This Is Not a Test: Communicating During a Multi-Day Campus Emergency
Monday, Oct 14 10:15 - 11:30
Presented by Becky BarnardSunday morning in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Seven inches of rain in four hours. Much of it funneling directly into Michigan Tech’s designated incident command post. (Which, among other things, really put a cramp in the tabletop emergency exercise scheduled for the following Wednesday.)
Emergencies rarely follow the plan, and you should be prepared…and be prepared to improvise. In this nontechnical poster session, I’ll discuss:
-Pros and cons of various comms channels, such as emergency mass communication systems, your own website, and social media
-Navigating administrative approval and town/gown relations
-Returning to normal, or at least the new normal
-Steps you can take to better prepare for campus emergencies (and hopefully never need)
You should check it out if: you’re planning the strategy, writing the copy, or pushing the button on emergency communications.
About
Becky Barnard
Digital Project StrategistBecky Barnard is a Web Project Strategist for University Marketing and Communications and a Public Information Officer for the Incident Command Team at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. Before her move to the Upper Peninsula, she spent nearly ten years in web strategy at Penn State. When she's not planning websites or managing Tech's social media presence, she fights off cabin fever by self-propelling sporting equipment around the outdoors, writing (her first novel comes out this year), and volunteering with Barrelhouse, a pop culture-obsessed literary magazine and small press.