Episode 136: Experts Discuss Crisis & Risk Communications to Meet the Needs of Communities

When a crisis occurs, communities need actionable messaging, reflective of their unique circumstance in order to respond. Creating effective communications begins before a crisis by engaging communities to understand their needs and appropriately communicating their risks. Risks across the communications field, increasingly complex challenges are emerging. In emergency management, overcoming these challenges is necessary to sustain and save lives. To meet these needs, FEMA is leading efforts to strengthen organizations and agencies' commitment and ability to create and deliver tailored messaging. A few weeks ago on June 10th, FEMA's Office of External Affairs, in collaboration with some esteemed roster of co-sponsors hosted the first ever Risk Communications, Crisis Communications and Community Engagement Summit. On this episode, we'll take you back to a packed house at the prestigious auditorium at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. While we can't air the entirety of the nine-hour summit, we wish we could. We are happy to share a couple of key panels and highlights from some of the dynamic conversations that took place throughout the day. First up, Associate Administrator of External Affairs, Justin Ángel Knighten, and then he'll follow up with our FEMA Administrator, Deanne Criswell, who is well known for her hands-on operational expertise. She is a commanding and empathetic spokesperson, so we hear her kicking off the day.