Emergencies demand swift action. But, speed without coordination creates confusion, mixed messaging, and long-term damage to community trust. During critical incidents, municipalities and public safety agencies often find themselves communicating simultaneously without clearly defined roles, leading to operational overlap, contradictory messaging, and avoidable reputational harm.
This free, one-hour webinar explores practical frameworks for separating communication lanes, defining responsibilities, and ensuring the right information reaches the right audiences at the right time.
Webinar Details
📅 Date: June 23, 2026
🕑 Time: 12:00–1:00 p.m. EDT (40 min presentation + 20 min Q&A)
📍 Location: Virtual – link provided after registration
💵 Cost: Free
What You’ll Learn
Participants will gain actionable strategies to improve coordination between municipal leadership and public safety communicators while maintaining operational integrity, transparency, and public confidence during crises. Key takeaways include:
The most common communication failures that occur during emergencies and how to avoid them
How to clearly define the roles of municipal communications teams versus public safety communicators during critical incidents
Practical audience segmentation strategies to ensure messages are tailored appropriately across stakeholders, media, residents, and elected officials
How to reduce confusion, duplication, and contradictory messaging during fast-moving events
Best practices for establishing coordinated workflows between city leadership, emergency management, and law enforcement communications teams
Strategies for protecting long-term community trust and institutional credibility during high-pressure incidents
Who Should Attend
Municipal communications professionals
Public information officers (PIOs)
Law enforcement communications teams
City managers and assistant city managers
Emergency management professionals
Police command staff and executive leadership
Elected officials and policy advisors
Government affairs and public engagement professionals
Municipal department heads involved in crisis response
Homeland security personnel
About the Presenters
Dr. Eric Kowalczyk and Stephanie Slater Goldfuss bring more than 35 years of combined experience in crisis communications, media relations, and strategic public affairs. Together, they have prepared for and responded to critical incidents, including natural disasters, police-involved shootings, civil unrest, officer-involved intentional homicides, line-of-duty deaths, major reputational crises, and high-profile community trust incidents. Combined, Eric and Stephanie have participated in hundreds of local and national television, radio, digital, and print media interviews and have trained public safety leaders, municipal officials, and communications professionals nationwide on crisis response, strategic messaging, and media engagement.
Dr. J. Eric Kowalczyk is a nationally recognized crisis communications strategist, author, and public speaker. As the CEO of Connection Point, Eric has guided municipalities, law enforcement agencies, and nonprofits through high-stakes situations, including natural disasters, civil unrest, and large-scale emergencies. His methodology and crisis communication framework have been adopted by leaders nationwide.
Stephanie Slater Goldfuss is a nationally sought-after media training consultant and strategic communications leader with more than a decade of experience teaching crisis communications, messaging strategy, and public relations best practices. She is a past president of the NIOA and has extensive experience navigating sensitive and high-profile incidents while helping public safety agencies strengthen community trust through clear, effective communication.