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When the Balloon Goes Up: The Communicator's Guide to Crisis Response

by Bob Roemer

183 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-1501; ISBN 1-4120-9745-2; US$19.50, C$22.42, EUR16.02, £11.21

A crisis is the ultimate test of a communicator's ability to plan, think strategically and act decisively to defend an organization's reputation. Balloon prepares you for that high-stakes event.

About the Book

Any organization, regardless of size or purpose, could be involved in a crisis that could damage or destroy its reputation. And news about that crisis can be around the world in 30 minutes.

When the Balloon Goes Up provides communication and public relations professionals a blueprint to succeed in that high-pressure environment.

Before teaching crisis management at the Integrated Marketing Communications graduate program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, author Bob Roemer spent two decades in the public relations department of a large oil and chemical company. His frontline experience responding to crises including white-collar crime, murders, robberies, environmental incidents, strikes, product contamination, corporate campaigns and fatal explosions forms the basis of this book.

From creating a communication response plan to selecting and training spokespeople, When the Balloon Goes Up has the crisis-tested strategies, tactics and skills to give you confidence to prepare for and respond to a crisis regardless of its nature.

Chapters include:

• Explosion! Not Communicating Speaks Louder Than Actions
• Characteristics of a Crisis
• Lessons From Crisis Case Studies
• Mistakes and Attitudes That Will Ruin Your Organization's Reputation
• Focusing the Response: Goal, Strategy and Organization
• Crisis Communication Principles
• Crisis Center of Gravity
• Initial Response
• Primary Response
• Recovery
• Selecting and Training Spokespeople
• Creating a Crisis Response Communication Plan
• A Sample Crisis Response Plan
• Maintaining and Improving Your Plan: Exercises and Drills
• Test Your Crisis Response Skills
• Crisis Case Study Format

About the Author

Bob Roemer is an adjunct faculty lecturer in the Integrated Marketing Communications graduate program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a crisis management and media training consultant.

Before beginning his private practice, Roemer logged two decades of public affairs and crisis response experience in the oil and chemical industries.

He was director of emergency response and training for Amoco Corporation, responsible for the $40-billion company's worldwide public and government affairs crisis response capabilities and spokesperson training programs.

To provide realistic emergency spokesperson training he created Crisis College that was conducted at a chemical plant and included an actual controlled fire, several reporters, camera crews, and "distraught family members" of employees seeking information about their loved ones.

Prior to his crisis management assignment, Roemer was Amoco's public affairs manager for the Midwest United States, directing public and government relations support for refining and gasoline marketing, chemical manufacturing and oil production operations.

Earlier, as public affairs director of Amoco Chemical Company, he managed public relations support for new business ventures in China, media relations, employee communications and served as chairman of the American Chemistry Council's communications committee that provided guidance for chemical companies to meet the public outreach provisions of the Environmental Protection Agency's Risk Management Program "Worst-Case Scenario" crisis response regulation.

Roemer holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial Relations and a Bachelor's degree in history from Loyola University Chicago. He served in the US Army on active duty and in the Army Reserve as an Armor/Cavalry and Adjutant General's Corps officer and is a graduate of the Army's Command and General Staff College.

Excerpts