General Sessions
Some of the nation's leading continuity, security and motivational experts will lead our General Sessions each morning. These sessions are geared to contingency planners of all experience levels. Be prepared to discover strategies and solutions that can be implemented across the board.
General Session 1 (Monday)
How to Lead Change, Increase Passion and Build Success
8:15 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Joel Zeff
It's hard to have fun at work during stressful times. Maybe it is just easier to be cranky. We are all facing challenges. How do we continue to motivate and energize our employees during difficult times? You can have fun. And in the process, reduce your stress and create a more productive and innovative work environment. First, create a foundation so fun can exist. Learn ideas to reduce your stress, help motivate your employees and create a foundation to have more fun.
Joel Zeff is a national speaker and humorist. He captivates audiences with a unique blend of hilarious improvisational comedy and essential ideas on work and life.
General Session 2 (Monday)
BCP Boot Camp – How to Whip Your Crisis Communication Plan Into Shape
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Tony Schmitz
What innovations are driving the sector? What future regulatory changes might change the way we do things? Learn from industry leaders as they chair a lively and provocative roundtable that will cover a broad range of topics germane to BCP managers, DR professionals and anyone responsible for crisis management and communication. The roundtable group will cover best practices, lessons learned from the frontlines, mistakes made and what to avoid. Fasten your seatbelt for what is sure to be a raucous conversation and lots of fun!
Tony Schmitz, CEO of SendWordNow, has been an entrepreneur and business executive since 1983, creating and building value for technology companies across the New York region.
He will be joined by Howard B. Price, CBCP, director of business continuity and crisis management at ABC News in New York, and several other industry leaders.
General Session 3 (Monday)
The Silly Little Question: Why Are We Doing This?
10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
Regina Phelps, EMSS
Exercises are a mainstay in the field of emergency management and BC planning. This fast paced session starts with the "silly little question…" Why are we doing this? What looks like a simple query is actually one of the keys to getting the most out of every exercise you design. This exercise peels back the design process with the goal of creating the best experience possible. This session will provide you some gems that will make your exercise sizzle.
Regina Phelps, CEM, RN, BSN, MPA is founder of Emergency Management and Safety Solutions.
General Session 4 (Tuesday)
Crisis Communication: Lessons Learned from the Last Year
8:15 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Robert Chandler, Univ. of Central Florida
This session provides a review of several major 2010 crisis disasters including the Toyota recall crisis, BP Gulf oil spill, national egg recall, and others. It identifies a number of key lessons which can better prepare for crisis communication during the next disaster. Discussion will include how the failures/successes can help identify important planning and preparedness factors. Focus will be on the necessity for comprehensive communication planning and preparedness to best ensure safety, business operations, company image/reputation, and long term continuity of brand value and public trust.
Dr. Robert C. Chandler, Ph.D., is professor of communication and director of the Nicholson School of Communication at the University of Central Florida.
General Session 5 (Tuesday)
Beyond Business Continuity Planning: What Makes Your Organization Truly Resilient
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Tracey Forbes, SunGard Availability Svcs.
Business continuity can run the gamut from a "plan on the shelf" to an enterprise-wide resiliency program. And while continuity and recovery plans can address the compliancy checkbox, in reality they may serve as a false sense of security. Stalled recoveries to critical IT systems have quick consequences for the business operations they support. This session will reveal tried and true approaches when a comprehensive BC/DR program is applied in practice, from planning and assessing vulnerabilities, implementing backup and recovery strategies to crisis communications and testing—a business continuity program can prove demonstrated value to an organization's viability and resiliency.
Tracey Forbes is the vice president of product development at SunGard Availability Services.
General Session 6 (Tuesday)
Anatomy of a Disaster
10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
Curtis Smerud, The Smerud Group
Catastrophic disasters are no place to learn if your DR plans will save your organization from bankruptcy. This chilling presentation will leverage real world experiences to dissect each systematic step of a real recovery. From triage to recovery and salvage to restoration, this presentation will outline the challenges you'll encounter during each recovery phase, while addressing the often overlooked pitfalls found in most DR plans. You'll also be challenged to take a pragmatic look at the true resiliency of your DR program and what can be done to mitigate your greatest risks.
Curtis Smerud Is president of The Smerud Group LLC specializing in DR and IT consultancy services.
General Session 7 (Wednesday)
Integrating Business Continuity with Crisis and Emergency Management
8:15 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Bruce Blythe, Crisis Management Intl.
A solid business continuity plan guides an organization in keeping operations seamless before, during and after a crisis, but does it take into account the specific needs of employees and their families? Does it provide guidance for crisis communications and legal response? Does it provide guidance for all aspects at various points during and immediately after a crisis occurs? Learn how to identify the separate needs of all parties affected by a crisis, and how those needs vary over time. Take and use guidelines will be provided to encourage leadership involvement and support in plan development and revision, as well as how to structure and integrate all programs.
Bruce Blythe is CEO of Crisis Management International, chairman of Crisis Care Network, and chairman of Behavioral/Medical Interventions.
General Session 8 (Wednesday)
Ensuring Continuous Data Availability: Best Practices for a Highly Available Enterprise
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m
Ashish Ray, Oracle
In today's networked economy, data outages, whether planned or unplanned, have costly ripple effects within an enterprise and its business partners. As database sizes and availability demands increase, enterprises must ensure that the right data protection architecture is in place. This presentation analyzes various data protection and data recovery techniques available today, and outlines several best-practice recommendations that enable 24x7 access to enterprise data, providing the foundations for a highly available enterprise.
Ashish Ray is senior director of product management for Oracle's Database High Availability development organization.
General Session 9 (Wednesday)
Am I Complete?
10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
Barry Pruitt, Pinnacle Business Concepts
Don't be stymied by uncooperative senior management and competing business objectives – and don't lose hope if you're struggling to make connections and gain rapport. Whether planning emergency response teams, facility drills, hot-site activation or a BIA, it's a fact—completing your work on time, budget, and with desired results is not enough – and it's not enough to secure funding, keep others focused, successfully deal with difficult personalities, and play politics. To be a complete professional you'll need a balance of all these skills which is why you should attend this session. Stop being misunderstood as a risk, BC or DR professional and gain insight to develop professional depth and personal skills for credibility, rapport, trust, and ultimately - results.
Barry Pruitt is president of Pinnacle Business Concepts Inc, which specializes in comprehensive BC/resiliency planning and education.
