More About How Cleveland Handled a Major National Convention
[By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications]
Cleveland was certainly in the national spotlight last week when the Republican National Convention was held on the shore of Lake Erie. Tensions were high when the convention commenced on Monday, July 18, especially because of the shootings of the police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana just a few days before. While the protesters didn’t always get along with one another, everyone seemed to get along fine with the Cleveland Police Department, augmented by thousands of other police officers from around the country.
There are many who can rightfully claim a piece of this success. From the Secret Service, FBI, mayor’s office, Cleveland Police, 2016 Cleveland Host Committee and Destination Cleveland to the U.S. Coast Guard, FEMA, Cuyahoga County Office of Emergency Management, Ohio Emergency Management Agency and a number of other federal organizations, all came together to plan, prepare, train and execute. And at the end of the day, free speech reigned.
For those of us in the crisis management business (which includes everyone reading this newsletter), the lessons are clear: There’s no excuse for not having a plan. Whether it’s about something that might happen in the future or responding to an incident that just happened, pre-preparing comprehensive Crisis Management and Crisis Communications Plans are essential.
For those of you who want to know what it was really like in downtown Cleveland during the convention, please check out our Facebook page for photos and videos of the street scene, protesters and press center: https://www.facebook.com/CrisisComm/
Here are some of our favorite stories, so far:
Cleveland Tourism Cautiously Optimistic Midway Through Republican Convention
Communicating a comeback: Cleveland institutions bask in convention spotlight
Fortune: The One Thing Republicans Can Agree on In Cleveland
http://fortune.com/2016/07/21/the-one-thing-republicans-can-agree-on-in-cleveland/
Washington Post: We were promised a riot. In Cleveland, we got a block party instead
The Hill: Winners, losers of GOP convention (of course, Cleveland is a winner!)
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/288819-winners-losers-of-gop-convention
Chuck Todd tweet: Cleveland deserves a ton of credit for keeping all of us safe and secure. Thank you Cleveland and to all those law enforcement involved
https://twitter.com/chucktodd/status/756472487983124480
Zeke Miller (TIME reporter) tweet: Given all the predictions of violence and trouble, got to hand it to Cleveland for throwing a pretty great convention. Pressure’s on, Philly
https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/756350841846587392
Photo Credit: Copyright 2016 Bruce Hennes