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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.


A complete message for a chemical fire
Chemical fires are frightening. They represent a sort of "dread risk" that raises concerns about not only short term impacts but...

Jeannette Sutton
Sep 12


Over-alerting: Incomplete, inconsistent, and not actionable
Recently, my colleague Dr. Michele Wood and I published a paper that defines and identifies dimensions of over-alerting. While some of...

Jeannette Sutton
Sep 9
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


BEES ATTACKING! Stay indoors until further notice.
For the past ten years, every time I have taught a class on crisis communication, I have asked my students to engage in an exercise where...

Jeannette Sutton
Oct 28, 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


The importance of templates for active shooter messages
When we poll emergency managers and other public safety risk communicators about the threats that create the greatest anxiety for...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 6, 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


Scary Messages - motivating behavior with persuasive language
There has been a long and ongoing discussion about how "scary" a message should be to motivate behavior. Some argue that people need to...

Jeannette Sutton
Dec 22, 2023


The Problem with ALL CAPS MESSAGES
Messages delivered in ALL CAPS have a problem. Writing in ALL CAPS may seem like a reasonable strategy to get people's attention...

Jeannette Sutton
Dec 13, 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


**Evacuation Warning** but for flash flood
(click image to enlarge) WEA issued in advance of #Hilary for the CA desert The folks at the Editor's Desk have written a LOT about the...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 27, 2023


Cancellation messages
WEA sent 1/31/2022 Cancellation messages, also called "all-clear" or "post-alert messages," have been under-studied by warning...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 31, 2023


The problem of the unnamed hazard
WEA sent 12/17/2022 Shelter in place, and its cousin evacuate now, are orders that are frequently included in WEAs as well as the Common...

Jeannette Sutton
Dec 17, 2022


An Inconsistent Message
WEA sent 10/29/22 at 6:50 am An internally consistent message will not include contents that are contradictory, In this example, we see...

Jeannette Sutton
Oct 29, 2022
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