THE DON’T PANIC GUIDE TO CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

FRIDAY 25 JANUARY 2008

Nothing focuses the mind and calls on our communication skills more than a crisis.

A product recall or tampering; major fraud; IT collapse; mystery explosion; scandal; pressure group onslaught; a media report claiming your product harms children… these are make-or-break moments when brands, reputations – and even our careers – hang in the balance.

The Don’t Panic Guide to Crisis Communications is a one day conference which will explore the skills needed to successfully respond, manage and survive a crisis and protect the reputation of your company or organisation. Following on from the success of this year's Manchester event, the conference will now visit London and brings together an unmissable line up of communications professionals including –

Michael Bland, Michael Bland Communication Consultancy Our keynote speaker is internationally renowned as a crisis and reputation management expert and will be delivering his brand new presentation on the subject.

Kevin Bocquet, former BBC journalist Kevin is an experienced and respected broadcast journalist who will provide an insight into the media requirements of a developing story with a perspective on some of the major incidents, events and tragedies he has reported on.

Stephen Davies, webitpr Stephen is one of the UK’s most influential PR bloggers and his presentation will examine a number of crises or ‘blog storms’ which have broken or escalated online and the varying degrees of success or otherwise of the chosen response strategies.

Heather Edwards, Head of Communications, Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust After a career in journalism Heather joined the NHS ten years ago and was formerly on the national committee of the Association of Healthcare Communicators. Heather will give a case study presentation of a hospital crisis that required wide ranging and sensitive handling.

Sarah Dean Forrester, Trimedia Harrison Cowley Sarah was previously Head of Press for Greater Manchester Police and has also used her vast experience of major incident handling to provide essential media training and strategic communications advice to a host of clients including the NHS, Police Forces, Ambulance Trusts and Fire & Rescue Services.

Andy Green, Green Communications In a crisis the need for creative, flexible thinking is paramount. Andy Green will highlight how a crisis can also offer opportunities not just to minimise the negative but also to transform the situation into your best possible opportunities.

Paul Kelly, CEO, Trimedia Harrison Cowley Heading up one of the UK’s largest PR agency’s, Paul is a specialist in communications strategy and has particular expertise in crisis and issues management. He will be delivering a presentation on managing client crisis situations.

Lucy Laville, Leeds Metropolitan University Lucy was Head of Communications at Leeds Metropolitan University following the London Bombings of 7 July and will provide an insight into the challenges she faced as the university was thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Louise Oughton, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Dacorum Borough Council The Buncefield Oil Terminal explosion created the largest fire in Europe since World War Two. How did Dacorum Borough Council respond to not only Europe's largest peacetime fire but also, to the sudden arrival of the international media? Louise will talk about the media and communication pressures on the authority both during and after the incident and their award winning response to the crisis.

Rob Skinner, Chief Press Officer, first direct Rob has been Head of PR for first direct and Marks & Spencer Money since May 2005 and has managed his fair share of crises over the years including terrorism (the IRA once blew up his office), mass murder, the fire walk that went wrong… and the strange case of the shrinking duck pond.

Sally Sykes, Head of Communications, AstraZeneca Sally leads a 28-strong team responsible for the effective delivery of AstraZeneca’s communications and corporate responsibility within the UK and was formerly Head of Press and Public Relations at Manchester Airport. No stranger to a crisis, delegates will benefit from case studies of her experiences.

Tickets for the conference are priced at £295 + VAT or £250 + VAT for charities and early booking before 31.12.07. For event booking and further information please contact Nicky or Andrew at Don’t Panic on 01706 828855 or alternatively places can be securely booked online at www.dontpanicprojects.com/booking.htm

Nearly forgot, here's Coldplay

Well we’ve been home from the hospital for one week now and what an incredible week it’s been. Finn is a little angel and being very kind to his mummy and daddy with night feeds every 3 hours so thankfully all of the Wake’s are managing to get far more sleep than we'd imagined.

We’ve all enjoyed Finn’s first bath, first outing to the local park and lots and lots of kisses and cuddles although he’s still not keen on nappy changes, screaming the house down as if a murder was being committed!

We just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of our family, friends and colleagues for the beautiful gifts, flowers, cards and messages. We’ve really been overwhelmed by people’s kindness and support.

If you’d like an insight into Finn’s first week and for those of you who have requested more photos, Andy has put together a short slide show.

Finn's first week

For Mac users who can't view the above embedded WMV file here's a link to a lower res YouTube version.

Finn Alexander Wake was born at 10.46PM, Wednesday 7 November 2007 at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury and weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces.

Nicky and baby are doing fine and our thanks go out to all the hospital staff who helped bring him into the world.

I already know he likes The Ramones because he used to kick like crazy whenever we played them so this video is for a much loved and wanted little boy.

Update - just back from the hospital and here's a bit of footage of Finn after his first bath. Don't you just hate it when your son's got more hair than you!