Ministry of Justice and Security

How do you ensure effective crisis communication in an emergency? In a dramatic way, all colleagues were challenged to respond to two different crisis scenarios. Just after the first cup of coffee, alarm bells rang, lights flashed, and infrared beams appeared: panic! A voice echoed throughout the warehouse: “NL Alert! Put on your headphones for more information.” Everyone put on their silent-disco headsets. Can they solve the crisis scenarios involving severe weather and the suspicion surrounding the updating of a human chip?

About the event

The Crisis Communication Department of the Ministry of Justice and Security collaborates with communication professionals from a wide range of organizations across the Netherlands during times of crisis. The ministry invited all crisis communication officers working for municipalities, safety regions, police departments, the national government, or critical infrastructure partners to network, build connections, and learn from one another.

Creative Crisis Communication

How do you ensure effective communication in emergency situations? In the two crisis scenarios that participants had to resolve together through workshops, the focus was also placed on vulnerable groups, such as people who are blind or who lack trust in the government. People with lived experience shared their personal stories, giving communications staff insight into the experiences of these groups. Everything was presented in a lively, confrontational, and authentic way.

Additional elements

In addition to the workshops and lectures, there were also:

Caricature artist: guests received a caricature that was hung on the wall as a gallery of faces
AI Support for Crisis Communication
Lego workshops to learn nonverbal communication
Standing yoga afterward to end the day on a relaxing note

‍

Doenja and Lotte

Ministry of Justice and Security

"No broadcast event—that was our goal this time. We tried to steer clear of the standard elements of a networking day as much as possible. No big plenary opening on a stage, no closing speaker. Together with De Fabrique, we were able to turn our crazy ideas into reality, and nothing was too outlandish. Upon arrival, people were simply given a pair of headphones with the message: ‘This is your guide for the day.’ The element of surprise was always in the NL-Alerts. And just like during a crisis: it doesn’t announce itself. A wonderful day that people are still talking about."

The location
made for an unforgettable experience.

‍

Client

Ministry of Justice and Security

Theme

Conference

About the client

The Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV) is the ministry responsible for the legal system, crime prevention, and national security

Rochelle Scholtens

Event Producer DeFabrique

"What an interesting theme we had for the day: crisis management. Together with our clients Doenja and Lotte, we had plenty of ideas on how to approach this, but we also had a good laugh about it, because we could use this theme as an excuse for just about anything. Power outage? Crisis! Severe weather? Crisis! No food delivered? Crisis! Fortunately, everything went smoothly on the day itself, even though one crisis scenario did become a reality. We had to deal with Storm Ciarán... As if it were meant to be. All in all, a successful collaboration and day!"