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I do Media Training, Crisis Communications and PR. I'm a podcaster too. Welcome!

13/10/2025

Your company’s trending—but for all the wrong reasons.

The Wi-Fi’s trembling, your CEO’s sweating, and someone’s suggesting “let’s just stay quiet – it’ll blow over.” (Spoiler alert: it won’t.)

Crisis communication is like parachuting: you don’t want to be learning how it works mid-fall. Yet many organisations only think about it once they’re already plummeting.

That’s where our bespoke crisis communications training swoops in, cape billowing.

Forget the cookie-cutter PowerPoints and “insert-your-logo-here” templates because every business has its own quirks, risks, and potential PR nightmares.

A luxury brand’s crisis doesn’t look like a tech firm’s and a government agency’s “oops” plays out differently from a start-up’s.

Our bespoke media training tailors scenarios to your world—your people, your vulnerabilities, your likely media villains – it’s also about muscle memory.

[Click below to read the rest of this post !]

https://www.mickord.com/when-uh-oh-meets-oh-no/

19/04/2025

Earlier this week on Tuesday 15th April, the Hillsborough disaster was commemorated on Merseyside and beyond as it has been every year in one form or another since the tragedy in the city of Liverpool and the surrounding area.

Here's an article I wrote in 2013 when I was working for the BBC in Salford, a year after leaving Radio Merseyside where I'd worked for more than 20 years, starting off as a reporter in the 80's and later becoming manager.

It was a real privilege to work at the station particularly during that tragic time when so many people's lives were devastated and yet real justice wasn't, and many would argue, including me, still hasn't been achieved.

I didn't want to republish this on the anniversary of the disaster as I feel the thoughts and feelings of the bereaved and those still fighting for justice should take precedence.

But looking back at this article I couldn't help but wonder how the media - particularly local media (what's left of it) - would respond to a similar tragedy nowadays?

Having thought about this quite a bit over the past few days, I'm still not sure and let's hope we don't have to find out.

Once thing for sure, parts of social media would become a toxic cesspit, as indeed sections of the press were back in the day.

Back in 1989, local media - newspapers, radio, regional tv - played a huge and positive role that was taken for granted by audiences and quite rightly so ; it was why we were there - to give ordinary people a voice.

For many people of faith this time of year is a time of reflection so it feels appropriate to look at the role of the media then - it might help us to navigate what's happening now and in the future.

The article's title is "Hillsborough - A View from 1989".

https://www.mickord.com/hillsborough-a-view-from-1989/

01/04/2025

Whenever April 1st comes around, I always think back to a famous incident which happened at BBC Radio Merseyside in the seventies - long before I joined - which made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

On the 1st of April 1977, popular radio presenter Billy Butler – a lifelong Everton fan – decided to announce live on air that 15 fire engines were fighting a massive blaze at Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium.

The Liverpool Echo reported that “the emergency services were in panic, the Radio Merseyside switchboard was jammed and thousands of people were jumping in their cars and heading to Anfield.”

The station received complaints from Liverpool FC and Merseyside Fire Brigade, and Billy was “rapped over the knuckles”, according to the Echo.

"We only did that for two records before I rescinded it and said it wasn't the ground, it was footballer Tommy Smith's shorts, but it looked like the ground was on fire.

"Anyway, we found out all the fire engines and hundreds of people went to Anfield. The ECHO's headline was "What a Silly Billy!"

It doesn’t even bear thinking about what would happen to Billy in 2025 but suffice to say the impact would be far greater than a few knuckles getting “rapped”.

The American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett (net worth $164.2 billion – Forbes) famously said “It takes years to build a reputation and five minutes to destroy it.

If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

As for Billy, he's certainly no fool.

He survived the prank and went to have cracking career in radio and is still broadcasting to an appreciative audience today.

But if you don’t want your organisation to end up a fool in April or any month just have a think about the last time your senior team or CEO had some crisis communications and media training and if you think we might be able to help you, give us a shout.

22/01/2025

In media training and crisis communications in particular, staying calm under pressure is essential to managing narratives and protecting reputations. The ability to remain composed during high-stakes situations ensures clear messaging, credibility, and the opportunity to control the story.

Remaining authoritative during high-stakes situations ensures clear messaging, credibility and the opportunity to control the story.

Click here to read my Six Top Tips to achieve calmness when the pressure is on - https://www.mickord.com/media-training-keeping-calm-under-pressure/

10/12/2024

“Turn poison into medicine.
Take whatever situation you have and make something constructive happen with it.
That’s what I learned from that situation with Miles.”

Quote by jazz musician Herbie Hancock on working with the legendary Miles Davis.

It's a comment that resonates with media training.

A well-placed misstep or a poorly handled comment can send even the most carefully crafted reputation into a tailspin as Gregg Wallace discovered when he made that ill-considered remark about ” a handful of middle-class women of a certain age” complaining about his alleged inappropriate comments and behaviour while filming “Celebrity Masterchef”.

Click below to read the rest of the blog.

https://www.mickord.com/poison-into-medicine-the-power-of-crisis-communications-training/

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