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2006 Annual Spring Conference
 
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pictures of the 2006 conference.
New Jersey NENA held its 2006 Spring conference at the Tropicana Hotel in
Atlantic City April 4th and 5th. More than 120 attendees and 25 exhibitors and
sponsors contributed to the success of this event. The agenda was packed with
educational sessions along three tracks for public safety communications:
general interest, administrative and management, and Telecommunicator. The
Telecommunicator track was added this year in light of the new NENA membership
category.
On Tuesday, the opening session featured a keynote address by Mr. Michael S.
Beeman, who presently serves as the Director of the National Preparedness
Division and Acting Chief of External Affairs for the Department of Homeland
Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency Region II. He recently served 85
days as the District Director for Federal Response Operations in Harrison
County, Mississippi – a position that he began the day before Hurricane Katrina
made landfall. He presented an informative session on the response to Hurricane
Katrina. A second presenter, Ms. Nicole Pianalto of Positron Public Safety
provided information on PSAP recovery in the wake of such a disaster.
Other sessions informed the attendees on National and Statewide issues. Mr. Nate
Wilcox, Chair of the NENA National VoIP/Packet Committee provided an overview on
VoIP and NENA’s activities in that area. Mr. Robert Gojanovich, Chair of the
NENA National Network Committee and Commercial VP of NJ-NENA, provided
information about the actions of that committee as well as the many other NENA
Technical Committees. From a State perspective, Mr. Craig Reiner, Director of
the NJ Office of Emergency Telecommunications Services updated the group on the
State 9-1-1 office’s progress with wireless phase II implementation and upgrades
to the state network to accommodate VoIP calls. He also provided information
about the Office’s activities in the areas of Telecommunicator Training and
Public Education.
Along the Telecommunicator training track were presentations on dealing with
child callers, resources available through the 2-1-1 program, wireless phase II,
and changes to ALI screen information. Administrators and managers were able to
learn about the PSAP accreditation process from Mr. Al McNally of CALEA and PSAP
consolidation information during a presentation by Mr. William Weaver of iXP. Of
general interest were presentations on Stress Management by Mr. Tim Matheny of
MC Management Associates and Hostage Negotiations by Sgt. Michael Nordstom of
the New Jersey State Police.
During the NJ NENA Chapter Meeting the newly elected Executive Board was
introduced to the membership, they include President, Capt. Michael Grennier,
first Vice President, Chief Anthony Koslowski, second Vice President, Raymond
Kenny, Regional Vice Presidents, Fr. John Fencik, Gareth Williams and Monica
Gavio, Commercial Vice President Robert Gojanovich, and Secretary Sandy Mangini.
Out-going President, Bonnie Hueg, was presented with a plaque in recognition of
her leadership and service to the Chapter. She will continue on the board as
Past President and Treasurer. The highlight of the chapter meeting came as six
children ranging in age from 5 to 13 were honored for their actions in calling
9-1-1. Each child received a 9-1-1 hero award from the State of New Jersey as
well as a “I made the right call” medal from the Chapter. The recipients were:
Danielle Lowe, Ashley Lowe, Alex Lowe, Christina Lowe, Lydsey Jelinek, and
DaVonne Alexander.
During the prize drawings Lyndsey Jelinek was also the lucky
winner of a bicycle provided by L. Robert Kimball and Associates. Also honored
were four telecommunicators who exhibited excellent skills and professionalism
in their handling of the calls for two of the incidents. The Telecommunicators
honored were, Bonnie Taylor and Anthony Endres of Burlington County Public
Safety Communications and Kathleen Rotante and Margret Mulvihill of Old Bridge
Police Department. Each of the Telecommunicators received a 9-1-1 Hero award
from the State of New Jersey and an NJ-NENA brief case from the Chapter.
In addition to the educational sessions and meetings, there was time on the
agenda to meet with the vendors who were exhibiting the latest innovations in
products and services in the exhibit room. In addition to the Gold Sponsors,
Plant CML and KML Technologies, and the Silver Sponsors, Sprint and Vonage,
there were more than 20 other exhibitors with information on the latest products
available for call answering, recording equipment, CAD systems and furnishings
for a PSAP. Vendors providing consulting and GIS services were also represented.
Attendees were able to meet with the exhibitors during each day’s breakfast
buffet, coffee breaks and luncheons that were served in the exhibit hall. These
breaks provided a relaxed atmosphere to sit down and meet with exhibitors and
get an in-depth understanding of their products.
The event couldn’t have been successful with out the help of the volunteers on
the Conference Committee who staffed the registration desk, helped the
exhibiters and served as our event photographer. The members thank, Danny
Medina, Debbie O’Neill, Linda O’Neill, Patty Burd, and Betty Shiavi NJ NENA is
hoping to return to Atlantic City for next year’s event that is expected to be
even bigger and better. For more details on the educational sessions, links to
sponsor’s websites, and information on next year’s event, bookmark the NJ NENA
website: www.nena.org/njnena
Exhibitors
 
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Last updated June 18,
2006
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