Helen Vollmer CEO VOLLMER	Christine Barney CEO rbb Public Relations

As we near mid-October and the rest of the country looks forward to cooler days, those of us who live along the waters of the Atlantic and the Gulf Coast are still mired in the heart of hurricane season. The last several years have seen almost a dozen of these monsters wash across our shores. As recent survivors of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, we know firsthand that being prepared and communicating often and openly with employees, clients and vendors are the keys to staying operational and functional in even the worse case scenarios.

Of course, it's not just hurricanes we all need to be prepared for—tornadoes, floods, ice storms, health epidemics and the threat of terrorist attacks are just a few more things to keep many of us up at night. As a guide to those whose emergency plans may need a bit of tweaking, we offer the following lessons learned:

• Plan ahead. Put your disaster planning policies in writing and make sure everyone in your agency knows the drill. Have a disaster planning section on your intranet ready to serve as communication central. Update phone trees, responsibilities and procedures every year. When it comes to phone trees, apply ICE. All employees should have a form on file listing the name and numbers of someone to call, preferably in a different city, that they will be in contact with in case of an emergency. Lastly, business interruption insurance and appropriate "contents" insurance are a must have.
• Go co-lo. Even small businesses can now afford co-location. For a monthly charge of as low as $500, you can have a totally redundant network ready to go at the flip of a switch. These "bunker" facilities located throughout the country guarantee your network is safe. And, if you use an IP phone system, your calls are routed to voice mails or forwarded to a new number with ease. When the crisis is over, the information is transferred back to your home server with nothing lost.
• If you don't co-lo, get computer files out of harm's way. Run a complete back up of your files, make multiple copies and send to other offices within your jurisdiction, to colleagues within the industry you trust as well as for yourself and IT staff.
• Can you hear me now? Determine the best means for disseminating and receiving information to and from staff, clients, etc. Both, land lines and cell phones are problematic during disasters. In Hurricane Wilma, cell tower battery backups expired long before the power came back on making cell phones useless and floods damaged land lines leaving many completely cut off. If you can forward the phones to a different city where a live body will answer, then do so. Set up emergency text messaging with a vendor in another city (high volume of cell phone usage means text messages transmit best).
• Where's the money? Since you don't know how long your business might be interrupted, you'll need to decide on a payroll policy. You can give advance instructions to your payroll agent to use the last payroll instructions if they don't hear from you. Ensuring financial security to your employees is crucial during a crisis. At the same time, hard decisions about how long you may be willing to advance payroll need to be made.
• Redecorate before you leave. When a disaster is about to strike, make sure you and your staff move important items and equipment to windowless rooms. The same thing goes for personal items, art work and furniture that can act as projectiles when windows crash and winds blow.
• Post disaster, flexibility is the word of the day. Working virtually is the best way to stay productive once a disaster has passed. In fact, chances are that either officials won't let you back into the office, or your staff can't make it back in because they've run out of gas. Relax dress codes to account for uncomfortably hot work environments and lack of laundry facilities.
• Be patient. Living through the aftermath is incredibly stressful. Remind yourself and others around you to take a "one day at a time" stance. Making unrealistic demands in a time when the unknown is all you can count on, adds only to the stress level not to billable hours in what will probably not be your best month in business anyway. And, as a leader in your operation, remember that keeping a positive outlook and a "let's move forward" attitude is critical during a time when everyone around you believes their world is falling apart.

Those of us who have had to deal with operating a business during and after Mother Nature reminds us of her power, find that disasters absolutely do bring out the best in people. Your staff will bind together in new and creative ways to get tasks accomplished and be there for each other. Clients, especially local ones whose own priorities and deadlines get shifted as well, are incredibly flexible, generous and understanding. And remember that first and foremost, the reason you are in this business is because you have great skills as a communicator and as a problem solver.

Helen Vollmer is CEO of Vollmer, and Christine Barney is CEO of rbb Public Relations. Both agencies are members of the Council of PR Firms, and Converge, a national network consisting of eight mid-sized PR firms.