Courses

Mpact Communication prides itself on the development and use of advanced communication techniques. Our methods are rooted in decades of social science research and practical experience. We not only keep up-to-date on all the current findings in risk and crisis communication, social influence, and decision making, — we also conduct and publish our own industry-shaping research!

Mpact offers a number of training opportunities catered to your organization’s individual needs. Specialized courses include:

Risk Communication
At Mpact, our risk communication course teaches students about the factors that affect people’s risk perceptions. Research and experience reveals that one of the most important keys to success in risk communication is an organization’s ability to establish, maintain, and increase trust and credibility with key stakeholders, including employees, regulatory agencies, citizen groups, the public and the media. We provide training on developing credibility, how to tailor risk messages to diverse audiences, developing messages that take into account the emotions that arise in risk situations, and more.

Crisis Communication
Mpact’s crisis communication course serves those who must prepare for unexpected events that have the potential to negatively impact stakeholder perceptions. This course is suited for those who must perform crisis and risk communication and media relations in the event of a public health, environmental, or other type of emergency. The target audiences include federal, state, and local government employees, public health professionals; emergency medical services professionals; preparedness partners; and civic and community leaders among others. This class will teach about how anxiety affects the public’s ability to process information during a crisis, developing effective messages for high stress situations, how to deal with fear and anger in a crisis, and much more.

Social Marketing
Mpact’s social marketing course deals with how the marketing principles that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to “sell” pro-social attitudes and behaviors. Social marketing seeks to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society. This class will cover basic marketing principles and how to translate them to pro-social topics, picking a theory that suits the issue of concern, dealing with barriers to change, and how to set-up an effective campaign.

Media Engagement
During a crisis, when an organization’s reputation comes under attack, managing perceptions while restoring confidence becomes the highest priority. This is particularly true in today’s 24 hour news cycle. When potentially negative events occur, the media firestorm can quickly overwhelm the ability of organizational communicators to effectively respond to the demands of the crisis. To emerge with an intact reputation, an organization must anticipate every move and respond with immediacy and confidence. We will train communicators topartner with the media to reach key audinces. We will teach you to handle “ambush” questions with confidence and professionalism.

Topics discussed include: developing organized and clear messages, staying on point, and using effective non-verbal communication to look as credible and trustworthy as you really are!

Message Development
Organizations often have to create effective messages, whether in the form of public service announcements, brochures and booklets, websites, or even interpersonal communication. Mpact’s message design class will cover the options that are available when developing messages, how to construct and communicate evidence, when emotional messages are appropriate and how to create them, how to use effective and vivid language, and when to use which message options.

In addition to our standard courses, Mpact will work with your organization to develop courses tailored to your specific needs.