Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication Webinars

Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) training can help responders and public health professionals prepare to communicate in an emergency. CERC trainings are based on lessons learned during public health emergencies, evidence-based practices from the fields of risk and crisis communication, and psychology. The CERC program offers training in webinar and in-person formats.

Webinars for Specific Health Threats

CERC Overview for COVID-19

Date: Monday, April 6, 2020

Time: 1:00 p.m. (EDT)

Health communication professionals, public officials, and others working to share information during the novel coronavirus outbreak can apply Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) principles to more effectively develop and share COVID-19 messages.


Zika CERC Discussions

Dates: May 17, 2016 to August 16, 2019

CDC hosted a series of weekly Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) teleconferences related to Zika. These calls aimed to address communication concerns and needs of state, local, and territorial health department and partner organization communicators.

CERC Webinars
Thumbnail image of the CERC logo
Introduction to Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication (CERC)
Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
CDC’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) webinars help emergency responders and health communication professionals learn more about CERC principles so that they can communicate more effectively during emergencies.

young girl with tears being held by a woman
The Psychology of a Crisis
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
CDC’s CERC webinar, Psychology of a Crisis, addresses how people process information differently during a crisis. We’ll examine the psychological barriers to communication that tend to emerge in crises, factors that impact perception of risk, and how to build trust to communicate more effectively.

thumbnail image of cerc course: Messages and Audiences
Messages and Audiences
Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
CDC’s CERC webinar, Messages and Audiences, provides guidance on how to understand your audiences in an emergency, adapt messaging to reach and promote action in different audience segments, and how to use facts to build credibility and trust.

CERC design element over photo of men visiting disaster site
Community Engagement
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
CDC’s CERC webinar, Community Engagement, shows how to inform and involve communities to make the best decisions for their health and recovery in an emergency. CERC acknowledges that all emergency responses start locally and different communities have different perspectives, needs, and priorities. In this webinar, participants will learn about how to understand diverse communities, the different methods for engagement, and how to guide decision-making.

CERC design element over photo of Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director of CDC
Spokesperson
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
CDC’s CERC webinar, Spokesperson, explains the critical role of an organization’s spokesperson in an emergency and provides tips for spokespersons and those helping them to prepare for an emergency response.

thumbnail: communcation channels
Communication Channels
Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
CDC’s CERC webinar, Communication Channels, offers guidance on how to select the appropriate channels for communication during an emergency. We’ll examine what it means to be first in an emergency, identify the channels people actually use, and discuss what to do when access to information channels becomes challenging.

Page last reviewed: June 6, 2018