Approximately 50 communications and leadership personnel representing nearly 40 state agencies gathered on July 30, 2014, at the Georgia Emergency Management Agency’s State Operations Center in Atlanta to discuss emergency communications and lessons learned from the winter storms that struck Georgia earlier this year.
The presentations varied, but they all focused on how government agencies can better communicate with their audiences before, during and after an emergency.
Cross-agency coordination like this is imperative for much of the work communicators do. This is especially true during an emergency, where cooperation between agencies is imperative and allows communicators to amplify messages, grow audiences, and better communicate with customers. To that end, representatives from the private sector (Georgia Power and The Weather Channel) were also invited to some and share their “best practices” with the State.
Below are the presentations from Georgia’s third #TeamGaSocial Summit:
• Georgia Department of Administrative Services:
Employee Communications: Tips and strategies for effectively communicating with your employees before, during and after an emergency
• Georgia National Guard
State/Federal Cooperation: What communications role Federal entities can play in a local emergency; and how words, actions and images can impact the perception of an emergency response
• Georgia Regional Transportation Authority:
Customer Relations: Moving past the disaster: Changing the conversation without shutting down engagement
• Georgia Power
Public/Private Partnerships: How private sector PR assets can support public sector communications needs in an emergency
• The Weather Channel
Media Relations: Resources and information TWC provides during an inclement weather emergency that state agencies should be aware of; and information news outlets want from state government during an emergency and what channels they monitor to get it
• Georgia Emergency Management Agency
Coordinated Communications: How the messaging from all participating partners gets de-conflicted and unified during an emergency; What information GEMA pushes out during an emergency and through which channels; and innovations and improvements in GEMA’s emergency communications processes
For pictures and discussion from the day’s event, please click here.
If you “do social media” for your state agency, we invite you to join our Facebook group by requesting access here.
