1. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Risk Communication Charles Yoe, PhD cyoe1@verizon.net Institute for Water Resources 2010

2. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions National Center for Food Protection & Defense Risk Communicator Training We would like to acknowledge the NCFPD and Peter Sandman for the bulk of the material in this presentation Defense, Response & Recovery

3. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Risk Communication Team

4. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions An Introduction to Risk Communication 1.Defining Risk Communication: What It Is & What It Isn’t 2.Risk Perception: Facts & Feelings 3.Explaining Quantitative Data to the General Public 4.Means of Communicating

5. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions DEFINING RISK COMMUNICATION: WHAT IT IS & WHAT IT ISN’T

6. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 6 Risk Communication Defined An open, two-way exchange of information and opinion about risk leading to better understanding and better risk management decisions. Source: USDA, 1992

7. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 7 Risk Communication Goals  Tailor communication so it takes into account the emotional response to an event.  Empowers stakeholders and public to make informed decisions.  Prevent negative behavior and/or encourage constructive responses to crisis or danger.

8. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions National Weather Service Hurricane Ike Warning for Galveston September, 2008 " PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY, ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH.."

9. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 9 Communication Models Basic Communication Model Uni-directional or we tell “them” approach Who says - what - when - to whom - through what channel - with what effect Risk Communication Model Multi-directional Actively involves the audience as an information source

10. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 10 Risk Communication Elements Multi-directional & actively involves the audience as an information source Logistics Metamessaging Listening Self-assessment Evaluation Audience assessment Audience involvement Message

11. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 11 Risk Communication Outcomes Decrease illness, injury & deaths Reduce property and economic losses Build support for response plan Assist in executing response plan Prevent misallocation & wasting of resources Keep decision-makers well informed Counter or correct rumors Foster informed decision-making concerning risk

12. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Risk Communication is Trans-Disciplinary Environmental Sciences Social Psychology Philosophy Political Science Communication Engineering Economics Public Health Natural Sciences

13. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 13 Crisis Response –Spontaneous –Post-event –Uni-directional –Reactive –Equivocal Risk & Crisis Communication Preparedness & Recovery –Planned, tested, strategic –Pre-event activities –Multi-directional –Proactive –Certain

14. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Applying the concepts 14 UnpackingtheMessageUnpackingtheMessage

15. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions What Risk Communication is Not Spin Public relations Damage control Crisis management How to write a press release How to give a media interview Always intended to make people “feel better” or reduce their fear

16. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Is This Risk Communication?

17. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions What Risk Communication IS Considers human perceptions of risk Multi-directional communication among communicators, publics and stakeholders Activities before, during and after an event An integral part of an emergency response plan Empowers people to make their own informed decisions

18. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions RISK PERCEPTIONS FACTS AND FEELINGS

19. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Risk Analysis Paradigm Everything we do involves risk Zero risk is unachievable Options exist for managing every risk

20. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 20 Interpreting Risk Communicating about risk is difficult because of the way people interpret risk Involves competing perspectives: objective vs subjective

21. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 21 What Shapes Perceptions of Risk? Hazard – something that can go wrong Probability – likelihood of it happening Consequences – implications of hazard Value – subjective evaluation of the relative importance of what might be lost FEELING THINKING

22. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 22 Scientist - Consumer Disconnect SCIENTIST EXPERT knows thinks CONSUMER PUBLIC feels believes Fact-based: hazard, probability Value-based: consequences, value

23. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 23 Peter Sandman “The risks that upset people are completely different than the risks that kill people.”

24. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 24 Perceptions of Risk Risk = Hazard + Outrage SOURCE: Peter Sandman

25. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Outrage Factors Affecting Acceptability Catastrophic potential Familiarity Understanding Controllability Voluntary exposure Effects on children Manifestation of effects Victim identity Dread Trust in institutions Media attention Accident history Equity Benefits Reversibility Origin

26. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 26 A variety of risk comm approaches Hazard (danger) High Low High Outrage Management Crisis / Emergency Communication Public Relations Precaution Advocacy Outrage (fear, anger)

27. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 27 Goal: Reduce outrage so people don’t take unnecessary precautions Hazard (danger) High Low High Crisis / Emergency Communication Public Relations Precaution Advocacy Outrage Management Outrage (fear,anger)

28. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 28 Goal: Increase concern for a real hazard to motivate preventive action Hazard (danger) High Low High Outrage Management Crisis / Emergency Communication Public Relations Precaution Advocacy Outrage (fear,anger)

29. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 29 Hazard (danger) High Outrage (fear,anger) Low High Outrage Management Public Relations Precaution Advocacy Crisis / Emergency Communication Goal: Acknowledge hazard, validate concern, give people ways to act

30. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions EXPLAINING QUANTITATIVE DATA TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC How do we explain our work to others?

31. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Three Things to Remember Motivation Simplification Orientation

32. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Motivation When people are outraged numbers don’t help or hurt How you explain data is irrelevant Outraged people do not want to hear or believe the data Motivation –Reduce outrage –Make people want to hear the numbers Share power-give people a decision to make based on the data Find out what people are interested in and want to know

33. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Simplification Simplify language Simplify graphics Simplify content

34. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Simplify Language If the word is there to impress—cut it If the word needs defining, define it, then cut it out If you have to teach the jargon introduce the concept before the word When tension is high use less jargon Ask your audience to stop you if you use jargon they do not understand Keep your sentence structure simple Warn your audience about difficult material Avoid words that have technical meanings that differ from their common meanings

35. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Simplify Graphics Limit yourself to one point per graphic Put the conclusion right on the slide Use animation to simplify complex information Focus on bar graphs and pie charts when you can Stand in front of the graphic rather than behind it so you can look at it with your audience Use color to convey meaning but remember some people are color blind

36. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Simplify Content Stick to your main points Provide three different levels of complexity, organized like an onion –exec. sum., report, appendices Include only details that are needed to explain your main points or to avoid losing credibility later Don’t skimp on non- technical details like history, politics or context, do not leave out information the audience already knows Tell stories or at least use concrete language Personalize-be a person Check nonverbal cues for understanding

37. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Orientation Tell people where you are and where you are going Use risk comparisons carefully Don’t tell more than you know –Explain uncertainty –The right attitude

38. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Tell People Where You Are Going Remind people of the structure Use high level organizers Use inductive rather than deductive reasoning Distinguish major from minor points Test your technical explanations if you can Acknowledge preconceptions, especially if you are going to conflict with them Use “confidence limits” not just in your statistics but in your language Use more reasoning and less evidence (words not numbers) Use non-technical aids like examples, anecdotes, quotations and comparisons

39. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Use Risk Comparisons Carefully They do not work with outraged people Bound all comparisons –This is riskier than X less risky than Y Never use low outrage high hazard risks to compare to high outrage low hazard risks

40. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Explaining Uncertainty Don’t wait to be confronted acknowledge uncertainty up front Put bounds on the uncertainty Clarify that you’re more certain about some things than others Explain what you have done or are doing to reduce the uncertainty If the remaining uncertainty is very small or very difficult to reduce further, say so

41. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Explaining Uncertainty Explain conservativeness Report everybody’s estimates Don’t hide behind uncertainty Don’t perpetuate uncertainty Never say there is no evidence of X when you have not done the study that tests the possibility Stress that finding out for sure may be less important than taking appropriate precautions now

42. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Explaining Uncertainty Acknowledge that people disagree about what to do in the face of uncertainty Get people involved in reducing uncertainty themselves

43. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Right Attitude Don’t give too much guidance on what to think or feel Don’t get too technical or distant Leave the audience free to understand the data and draw the conclusions they want to draw rather than the conclusion you want them to draw.

44. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions 44 for Effective Message Development Risk & crisis communication is an ongoing process Communicate all of the risk –Existing risk –Residual risk –Transformed risk –Transferred risk For Effective Risk Communication BestPractices

45. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions MEANS OF COMMUNICATING

46. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Flood Risk Management 10-yr Floodplain Occupant

47. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

48. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

49. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

50. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

51. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Participation Continuum Inform the public Listen to the public Engage in problem solving Develop agreements Know what you want to do!

52. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Some “To” Techniques Briefings Exhibits and displays Feature stories Repositories Mailings Media interviews Media kits Talk shows News conferences Newsletters News releases Newspaper inserts and advertisements Panels Presentations PSA’s Symposia

53. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Some “From” Techniques Advisory group or task force Charette Coffee Klatch Computer simulation Consensus building Field trip Focus groups Hotlines Interviews Large group/small group meetings Shared Vision Planning http://www.svp.iwr.usace.army.mil/ http://www.svp.iwr.usace.army.mil/ MCDA

54. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Internet To –Information repository Data, models, reports –Publish information about events –Hotline –Up-to-minute information –Chatroom, discussion boards –Multi-media –Interactive –Downloads From –Web conferencing –Wiki spaces –Virtual communication –Interactive websites –Listserv –Shared spaces

55. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Learn Online

56. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Chat Rooms

57. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

58. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Baltimore Croatia Cameroon Rome

59. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

60. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

61. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Anyone can contribute A Wiki World

62. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Young people grow up working this way. You may read the newspaper, watch TV and listen to radio but they blog, email, IM, text message, send photos, Podcast, use the Internet, learn online, file share, work collaboratively. This is not the future it is the present. Web 2 is interactive, it is a global shared workspace. Why not CorpsSolvers? Put a problem “out there” and ask people to solve it. Ask for data, ideas, Offer prize money for a solution you use. Seek feedback in a running discussion board or chatroom.

63. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions We wrote an article collaboratively in the wiki

64. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions It took 52 tries over six months.

65. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions It was published here this spring

66. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions The Way People Work Is Changing Open-all are welcomed Peered-no one is in charge Shared-communal ownership Global-worldwide

67. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Open and Shared

68. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

69. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

70. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

71. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions

72. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Experiment, Innovate, Collaborate Spread your wings and fly Experiment with new technologies Vary your approach

73. “ Building Strong “ Delivering Integrated, Sustainable, Water Resources Solutions Questions?