Today's public information officers and spokespersons are navigating two forces that are reshaping the profession in real time: artificial intelligence and the relentless spread of misinformation and disinformation. In this session, crisis communications expert Dan Stoneking draws on his experience leading a nonprofit built around emergency management communications and a firm dedicated to message strategy to unpack what these forces really mean for strategic communicators - and how to turn them from threats into tools.

On the AI side, Dan will address the concerns weighing on many communicators, including job security, professional ethos, and reputation, and reframe the conversation around knowledge management: we manage the technology; it doesn't manage us. He'll walk through AI's evolution and the shift from broad, general-purpose generative tools to sharper, more focused AI applications (think the leap from VHS to DVD to streaming), and make the case that communicators can't afford to be left behind and should use every tool available to them.

On the misinformation and disinformation side, Dan will define the difference between the two and share a practical playbook communicators can put to use immediately, anticipating problems before they spread, monitoring the information environment, building a rumor control dashboard, spotting trends and triaging priorities, collaborating across teams, confronting falsehoods with facts and evidence, leveraging trusted third parties, emphasizing core values, capturing lessons learned, and exercising the plan before a crisis hits.

The session will close with an open Q&A, giving attendees the chance to bring their own AI and misinformation challenges directly to Dan.

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What You'll Learn

• How to address AI-driven concerns around job security, ethos, and reputation head-on
• A framework for managing AI as a knowledge tool rather than being managed by it
• The difference between general generative AI and focused AI and how to choose the right tool for the job
• How to define and distinguish misinformation from disinformation
• A field-tested strategy for anticipating, monitoring, and responding to rumors and false narratives
• How to build and exercise a rumor control dashboard before a crisis hits

About the Speaker

Dan Stoneking is the founder and vice president of the Emergency Management External Affairs Association, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting public information professionals in the emergency management space, and the founder of Message Prism, a communications strategy firm. He spends his days at the intersection of crisis communications, public affairs, and emerging technology, helping organizations and spokespersons navigate the fast-moving challenges of artificial intelligence and information integrity. Dan is the author of Crisis Communications and Emergency Management: Why Alignment Matters and How to Earn It and co-author of Cultivate Your Garden: Crisis Communications from 30,000 Feet to Three Feet, and writes regularly on emergency management, AI, and misinformation for HSToday.

Further Reading

Crisis Communicators Are Irreplaceable — HSToday

Emergency Management and Generative AI — HSToday

Confronting Misinformation During Disasters: Strategies for Crisis Communicators — HSToday

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