3rd Semi-Official Report on the SLC APCO Conference

[Guest guest]

The first session of the morning was, frankly, too

danged early. <wry expression> I don't think I was the

only non-morning person, either. But it was presented

by Sue Pivetta, so it didn't take long for me/us to

warm up. Great session: " Ick! I hate

evaluations! "

My only [real] complaint thus far about the Conference

Center is the loooong distance down to one set of the

MANY classrooms. Oh my aching feet! Plus, if ya

gather up the goodies from the Vendor Exposition, yer

lugging a pretty heavy back-pack around. And I'm not

into wearing a back-pack the way one is intended to be

worn (so, yes, it's my own fault...) For an " ADA

sensitive " conference center, there's a bit of an

amenities lack right there. (Airports have little

carts to shuttle folks around; there were OTHER

attendees who could more appropriately take advantage

of such a service.)

Around 1620 or so, the Marriott Hotel had a fire alarm

go off, with room evacuation " strongly recommended " -

and one of my roomies was caught in it. She had to

trundle down 12 flights of steps sans

air-conditioning. False alarm, too.

STILL haven't seen RadioMan yet. I see there's

another list-member here who has posted that she's

seen him. Somebody else told me he was rather

bow-legged, but I hope to see him -- tomorrow, I guess

- to make my own report. <grin>

Cline's presentation on figuring " Shift Level

Factors " was one of the sessions in the Far Yonder

classrooms; good thing she's a friend of mine AND it

was worth the hike! <grin> Those two PSTC guys,

Willitt and Behr, were asked to be last-minute

replacement presenters for another session... and dang

if it wasn't scheduled at the same time as 's

session! <sigh> I managed to make the hike back to

catch their closing remarks (and snap some photos,

too).

There was a really good presentation on the 1999

Pamela Abduction (in KS), presented FROM THE

COMM CENTER perspective (by the Comm Center Director,

who has come up through the ranks and quite obviously

has a clue!) A community affected by such tragedies

includes its telecommunicators, who are right in the

thick of it, working the event itself AND the

perpetrator's capture and locating of the victim.

I'm afraid I forgot to mention running into Annette

(also a list-member) yesterday. (Probably

because she and I have met before.) I've run into so

many of my peers, the two mentors in my career, and

lots of others, but they don't belong to this list so

I won't bore y'all with mentioning them all by name.

OH! One vendor y'all should REALLY check into is one

called " Stop Accidental Cell Calls " - and its website

is http://www.stopaccidentalcalls.com (Doh! Just don't

try to add " cell " or " cellular " to that long URL.)

They sell little gasket-like whats-its to protect the

9 key on cell phones!!! And they have a media press

release package to provide public education!! VERY

cool to have a whole small company be so supportive of

issues that make US nuts.

One of the sessions I'll attend tomorrow is

r's presentation regarding " Phantom 9-1-1 Calls

[from cell phones] and the vendor I just mentioned was

aware there would be such a session. I'll have

some input during the " audience participation "

portion. Y'think? <grin> is from Gilpin County

Sheriff's Office Communications in CO.

I think we're about done picking up little souvenirs;

the Vendor Exposition ended this afternoon, and we've

been " free " to do local shopping this evening. I hope

it all fits in my luggage....

Gotta brag, so forgive me, please: one vendor was

doing one of those " put your business card in for a

chance to win " - one of the very nice APCO portfolios.

I threw my card in and the vendor pulled it back out

and simply handed me a portfolio. When I stammered

thanks, (wondering how I managed to " hit " the raffle

so easily) he said, " This is to thank you for your

articles in Dispatch Monthly and your website! " Wow!

I guess those ID badge name tags are even more useful

than trying to find list-members when you meet 'em!

And this company was CTA Communications - an

integrated public safety communications consulting

firm. I mean, not a vendor that is as close to

dispatchers as some of the others represented at this

Conference. Pretty nifty, huh? I'm sure jazzed at the

personal acknowledgment. It may be quite some time

before I stop going " wow! " when I think about it.

I wish more of y'all were able to attend annual (or

regional) APCO Conferences. This has really really

helped me recover from some professional " issues "

arising from too many long hours and lots of hard work

without much relief or recognition.

And there's another whole day of seminar sessions and

the Closing Banquet tomorrow night.

=====

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

http://www.gryeyes.com

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