Best Practices for Message Development in High Concern Situations

This chapter describes best practices and tools for developing messages that can be heard, understood, and believed by individuals experiencing the stress of a risky, high concern, or crisis situation. It discusses how to develop more effective messages in the context of knowledge about the brain's decision‐making processes under high stress. The following decision‐making factors come into play in high‐stress situations and relate most directly to best practices in message development: trust determination, impaired comprehension, negative dominance, and the emotional impact of stress. The chapter provides detailed guidance for constructing clear messages through the essential tool of message mapping. One of the most powerful strategic tools for developing clear and concise risk, high concern, and crisis messages is the message map. Message development for risk, high concern, and crisis situations is a complex task requiring extensive planning, preparation, and practice.