Publisher’s LETTER MAGAZINE
Trade Show Season Begins
700 Matthews Mint Hill Rd, Ste C Matthews, NC 28105 704-365-5226 office, 704-365-1026 fax EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Jack Trlica JackT@LPportal.com
T
his is the beginning of trade show season for the LP industry. Rhett Asher and the FMI team kicked off the year with their asset protection conference in early March in New Orleans. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time an LP industry event has returned to New Orleans post-Katrina since the March 2005 RILA LP conference. One of the interesting aspects of the FMI event was it took place at the Hyatt Regency hotel complex that had only just reopened in October…six years after Hurricane Katrina. Given that risk management is part of the FMI agenda, hosting the event at the Hyatt Regency was more than appropriate because the hotel played a significant role in the days and weeks following the hurricane. Disaster planning and business recovery were the subjects of several talks, but none more gripping than the general session presented by Ed Minyard, who was on the ground in New Orleans just three days after the hurricane with a technical team and portable satellite equipment. His team helped set up communications and an emergency operations center in the shattered Hyatt for the city-led first responders. Minyard’s anecdotes and photos provided a chilling context to a discussion of crisis management. His experience in New Orleans as well as with Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, the H1N1 outbreak in Mexico in 2009, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, and the BP oil spill in 2010 taught him many lessons related to disaster planning. Minyard shared many of his lessons learned with the FMI attendees. The bottom line, especially with hurricane season approaching, is every organization should dust off their crisis plan, run exercises with the crisis team, and communicate plans and procedures with employees. In addition, every individual should have a family emergency plan as well. Over the years, we’ve published quite a few articles on the subject. Search “crisis management” on our website for articles, including Minyard’s cover feature “John Wayne Society—Preparedness or Paranoia?” in the July-August 2008 issue. Speaking of trade shows, it may also be a good time to review expectations and ethics guidelines with those in your organization who attend industry events. One of the principle benefits of conferences is networking with others. However, when you mix alcohol, late nights, and attractions like Bourbon Street, networking can become less than professional. You don’t want anyone in your organization to end up in an “LP Gone Wild”-type video on YouTube or worse. I don’t mean to sound like a prude. I’m the first to admit I enjoy sharing a cocktail or glass of wine with my industry friends. However, it seems like every year there are a few instances of conference participants…let’s just say…embarrassing themselves, which not only reflects badly on their professionalism, but their company as well. If I didn’t see you at FMI, I hope to see you at IOBSE in Chicago, RILA in Dallas, NRF in New Orleans, NFSSC in Baltimore, ASIS in Philadelphia, RCC in Toronto, RETECH in Fort Lauderdale, and LPRC in Gainesville. Check the calendar in the Community section of the magazine website for details on these and other industry events.
If I didn’t see you at FMI, I hope to see you at IOBSE in Chicago, RILA in Dallas, NRF in New Orleans, NFSSC in Baltimore, ASIS in Philadelphia, RCC in Toronto, RETECH in Fort Lauderdale, and LPRC in Gainesville.
Jack Trlica Editor and Publisher
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March - April 2012
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LPportal.com
EXECUTIVE EDITOR James Lee JimL@LPportal.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Robert L. DiLonardo Walter E. Palmer, CFI, CPP, CFE Amber Virgillo CONTRIBUTORS William A. Alford, CFE Read Hayes, Ph.D., CPP Richard C. Hollinger, Ph.D. Mike Marquis, CFI Gene Smith Shane G. Sturman, CFI, CPP Kelby Woodard David E. Zulawski, CFI, CFE NEWSLETTER EDITOR John Selevitch JohnS@LPportal.com ONLINE EDITOR Matt Richardson MattR@LPportal.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Larry Preslar PROOFREADER Amy Trainor DESIGN & PRODUCTION SPARK Publications info@SPARKpublications.com 704-844-6080 ADVERTISING
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