If there is one word that has been used almost as much as ‘lockdown’ during 2020 it is ‘crisis’. That is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future, as we all adapt to the new abnormal of the COVID-19 era. As we gear up – corporately and individually – for the undoubted risks of 2021, it has never been more crucial to be properly prepared for the issues and crises likely to lie ahead.
This Shared Experience session will explore how you can adopt a more systematic and measurable approach to preparing for reputational crises, enabling you to enhance your personal confidence, team unity, organisational resilience and business performance.
Leading crisis communication expert, Rod Cartwright and Kate Hartley, co-founder of crisis simulation firm, Polpeo, will discuss the crisis communication challenges facing us all in 2021 and outline how best to respond. Rod and Kate will explore MATCH FIT – a new five-part crisis preparedness model, designed to stress-test and improve an organisation’s crisis communication processes, reputational resilience and team preparedness.
Rod Cartwright is an independent advisor specialising in crisis communication, issues management, corporate reputation and leadership communication. He has held UK, European and global leadership positions in several global PR agencies, including Ketchum, H+K Strategies, Text100 and GCI. His front-line crisis communication experience includes advising the Chairman, CEO, and war room team of Malaysia Airlines in Kuala Lumpur in the months following the disappearance of Flight MH370.
Kate Hartley is the co-founder of Polpeo, a crisis simulation company which helps some of the world’s biggest brands prepare to deal with a crisis as it breaks and spreads over social and digital media. She is the author of ‘Communicate in a Crisis’ (Kogan Page, 2019), a book that explores the changing way people behave in crisis situations and how organisations should respond. Kate has 25 years’ agency-side experience in crisis and reputation management and is a trainer in crisis communications for the PRCA.