Workshop | Online (Zoom)
Defeating disaster disinformation: build your own information integrity process
A hands-on online workshop for natural hazard communicators and spokespeople.
Four Wednesdays, two hours each from 2pm, starting January 20, 2027.
When a flood, fire or storm hits, false claims move fast. Invented evacuation orders, fake death tolls and conspiracy theories about the cause and disaster relief can pull your people off the response and recovery and erode the trust you need to keep communities safe.
In this four-session workshop you won't just hear about the problem. You will build a practical information integrity process, shaped around your own organisation, your hazards, your communities and your information environment, ready to use.
Dr Barbara Ryan brings experience of 40 years spanning journalism, consulting and academia
She digs deep into the latest research and translates it into sharp, practical communication planning and skills that you can use right away.
Rebecca Riggs brings 15+ years of communication expertise in crisis and disaster across government, emergency services and corporate sectors.
A dynamic and engaging workshop leader, she turns complex strategy into practical skills — leaving everyone in the audience informed, energised and ready to act.
This is an interactive workshop. Between sessions you will apply each step to your own context, and bring your results back for discussion and feedback.
By the end you will have:
A map of your own information environment: the channels, audiences and narratives that matter for your hazards.
A simple way to spot and sort what you are seeing, including misinformation, disinformation, grievances and accountability claims, so each gets the right response.
Pre-season, in-event and post-event steps for monitoring, prebunking, spokesperson briefing and debriefing.
Draft inoculation messages and rapid-response approaches you can adapt for your community.
Clear triggers, roles and sign-off points, so human judgement and accountability stay at the centre.
A process you can run with a small team and no specialist software, and a view of where data tools and AI could help as you scale.