Emergency Management Magazine posted a great article written by Adam Stone about catastrophic power outages. The article lays out some interesting facts and prompts many thoughts on how our society would sustain with limited power. Mr. Stone also mentions how vulnerable our grids are to both cyber attacks and squirrels!
Tag Timothy Riecker
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 7: Develop Exercise Documentation
This post is part of a 10-part series on Managing an Exercise Program. In this series I provide some of my own lessons learned in the program and project management aspects of managing, designing, conducting, and evaluating Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) exercises. Your feedback is appreciated!
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 1
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 2: Develop a Preparedness Strategy
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 3: Identify Program Resources and Funding
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 4: Conduct an Annual Training & Exercise Planning Workshop.
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 5: Securing Project Funding
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 6: Conducting Exercise Planning Conferences
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 7: Develop Exercise Documentation
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 8: Preparing Support, Personnel, & Logistical Requirements
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 9: Conducting an Exercise
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 10: Evaluation and Improvement Planning
First I’d like to say that this series of exercise articles has gotten a fair amount of traffic, which I’m quite grateful for. I’m hopeful that my thoughts and ideas have been able to help those who are looking for experienced insight into emergency management and homeland security exercises. Certainly if you have anything that you’d like to contribute or have any questions, please post a comment.
We can’t avoid paperwork – ever. Documentation in exercises, just like in the incident command system (ICS), is a necessity. Don’t see it as a burden, though, instead view these documents as outcomes of the planning and decision-making process of exercise design. Just like an incident action plan (IAP) is the result of the planning process in ICS, the primary documents used in exercises (Exercise Plans, Control and Evaluation Plans, Exercise Evaluation Guides, Situation Manual, and Master Scenario Events List) are outcomes of the processes of exercise design. The graphic below is from HSEEP Volume 2 and provides a quick reference of each document I just listed. As you will see, each document meets a specific need and is intended for a specific audience. I will outline some of my tips on each document (except the presentation) below.
Primary HSEEP Documents
Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs) The National Exercise Program provides a variety of EEG templates on their website. These are an excellent start for your exercise. Remember that these can and should be customized for your exercise! While we use capabilities-based exercise planning concepts, and the capabilities are standardized, both the capacity available to anyone in each capability and the means by which a capability is implemented is going to very broadly across the country. Bottom line: we don’t all do things the same way and we may not be evaluating an entire capability as it’s commonly defined. EEGs need to be focused on evaluating objectives within given capabilities. This means that exercise objectives need to be very well-developed to ensure that we are 1) designing an exercise effectively, and 2) evaluating that exercise appropriately. If we fail in any of these steps (objective development, exercise design, exercise evaluation) we are simply wasting our time. If need be, draw in your subject matter experts (likely the folks who will be evaluating these areas of the exercise) and get their input on the development of the EEG. Also consider what the purpose of the EEG is: it helps guide the evaluator in providing constructive commentary on each exercise objective, which will ultimately contribute toward the After Action Report (AAR).
Situation Manual (SitMan) A SitMan, as stated in the chart above, is used only in discussion-based exercises and is available to all participants. It should include all information participants need to know to effectively play their role in the exercise. The most important aspect of this is context and background of the scenario. Without a well-developed scenario, players have a difficult time getting their ‘head in the game’. The SitMan will also outline the exercise structure and rules of play, which can vary widely between exercise types (i.e. seminar, workshop, or table top). Having a good understanding of this information will help players to know what is expected of them. Be sure to have this (and all) documents reviewed for readability – your focus should be on the audience! Under most circumstances, the SitMan can be distributed to participants ahead of time.
Controller/Evaluator Plan/Handbook This document is very audience-focused and as such should very clearly outline the expectations you have of the controllers and evaluators. It should fully describe their positions, schedules, locations, and scope, as well as expectations.
Exercise Plan (ExPlan) The ExPlan is often times the core document that everyone wants a copy of – and largely everyone should have access to. Consider the ExPlan just like the IAP of an incident. It fully describes what is taking place, where, when, how, and who is involved. This document will be as complex as your exercise. For exercises involving multiple venues, each venue should have its own sub-section in the ExPlan describing all the details of what is happening there.
Master Scenario Events List (MSEL) The MSEL is the script of the exercise. It should capture everything that is scheduled to occur – from StartEx to EndEx and everything in between. The bulk of the document is injects, which should be written in detail and carefully reviewed and edited for content and accuracy. Contingency or back-up injects should also be included but specially indicated as such. Simulators should keep track of the actual time an inject was performed and what the response was, if any. This data can be important for both in-exercise follow-up as well as post-exercise evaluation.
Other Documents Don’t get stuck within the confines of what’s defined by HSEEP. If you find that you need something else, create it and use it. I’ve found on several exercises that a very detailed scenario, perhaps even including simulated situation reports and incident action plans is needed. We’ve come to regard this document as a Ground Truth. The information in a ground truth doesn’t necessarily need to go to everyone (thus not including it in the ExPlan), especially if the exercise will cover multiple operational periods/shift changes, as the ground truth information is largely only relevant to the starting players.
What tips or experiences do you have with exercise documents? What other documents have you formulated to meet needs?
Thanks for reading, and be on the look out for Managing an Exercise Program – Part 8: Prepare Support Personnel and Logistical Requirements
Reblog – School Security
Excellent guidance, not only for schools but for other facilities as well.
Although the facts remain unclear as to how Adam Lanza, 20, was able to enter Sandy Hook Elementary School and kill 26 children and adults on Friday, news reports indicate he forced his way into the front entrance, possibly by shooting out or somehow breaking glass in the office’s door or window. It has also been reported that the front entrance was equipped with an intercom/camera system designed to screen visitors. Additionally, all of the other entrances/exits to the school were locked by the time Lanza entered the school.
What the official investigation will reveal remains to be seen. That said, considering the attack began at the school’s front door, it would behoove K-5 officials to review the security of their campuses’ entrances.
If anything good can come from Sandy Hook, it’s the knowledge that the security upgrades recently implemented at the school, as well as the heroic actions of…
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Managing an Exercise Program – Part 6: Conducting Exercise Planning Conferences
This post is part of a 10-part series on Managing an Exercise Program. In this series I provide some of my own lessons learned in the program and project management aspects of managing, designing, conducting, and evaluating Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) exercises. Your feedback is appreciated!
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 1
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 2: Develop a Preparedness Strategy
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 3: Identify Program Resources and Funding
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 4: Conduct an Annual Training & Exercise Planning Workshop.
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 5: Securing Project Funding
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 6: Conducting Exercise Planning Conferences
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 7: Develop Exercise Documentation
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 8: Preparing Support, Personnel, & Logistical Requirements
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 9: Conducting an Exercise
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 10: Evaluation and Improvement Planning
Conducting exercise planning conferences is one of my favorite parts of exercise project management (note that in these phases, we transitioned in the previous step from program management to project management – although in the big picture we are still managing our exercise program and the projects within it).
HSEEP Cycle
You will notice that the HSEEP cycle doesn’t provide specific steps for gaining buy-in for your exercise or organizing your planning team. These are identified in HSEEP Volume II, which you should be using as a reference. I mentioned getting buy-in for the general concept of your exercise in Part 5 as part of building your business case for obtaining funding. Obviously securing buy-in is extremely important as you won’t be able to move forward with the exercise initiative without the blessing of not only your executives but those of any partnering agencies or organizations. Speaking of executives, you will want to ensure that they are provided with regular briefings (either orally or in writing – whichever is most appropriate) throughout the design phase. It’s important to ensure their continued support, especially as the exercise is fleshed out and the commitment of their agency resources is solidified.
I won’t spend a lot of time discussing the membership of the planning team as I have given plenty of lip service in earlier posts in this series to ensuring that you surround yourself with the right people and make the right connections and partnership with other agencies. Organization of the planning team is very important, however. A smaller team rather than a larger one is easier to manage and coordinate – especially for your core team. I’ve seen great success personally in two tiers of planning teams. The first is a core team – these are the folks who do most of the work and make most of the decisions – thus they come from the most significantly involved stakeholders. You want people know exercises and generally have experience in planning them. The second tier planning team consists of everyone else. There may be a number of entities who want to participate in the exercise but will have limited participation (such as most individual agencies participating in a table top exercise or in a functional exercise in your EOC). The input of these agencies is important, as they will provide their own exercise objectives and other ideas, but their planning role is generally limited to their own participation rather than that of multiple agencies. Not every agency needs to be represented in the planning team directly. In the even of several fire departments, for example, being represented in a larger-scope exercise, perhaps the department which you expect to have the most participation could represent the interests of the others. It’s important, however, to not forget that these other agencies are participating. Many of these folks will need to be guided through the exercise planning process and provided with some assistance to ensure that they meet the deliverables due to you (such as templates for exercise objectives). You may even want to consider some small seminars on HSEEP, specifically the exercise planning and design process. Lastly, the individuals themselves should be folks who are not playing in the exercise. I’m generally not a fan of the ‘trusted agent’ concept, unless you have little choice to do so.
HSEEP recommends an organization similar to an ICS-based model for your planning team. That is, certain agencies (and their representatives) would be part of ‘command’, others would be part of operations, logistics, safety, public information, planning, etc. Personally I’m not a fan of using a fairly rigid structure like this for exercise planning. I find that too often, certain agencies will need to migrate from function to function. Also, from my experience, the agencies who would be part of ‘command’ are usually also the ‘planning’ group (these agencies are usually the core, or first tier planning team). That said, it does make sense to keep these functions in mind as they do provide for sound project/event management principles. Going along with this, some agencies may even provide certain individuals in addition to their primary representatives to assist with some of these functions. Examples would include information officers to put together media releases about the exercise for the public, or logistics folks to help take care of facility and other support needs, and certainly IT folks to help take care of those needs. We’ll talk about support and logistical requirements more in Part 8 of this series.
Once you have your team assembled, it’s time to begin meetings. For the sake of discussion, we’ll use the planning of a large multi-agency multi-jurisdiction functional or full-scale exercise as an example. An exercise of this scope will necessitate the application of all the concepts available within the HSEEP model and thus provide opportunity for us to include them in this discussion. I’m not going to cover all the details of the meetings, as these are covered in HSEEP Volume II as well as the toolkit, but I will provide my tips for each based upon experience and best practices. Be sure to get invites out early to identified agencies and specifically identify the type of person you are looking for. It should be someone very familiar with agency operations, who can fully represent (within reason) the agency and commit resources, who hopefully knows a bit about exercises and emergency management, and who will not be engaged as a player in the exercise. They will also need to commit to a number of meetings and conference calls as well as some office work time, and may be asked to work as a simulator, controller, or evaluator during the exercise. Be mindful of good meeting practices like the use of agendas and facilitation of discussion. Also, be sure to follow-up with everyone after the meeting.
Note that between all of these meetings and conferences, there will be ongoing communication both with the core planning group as well as the full planning group. These will include conference calls, e-mail exchanges, and smaller face to face meetings as needed.
Concept and Objectives Meeting
The Concept and Objectives Meeting (C&O meeting) is the first formal meeting of the full exercise planning team. Prior to this meeting, you may pull together the core planning group to establish a planning timeline as well as prepare a presentation of the general concept of the exercise – remember, this is the first time that many of the folks in the meeting will have heard of this exercise.
HSEEP Volume II provides agenda items for this meeting. Generally, you are providing an overview of the initial exercise concept to the group, gathering ideas on this and reaching consensus. Volume II indicates that consensus should also be reached on objectives. While I think some of the broader objectives can be agreed upon at this meeting, I don’t think it will be possible for objectives from all participating agencies to be obtained with a large planning group. Take the opportunity, however, to discuss what you are looking for, provide sample objectives, and guidance on how to write exercise objectives. Set a deadline for participants to get these back to you. A few days should be reasonable. Lastly, at the C&O meeting, the group may identify other agencies who might be interested in participating. These agencies should be approached soon after this meeting and invited to the Initial Planning Conference.
Initial Planning Conference
The Initial Planning Conference (IPC) is certainly where exercise participants and objectives should be settled. You really want to minimize changes after this meeting as the impact they can have on exercise planning and design will be amplified. The IPC is where the foundational concepts of the exercise will be fleshed out, including venues, duration, political sensitivities, the scenario, and other details. This meeting largely consists of presentations by the core planners and discussion and consensus by the larger group. It’s important to get these details solidified with every participant, as stragglers can cause a great delay in progress. Read-ahead materials are important for all these meetings. Certain assignments will be given to people and agencies to secure resources and to identify specific roles, including the leadership for exercise control, evaluation, simcell, and others that may be needed – as well as the documentation that goes with them, such as an evaluation plan. As needs are identified, they should be logged and assigned. Here’s where you engage participants in starting to address logistical and support needs.
Mid-term Planning Conference
MPCs are usually only used during larger, more complex exercises. Don’t let that fool you, though – there is probably not only a need to meet, but a lot of work to get done as well. Schedule it ahead of time, but cancel if you don’t need it. Since it’s optional, there is really no specific guidance, other than ensuring to go into it with defined purpose, an agenda, read-ahead materials (such as drafts of exercise documentation), etc. As HSEEP Volume II mentions, it’s usually a working meeting designed to get pen to paper and hammer out details. Volume II also suggests that this is a good opportunity to walk through exercise venues to make sure they are suitable and to discuss layout and support needs. This is also a good time to lock down the location, set up, and support needs of a simcell and to identify simulators.
Master Scenario Events List (MSEL) Conference
The focus of the MSEL conference is the development of the MSEL. The Master Scenario Events List is the detailed timeline of the exercise, identifying everything from the start and end times to detailing every inject and expected player action. While the writing of the MSEL (mostly injects) is often times work that falls to the core planning group (and often times consultants), the MSEL conference is used to pull participating agencies together to draft injects for their agency or function. Here is where they bring their objectives to life, providing the outlines for injects (which will likely be refined later by the core planning group) to drive play for their agency to accomplish the objectives of their participation in the exercise. The MSEL conference is really a workshop. You can break out like-agencies into table groups where they can brainstorm and outline injects, as well as identify any issues to be aware of. The best way of doing this is to assign a facilitator (usually a member of the core planning group) to each table to get them motivated, keep them on task, and to document progress. Pay special attention to the outcomes as they may cause need to alter earlier preparations such as venue needs. More on the MSEL in Part 7 of this series.
Final Planning Conference
The Final Planning Conference (FPC) is just that – final! This is an informative meeting where everything is reviewed and agreed upon to be finalized. Any outlying issues must be resolved here. Participants should have reviewed all documents ahead of time so they can ask questions and provide their approval. This conference should take care of any last-minute issues.
What have you learned from your experienced with exercise planning meetings? I’d like to hear about your experiences and ideas!
Look out for Managing an Exercise Program – Part 7: Developing Exercise Documentation.
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 5: Securing Project Funding
This post is part of a 10-part series on Managing an Exercise Program. In this series I provide some of my own lessons learned in the program and project management aspects of managing, designing, conducting, and evaluating Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) exercises. Your feedback is appreciated!
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 1
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 2: Develop a Preparedness Strategy
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 3: Identify Program Resources and Funding
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 4: Conduct an Annual Training & Exercise Planning Workshop.
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 5: Securing Project Funding
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 6: Conducting Exercise Planning Conferences
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 7: Develop Exercise Documentation
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 8: Preparing Support, Personnel, & Logistical Requirements
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 9: Conducting an Exercise
Managing an Exercise Program – Part 10: Evaluation and Improvement Planning
HSEEP Cycle
Nothing moves without funding – nothing. Without funding, good ideas are nothing more than that – ideas. I’ve seen many ideas and initiatives die before they even made it to the proverbial chopping block, simply because of a lack of money to support them. This is the time of year when we see a lot of new ideas. In public and private sectors alike, our leaders, motivated either by legislative writ or self driven compulsion, give us an annual speech to ring in the new year. These speeches come with lofty ideas – many of which we never see get off the ground because funding is never allocated. So where do we get money to conduct exercises?
Admittedly, my expertise lies in government and the funds available to build and sustain emergency management programs – not so much in the private sector and not for profit areas, but I’ll give these a crack. Public sector funds consist largely of the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP). HSGP funds a myriad of emergency management and homeland security grants including the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG), the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), Operation Stone Garden (OPSG), and others, including Citizen Corps which is now no longer a separate grant program, but instead an optional allocation which states may choose to provide. Generally, exercises, and the expenses associated with all steps of the exercise program and project, are allowable expenses for all these grant programs.
How do you get these funds? Well, the bad news is that if you don’t already receive them, you probably can’t. There are some allocations, like Citizen Corps, which may be granted to jurisdictions by the state, but with this example you need to build a local Citizen Corps program and exercise only that program with any dollars you receive. If you do receive some of these HSGP funds, the challenge is in reallocation of dollars that are probably needed elsewhere, and budget increases are probably out of the question. So here’s where we have to get creative. Reach out to the folks who were involved in your TEPW – all those agencies and organizations. Try to gain consensus on the need for an exercise (or building-block series of them). Most or all of these agencies may have an interest if you had a successful TEPW and managed to combine some exercise initiatives. Don’t forget your private sector partners, either – especially if they are members of your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), as they may take special interest in preparedness. Be sure to have a plan and make a business case. The TEPW that you just conducted (see the previous post in this series) provides you with an excellent statement of need and a plan to address it. You may have additional supporting documentation like after action reports, which can help add some context to your need for exercise funding. Build a budget and know how much to ask for. If each agency and organization can contribute a portion, that will all add up fairly quickly. Don’t forget the possibility of sponsorships, as well. I once managed to secure lunches to be provided for all exercise participants (about 150 of them!) in exchange for a medical supply vendor setting up in a near-venue area and giving a presentation during lunch, including the opportunity for folks to try out some of their equipment.
In the private sector, fighting for budget can be tough – especially when it’s not tied to a profit center. My advice here (and again I have limited experience in this area, so if you have any ideas, please post them!) is, similar to the public sector, 1) make a good business case for it (i.e. improved safety, response coordination, and decreased down time all minimize the loss of revenue), 2) have a plan, and 3) if you are just starting an exercise program – start small. Let the executives see the potential that can be gained from larger investments in your program. Similarly, if you can partner with a local public safety exercise, be sure to invite your executives to see how it goes and be ready to explain the benefits to your company.
As for not for profits, largely it’s a combination of the public and private sector tips. Also, consider seeking grants from foundations for the specific purpose of preparedness. Don’t just limit yourself to local foundations, either. Their may be companies that specialize in first responder or emergency equipment that may have a foundation. I would guess that their foundations would have a particular interest in preparedness activities.
Overall, be sure to plan early. Don’t expect to seek funding for an exercise that you have planned for a couple of months down the road. It may take as long as a year to get your financial ducks in a row.
As always, if anyone has any additional thoughts or ideas, I’d love to see them!
Coming soon… Managing an Exercise Program – Part 6: Conducting Exercise Planning Conferences. It’s more than just meetings!
Homeland Security Priorities Needed – Any Ideas?
Homeland Security Today recently published an article citing the Congressional Research Service‘s study regarding DHS‘ failure to align and prioritize its variety of mission areas. The results of this study shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. The massive quantity of DHS programs, including both those at the federal level as well as those pushed down to state and local governments is mind-boggling. If you aren’t familiar with the size and complexity of DHS, see my post on the 10 year anniversary of DHS.
I won’t tackle at length the issues associated with combining 22 agencies as I did in that post, but consider the number of agency missions, directives, and requirements that DHS must have as a result of that merger. It’s no wonder they can’t keep track of their own business! A monster has been created, and with it a huge bureaucracy intended to manage it – but, alas, it’s impossible to manage such a beast! Does Janet Napolitano even know all the programs and mission areas within the agency? Doubtful. And that’s no slight to her, it’s too big for anyone to commit to memory. In an effort to reduce bureaucracy and streamline services and missions, they have, in fact, done the opposite. Essentially, DHS is over-diversified.
As the HSToday article points out, DHS published a strategic plan last year, but that plan fails to give any priority to their array of missions. It also fails to provide a cohesive strategy to the entire federal homeland security amalgamation. This certainly is not what an agency strategic plan should do, but federal and national level strategies should be created. DHS does require states to formulate and maintain State Homeland Security Strategies – so why can’t they do the same?
There have been a number of articles and blogs in the last few days citing the fact that ‘homeland security’ as a term, has a very loose and amorphous definition. This is a clear signal that clarification is needed on many fronts. I believe that part of that clarification is that homeland security is a concept, not a mission area. There may certainly be a need for a coordinating agency to address mission areas related to the concept of homeland security, but that agency is not DHS as we now see it. What needs to be done? As a trainer, I say a needs assessment is a good start. The writing is on the wall, now let’s do something about it.
Strenghtening 9-1-1 Systems
This morning, Government Security News (GSN) published an article regarding the FCC‘s examination of last June’s derecho storms that severely impacted Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, DC, and Ohio. The FCC looked into the long-lasting down time of 9-1-1 call centers in these impacted areas, provided comment, as well as recommendations – which largely are pretty sound.
If you’ve read earlier blog posts of mine, you’ll know that I more-often-than-not tend to defend utility companies. Yes, we can all be better prepared, but I believe that sometimes the expectations are unreasonably high, especially with wide-spread disasters. Also, utility companies are just that – companies – their primary goal is to be profitable. With this in mind, there comes a point when the cost of mitigation may, at least in the short-term, make them unprofitable. While in theory I would say ‘suck it up’, share holders tend not to see things that way. So that does leave us with a bit of a quandary.
9-1-1 is an absolutely critical service. Outages and disturbances in these systems occur every day throughout the nation, but are typically short in duration. The derecho left 3.6 million people with interrupted 9-1-1 service, some for many days. While there are general infrastructure issues that result from storms that can impact a utility system, this was compounded after the derecho by continued high winds for a few days, making many repairs impossible. The FCC report cites, however, a few easy fixes that could have greatly reduced both the number of outages and the duration of many of these outages – including emergency power generators at central offices and distribution hubs. There were also planning gaps that were discovered, that, once addressed should help reduce impacts by both number and duration. I believe we also need to harness the technology we have to discover redundancies and back-ups that can be implemented in the even of future system failures.
Every incident is a learning experience for all involved – and hopefully even for those fortunate enough to not be involved. The challenge is accepting these lessons learned and applying them to improve our measure of preparedness, increasing our awareness, and better enabling us to respond more effectively the next time around.
What lessons have you learned from disasters???
Taking Philanthropy (and more) Beyond the Days of Disaster
The latest edition of Homeland Security Today has an article titled ‘Taking Philanthropy Beyond the Days of Disaster’ , which talks about the need that non-profit organizations who provide disaster services have before and well after a disaster. Their programs help bring preparedness and other critical services into neighborhoods and to fragile and disadvantaged populations. The article tells the story of someone who saw this need and formed the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, a foundation centered on helping organizations fund disaster-oriented projects throughout the year. You also have the choice of giving directly to organizations in your community. Organizations like the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and others – that are in every community – provide services year-round and could greatly benefit from your continued help. Being a philanthropist doesn’t require you to be a millionaire – even contributing ten or twenty dollars during a fund-raiser or dropping a few dollars or some spare change into a kettle makes a huge difference.
Beyond philanthropy, you should also consider volunteering in your community. Every organization needs more people – and not just during disasters – to meet the needs of those they help – and ANYONE can volunteer, it’s just a matter of finding the right organization and the right role for you. Jobs can be as diverse as office assistance to disaster response. Some positions require training, which the organization will provide. Every organization will help find the position that is right for you. Organizations are even happy to have entire families volunteer! Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – January 21st – has also been designated as National Volunteer Day. Through their website you can find volunteer opportunities (also check volunteermatch.org) as well as volunteer fairs that will be held around the nation on January 21st. If you have interest in a particular organization, just give them a call and let them know you would like to volunteer.
Whether of yourself or of your wallet, please consider giving – it makes a world of difference.
The Future of Virtual Learning and Collaboration – Free Webinar
Passing this along from the folks at training magazine. It’s free!
The Future of Virtual Learning and Collaboration
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern
Join Training magazine on Thursday, January 31, for this complimentary Webinar, presented by UNC Executive Development, and learn to create rich, robust and collaborative learning environments that can be delivered anywhere and anytime.
Follow this link to register for this complimentary Webinar, The Future of Virtual Learning and Collaboration.
Attend this live Webinar and learn to:
- Create an effective virtual environment that can be customized to deliver an interactive and engaging learning experience.
- Increase collaborative learning through the use of virtual classrooms and social technology.
- Blend formal learning programs with informal learning to increase engagement.
Register for this complimentary Webinar today!
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New Risk Report from the UK
This is a very interesting, insightful, and comprehensive report. Quite an eye-opener on global issues in emergency management.
A new, very worthwhile, report on Risk Assessment from the Government Office of Science (UK) Jan. 5th: Reducing Risks of Future Disasters: Priorities for Decision Makers. From the foreword:
“Science tells us why disasters happen and where many of the risks lie, and for some disasters we can even forecast when they will occur. The aim of this Report has therefore been to review the latest science and evidence, and to take stock of the further improvements that lie ahead. In so doing, it sets out priorities and options for how DRR [disaster risk reduction] can be substantially improved today and into the future.
The key message is that disaster and death are not the inevitable consequence of greater exposure to hazards. It is possible to stabilise disaster impacts, save lives and protect livelihoods. However, achieving this will require a change in culture and a new approach. Everyone with a…
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The Contrarian Emergency Manager 