Strategic Communications and Crisis Management
Ready for the microphone before the story breaks.
Scenario-based media coaching for spokespeople, executives and elected officials, and emergency management courses that prepare staff and leadership to run a response.
Two kinds of training
Capability under pressure, not just confidence.
Media and spokesperson training
Coaching for cameras, microphones, hostile questions and high-pressure public meetings. Built around realistic scenarios specific to your organization’s risks.
- Message development
- Handling hostile questions
- Practice for cameras, microphones and public meetings
- Scenarios drawn from your own risks
Emergency management training
Courses that prepare staff and leadership to run an emergency response: who does what, who approves what, and how the public information function works when an incident is live. For Alberta municipalities, tabletop exercises test the plan against Alberta Emergency Management Act requirements.
- Roles and approval chains
- Holding statements prepared in advance
- The public information function in the emergency operations centre
- Tabletop exercises
Who it’s for
Anyone who may speak for you.
Elected officials, executives, administrators and designated spokespeople, in municipalities, school boards and other public bodies, and in businesses and non-profits.
Recent training
- Media relations and crisis communications training for Saddle Hills County and Red Deer County
- Staff training to run a redeveloped crisis communications plan for the County of Grande Prairie No. 1
- Crisis and emergency management training for County of Minburn staff
Coached by a spokesperson
Trained by someone who has taken the questions.
Cheryl has been the organization’s voice: quoted as a spokesperson for the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Public Schools, and named as media relations manager for the Office of Mayor Don Iveson (as Cheryl Oxford). She has coached elected officials, executives and administrators to face cameras, microphones and hostile questions.
Who leads the work
Cheryl Spencer-Morley
Cheryl leads the practice, with more than 25 years of senior communications work across federal, provincial and municipal government in Canada. Until 2023 she worked as Cheryl Oxford, including as a spokesperson for the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Public Schools and as media relations manager in the Office of Mayor Don Iveson.
Credentials
- ICS 300, Intermediate Incident Command System, Incident Command System Canada (2015)
- Traumatic Event Systems (TES) Training, Center for Trauma Informed Practices (2021)
- Speaker, CatIQ Connect 2025, on planning and communications in the Jasper fires
Questions
A few useful answers.
Who is media training for?
Anyone who may speak for your organization: elected officials, executives, administrators and designated spokespeople. Emergency management courses are for the staff and leaders who would run a response.
How are sessions built?
Around realistic scenarios drawn from your own risks, so people practise the questions they are likely to face.
What does a session cover?
Preparing your messages and handling hostile questions, in realistic scenarios built around your organization’s risks. Emergency management courses cover roles, approvals and the public information function during a response.
Do you train businesses and non-profits?
Yes. Our recent training has been for municipalities, and the same coaching works for any organization that may face cameras, microphones or a hostile meeting.
Next step
Train before the interview, not after it.
Tell us who speaks for your organization and what keeps you up at night. We will build the scenarios around it.