Preparing for the Unexpected

The 2018-03-08 episode will dig a bit deeper into how disasters impact our behaviors and ongoing responses to traumatic situations. We'll talk with Clinical Psychologist Dr. Rickey Miller, who will discuss the various ways in which people respond to situations and how we can help people overcome their anxieties and stresses related to the disasters they have experienced or witnessed. Many organizations will have emergency response plans to address evacuations and basic employee safety concerns. This episode will take BCM professionals to a deeper level and provide insight on other topics that may need to be addressed in their employee plans to ensure ongoing support for employees when faced with traumatic situations.

Many organizations have plans to help their employees evacuate buildings and get to safe locations and then is the extent of most employee-related BCM plans. But disasters affect people differently and sometimes those impacts aren't know right away and don't appear until well after the situation. This episode will take BCM/DR practitioners to a deeper level and offer some insight on what additional topics need to be considered when creating long term employee focused safety and response plans. We speak with Registered Psychologist Dr, Oren Amitay who will talk to us about PTSD, how disasters affect people in different ways, how people respond to disasters and how we can recognize when someone is experiencing long term trauma - that might not have been easily identified at the time of the traumatic situation.

One of the most important aspects of building a Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery Program is ensuring the quality of planning and execution of a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). The BIA is the foundation upon which a strong program is build.

Leveraging information contained within his book Business Impact Analysis: Building the Foundation for a Strong Business Continuity Program, Alex Fullick will take us through some of the trips and slips that many BCM/DR practitioners encounter when performing a BIA and what the impact of these slips have on the program. Alex will share not just the problems encountered but solutions to help strengthen you BIA.

Our 2018-02-15 episode will be a very personal show; one that you many or may not be able to relate to; the loss of a loved one. Host Alex Fullick will speak about his and his brother's personal journey and experiences dealing with the death of their father. Though somewhat expected when an individual is their later years, the loss of a loved one can still leave people unprepared and unable to deal with the heartfelt loss of loosing their loved ones. It's not an easy subject to talk about, let alone share with an international audience but the show will walk listeners through a personal journey of dealing with the aftermath of being notified that your loved one is no longer with you. Alex found that there was more things to do and think about when such an event occurs - and discovered he was completely unprepared. This show will speak to your heart, as you think of your own loved ones.

In this show we talk with the President and Vice-President of the Mid-Atlantic Disaster Recovery Association (MADRA), Mr. Curtis Bartell and Dean Gallop respectively. We'll talk about the MADRA organization and the various activities it's involved with and how it offers value and benefit to its membership. We'll also talk about some new perspectives on resilience; what it is and what it means. Curtis and Dean will also provide us with a view of the current role of a BCM/DR professional and how it changed over the years and what it needs to do now, and where it's going.

Issues Management is nothing new to those in Project Management and Business Continuity though for many it's a misunderstood practice. We're joined by retired Issues Management expert Glen Duff, who was the VP of Issues Management at Ciba-Geigy/Novartis. Glen provides allot of valuable insight on how we can manage issues proactively and how we can manage our issues better during times of disaster. Learn how to manage issues and document progress and how issues can be used to help bolster the response of an organizations to a disaster and how it can help proactively identify issues that could have long and short term impacts upon a organization. We'll learn that Issue Management is more than being reactive to a situation.

Nothing in Business Continuity Management (BCM) or Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) stands alone; everything has a dependency on some level. On this weeks show we will talk to Alvaro Orrantia a Senior Director for one of Canada's largest Financial Institutions, who will talk to us about dependencies and dependency management. We'll learn how to identify our program - and organizational - dependencies and provide tips on how we can manage and maintain our dependencies. We'll talk about the dependency link between other organizational programs and processes and how they need to work together to reach the same goals; to prepare us for disasters. We'll also talk about the link between Information Security (IS) and Business Continuity (BC) and how there is a dependency between the two processes. It's a very informative show with many

Many organizations see BCM/DR as an expense but we'll speak with Marty Fox, author of The Ultimate Business Continuity $uccess Guide, who will tips and ideas of how BCM/DR can add value to an organization. Marty has a passion for Business Continuity and has extensive global experiences when building and maintaining BCM/DR programs. Marty will leverage his global experience and provide listeners many insightful tips and ideas for BCM/DR practitioners and organizations that can be implemented in their own workplaces. Marty will also give us some insight into what kinds of things warehouses, manufacturers and distribution companies need to think about when building and maintaining their BCM programs - information that isn't easy to find. Join host Alex Fullick and guest Marty Fox and feel the passion and discover the value of BCM/DR.

The Salvation Army has been on the front lines of many disasters since 1865 and with the Halifax Explosion in 1917, the organization began its great work in Canada. Join us as we talk to the Emergency Disaster Services Director for The Salvation Army's Canada & Bermuda Territory, Perron Goodyear. Perron gives us some history as to the start on the organization and the incredible disaster and emergency services the organization provides around the globe. We'll learn how a person can become a trained disaster volunteer and how best to help those impacted by disasters. We'll also learn about its Incident Comment Team (ICT) structure and how it's slight modification helps those in need. Listen in and find out how this 'army' helps those in need when disaster strikes.

This week we talk about Communications and Public Relations with globally recognized PR expert and author, Gerry McCusker.

Communications is key in any disaster situation and the battle for who controls the narrative rages strong due to social media. Gone are the days of press releases; today you've got to be quick to get your message out there and know how to get the right message out there - and keep in control of the message.

We'll discuss how the PR landscape has changed and what organizations really need to concentrate on to keep their message on track and not fall victim to rumour and conjecture. Gerry will provide lots of tips and example of how we can better prepare ourselves for those potential PR disasters.