Professor Kim Commerato Lance teaches a Crisis Communications class here at SMU. As all good professors know, hearing from professionals in the field helps students to be more engaged and network. Professor Lance reached out to Evan Nierman, Founder, and CEO of Red Banyan, to invite him to campus. After much discussion, both agreed a Crisis Fireside Chat would be more appropriate.
Evan Nierman is the Founder and CEO of Red Banyan. Red Banyan is a strategic communications firm specializing in public relations, crisis management and communications, social media, and marketing. Nierman is the author of Crisis Averted: PR Strategies to Protect Your Reputation and the Bottom Line. He is currently working on his second book, Cancel Culture Curse, which will be available in 2023. Nierman expressed his passion for getting rid of cancel culture, stating, “we can’t live in a world where people can’t make mistakes.” The crisis class was lucky that Nierman could fly in from Florida to participate in this Crisis Fireside Chat.
On Thursday, October 27th, students showed up to Prothro with questions in hand, eager to hear from Nierman. After introducing Nierman to the students, Prof. Lance started with her own set of questions. Throughout her questions, Nierman covered a wide variety of topics. From his current book to what makes someone a good crisis counselor, how and why he opened his own firm, Red Banyan, and ethics. One of Nierman’s philosophies from his book is “press the truth” and how it is important to live by that as a communicator. He explains how the phrase is a double entendre in that you have to press the truth or push it forward and press, as in the media. Prof. Lance ends her chat with Nierman by posing a scenario.
After Prof. Lance’s questions, the session was turned over to the students. Most importantly, both Nierman and Prof. Lance encouraged students to ask anything, stating, “nothing is off-limits.” See the link below to watch the entire Crisis Fireside Chat and hear the student’s questions.