Fall 1996 Articles

Disaster Recovery Journal

Volume 9, Issue 4
Fall 1996

Letter From the Editor

By Richard Arnold, CDRP

Once again, another conference has come to an end. Our Atlanta show, held September 9 - 11, 1996, was a complete success. With 850 attendees which included paid attendees, exhibitors, speakers and staff, the show was the largest Atlanta gathering of disaster recovery planners in our history.
This show attracted many first-time attendees as well as a number of veterans. The continued growth of our conferences is a clear indication of how the contingency planning industry is steadily growing. We believe this trend will continue, as do many others who work in the industry.
We distributed questionnaires at our Atlanta conference indicating proposed changes to our popular Issues and Answers session. Issues and Answers has been a general session in our past four conferences. The questionnaire asked several questions about whether the Issues and Answer session should be expanded, changed, or kept as it is.
Here are the results of two of the most pertinent questions:

1) Should it be a General Session? 140 -Yes / 247 - No
4) Should it be a Breakout Session? 315 -Yes / 132 - No
Thank you to those who took the time to complete this questionnaire. We have changed the San Diego schedule of events to include four Issues and Answers Breakout Sessions. We will use this data for scheduling sessions at the next Atlanta conference.
Mr. George Haddow, Policy Advisor to the Director of FEMA, was gracious enough to meet with me and several members of the EAB in Atlanta. We had a very fruitful discussion on various topics concerning FEMA and the private sector. Our general discussion focused on how we can develop better linkages between the private and public sectors during a disaster.
After our extended meeting we took a walk through the exhibit area of our conference. Mr. Haddow visited almost every one of the 81 booths and took time to question and listen to the many offerings our exhibitors provide. He was very impressed with the technical advances that have been made in disaster recovery planning.
Mr. Haddow extended his visit to include lunch and a discussion with several EAB members. Once again there was a fruitful exchange of ideas and concepts on how to better meet the needs of businesses of varied types and sizes during a disaster.
Mr. Haddow concluded his visit by offering to maintain the exchange of ideas and concepts on a regular basis. I look forward to our next meeting.
In this issue we have two surveys: PC-Based Software and Mainframe Software. These surveys contain a listing of numerous businesses in the industry which market such products. DRJ does not endorse any particular product; instead, we provide this listing as a service to our readers.
Any company which was not included in one of these surveys, but would like to be in the future, should contact our editorial department for a survey form.
During the Atlanta Conference, a special award was presented to Patti Fitzgerald for the number ofyears she has helped organizing the symposiums. Recently, she was voted on to the EAB.
Since a year ago, the EAB has helped Dan and I bring together the San Diego Conference. In this issue you will find the eight-page brochure announcing our next conference, The Eighth Annual Corporate Contingency Planning Seminar and Exhibition in San Diego. This brochure is on pages 19-26. If you would like additional copies of the brochure or need further information, please contact our office. The San Diego show has been very popular in past years (950 attendees in 1995 and 1,100 in 1996), so be sure to register early.
The DRJ staff and our Editorial Advisory Board are currently working on speakers and topics for the San Diego conference. We are always looking for new ideas, so please send your suggestions to our office.
A 20-page brochure detailing the session topics and speakers will be mailed soon.

Richard Arnold is the Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of the Disaster Recovery Journal

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Last Updated--Thursday, Oct 24, 1996.