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2008 Annual
Conference
One of the top 10 NENA conferences in the
nation! Great venue! Quality presentations! Impressive crowd! The positive
comments started coming even before the 2008 New Jersey NENA Spring Conference
opened. On the evening before the conference began, the vendors began setting up
and couldn’t get over the great room layout. The Conference Committee was
impressed with the smooth check in process and quality of the guest rooms at the
Trump Taj Mahal. The next morning the attendees began arriving and were greeted
with a great continental breakfast buffet to be followed with a day filled with
informative presentations.
The three gold level sponsors, Plant/CML, Global Connect and Kova Corp., gave
the attendees a sneak peek of the quality of the 46 vendors supporting the
conference and displaying their products and services in the exhibit room. Ample
time was provided to meet with each of the vendors during the exclusive exhibit
hours and during the luncheons served in the exhibit room each day. An
additional networking opportunity was provided during the Wednesday evening
welcome reception.
Although the conference was held on the heels of the National
NENA Goes To
Washington event, the Committee filled the two-day event with great
training sessions. There were two training tracks, one for PSAP administrators
and managers and one for PSAP trainers, supervisors and telecommunicators. Past
President Mike Grennier wowed the crowd with a demonstration of the capabilities
of computer forensics, retrieving information from “deleted” files while making
his presentation. He also presented a session on Internet Security. Jim Lake of
L. Robert Kimball and Associates made two presentations, one on Communications
Center Staffing and another on Managing Generational Differences in the
Communications Center. There were two presenters from MICCOM; Al McNally
presented a session on Quality Assurance programs and Glen McDonald gave a
presentation on Simple Spanish for the PST. Leslie Mars spoke to the attendees
on calls involving autistic persons providing great insight to the types of
calls that might be received as well as communicating with persons with autism.
On day two of the conference Craig
Whittington, NENA National 2nd Vice President addressed the attendees. He
provided information on the national front. He also indicated how impressed he
was with the turnout at this chapter conference stating it was “one of the
top ten conferences in the nation”. Another highlight of the second day was
the presentation of the OETS 9-1-1 Hero awards.
 This
year’s recipients were all telecommunicators: from the Old Bridge PSAP, Harold
Smith, Mary Anne Mateyka and Margaret
Mulvihill were honored; from the Township of
Hamilton PSAP Stephen Madara was recognized; and two heroes from the Ocean
County PSAP Laura Laviola and Carol Sasso were recognized. Each recipient was
presented with a certificate by OETS Director Craig Reiner as well as a gift
from the NJ NENA chapter by NJ NENA First Vice President Ray Kenny. Craig
Whittington offered congratulations on behalf of NENA National. A reunion of
sorts also occurred on Thursday when five of the six past chapter presidents
were in attendance.
The tireless work of the conference committee and volunteers really paid off. It
was a record breaking event both in number of vendors (46) and attendees (over
300). The Chapter would like to recognize the efforts of the volunteers: Patty
Burd, Debbie O’Neill, Linda O’Neill, Danny Medina, Audrey Rychalsky, and Sherry
Minuto. Thanks also go to the Chapter Executive Board who also serve as the
Conference Committee: Conference Chair and Central Region VP Gareth Williams,
President Anthony Kozlowski, Vendor Chair and 1st VP Ray Kenny, 2nd VP Ray
Strilec, Website Developer and Commercial VP Bob Anderson, South Region VP
Monica Gavio, MC and North Region VP Fr. John Fencik, Registration Chair and
Secretary Sandy Mangini and Treasurer Bonnie Hueg.
Not ready to rest on this year’s laurels, the committee has already begun work
on next year’s conference. On April 23-24, 2009 the conference will again be
held at the Trump Taj Mahal. Those interested in attending should go to the
2009 Conference Page. Speakers and vendors
should contact any member of the executive board if they are interested in
participating.
Click here to go to
the 2008 Exhibitor Page
Click here for
Pictures
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Last updated March 27, 2008 |
