Communication personnel

The purpose of the emergency communication response plan is to ensure that information concerning an emergency at AU is available via AU’s media to people who need the information.

In case of an emergency, communication must be clear and unambiguous.

In case of doubt, statements must be coordinated with the police or the fire service.

Tone of voice: Only useful, factual information. No irony or speculation.

The aim is for other media to follow our flow of information.
Please note that communication from the police and from AU must be consistent.

Emergency response group on site

• The person responsible for contact to the press – responsible for external contact to the media and to the public emergency services – is appointed by AU’s head of press and communication, and could be the local head of communication or communication officer.

• Communication coordinator – link between the site and the communication centre. Appointed by AU’s head of press and communication.

 

Communication centre

Formal roles:

• Responsible for press and external communication. Appointed by AU’s head of press and communication. Member of emergency management team.
  
  
• Responsible for internal communication. Appointed by AU’s head of press and communication. Member of emergency management team.
  
  

The practical roles are divided as follows:

• The person responsible for news writes texts for the website etc.
  
  
• The person responsible for web takes care of the technical aspects in relation to news updates on all relevant platforms, centrally and locally.
  
  
• The person responsible for social media monitors and coordinates answers to questions on social media.
  
  
• Communication with management – information for/communication with management (e.g. AU’s head of press and communication), including any information to the senior management team, the deputy directors etc based on agreement with the head of emergency management.
  
  

The communication centre’s tasks:

• All activities related to coordination and preparation of texts and statements – nothing may be published without approval from the communication centre.
  
  
• Any coordination in relation to the press which is not carried out on site.
  
  
• To inform the Switchboard – the press must be referred to the person responsible for the press and others must be referred to au.dk.
  
  
• To inform the translators.
  
  
• To inform the faculties (heads of communication)
  
  
• To coordinate in relation to social media: Twitter and Facebook (one person will be allocated to answering questions).
  
  
• To monitor media coverage of the emergency and inform the emergency management team (through the person responsible for contact to the press).

Text must be published three different places on au.dk:

• Au.dk/acute must be updated with relevant content.
• Banner with link to au.dk/acute
• A short generic news item with link to au.dk/acute (may be omitted, if there is not sufficient time)

All three texts are published in Danish and in English.

au.dk/acute
The website can be found on installation 40 in Typo3 in the top folder under the item "Aarhus Universitet" (Aarhus University) in the folder "Beredskab" (emergency response).

All announcements on the website are created in separate content elements and must contain:

• Headline: Short and accurate description of the current incident and the area it affects. E.g. “Buildings on fire on Wilhelm Meyers Allé”, “Evacuation of Fuglesangs Allé”, “Bomb threat on Tåsingegade”).

• Time: All updates must include the date and time of the announcement. State the time for the next update if possible.

• Affected activities: Which units and activities will be affected by the incident? When announcing that the emergency is over, the announcement must also contain information about to which extent it is possible to resume activities. E.g. “All activities in the affected buildings have now been resumed”, “All activities in the affected buildings are cancelled for the rest of the day, but will be resumed tomorrow”, “All activities in the affected buildings are cancelled for an unspecified period of time because of damage. The university is investigating whether it is possible to move the activities to other premises”.

• Responsible public emergency services: Which public emergency services are present and who is responsible for managing the response effort?

• English: Translate the announcement into English as best you can. Then contact AU’s translators in Language Services if a language review is required.

• Place this information at the bottom of the announcement:
  “This website will be updated on an ongoing basis. Refer to this website if you need to inform others about the incident. The direct link to this website is www.au.dk/acute.”

All announcements should remain on the website with the most recent announcement placed at the top.

Banner element
The banner element can be found on installation 40 in Typo3 on the front page of au.dk.

When the banner element is activated, it will be displayed on the front pages of au.dk.
If deemed necessary, it is possible for AU IT to display the banner element on all au.dk websites. This is, however, a slow manual process, which should be taken into account when prioritising.

The wording and the content are determined by Communication and Press, the Rector’s Office.

To the greatest extent possible, present generic information which will not need to be edited until the emergency is over.

Content of the first news item
If there is time, a news item tagged ‘acute’ is created. This way, the news item will automatically be published on medarbejder.au.dk and HE. To get the news item published at the other faculties, the faculties’ communication departments must be contacted. Alternatively, it is possible for AU IT to publish the news item on all news lists.

To begin with, the news item should just consist of the banner text with a link to au.dk/acute.

 

Technical support from AU IT
If technical support from AU IT is needed, for example to publish the acute banner on all websites or put the acute news item on all news lists, the AU IT employees below can be contacted in the specified order:

Rasmus Stensgaard, 8715 3049, rst@au.dk
Thomas Riis Hansen, 2494 6356, trh@au.dk
Pia Hvid Tønnesen, 5144 0174, pht@au.dk

AU’s head of press and communication summons the translators, in the order below, to participate in the emergency communication activities:

1. Lenore Messick
   Events and Communication Support
   lmm@au.dk / 21702812
2. Sarah Louise Jennings
   Events and Communication Support
   sjen@au.dk / 93521377

AU will communicate via Twitter and Facebook.

Always link to au.dk
The content of the first news item is to be agreed with Communication and Press, the Rector’s Office – or the emergency management team as soon as this unit is operational.

The first posting contains a teaser text with a direct link to the Typo3 website which is created for the emergency (www.au.dk/akut and www.au.dk/acute). 
The first posting is always translated into English, and the same applies to important messages which are posted subsequently. 

Double-check facts – social media are used as sources in the same way as other channels.

Relevant handles
@OjylPoliti – if they are involved.
@AUITdrift – if IT systems are down.

When you write
Remember that Facebook users who use their mobile units only see seven lines of text. If the message is longer than seven lines, it must not be possible to misunderstand the content even if only the first lines are read.

Be specific and direct, but try to answer questions in general terms, so that one answer can help several users.
Example:
Question: Is it possible for me to get to class?
Answer: The following buildings are affected by the threat...

Follow the dialogue
Be ready to answer questions and keep an eye on the dialogue which follows the individual postings. It is your job to call others and collect facts in order to answer the questions.

The users expect immediate answers.

Be attentive to the # that pop up.

Graphic elements
Two graphic elements can be used on Facebook and Twitter. They can be found here: KOM_US -> SoMe.