EMPA

EMPA EMPA is dedicated to building an international community of practice of emergency communicators.

EMPA Ltd is a registered not-for-profit company formed by like-minded professionals aiming to further the profession of the emergency or crisis Communicator. EMPA runs an annual conference intended to share experience and knowledge amongst crisis communicators from both government and industry. EMPA has also established the EMPA Research and Development Centre, which aims to act as a centre for research ideas, but also as a ‘clearing house’ for research ideas from government and industry.

07/08/2025

👀 ☝️ Keep an eye out in your inbox and sign up to our latest webinar which takes place on 15 August at Midday AEST.

Everyone Understands: Language access in emergency.

Cathy Basterfield is a speech pathologist and leads a team of expert Easy English writers at Access Easy English. She will discuss the importance of language for communication with low literacy and English as second language people before, during and after an emergency.

26/06/2025

🎉The countdown to New Zealand’s EMPA Conference begins!🎉

Join us on Thursday 13 & Friday 14 November for a powerful 2-day conference packed with workshops, expert speakers, and unparalleled networking opportunities.

This is the only event in New Zealand dedicated to emergency communications and places are limited.

There has never been a more important time to increase our expertise in emergency communications.

🎟️ Early Bird Tickets are now available for $995 (plus gst & booking fees)
📅 When: Thursday 13 & Friday 14 November
📍 Where: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
$ Get tickets now: https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2025/2025-empa-conference-new-zealand/wellington

A huge congratulations to all the award winners and nominees who were awarded at this year’s conference. From recognisin...
07/06/2025

A huge congratulations to all the award winners and nominees who were awarded at this year’s conference.

From recognising recovery efforts, to impactful content creation, all the hard work in the emergency services sector was on display this week!

📍 Bunurong Country

Congratulations to Lucy Bell who was inducted as an EMPA fellow in recognition of her significant contribution to the em...
07/06/2025

Congratulations to Lucy Bell who was inducted as an EMPA fellow in recognition of her significant contribution to the emergency communications sector!

Lucy was described by her peers as a driving force with an infectious energy. Someone who is a true leader, persistent, a connector, community focused, and who never wavers in her commitment to great outcomes.

Lucy has been involved in EMPA since 2010 when she first started her EM career and reflected she has “grown up” professionally around EMPA over the last 15 years.

Lucy is currently the Manager of Public Information at EMV and has held a range of roles across the sector where she has developed her passion for emergency management - evident through the many high profile incidents and projects she's been involved in.

Well done Lucy!

📍 Bunurong Country

What an incredible three days it has been! As we wrapped up earlier this afternoon, we reflected on some of the successe...
06/06/2025

What an incredible three days it has been!

As we wrapped up earlier this afternoon, we reflected on some of the successes, including engaging panels, real-world case studies, workshops and networking opportunities.

An incredible thank you to everyone who joined us over the past three days, including delegates, the board and committee, our sponsors and each of the presenters.

Thank you, and see you next year!

📍 Bunurong Country

In an incredibly interactive exercise filled with breaking news updates, social media injects and an unsettled community...
06/06/2025

In an incredibly interactive exercise filled with breaking news updates, social media injects and an unsettled community, tables worked through a mock scenario focussed on floods. Lead by Daniel Barty and Jack Dobson from NEMA, the non-specific town of Nemia needed a communications plan, and EMPA delegates were there to answer the call.

Consistency of information in these situations is vital, especially across all levels of government. If we’re not sharing details – no matter how small – communities will seek answers from other sources.

📍 Bunurong Country

This morning Phillipe Borremans took the room through an engaging and informative workshop focussed on Artificial Intell...
06/06/2025

This morning Phillipe Borremans took the room through an engaging and informative workshop focussed on Artificial Intelligence. The session focussed on prompting AI – shaping our input for the best output in a timely manner.

By being specific in our requests and outlining the task, role, audience, context and intent, what AI produces will be of a higher quality.

📍 Bunurong Country

The third and final day of the Emergency Media and Public Affairs conference was opened by Bron Sparkes, EMPA board dire...
05/06/2025

The third and final day of the Emergency Media and Public Affairs conference was opened by Bron Sparkes, EMPA board director.

💡 The first workshop of the day was kicked off by Philippe Borremans who discussed Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how we can incorporate it in to everyday tasks as emergency communications practitioners.

📍 Bunurong Country

An incredible day two wrapped up with a bang, with an insightful conversation between Barbara Ryan from Cicada Research ...
05/06/2025

An incredible day two wrapped up with a bang, with an insightful conversation between Barbara Ryan from Cicada Research and Anni Fordham from DFES.

The discussion, hosted by Ali Martin, covered all things mis- and dis-information.

From the difference between the two (misinformation is accidental and disinformation is intentional), why people want to fan the flames (hint: it likely comes down to loneliness) and how best to combat it, their invaluable insights were both practical and informed by data.

📍 Bunurong Country

Dr David Rousell, Dr Liberty de Rivera, Dr Chantelle Bayes and Dr Kirstin Kreyscher elaborated on their key findings fro...
05/06/2025

Dr David Rousell, Dr Liberty de Rivera, Dr Chantelle Bayes and Dr Kirstin Kreyscher elaborated on their key findings from their Southern Cross University study titled ‘Floods and Me: Education in a Changing Climate’.

The project, which aims to understand children and young people’s flood experiences and its impact on their education, looked at the flooding events in both Lismore (NSW) and Maribyrnong (Victoria).

Children are often not thought of during emergencies and throughout recovery specifically, however this research explores the importance of ensuring their voices are heard, so that government policy can be better informed.

Learn more about this incredible work here: https://www.scu.edu.au/education/research/sustainability-environment-and-the-arts-in-education-seae-research-cluster/floods--me/

📍 Bunurong Country

Sharing their innovative approach to the Tropical Cyclone Alfred communication strategy, Emily Barton and Andrew McCullo...
05/06/2025

Sharing their innovative approach to the Tropical Cyclone Alfred communication strategy, Emily Barton and Andrew McCulloch of NSW SES covered developments in their warning space, how to build trust in changing emergencies and ensuring information is provided in a format that is useful for the intended audience.

They acknowledged that with the rise in digital media, the public has a strong desire for more information across more channels. To facilitate this, they successfully shared content in an audio format, so people could listen in to the latest updates if they were travelling or unable to stop and read.

They also trialled including influencers in their media plan, providing talking points to those who were already connected with the communities they were trying to reach and have established relationships.

📍 Bunurong Country

The first session of the afternoon saw Philippe Borremans switch the focus to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its use i...
05/06/2025

The first session of the afternoon saw Philippe Borremans switch the focus to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its use in crisis communications.

A passionate advocate for the use of AI, Phillipe explained that while it does have a bias – as do humans – this can be mitigated and shouldn’t be a reason to discount its implementation in communications.

He also focussed on the importance of a ‘human in the loop’ approach in our field, where due to the high-risk nature of the content we produce, there should always be someone involved in the review of content produced.

📍 Bunurong Country

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Brisbane, QLD

Website

https://linktr.ee/empa.org.au

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EMPA Ltd is a registered not-for-profit company formed by like-minded professionals aiming to further the profession of the emergency or crisis communicator. EMPA runs an annual conference intended to share experience and knowledge amongst crisis communicators from both government and industry. EMPA has also established the EMPA Research and Development Centre, which aims to act as a centre for research ideas, but also as a ‘clearing house’ for research ideas from government and industry.