Our guidance for major events follows a simple arc: prepare, respond, dispel, recover. Here's how that plays out for a tournament of this scale and any major event!
Before the Whistle: Preparedness Messaging
Residents in host cities need to know what's coming before it arrives. Use Nextdoor's geo-targeting to push neighborhood-specific messages about what to expect: traffic patterns, road closures, crowd concentrations, and how to report something that feels off.
Post events in advance so neighbors can plan their participation or plan around them. Educate your community on how to identify and report suspicious activity without creating panic. Trust is built before the stakes are high.
Game Day: Response Messaging
When something happens, speed and precision matter. Nextdoor's geo-targeted alerts let you push a message to specific neighborhoods, service areas, or the entire municipality — in real time. Use this capability to communicate about:
- Active incidents and how to submit tips
- Evacuation orders and clear routes
- Traffic flow changes as they happen
- Shelter and resource locations
- Anything neighbors need to make a safe, informed decision
This is also the moment to activate your community itself. A simple post encouraging neighbors to check on each other creates a mutual aid layer that no agency can replicate at scale alone.
Countering the Noise: Dispel and Correct
High-profile events generate misinformation fast. A rumor about a security incident can spread across social platforms in minutes. Nextdoor gives you a direct channel to the verified residents in your area — use it to correct the record, address ongoing hazards, and share authoritative resources before false narratives take hold.
Afterward: Recovery Messaging
The playbook doesn't end when the final match does. If your community needs recovery support, Nextdoor is where neighbors will look for information on grants, loans, service schedule changes, and community resources. Keep your presence active and your information current.
Set Your Agency Up Before the Tournament Starts
There are a few practical steps every agency should complete now, not in June:
- Bake Nextdoor into your crisis communications plan so your team knows when and how to use it.
- Invite partner agencies — transit, law enforcement, public health — to create their own pages and coordinate messaging.
- Ensure at least two staff members have admin access so a single point of failure doesn't leave you dark during an incident.
- Connect your existing mass notification platforms — CivicPlus, Konexus, and Hyper Reach — so your alerts automatically publish to Nextdoor.
Download the Full Guidance
Everything above is drawn from our Major Event Guidance for Public Agencies — a resource built specifically to help emergency managers and public communicators get the most out of Nextdoor when the stakes are high.
If you want to talk through how your agency can prepare before the tournament kicks off, reach out to us at [email protected]. We're here to help.
