FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 26, 2006

The Inocon Group Helps the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Prepare for US Open Tennis Championships

Flushing, New York
In 2002, the US Open Tennis Championships established a state-of-the-art command center – the mission of which was to coordinate the efforts of the many facility and tournament operations departments needed to run a wide array of complex operations. Outfitted with sophisticated communications and monitoring equipment, the National Tennis Center Command Center serves as the eyes and ears of US Open.

In a 3-week time period, the US Open hosts more than 600 players playing as many as 90 matches per day on as many as sixteen courts. More than 650,000 spectators visit the Open annually, making it the single highest-attended sporting event in the United States. In order to ensure that Command Center management and staff were prepared for coordinating the safety, security, and customer service needs of all of the competitors, guests, ticket holders, and sponsors, US Open management engaged The Inocon Group to develop and execute a readiness exercise.

On August 19, 2006, The Inocon Group led USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and Command Center staff through a real-time ReadySim™ exercise, simulating a sample day of US Open tournament operations. Exercise participants in the Command Center were presented with realistic tournament-day scenarios that prompted them to practice information flows and decision-making processes between the Command Center and US Open management, and also to rehearse the processes for assessing, tracking, and managing issues like the ones they would face during tournament time.

Working through the problems they were presented gave participants an opportunity to learn about policies and communication procedures, and to gain a first-hand understanding of how roles are assigned and responsibilities are distributed among Command Center and US Open staff. The scenarios also provided valuable insight as to how to each and every action and reaction impacts several components of tournament operations.

“The ReadySim™ exercise that the Inocon team put together really helped us identify some key ways we could improve the operation of our Command Center” said Bob Cochrane, Manager, NTC Events. “By working through some sample problems, we were better prepared for the start of the tournament”.

About the Inocon Group
The Inocon Group is a global leader in crisis management planning and risk mitigation, specializing in operational readiness consulting for major sporting events, leagues, membership organizations, and professional sports franchises. Our Incident Management Programs prepare organizations to effectively prevent, plan and respond to an incident or a crisis. By continually deploying Crisis Management Best Practices our clients proactively reduce their exposure to risk, crisis and incidents. The Inocon Group is based in Atlanta Ga. with offices throughout the world.