Whether it's the tunnel accident in the canton of Valais, the kidnapping of Swiss citizens in Yemen or "shitstorms" against Swiss companies on Facebook - there are more than enough occasions for crisis communication and reputation management for Swiss media spokespeople and communication managers. The organizers write this in a press release on Presseportal.ch. 14 speakers, including from the National Emergency Operations Center of the Federal Office for Civil Protection, Siemens Switzerland, the Swiss Nuclear Forum and Ricola, will report on their experiences with communication in critical times in case studies and keynote speeches.

Roman Geiser from the Association of Public Relations Agencies in Switzerland and Roger Huber from the Swiss Association for Crisis Communication analyze how companies and authorities can protect their good reputation even in bad times. Communications manager Daniel Bärlocher from Swiss International Air Lines outlines the successful restructuring of Swiss and company spokesman Stefan Nünlist reports on how UBS Switzerland has used communications to manage the financial market crisis and steer the bank back on the road to success.

"Successful crisis communication depends on a mixture of forward-looking crisis prevention, sound communication experience and a good dose of luck," says summit initiator Frank Roselieb, Director of the Krisennavigator - Institute for Crisis Research, a spin-off of Kiel University. "To prevent reputational damage, those affected must communicate on many channels simultaneously in real time."

The Swiss Crisis Communication Summit 2013 is the eighteenth summit of the Kiel Crisis Navigator. It is aimed at communication managers and media spokespersons, crisis managers and media lawyers, academics and managers from companies, authorities, associations, the media and politics.

In a panel discussion, business journalists Christian Kolbe (SRF) and Sandro Spaeth (20 Minuten Online & Print), Federal Parliament correspondent Urs Paul Engeler (Weltwoche), editor-in-chief Bernard Maissen (Schweizerische Depeschenagentur), deputy editor-in-chief Markus Diem Meier (Finanz und Wirtschaft) and Simon Tribelhorn (Managing Director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association) will explore the direction crisis reporting is taking in the age of media convergence.

Event partners of this year's summit are the professional and industry associations Bund der Public Relations Agenturen der Schweiz BPRA and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krisenmanagement DGfKM as well as the press service provider News Aktuell Schweiz. Media partners supporting the Swiss Crisis Communication Summit 2013 are the trade journals Persönlich, IO Management and Krisenmagazin.