NPEF 2019 Conference Wrap Up

It was an exciting time July 14^th through the 17^th in Virginia Beach, Virginia as 125 9-1-1 and emergency service educators from 23 different states came together to learn and participate in the 9^th Annual National Public Safety Educator Forum Conference. The theme for this year’s conference had to do with water and ocean life since the conference was so close to the beach and conference staff had a lot of fun decorating the room prior to the conference beginning.

The conference kicked off on a Sunday afternoon and hit the ground running with all attendees being separated into groups of 10-12 people. Within these groups the attendees had to complete two projects. The first project was “Think Outside the Box” with NPEF committee member Susan Rodriguez challenging conference goers to come up with all the ins and outs of planning an event from budget, to analytics, to information to share and how many people would be expected at the event and more. The other project came from NPEF committee member Melinda Crockom who led groups in helping them coming up with a Public Service Announcement in a jingle format on different 9-1-1 topics such as text-to-911, Kari’s Law, Know You Location and Lock it in Your Pocket. All projects and PSAs were a big hit when shared at the end of the conference.

One attendee shared, “Great job to the Conference Staff. We have sent our staff to this event for 4 years now, and I have been lucky enough to attend twice” She went on to state “I think this is one of the best National Conferences that I have ever attended. You all put a lot of time and work in to these and it shows. Every single person that I have spoken with about the conference agrees that this is one of the most beloved conferences.”

The conference was jam-packed with some great speakers, including keynote speaker Ron Rosenberg, who spoke about doubling your memory and the secrets of marketing. Other speakers covered topics on collaborating with other entities, social media tips, and design principles, to name a few.

A conference attendee shared, “The speakers were well rounded, and each had a different topic. 911 Education was a hit from multiple angles, and I was able to take a lot back home!”

To see testimonials or PSAs from this year’s conference, please visit the NPEF YouTube page. Next year will be even more exciting as we embark on our 10^th Annual Conference which will take place in Austin, Texas in July 2020. You won’t want to miss this one! For more information on NPEF or to become a member for FREE, visit www.911npef.org.