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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.
Closing the Communication Loop: thoughts about campus alerting
When people have been told to protect themselves by taking shelter; when the conditions are highly uncertain; when the threat holds a...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 29


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


Completing the communication loop with a post-alert message
There are a few reasons that really stand out about why an alert originator of public safety communicator could choose to send a...

Jeannette Sutton
Mar 6


A Model Plain Language Wildfire Message
Once in a while, a message will pop into the warn.pbs.org feed that is exceptional. This is one of those times. ** A complete, plain...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 13


Thoughts on Cancelling the Missing Person Message
A few weeks ago, we wrote about "what makes a good missing person message?" and why an "all clear message" is so important. In this...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 10


Message personalization - what does that mean for a WEA?
At the Warn Room, we frequently hear about the need to issue "targeted and personalized" messages. This is primarily in reference to...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 16


Winter Weather Alerts: a comparison of 3 messages
Wireless Emergency Alerts for weather events generally fall into the domain of the National Weather Service (for a select set of hazards...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 13


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


Flood Preparedness Messages
Some hazards have obvious early stages, where it is possible to issue messages that can help local residents and community members to...

Jeannette Sutton
Nov 11, 2024


A tale of two CURFEW messages
Its time to talk a bit about jargon again... but this time in relation to CURFEW. Curfew is defined as: a regulation requiring people to...

Jeannette Sutton
Oct 31, 2024


Incomplete messages put lives in danger
This past week, a catastrophic storm ripped through the Southeast US, leaving communities destroyed and more than 230 deaths (so far). ...

Jeannette Sutton
Oct 7, 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 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


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


A complete message for a fast moving wildfire: 5-stars!
The wildfires that erupted in New Mexico this past June were fast moving and extremely dangerous. Having messages prepared ahead of time...

Jeannette Sutton
Jul 3, 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


A concise law enforcement message
Law enforcement messaging is tricky. Do you include content about the nature of the law enforcement activity? Do you give details about...

Jeannette Sutton
Apr 18, 2024


Actionable, local, missing persons alerts
The focus of alerts and warnings have primarily centered on natural, technological, biological, and human induced hazards that are...

Jeannette Sutton
Apr 15, 2024


Be prepared to evacuate for flooding
Some hazards, like hurricanes, wildfires, and atmospheric rivers, offer risk communicators the gift of time to prepare their constituents...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 8, 2024
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