London Olympics 2012 - the risks

Street musicians at London's Columbia Road Flower Market on a Sunday morning - going to Columbia Road early on Sunday, buying some flowers, having coffee and bagels and soaking up the atmosphere is a London tradition for many.

Edelman held the latest in their series of always fully subscribed breakfast panels in London this week.

Each month, Edelman gather a selection of experts to address a topical communications issue.

This week, I joined a panel discussing the likely communications risks around London 2012 and the Olympics. The panel included Andrew Trotter, the distinguished Chief Constable of British Transport Police, Marshall Manson, Edelman's social media guru, Roger Mosey, Veteran News & Sport Editor and Director of London 2012 Olympic Games Coverage for the BBC and Martine Ainsworth Wells, Marketing & Comms Director for London & Partners, the official promotional agency for London.

The Chief Constable's key message was planning.It's become the norm, he said, for us to focus on learning the lessons after an incident.Wouldn't it be better to spend some time now thinking about the risks and putting plans in place to manage issues effectively before they happen?

Everyone agreed that London 2012 would be the first truly social media Olympics.With all the benefits that brings, but also the risks.

And the cheap camera-enabled cellphone, partnered with social media, means very little is truly private nowadays.

There's also a risk that something a member of staff says on their personal social media account will bring your organisation into disrepute.

Engaging staff on the risks as well as the benefits of social media means more than handing round a list of rules (although the BBC has some good guidance for staff which might form the start of a discussion).

Having a good crisis plan for your presence at London 2012 is vital.  And a good plan will cover most of the requirements for a social media crisis.  Who is in charge in a crisis? Who leads on communications? How do you get in touch with your people to verify the facts quickly? How can you approve and issue a statement rapidly? Do you have the ability to get rapid expert help on areas like social media?

It led to a discussion about the potential difficulties at London 2012 of communicating with your executives, teams and the media.   It's already difficult enough some weekends to make a mobile call in London because the networks get congested.  This will undoubtedly be worse in 2012.  Will you have landlines?  Will everyone have the numbers?

And does your organisation already have a presence on social media? It's a bit late to think about this when you're reputation is at serious risk.

Although there's a lot to think about when preparing a crisis plan, it needn't take over your life.  With a little help you can create a robust plan for your organisation. And you need to rehearse it. But with one year to go, there's no time to waste.


You can view interviews with the Edelman panel here.