear what we want to, and it often takes negotiation and listening skills to grasp meaning. While a written message, like all messages, is open to interpretation, the range of possibilities is narrowed and presented within the frame and format designed by the source or author.

The written message involves verbal factors like language and word choice, but it can also involve nonverbal factors like timing and presentation. Do you communicate the message on letterhead, do you choose the channel of email over a hard copy letter, or do you compose your written message in your best penmanship? Each choice communicates meaning, and the choice of how you present your written message influences its reception, interpretation, and the degree to which it’s understood. In this section, we consider the written message that delivers negative news.

Let’s consider several scenarios:

1. A community disaster such as illness (e.g., the COVID-19 epidemic), earthquake, wildfire, plane crash, or a terrorism incident
2. An on-the-job accident with injuries or even death
3. A product defect resulting in injuries, illness, or even death to consumers
4. An unsuccessful product test (e.g., a new software system that isn’t going to be ready for launch as planned)
5. A company merger that may result in reductions in force or layoffs

In business communication, we often categorize our communication as internal or external. Internal communication is the sharing and understanding of meaning between individuals, departments, or representatives of the same business. External communication is the sharing and understanding of meaning between individuals, departments, or representatives of the business and parties outside the organization. Across the five scenarios, we’ll consider each of these categories in turn.

The confirmation of COVID-19 may first occur with a laboratory report (itself a written document), but it’s typically preceded by conversations among health care professionals concerned over the symptoms exhibited by patients, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and loss of taste or smell. According to Dr. Deborah Birx, former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, by March 2020, universities across the United States were reporting significant numbers of students with symptoms, with some campuses, like the University of Washington, identifying early cases among students and staff as the pandemic emerged.^[4]

Communication will predictably occur among students, health care professionals, and the broader community. But parents at a distance will want to know not only the status of their child but also the university’s response. A written message containing potentially negative news may take the form of a press release, for example, detailing critical information such as the number of students affected, the capacity of the health care system to respond, testing and vaccination efforts, and contact information for further details and updates. This message will be read repeatedly by parents, reporters, and people nationwide seeking to understand the situation. Like all business communication, it must be clear, concise, and transparent to maintain trust and provide accurate information.

Our next scenario offers a learning opportunity as well. An on-the-job accident affects employees and the company, and like our previous example, there will be considerable interest. There may be interpersonal communication between company representatives and the individual’s family, but the company will want to communicate a clear record of the occurrence with an assurance, or statement that the contributing factors that gave rise to the situation have been corrected or were beyond the control of the company and its representatives.

Beyond a statement of record and an assurance, the company will certainly want to avoid the implication or indication of guilt or culpability. In the case of a product defect resulting in injuries, illness, or even death to consumers, this will be a relevant point. Perhaps a voluntary recall will be ordered, proactively addressing the risk before an accident occurs. It may also be the case that a government agency issues the recall order. Again, a written statement delivering negative news, in this case the recall of a product that presents a risk, must be written with care and consultation of legal counsel.

If your company is publicly traded, the premature announcement of a software program full of bugs or programming errors that result in less than perfect performance can send the company’s stock price plummeting. How you release this information within the organization will influence how it’s received. If your written internal memo briefly states that the software program development process has been extended to incorporate additional improvements, the emphasis shifts from negative to positive. While the negative news and the delay of release remain, the focus on the benefits of the additional time can influence employees’ views and make a difference in how the message is received outside the organization.

The awareness of a merger, and the possibility of a reduction in force or layoffs, will be discussed along the grapevine at work, and will give rise to tension and anticipation of negative news. You could write a short email ‘To All Employees’ and send it from an anonymous account, but this would likely be perceived as an attempt to avoid accountability and could cause considerable stress. The presentation of the message itself, through an impersonal digital channel and with an unknown sender, would violate the principle of trust.

Negative news may not be easy to deliver, but it’s necessary at times and should be done with clarity and brevity. All parties should be clearly identified. The negative news itself should be clear and concise. The presentation should be direct, with authority and credibility. Communication occurs between people, and all humans experience concern, fear, and trepidation of the unknown. The negative news message, while it may be unwelcome, can shed light on an issue.

As we mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, some people prefer their bad news direct and concise, while others prefer a less direct approach. Let’s weigh the pros and cons of each. Table 17.2 “Direct and Indirect Delivery” contrasts the elements of the two methods.

The direct approach places the negative news at the beginning of the message. The indirect approach packages the negative news between a positive introduction, sometimes called a “buffer” or cushion, and a conclusion. Your negative message may include the rationale or reasons for the decision.

The direct approach is often associated with a message where the audience values brevity and the message needs to be concise. A positive introduction usually introduces the topic but not the outcome. An effective negative news statement clearly states the message while limiting the possibility of misinterpretation. An effective closing statement may provide reasons, reference a policy, or indicate a procedure to follow for more information.

17.2 Eliciting Negative News

Employee surveys, for example, may be completed online, in written form, in small focus groups, and can involve both oral and written communication. Customer satisfaction surveys may involve similar options, and both provide a valuable opportunity to take a critical look at what we’re doing, how it’s perceived, and what areas we can identify for improvement. They often measure opinions, satisfaction, attitude, brand affiliation, preference, and engagement of customers and employees. In this section, we’ll consider negative news as a valuable tool for improving ourselves, our teams, companies, products, and services.

Over the years, there have been extensive studies on how to improve businesses and companies, from Total Quality Improvement to the Six Sigma approach to excellence. Regardless of the theory, approach, or label, they all rest on a foundation of effective communication. One way that communication is often described involves customer relationship management, or the relationship between the organization (sometimes represented by the product or service itself) and the customer.^[5]

This leads us to our first point: Who is the customer? You might be tempted to say the end-user, the purchaser, or the decision-maker, but customers are often categorized as internal and external. Employees themselves represent internal customers, and their relationship with the business, product, or service has value to the organization. External customers may include the end-user, but can also include vendors and related companies that are part of the supply chain. This expanded, global view of communication and customer service relationships will guide our discussion as we explore ways to effectively elicit negative news, critical feedback, and praise for a job well done.

Positive news is part of feedback, and the difference between positive and negative news often lies more in the interpretation of information than the information itself. For example, if a software product that your company has been testing for some time, scheduled for release in the near future, has failed several tests, the tendency to view the news as negative is understandable. But the fact that the problems and issues were identified prior to release provides an opportunity to correct them before their impact is magnified by negative press, customer rejection of an inferior product, and a diminished view of your brand—all of which could ultimately damage customer loyalty and even your stock value. The chain reaction doesn’t stop there; these effects could in turn limit your ability to secure additional financing as an organization, the perceived risk could elevate interest rates on your company debts, and this could reduce budgets across the organization, limiting the very research and development budget that gives rise to the new, innovative, or breakout products that will gain market share.

Viewed in this light, it could be a very positive development that the faults in the software were detected before release. And by learning to view information dispassionately, noting that there’s more than one way to interpret much of what we gather as data, you as a business professional can enhance your ability to see new approaches to products or services.

Thomas Kuhn, author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1996), states that communities operate on a set of beliefs. These beliefs form the foundation of the community, business, and organization. Employees and customers alike become socialized, learning the values, meaning, behaviors, cultural customs, expectations for excellence, and brand associations through interaction with the community. In business, we can clearly see the example of new employees becoming socialized into the company culture; they’re training, learning about their jobs, and getting to know their coworkers.

We can also see how a customer interacts with a product or service and comes to associate feelings, ideas, and expectations with a brand or company. This foundation or set of actualized beliefs becomes the norm or the status quo, and can become static or fixed. If a certain process is successful and an individual or company is rewarded, the process is often repeated. If a customer buys a certain product that works as they anticipate it will, they’re more likely to make a similar purchase decision in the future.

Kuhn discusses research and the scientific method as a process that can affirm the status quo, but can also produce an anomaly, or something that doesn’t fit, challenges the existing norm, or stands apart from the anticipated results.^[6] This anomaly can challenge the status quo, and may not be greeted with open arms. Instead, it may be ignored or dismissed as irrelevant, but nothing could be further from the truth. As Kuhn (1996) notes, this outlying information that challenges the norm is precisely the necessary ingredient for a paradigm shift, or a change in overall view. The view itself can be as simple as the new awareness that a product has more uses than originally anticipated, or as significant as a new awareness of the brand and the company focus.^[7]

Is there a better way to produce a product? Is there a new feature that customers want? You’ll never know if you don’t ask, and you’ll never improve or change if you don’t listen to the feedback.

One story that articulates this power of the anomaly, of unanticipated information that results in a change in view, involves a common business product. A research chemist for the 3M Company, Spencer Silver, was used to trial and error as he pursued his goal of a new superglue^[8] By mixing simple organic compounds in unusual ratios, he tried to create this superstrong glue, but one result in particular was a spectacular failure. This particular result, a polymer, would stick to many surfaces, but it was also easy to remove, leaving no trace of itself. This odd substance was considered useless until Arthur Fry, a fellow 3M scientist, found a new use for it: removable paper notes that could be used to mark pages in his hymnal when he sang in his church choir. Minor modifications resulted in sample note pads that were passed around at 3M, and soon a new form of written communication and information organization was created: the now-famous Post-it brand note.^[9] Silver and Fry could have dismissed the negative result as a failure to reach the established goal of inventing a super glue, but by undergoing a paradigm shift, they revolutionized business communication. Learning to be open to information that challenges your views is a key business skill.

This brings us to the question of how we elicit negative news, critical feedback, and assessment information. How do you learn more about the people around you? You watch, listen, and ask questions. Asking questions while watching, listening, and learning is the foundation of eliciting feedback. We can ask questions in interpersonal interviews, in small groups, and even in large groups in person. We can use technology to help gather and process information, categorizing and classifying it. We can also create surveys with questions designed to elicit specific types of information.

Academic research often uses the terms “qualitative” and “quantitative” to categorize two types of information gathering. Qualitative research involves interactions, which by their very nature are subject to interpretation and, as a result, are less reliable and statistically valid. Their strength is in the raw data, the proximity to the source, and the possibility of unexpected results. The weakness in the results is often the inability to replicate the results in the same way again. An example may be a focus group, where participants try a new beverage and report their experience through verbal and nonverbal feedback. By recording the group, we can replay and study their response to the new drink, and learn that many of the participants perceive it to be sour from their facial gestures. The written responses may not indicate this response to the same degree, and the recorded responses may portray a different story. If you replicate the focus group with new participants, you may very well have a different outcome.

Over time, patterns may emerge that produce reliable results, and double-blind studies for many pharmaceuticals use a similar approach. But the number of participants has to be significantly increased while the confounding factors, or factors that can alter the results, must be anticipated and controlled. All of this involves a cost, and not every product, service, or study needs this type of investigation.

Quantitative research involves the investigation and analysis of data and relationships between data that numbers can represent. The categorization and classification from the moment the investigation begins means that some aspects of the raw data will necessarily be lost in the process. But the information that remains will have a reliability and validity that compensates for this loss. Quantitative measures and representations of data are increasingly the norm in business communication and are used to make decisions at all levels.

If your company produces automobiles, you may want qualitative information from potential consumers on their impression of the placement of the cupholders. But you’ll probably prefer quantitative information when it comes to engineering and safety. As you stress-test the steel in crash tests, assessing the force of the impact, the displacement of parts of the car as the crumple zones deform to absorb the energy, and the relative location of the crash-test dummy driver to the crush zone, you’ll measure it in terms of numbers. Each time you repeat the test, you should see similar results. If you don’t, you may need to test the welds and examine the production process to determine the cause of the inconsistency. You may even need to test the steel itself to see if it’s a materials issue rather than a process and production problem. All this information would be measured in terms of numbers and symbols, representing velocity, tensile strength, and related factors.

Another factor in gathering feedback is confidentiality. Before you consider how to ask questions, you may want to consider the degree to which you want identifying information in the process. If you’re designing a campaign where employees submit suggestions to save the company money, increase production, or improve quality, and want to offer a financial incentive for ideas that are adopted, you’ll need to be able to identify the contributing employee for the reward. On the other hand, if you want a feedback system for employees to report dangerous behavior, then you’d want an anonymous online form or a dedicated reporting app that assures employees their privacy is protected.

Anonymous surveys can elicit information that wouldn’t be revealed otherwise, but they can also be a place for employees to vent, exaggerate, or invent responses. The validity is an issue, but the opportunity for insight may outweigh the risks. You can also provide an optional opportunity for the employee or customer to self-identify by including a place where they can indicate contact information. A customer who completes a post-purchase survey may be offered a coupon if they register, and that contact information may be useful for follow-up contacts. Some customers will prefer, however, to write a direct complaint without identifying themselves. When designing a survey, brochure, or procedure to elicit feedback, you need to consider identification and anonymity.

To gather information, we often ask questions. For this application, there are two types of questions: open and closed.^[10] Open-ended questions allow for interpretation and a range of responses in the respondent’s own words. Closed-ended questions limit the responses to a preselected range of options or choices. Your choice of open or closed questions depends on what type of information you plan to gather.

Open-ended questions may sound like the following:

1. What do you like about the product?
2. How was the service today?
3. How does the product make you feel?
4. What does our brand mean to you?
5. Why did you choose our product?

In each case, the question can be answered in many ways, depending on the respondent’s word choice. The value is placed on the personal response, and the range of data gathered may well be quite diverse, presenting a challenge to categorize and group. Open-ended questions can’t be answered with a simple yes or no response.

Closed-ended questions, however, can be answered with a yes/no response. Here are five examples of closed-ended questions:

1. Have you purchased our product previously?

   ___ Yes

   ___ No

2. Why did you choose our product?

   1. Price/low cost
   2. Quality
   3. Reputation
   4. Previous experience

3. How was the service today?

   1. Poor
   2. Bad
   3. Neutral
   4. Good
   5. Excellent

4. What do you like about the product? (Please indicate in rank order.)

   ___ Low cost

   ___ Quality

   ___ Reputation

   ___ Features

   ___ Low maintenance

5. Please indicate the year you were born.

   _________

The first closed-ended question is simply a closed question with its yes/no response options, but it’s also an example of a categorical question. Categorical questions limit the responses to two categories. For example, you may ask a customer to indicate their sex in the response survey, allowing them to choose from two categories: male or female. Multiple-choice questions allow for specific choices and limit the range of options. Likert Scale questions allow for the conversion of feelings, attitudes, and perceptions into numbers in a range. Ordinal questions request the respondent to rank order specific options. Numerical questions request a specific number, often a birth date or a serial number, that itself carries meaning. For example, age may be correlated to disposable income. While the respondent may not be willing to respond to a direct question about their income level, they may be willing to indicate their year of birth.

To summarize the pros and cons of the two basic question types, open-ended questions are best when you want all possible responses in the respondent’s own words. Closed-ended questions limit the responses to a few choices, and they can be categorized, placed in order, assess degrees of attitudes and feelings, and request specific information.^[11]

17.3 Crisis Communication Plan

Focus on key types of information during an emergency:^[12]

• What is happening?
• Is anyone in danger?
• How big is the problem?
• Who reported the problem?
• Where is the problem?
• Has a response started?
• What resources are on-scene?
• Who is responding so far?
• Is everyone’s location known?

You’ll be receiving information as soon as you become aware of a crisis, but without a framework or communication plan to guide you, valuable information may be ignored or lost. These questions help you quickly focus on the basics of “who, what, and where” in the crisis situation.

Developing Your Crisis Communication Plan

A crisis communication plan is a prepared scenario document that organizes information into responsibilities and lines of communication prior to an event. With a plan in place, if an emergency arises, each person knows their role and responsibilities from a common reference document. Overall effectiveness can be enhanced with a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities for an effective and swift response.

The plan should include four elements:

1. Crisis communication team members with contact information
2. Designated spokesperson
3. Meeting place/location
4. Media plan with procedures

A crisis communication team includes people who can

1. decide what actions to take,
2. carry out those actions,
3. offer expertise or education in the relevant areas.

By designating a spokesperson prior to an actual emergency, your team addresses the inevitable need for information proactively. People will want to know what happened and where to get further details about the crisis. Lack of information breeds rumors, which can make a bad situation worse. The designated spokesperson should be knowledgeable about the organization and its values; be comfortable in front of a microphone, camera, and media lights; and be able to stay calm under pressure.

Part of your communication crisis plan should focus on where you’ll meet to coordinate, communicate, and conduct activities. In case of a fire in your house, you might meet in the front yard. In an organization, a designated contingency building or office some distance away from your usual place of business might serve as a central place for communication in an emergency that requires evacuating your building. Depending on the size of your organization and the type of facilities where you do business, the company may develop an emergency plan with exit routes, hazardous materials procedures, and policies for handling bomb threats, for example. Safety, of course, is the priority, but in terms of communication, the goal is to eliminate confusion about where people are and where information is coming from.

Whether or not evacuation is necessary, when a crisis occurs, your designated spokesperson will gather information and carry out your media plan. He or she will need to make quick judgments about which information to share, how to phrase it, and whether certain individuals need to be notified of facts before they become public. The media and public will want to know information, and reliable information is preferable to speculation. Official responses help clarify the situation for the public, but an unofficial interview can make the tragedy personal and attract unwanted attention. Remind employees to direct all inquiries to the official spokesperson and to never speak “off the record.”

Enable your spokesperson to have access to the place you indicated as your crisis contingency location to coordinate communication and activities, and allow that professional to prepare and respond to inquiries. When crisis communication is handled professionally, it seeks not to withhold information or mislead, but to minimize the “spin damage” from the incident by providing necessary facts, even if they’re unpleasant or even tragic.

17.4 Press Conferences

A press conference is a presentation of information to the media. It normally involves a written statement that’s read verbatim and is followed by questions and answers. The press conference normally requires a seasoned representative of the company or business with established credibility and integrity. It also requires a sense of calm in the confidence that you know your material, know how to tactfully say you don’t know or don’t wish to comment, and a sense of humor to handle the “gotcha” questions.

Press conferences can be held for positive news, like the announcement of a new hospital wing that will increase the health care services available to the community. They can also be held to clarify information regarding the CEO’s trip to Chile with an alleged mistress, the recent law enforcement sting operation on the illegal sale of controlled substances from the hospital, or to announce the layoff of employees as part of a reduction in force.

Positive or negative, your role as a speaker at a press conference is to deliver the prepared message and represent the business or organization professionally. You understand that there may be moments of tension, but you also know you have a choice in how to respond. First, we’ll look at preparation, then discuss the actual press conference.

You should have a good reason for holding a press conference. Wasting the media’s time on a frivolous issue will only set you up for challenges later on. You should also have a brief prepared statement that you will read and restate if necessary. Today’s press conference messages are often drafted by someone in public relations or media and reviewed by legal counsel when warranted. If the task falls to you, keep it short and simple, addressing the following:

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• How?
• Why?

As a follow-up to why the press conference needs to occur in the first place, you need to consider the location. If it’s a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the choice is obvious. If the announcement is less than positive and you’ve been instructed by your supervisors or counsel not to offer additional remarks, you’ll want a podium strategically located next to a stage exit. Your press release or invitation to the media will contain the time, date, and location of the press conference. It may contain a title or subject line as well as contact information for follow-up.

As you prepare your background materials and learn as much as needed for the announcement, you may also want to consider using a moderator. Perhaps that will be your role as you introduce senior management to read the prepared statement. A moderator can influence the process and redirect if questions go off topic or if a transition is needed. A moderator can also call a formal close to the press conference and thank everyone for attending.

Finally, visual aids are an excellent way to reinforce and communicate your message. They need to be big, they need to be relevant (not just decorative), and (from a technical standpoint) they need to work. If they’ll be projected onto a screen, make sure the screen is available (not stuck), the laptop has power (as well as battery backup), the presentation or visual aid is on the laptop, and that the projector can and does project what you want it to. Don’t forget sound equipment if necessary, and make sure everything works the day of the presentation.

Holding a Press Conference

Someone should be designated as the greeter for the media. Be ready at least fifteen minutes before the scheduled time of the event. Provide each member of the media with a print copy of the actual statement that will be read before or after the event. If there’s an element of surprise, you may want to hold the copies of the statement back until after the press conference has been concluded, but otherwise distributing them beforehand is standard.

The moderator opens the press conference with a welcome, indicates the purpose of the press conference, and reminds everyone that there will (or will not) be an opportunity for questions following the press conference. The moderator introduces the spokesperson who will read the statement and welcomes them to the podium. The moderator may need to assist with sound equipment, but otherwise stands back, near the speaker.

The speaker will read the statement. If there are to be no questions, the moderator will retake the podium and indicate that press kits, containing background material, fact sheets, the news release, sample photos, or related materials, will be available, or indicate that copies of the press release are available at the back of the room. If there are questions, the moderator may still take the podium and outline ground rules for questions, such as: they should pertain to the subject, be brief, and may or may not include follow-up questions. Members of the media will often ask a question and state that they have a follow-up question as a way of reserving two turns.

The moderator may indicate which member of the media is to ask a question, and typically, they’ll stand and address the speaker directly. The speaker can take notes, but this isn’t common. Instead, they should be aware that every movement is being recorded and that by maintaining eye contact, they’re demonstrating that they’re listening. They may reiterate the statement from the press release or refer to the background material, but should limit the scope of their response. Your team may have anticipated several questions, and the speaker may have several sound bites ready to deliver. Visual media will want it visual, audio will want clarity, and print will want descriptive quotes. Meet the needs of your audience as you deliver your message.

Invariably, the “gotcha” question, or the question that attempts to catch the speaker off guard, will be asked. “We’re not ready to discuss the matter at this time,” “When more information becomes available, we’ll let you know,” “Our company has no position on that issue,” or “We’re not prepared to speculate on that issue at this time” are all common response phrases. Don’t use “I think,” “I believe,” or “I don’t know” comments as they invite speculation, and refrain from “no comment” if at all possible, as it’s increasingly perceived as if the company or representative is “hiding something.”

You want to appear professional, knowledgeable, and credible, without appearing to be sneaking or hiding something. Don’t display a nonverbal gesture or make a face at a question, as this can also be misinterpreted. Keep your poise and balance at all times, and if you’re the speaker and the question puts you off, establish eye contact with the moderator. Their role is to step in, and they may move to the conclusion.

Never say anything you wouldn’t want the world to hear, as microphones are increasingly powerful, video captures lip movement, and there will be a communication professional available to analyze your nonverbal gestures on the evening news. Being cool, calm, and collected is the best policy, whether you’re delivering positive or negative news.

Closing Case Analysis Forty-Seven in the Creek, Resolved

At 9:47 a.m., Nettie stood in the education pavilion and looked at the thirteen folding chairs she’d set up facing the portable podium. Two were occupied. Kirby Sandoval from the Apalachicola Times sat in the front row with a digital recorder on his knee and a spiral notebook open in his lap. Behind him, a woman from the Tallahassee ABC affiliate adjusted a camera on a tripod. Nettie had expected more. She’d also expected less. Both feelings existed at the same time, and she let them.

Herschel was in the hallway, reading his statement for the fourth time. He’d called Lyle Pennington-Obasi, the board president, at 7:15. Lyle had listened without interrupting—twenty-two years as an insurance adjuster had trained that skill into his bones—and then asked three questions: Had anyone been injured? Had Fish and Wildlife been notified? Was the statement reviewed by counsel? Yes, yes, and Herschel’s brother-in-law was an environmental attorney in Pensacola who’d read it over the phone at 8:30 and struck two sentences.

The statement Nettie had drafted used the four-part structure from §17.1, even though she didn’t know the formal names for the parts when she wrote them. She started with the redirect—what was Brackish Tide doing right now?—because that was the only part she felt sure about. Fish and Wildlife was deploying a recovery team to Scipio Creek. The aquarium’s animal husbandry staff was conducting a full tank-by-tank inspection of the rehabilitation wing. Then she backed into the negative news: thirty-six juvenile Gulf sturgeon had entered Scipio Creek through a floor drain connected to a cracked holding tank. The explanation came next: the tank failure occurred overnight, was discovered at 5:40 a.m. by the head of animal husbandry, and the cause was under investigation. The buffer came last in the writing process but first in the statement: Brackish Tide Municipal Aquarium had rehabilitated and released over 1,100 Gulf sturgeon since its founding in 2012 and remained committed to the recovery of the species in the Apalachicola River system.

She’d written the redirect first, just as the Pro Tip in §17.1 suggests. It worked. Once she knew where the message was going, the rest fell into place.

What the statement didn’t include was the deferred inspection. Herschel’s instruction had been clear: nothing about the inspection until legal counsel weighed in. Nettie understood the logic—goal 4, avoid legal liability—but she also remembered Limaye’s argument from §17.1 that explanation is an ethical and moral requirement. She’d spent twenty minutes at her desk staring at the gap between those two principles before she decided to include one carefully worded sentence: “We are conducting a thorough review of all maintenance and inspection records as part of our internal investigation.” It didn’t admit fault. It didn’t name the deferred repair. But it signaled that the aquarium was looking at its own processes, not just blaming the cracked fiberglass. Herschel had read it twice and let it stand.

The information-gathering process (§17.2) had been rougher. Nettie needed facts, and she needed them fast. She’d asked Dinah two open-ended questions—”Walk me through what you found when you arrived” and “What do you think happened?”—and followed up with closed-ended ones: “Was the backflow valve on or off? Was it propped open intentionally or left open by accident? How many sturgeon were in Tank Six as of yesterday’s count?” The open questions gave her the narrative she needed for the statement. The closed questions gave her the numbers. She’d also asked maintenance supervisor Gus Halverson a single closed question—”Did you or anyone on your crew flush the outfall line yesterday?”—and his answer, a long pause followed by “I’ll need to check the log,” told her more than any survey could.

The crisis communication plan (§17.3) didn’t exist, but by 9:00 a.m., Nettie had improvised one. Herschel was the spokesperson. Nettie was the moderator. The education pavilion was the meeting location, chosen because it was the farthest room from the rehabilitation wing and had its own entrance from the parking lot. The media procedure was simple: Herschel reads the statement, Nettie manages questions, all other staff direct inquiries to Nettie’s email. She’d typed these four elements on a single sheet of paper and taped it to the inside of her office door. It wasn’t a wallet card, but it was a start.

At 10:02, Nettie stepped to the podium. “Good morning. Thank you for coming. I’m Nettie Armbruster-Gao, acting communications director for Brackish Tide Municipal Aquarium. I’ll introduce our director, Herschel Thibodaux-Pryce, who will read a brief prepared statement. We’ll take questions afterward. Please keep your questions to the topic of this morning’s statement, and I’ll do my best to get to everyone.” She stepped to the side.

Herschel read the statement in a steady voice. He looked up twice—once at the buffer, once at the redirect. He didn’t ad-lib. He didn’t editorialize. When he finished, he looked at Nettie.

“We’ll take questions now,” Nettie said.

Kirby Sandoval stood. “Mr. Thibodaux-Pryce, were the tanks inspected recently, and if so, were any issues identified?”

There it was. The question Nettie had known was coming since 6:14 a.m. She watched Herschel’s face. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t look at her.

“As I mentioned in the statement, we’re conducting a thorough review of all maintenance and inspection records,” Herschel said. “When that review is complete, we’ll share the findings. I don’t want to speculate before we have the full picture.”

It wasn’t “no comment.” It acknowledged the question, explained why a full answer wasn’t available yet, and committed to a follow-up—three things the §17.4 discussion recommends over the two words most people reach for under pressure.

The ABC affiliate reporter asked about the recovery effort. Herschel described Fish and Wildlife’s deployment. Kirby asked a follow-up about the species’ endangered status. Herschel corrected him gently—”threatened, not endangered, under the Endangered Species Act, but the distinction doesn’t change how seriously we take this”—and Nettie watched Kirby write the correction down. Two more questions. One about the aquarium’s reopening timeline, one about whether the public could help with the creek recovery. Herschel answered both, redirecting the second to Fish and Wildlife’s contact information.

At 10:14, Nettie stepped back to the podium. “Thank you all for being here. Copies of the statement are on the table by the door. My email is on the bottom of the page for follow-up questions.” She paused. “We love these fish. That’s why we’re here. We’ll keep you updated.”

She hadn’t planned that last part. It just came out. Kirby Sandoval wrote it down.

By noon, Lyle had called an emergency board meeting for Thursday evening. Herschel had requested an expedited copy of the Q4 inspection report from the facilities contractor. Dinah had confirmed that Fish and Wildlife had recovered nine of the thirty-six sturgeon from Scipio Creek, alive, and was continuing the search. And Nettie had started writing the crisis communication plan—the real one, not the taped-up sheet on her door. She opened a fresh document, typed the four required elements from §17.3 at the top, and began filling in names and phone numbers.

The cursor didn’t blink this time. She was already typing.

Closing Case Questions

End-of-Chapter Review Questions

End-of-Chapter Key Terms Matching

End-of-Chapter Application Exercises

End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions

End-of-Chapter Extended Project: The Crisis Communication Portfolio

This project asks you to build a complete crisis communication portfolio for a real or realistic organization over two to three weeks. You may choose a student organization, a local business, a nonprofit, or a hypothetical company in your field of study.

Phase 1: Crisis Communication Plan (Week 1). Using the four elements from §17.3, write a crisis communication plan for your chosen organization. Identify at least three crisis team members (by role, if not by name), designate a spokesperson, choose a meeting location, and outline a media procedure that includes timelines for issuing statements, channels for internal communication, and a protocol for social media monitoring. The plan should be two to three pages.

Phase 2: Crisis Scenario and Statement (Week 2). Invent a realistic crisis scenario for your organization—a data breach, a workplace accident, a product defect, a public relations incident, or any situation that would require a public response. Write a prepared statement using the four-part negative news structure from §17.1 (buffer, explanation, negative news, redirect). The statement should be 250–400 words. Then write a one-page memo to the crisis team explaining why you framed the message the way you did, referencing the seven goals of negative news messages.

Phase 3: Press Conference Simulation and Reflection (Week 3). With a partner or small group, conduct a mock press conference using your statement. One person reads the statement and answers questions; others play media roles. Record the simulation if possible. After the event, write a 500–750 word reflection that addresses: What went well? What questions caught you off guard? How would you revise your statement or preparation process based on the experience? Reference specific concepts from §§17.1, 17.3, and 17.4 in your reflection.

Submit the complete portfolio: crisis communication plan, crisis scenario with prepared statement and internal memo, and post-simulation reflection.

Self-Assessment Revisit

Return to the Reflection Write you completed at the beginning of this chapter, where you drafted your initial response to Nettie’s situation. Reread what you wrote. Then consider:

1. Would you structure your statement differently now that you’ve learned the four-part negative news message format? What would you change, and why?
2. Has your position on the deferred inspection changed? Would you handle the ethical tension between transparency and legal protection differently after reading §17.1’s discussion of Limaye’s argument and goal 4?
3. If you were writing Brackish Tide’s crisis communication plan today—starting from scratch, as Nettie did—what’s the first element you’d put in place, and who would you call first?

17.5 Additional Resources

“The Better Way To Break Bad News” by Judith Humphrey from Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/3066483/the-better-way-to-break-bad-news

“How to Deliver Bad News to a Group” by Kevin Daley, a Harvard Business article. https://hbr.org/2009/10/how-to-deliver-bad-news-to-a-g

Read this document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on developing a risk and crisis communication plan: https://www.cdc.gov/cerc/media/pdfs/CERC_Crisis_Communication_Plans.pdf

Visit this National Mining Association site for a guide to preparing a generic crisis communication plan and adapting it to your needs. https://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Crisis-Communications-Template.pdf

To see an actual crisis communication plan, visit this Purdue University website. https://www.purdue.edu/ehps/emergency-preparedness/emergency-plans/iemp-docs/Attachment14.pdf

Read this chapter from the University of Kansas on holding a press conference. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/participation/promoting-interest/press-conference/main

Read this blog post on “How to press conference – planning, preparation, and execution” by Annika Müller. https://www.hbi.de/en/blog/how-to-press-conference-planning-preparation-and-execution/