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Pick up top tips rather than a bunch of brochures

Media Friendly are delivering a Masterclass in Crisis Management for the media at the Community Care Live Conference 2007 in North London.

Community Care Live is the biggest FREE social care conference and exhibition in the UK and is a must attend event for everyone working in the public, private and voluntary sectors across all client groups.

The event brings together key decision-makers, frontline professionals and service users to debate the big issues, share best practice and network.

The conference programme will cover current issues affecting service users and people working with children and families, older people, learning difficulties, disabilities, domestic violence, substance misuse, vulnerable adults, young people and mental health. In addition to an inclusive conference programme, the event will also host an extensive exhibition.

The Media Friendly Masterclass takes place at 14:00 on Thursday May 17th and will be delivered by former BBC Local Government Correspondent, Andrew Carapiet.

He will be drawing on fifteen years experience with the BBC to deliver some useful tips in how to try and defuse those crises, often media driven, which seem impossible to deal with at the time.

Masterclass Principles

The main principles, covered in the Masterclass and available free from Media Friednly through www.mediafriendly.org or by telephoning Moya Fillmore on 01628-474154 are as follows:

• Iron Fist / Velvet glove. Try the charm offensive first.
• The value of face-to-face meetings.
• Always read your local press and make sure you point out errors.
• Use Mission Statements to show you are "open and accessible" the ONLY source of reliable, accurate information when a crisis occurs.
• Liaise with advertising to lever better editorial coverage.
• Team up with public sector partners to buy advertising in bulk as well as developing more clout when dealing with the media.
• Use your budgets effectively buy advertorial especially a wraparound for launching a major initiative. Sponsor competitions such as "unsung heroes" and sponsor a "Communities Page" in your local paper a useful place for positive stories.
• Go the Features or Business editor with a feature proposal or business story idea, if your news editor is being too negative.
• Offer an exclusive to one paper on a fair trade principle ie that they will deal with you fairly. But do not do this if it will upset a rival paper which has a good reach.

To find out more please the contact form below.