Co-sponsors included: Evergreen Assurance, FedEx Custom Critical, Forsythe Solutions, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, MessageOne, Quantum DLT Tape, Sprint, SunGard Availability Services, DRI International and PPBI.
Emergency Management & Safety Solutions and Business Recovery Managers Association sponsored the mock disaster while Agility Recovery Solutions sponsored the Cyber Café.
“One of the greatest benefits of this conference is the chance to network with my peers,” said Michael Gifford, CBCP, of Bank One. “Lots of great ideas from the exhibit hall and product demonstrations.”
The exhibit hall was filled to capacity, with more than 80 exhibitors manning almost 100 booths. “That definitely showed the support of the industry from the vendors with the services and products they offer,” said Arnold.
“This is an excellent and well organized conference,” said Trevor Nelson, CBCP, of Nationwide Insurance. “This is my third time since 2000 and I’ve noticed the growth in attendance and vendors.”
DRJ President Richard L. Arnold is pleased with the growth of the conference, despite many companies cutting budgets and travel expenses.
A special session was added to the agenda to discuss the Northeast power outage. More than 700 people attended the special session.
“The attendance at our blackout special session was tremendous,” said Bob Arnold. “Once again, this event showed the vulnerability of even well-protected corporations. Attendees wanted to learn as much as they could about this event.”
Prior to the conference, Anney Jansen, CBCP, of Fidelity Investments, won the deluxe San Diego vacation package as part of DRJ’s 15-year anniversary celebration. Stephen Miksza, of Sunlife Financial Canada, won the second prize entertainment package, which included dinner and tickets to local attractions.
DRJ will celebrate its 30th conference March 7-10, 2004, in Orlando, Fla. For more information on Spring World 2004, see pages 79-85.
