Who is Dr. Jeannette Sutton, and how did she become one of the most influential voices in emergency alerting and warning research?

In this special episode of The Alerting Authority, co-host Eddie Bertola turns the tables and interviews Dr. Jeannette Sutton about her personal journey, professional influences, and vision for the future of emergency communication.

From her early work as a chaplain and victim advocate following the Columbine tragedy to conducting rapid-response research after 9/11, Dr. Sutton shares the experiences that shaped her career in disaster research, risk communication, and public warning systems. She discusses the mentors who influenced her, including Dennis Mileti and Kathleen Tierney, and reflects on groundbreaking research involving social media, disaster communication, and public response to emergencies.

The conversation also explores:

• The evolution of emergency alerting and warning systems
• Why research and real-world emergency management often struggle to connect
• Common mistakes in emergency alerts and warning messages
• The importance of plain language communication
• Public trust, alert fatigue, and over-alerting
• The future of AI-generated emergency alerts
• New warning standards and best practices
• The Warning Bootcamp and improving message design
• Dr. Sutton’s life outside of academia, including quilting, birdwatching, hiking, and endurance trail events

Whether you're an emergency manager, public safety communicator, researcher, student, or simply interested in how life-saving alerts are designed, this episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the field’s leading experts.

Every second has a story—and today, you’ll hear Dr. Jeannette Sutton’s.

What makes an emergency alert effective—and what causes public confusion, panic, or frustration? In this episode of The Alerting Authority, emergency communication experts Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola analyze some of the most memorable emergency alerts ever sent.

From the infamous Hawaii ballistic missile false alarm to controversial Texas Blue Alerts, poorly written Amber Alerts, wildfire evacuation messages, and successful missing child alerts, they break down what worked, what failed, and what emergency managers can learn from each case.

Discover how message structure, location specificity, timing, jargon, abbreviations, public trust, evacuation warnings, and all-clear notifications impact public response during emergencies. Learn best practices for Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), IPAWS messaging, wildfire evacuations, Amber Alerts, Blue Alerts, and public warning systems.

Whether you're an emergency manager, public safety professional, dispatcher, communications specialist, or researcher, this episode provides practical lessons on creating clear, actionable, and effective emergency alerts that save lives.

Topics Covered:

• Hawaii ballistic missile alert false alarm
• Texas Blue Alert controversy
• Amber Alert messaging failures
• Missing child alert success stories
• Wildfire evacuation messaging best practices
• IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts
• Public warning research and communication strategies
• Emergency management training and policy development
• How to reduce confusion and increase public action during crises

This episode is sponsored by HQE systems. Learn more at HQEsystems.com

What separates good emergency alerts from life-saving emergency alerts?

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Dr. Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with Thomas Walmsley, Director of Emergency Management for Bernalillo County, New Mexico, and the 2024 IAEM USA Emergency Manager of the Year.

With more than two decades of experience spanning military service, law enforcement, local government, federal programs, and academic research, Tom shares how modern emergency managers can leverage data, AI, and evidence-based messaging to improve warning systems and community resilience.

The conversation explores practical lessons learned from real-world incidents, the future of alerting standards, multilingual communication challenges, and how emergency managers can use tools like ChatGPT and AI to develop stronger message templates and better preparedness programs.

In This Episode:

- How Tom Walmsley became IAEM's Emergency Manager of the Year

- Building stronger emergency alerts using research and templates

- Using AI and ChatGPT in emergency management

- IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts best practices

- Cross-jurisdictional support and mutual aid agreements

- Pace planning and alert system redundancy

- GIS, Esri, and demographic intelligence

- Bilingual emergency alerts and Spanish-language messaging

- Evacuation planning and transportation considerations

- National standards for emergency management

- EMAP accreditation and professionalization of emergency management

- Lessons learned from alerting mistakes

- How data-driven decision-making improves public safety

Whether you're an emergency manager, public safety professional, PIO, researcher, first responder, or simply interested in disaster preparedness, this episode offers practical insights you can apply immediately.