Managing Public Expectations Following a Disaster

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• How to craft a meaningful public-outreach strategy to communicate disaster-recovery or crisis-management information
• How to distill complex recovery and assistance programs into easily understood public information
• How to redirect and control the "message" following program roll-out hiccups or deliberate attempts to hijack or discredit the process

MORE SESSION DETAILS

After the Floods of 2016, the State of Louisiana, in coordination with FEMA, developed the Shelter at Home Program to provide immediate disaster-recovery housing assistance to families. This program was designed, developed, and implemented in a very short time frame and required an intense public-engagement process to inform the public about the program and its applicability and requirements. This session will focus on that public communication effort, the lessons learned, and how other jurisdictions can apply these lessons when disasters, crisis, or other events impact their location, as well as provide information on how to overcome many of the challenges by establishing communications goals and protocols prior to any event. Planners need to "translate" what families are eligible for — the program requirements and procedures — and help connect the agency providing the assistance to the public. Learn how to connect with the public as people, not widgets — and leave with the information that you need to manage their path forward after a traumatic event.