In my last column, I mentioned that Disaster Recovery Journal is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2007. This is quite a milestone for us, so I wanted to elaborate a little more on our celebrations.
The cover is a compilation of many photos we have collected over the past two decades. There have been a number of amazing disasters and recoveries that have occurred. Take a few moments and closely examine each photo. Where were you when those happened? Were you involved in the industry at that time? Were you in school or in a different field of work? A lot has happened in our lifetimes.
It is fun to reflect on the past. I can recall exactly where I was during most of the disasters we have featured. Some that stand out in my mind are the Chicago floods, Hurricane Andrew, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Los Angeles riots, the San Francisco earthquake and the great Midwest flood of 1993. I have written about these disasters many times. I hope by they remain in our memories and the lessons they provide will not be forgotten.
Other recent disasters, such as Hurricanes Charlie, Katrina and Rita, the 9/11 tragedy, and the tsunami, are fresher in our minds. We can better recall what was going on in our own lives and recognize how these events have changed business continuity.
If you have an interesting story to tell about a particular disaster or event of the past 20 years, drop me an e-mail at richard@drj.com. I would love to hear from our readers.
Bill Worsley, John Jackson and Ed Devlin wrote personal accounts of our history for this issue. All of these gentlemen have become great friends of mine over the years. They have contributed a lot to helping DRJ grow, and contributed much to our industry. I am very thankful they took time to reflect on our anniversary.
We started from humble beginnings and are proud of what we have been able to accomplish the past two decades. We are continually adding new offerings to continue the dream I had 20 years ago of helping educate the people in this industry.
Some of the most recent educational opportunities include our new Webinars. The Webinars are online seminars featuring business continuity topics and are designed to educate and inform planners from all aspects of the continuity industry. Speakers will include experts from business, industry and government sectors. We’re making these Webinars affordable so everyone in our industry can have a chance to participate. Visit www.drj.com for more information.
Another upcoming event is our next conference, Spring World 2007. It is scheduled for March 25-28 in Orlando, Fla. We will have several special celebrations in honor of our anniversary. For one, Lou Heckler will be our motivational speaker during the first general session. Heckler was our first motivational speaker many years ago. It will be great to hear him speak again. I am sure he will have a lot to say about our changing industry and our growing conferences.
We are also giving away exciting daily prizes, including a three-day Caribbean cruise! This is a fantastic prize. One participant will win a cruise for two on a Royal Caribbean ship. Additional spending money will also be included. There will also be other exciting daily prizes given away to help celebrate DRJ’s anniversary.
Our conference’s theme is “Set Your Course.” We want you to navigate your way to the industry’s No. 1 conference – and land on a path to success! If you would like a brochure, visit our Web site at www.drj.com. Register early because we already have more than 675 people registered.
I hope you enjoy learning more about DRJ’s history in this issue. I also hope to see you at Spring World 2007! Join us for fun and excitement as we celebrate the history of DRJ and the milestones in this industry.
See you in Orlando!
"Appeared in DRJ's Winter 2007 Issue"
