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Read. Understand. Apply.
The Warn Room blogs apply 70 years of research to the practice of alerts and warnings. We show how evidence-based changes to message content, style, and structure can create more effective warnings.

Editor's Desk
Critiquing messages is easy... crafting a good message is hard. Or is it?
The Warn Room endeavors to provide solutions to alerting authorities so that they can improve their messaging. In this new section, we'll take on the task of re-creating messages that could use a little help, showing how the evidence-based resources on this site can be used to craft better warnings.


WEA, EAS, Levi and AMBER Alerts
If you’re going to write an EAS message, why not use that same content to write a WEA? Recently, I saw a WEA that was issued for an...

Jeannette Sutton
May 20


BOLO... for what? This is why people opt out.
One of the advantages of Wireless Emergency Alerts is their ability to alert people, without requiring them to opt in, and to do so in a...

Jeannette Sutton
Apr 27


Improving Missing Person Messages
What makes a good missing person message? Should it be the same content as an alert? Should it follow the structure of warning message?...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 7


Improving Missing Person Messages
UPDATE: In the case of this child, he was found dead in a body of water after the WEA was issued. Most of the Missing Person messages...

Jeannette Sutton
Nov 26, 2024


Special event notifications
There are plenty of special events that occur every day, resulting in the need for specialized notifications for populations engaging in...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 12, 2024


Improving an incomplete wildfire warning message
I write a lot about wildfire warnings; I do so because they honestly stand out as being some of the most frequently incomplete and...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 9, 2024


Improving a message for water restrictions.
I love a simple message that uses plain language and is easy to read. But sometimes, the message is SO simple that it simply leaves out...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 1, 2024


Another wildfire message, this time using SET as a signal to prepare
If you read the blog posted on July 8, you know that wildfire messaging is inconsistent and frequently incomplete. You can read research...

Jeannette Sutton
Jul 12, 2024


Should we make preparedness messages actionable, too? Yes!
Another excellent post shared by @zachstanford, who helps to highlight how we can use the Message Design Dashboard and effective...

Jeannette Sutton
Jul 8, 2024


"Armed man wanted for homicides" is NOT a help-wanted advertisement
The editor has been away from her desk for a bit, but we've started to notice friends and colleagues who are implementing The Warn Room...

Jeannette Sutton
Jun 27, 2024


An improved Boil Water Notification that is actionable
The editor has been away from her desk for a bit, but we've started to notice friends and colleagues who are implementing The Warn Room...

Jeannette Sutton
Jun 24, 2024


A revised law enforcement message that is complete and consistent
We've written about law enforcement messages in the past, showing how they can be "tricky" to write about because of the uncertainty of...

Jeannette Sutton
Apr 25, 2024


Private Sector WEA messages? Yes, it's a thing.
On November 19, 2023, Adams County, CO issued a WEA on behalf of Suncor refinery on a Sunday morning at 4:32 am. It blasted phones...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 26, 2024


The importance of plain language and instruction
Plain language makes it easier for the public to read, understand, and use government communications. Its wording, structure, and design...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 1, 2024


Incomplete messages leave room for improvement
Incomplete messages lack key details that message receivers NEED and want in order to understand what is being communicated. In this...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 29, 2024


Surf's UP, but stay OUT.
There's a lot of good things to say about this message sent by the Office of Response, Recovery, and Resilience; but there are also a few...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 12, 2024


Shelter in Place; completing the message
The messages shared here are real. If you are a reader of The Warn Room, you know that this is representative of WEAS that we see...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 8, 2024


Punctuation and Abbreviation - suggestions to improve readability
WEA 2.0 made it possible to devlier messages with 360 characters, yet we frequently find that message writers don't make use of all that...

Jeannette Sutton
Dec 18, 2023


Is it important to SHOUT and yell !!!!! in a Warning Message?
Wireless Emergency Alerts are designed to notify people of dangerous and imminent threats that require quick or immediate action. The...

Jeannette Sutton
Nov 29, 2023


Source, Hazard Description, Location, and Time: the importance of a complete message
Actionable alert and warning messages should contain 5 elements: the source, hazard (plus description), location, actionable guidance,...

Jeannette Sutton
Nov 22, 2023
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