In-Class Exercise: Flipping the Camera:
This exercise is designed to learn what it’s like to work on the “other” side as the person who responds to an incident or situation and is the “keeper of the information” and only allowed to release certain parts of information as the investigation is underway. Think of times when a breaking news situation is happening, the sheriff/cops/coroner/etc know more than they’re telling us, and they need to tread carefully because for various reasons they are not able to immediately release all the information they have or it may compromise their case investigation. Please follow the plan below, break into your group of five, read your case scenario, and then decide who will take on what role, who will speak, how you will present, and what info you are prepared to answer if asked, but that you may not present in the first place (“targeted withholding”). Even if you are not a presenter, do not worry, I’ll be monitoring groups and highly aware that everyone is participating in the gathering of information and coordination of this exercise. Good luck – and have fun with this exercise!

The Plan

Breaking into three groups of five
Review the case scenarios you receive via email (ALL FICTIONAL)
You have 45 mins to

Disseminate the information
Designate lead-off speaker, subsequent speakers, divvying-up information and how you will share
Each is a “breaking news” situations in progress – be prepared to answer on the fly, and given I simply made up these fictional stories, you can “enhance” on the fly, too

You have 8-10 mins each for your press conference and Q&A
(You may ask me questions during your prep period)

More direction-

Come up with a speaking plan which involves a minimum of three speakers, each handing off to another
Decide who then pitches to us in the crowd and say, “we can now take a few questions”
Be prepared to withhold what your info sheet says you cannot share, but, it’s up to YOU and YOUR TEAM how far you divulge info based on how we ask questions. If it’s clear we know something, and to be truthful you just need to get the facts out, sometimes that’s how it’s done. (In other words – hold back info as long as you have to, knowing once someone asks something, the cat’s out of the bag and it’s best to take control of the narrative versus looking like you’re withholding information.)

ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED TO YOU IN THE LINKS BELOW ARE HYPOTHETICAL, MADE-UP SCENARIOS, WITH NO FACTUAL INFORMATION IN THE BRIEFING PAGES.YOU MAY NOT SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH ANYONE BEYOND THE TIME YOU UTILIZED THIS INFORMATION FOR THIS EXERCISE.

Group 2: Peter Vo, Kelly Fegan, Jenner Lyman, Wenjia Zhang (absent but can help research remotely)

DIA 777 UNITED AIRLINES VIP PLANE CRASH:

All information can be found HERE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_-GEDdNkn15FIC1gaTeYgjc2FwPjquUwDaotizgIdlg/edit?usp=sharing