Communicating in Crisis – The First 24 Hours

Description

Of course, the best way to manage a corporate crisis is to prevent it. But that’s another course.

In this class we are assuming, despite all the best crisis auditing and planning, something ugly has hit the fan, and all hell has broken loose, or so it may seem in those first few hours.

No matter how awful and mind-numbing the event, your job is to calmly slide into crisis mode and help your organization do and say the right things – promptly, compassionately and honestly. Those first 24 hours are critical because, now more than ever, your initial responses can sink or save your organization’s reputation and much more. Say the wrong things and your organization will be perceived as inept, at best, and criminally negligent, at worst. That’s why Communitelligence is producing this webinar with Jonathan Bernstein, noted crisis communication expert and author of the new book, Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management.

Attend and you’ll more fully grasp any situation that threatens your business, your career, and even lives. By mastering the most effective tactics, you’ll be able to lead through any crisis smoothly and with minimal ramifications.

What You Will Learn:

• The biggest mistakes in crises communications
• Preparing for the three types of crises
• When to initiate a crisis response and when to “Shut the hell up”
• What makes a good spokesperson
• The 5 tenets of crisis communications
• Messaging: the 3 C’s of crisis credibility
• The importance of holding statements
• How and when to speak directly to your stakeholders
• The forgotten stakeholders – internal communication

Presented by:

Jonathan L. Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has more than 25 years of experience meeting clients’ needs in all aspects of crisis management – crisis response, vulnerability assessment, planning, training and simulations. Prior to launching his firm in January 1994, Bernstein created and served as the first director of the Crisis Communications Group for Ruder Finn, Inc., one of the world’s largest public relations agencies.

Bernstein is publisher and editor of Crisis Manager, a first-of-its-kind email newsletter written for “those who are crisis managers whether they want to be or not,” currently read in 75 countries, and author of the most popular crisis management blog online. His commercially published Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training has been as “an outstanding foundation for preparing individuals and organizations for effective crisis management.” His newest book, Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management (McGraw-Hill) was published in November 2011. Bernstein is frequently interviewed by national and international media outlets about various “crises du jour.” A PR Week feature story entitled “The Crunch-Time Counselors” identified Bernstein as one of 22 “people who should be on the speed dial in a crisis” and Business Week featured his perspectives in an article entitled “Masters of Disaster.”

Who Should Attend

• Crisis managers in corporate communications, public relations, corporate affairs, human resources, employee communications, media relations, and issues management.