Meetings

The Southeast Florida Chapter of the Association of Contingency Planners meets quarterly.

Regular quarterly meetings are held usually on the 3rd THURSDAY of that month.

Next Meeting:

WITI and ACP Southeast Florida

WITI South Florida
Regional Network Event
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
5:45 pm - 8:00 pm

Space is limited; we encourage pre-registration to guarantee admission.
Take me directly to the registration form.
ACP members need to RSVP to RecoveryAdvice@att.net

South Florida Business Continuity: Communications and Safety Initiatives
Protecting your business assets and supporting the goals of emergency preparedness programs go hand in hand. This month’s WITI program focuses on strategic services for business continuity, including communications and safety initiatives by Time Warner Telecom, American Red Cross, and Department of Health. On June 17th WITI is partnering with ACP – Association of Contingency Planners, whose organization is comprised of business continuity executives and professionals in the field who set emergency response and recovery trends. Our event sponsor is Time Warner Telecom.

Important for your Business Continuity

The strength of our communication networks are measured by service interruption. In an emergency situation, this is a vital component for survivability to connect people and organizations through protected networks. Our speaker from Time Warner Telecom, Christopher Gaffney, Vice President and General Manager of the Florida region, will talk about next-generation technology and the solutions designed to support and protect the growing infrastructure of the South Florida networks.

The American Red Cross Program, One in a Million – Heroes of American Red Cross is committed to reaching one million people by 2012. To present this program for the American Red Cross will be speaker Hunter Ruffin, Director of Health & Safety Services. Mr. Ruffin will speak about working with businesses to train in First Aid, CPR/AED and Water Safety, as well as steps businesses can take to help employees prepare for emergencies at work and at home.

The Broward County City Readiness Program is partnering with organizations in Broward County to serve as distribution points for emergency vaccines and supplies. Matt Nankin, Assistant Cities Readiness Initiative Coordinator with Broward County Health Department Office of Emergency Operations will speak about the city’s initiative.
About Our Speaker(s):
Hunter Ruffin, Director of Health & Safety Services, serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Matt Nankin, Assistant Cities Readiness Initiative Coordinator, Broward County Health Department, Office of Emergency Operations.

Christopher Gaffney, Vice Present and General Manager, Time Warner Telecom Inc.
Event Date and Venue
This event will be held from 5:45 pm - 8:00 pm on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at:
Sheraton Suites Cypress Creek
555 NW 62nd St.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309
(Map)
Schedule:
5:45 – 6:15 Sign in; networking; hors d’ oeuvres will be served; cash bar
6:15 – 6:30 American Red Cross One in a Million Program
6:30 – 6:45 Department of Health City Readiness Initiative
6:45 – 7:00 WITI and ACP introductions
7:00 – 7:30 Time Warner Telecom Protecting South Florida Infrastructure
7:30 – 7:50 Speakers Q & A
7:50 – 8:00 Event closing
About Our Sponsor(s):
Time Warner Telecom Inc., headquartered in Littleton, Colorado, provides managed network services, specializing in Ethernet and transport data networking, Internet access, local and long distance voice, VoIP and security, to enterprise organizations and communication service companies throughout the U.S. As a leading provider of integrated and converged network solutions, Time Warner Telecom delivers customers overall economic value, quality, service, and improved business productivity. These capabilities enable Time Warner Telecom to provide South Florida businesses with the next-generation services that protect their networks and help grown their businesses. For further information, please visit: http://www.twtelecom.com
About Our Partner(s):
http://www.acp-international.com
Pre-Registration:
Pre-Registration fees are as follows:
· Free for WITI members
· $25.00 for non-members
Refund Policy: Please check your calendars carefully, as we will be unable to issue refunds. If you are unable to attend, we encourage you to find a substitute to take your place. If you do wish to substitute, please email Tech Support.
Please plan to pay in advance. We accept checks and credit cards.
Pre-Registration Deadline:
All registrations must be received by Monday, June 16, 2008
For More Information...
· regarding registration or event details, contact Ann Jakits (ajakits@bellsouth.net).
· regarding pre-registration, contact Tech Support.
Register for this event
Become a WITI Member.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14

ACP is excited to announce our next meeting topic "Building Business Continuity Capabilities" During our meeting, attendees will learn how lack of planning can introduce risk to organizations, which could impact facilities, information resources, staff and telecommunications. Verizon Business will discuss the importance of planning for the potential loss of business critical functions and resources. They will identify practical solutions based on Verizon's extensive experience in the field.

This will be an interactive meeting with lots of group discussion.
Topics covered will include:

· Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery History and Scope
· Qualitative & Quantitative Business Impacts
· Best Practices for building Business Continuity Capabilities
· Case Study from the Field

Our speaker will be Howard Peace, Principal Consultant at Verizon Business who is responsible for delivering information security and business continuity consulting services and has 20+ years of business continuity and disaster recovery experience serving employers and consulting clients in a wide variety of industries in the US, Central and S. America and the Middle East. Most recently he developed and managed the Business Continuity Consulting Practice at Avaya, Inc and has been responsible for the establishment of a number of enterprise-wide business continuity functions for major corporations such as Cisco Systems, VeriSign and First Union National Bank. Additionally, Mr. Peace is a Certified Business Continuity Planner and was a member of the ANSI X9.E9 Authentication Standards committee and was the Data Security Officer for the Manufacturers Hanover Trust.

Meeting logistics include:
Location: Signature Grand Davie
Date: Wednesday, May 14th
Time: 5:00 – 7:30 PM

Additional: Appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks will be provided and there will be a cash bar available. There is a $10.00 cost to attend the meeting for non-members and members can attend for free. If you join ACP at the meeting by filling out a membership form and submitting a check then meeting attendance will be at no charge. We welcome new members and any questions about ACP Chapter perks including discounts at industry conferences and access to a variety of industry benefits.

RSVP TO:

Laura Mallet CRP CBCP RecoveryAdvice@att.net
ACP SE Florida Program and Marketing Director
ACP International Board of Directors, Public Relations Director

ACP 2008:

Past Meetings:

Wednesday, February 13th

MEETING TOPIC: 2007 lessons learned
REGISTRATION AND APPETIZERS: 5:00-5:30PM
MODERATED GROUP DISCUSSION ON 2007 LESSONS LEARNED 5:30-7:30PM
MODERATORS INCLUDE
Linda Hoffman, Manager of Systems Control/Disaster Recovery at Baptist Health South Florida and ACP SE Florida President
Laura Mallet CRP CBCP, Citrix Business Continuity Program Manager; ACP SE Florida Program & Marketing Director, ACP Corporate Public Relations Director

Joe Paul, MBA, FCITSM Global Disaster Recovery Architect

COST: $10.00 Non-members, FREE to ACP members
VENUE:

The Grape Las Olas 706 E. Las Olas Blvd. Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33301 954-467-2433
COMPLIMENTARY FOOD AND DRINK: Iced tea, soda, Pellegrino, French press coffee or tea. For food: some spreads; hummus, gourmet olives, gourmet cheeses, some appetizers; quesadillas, pita pizzas, and antipasto.

Last Meeting: click here for Pictures from Past Meetings

August 16, 2006

Location: Westin Hotel - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

May 17, 2007

Location: Westin Hotel - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Time: 4:30 - 8:00

Agenda:

Registration and networking
Meeting begins 5:15/5:30 ACP Welcome and announcements
Speaker 1 - Merrily Powell
Mid-meeting break Coffee/Chocolate Fondue
Speaker 2 - Franklin Fletcher
Speaker 3 - Reginald Browne

Speakers:

Merrily Powell - NC4 - Speaker 1

Merrily has been the Account Manager for NC4 since almost its inception in 2002, working with public and private sectors in the areas of Corporate Security, Business Continuity, Emergency Management.. She has experience working with public sector EMAs at the local, county, state and federal levels during her 5 years with another Incident Management software company in the late 90s. Owned her own small software company providing business application software to companies in a variety of businesses categories. Merrilly has a personal focus and belief in customer support and states” No matter how good an application is, you need to be in touch with your customers.”

Franklin Fletcher, Senior IT Specialist IT Security for Broward County - Speaker 2

Topic: Critical components of a DR / BCP plan and some of the pitfalls to avoid in the planning process.

Franklin Fletcher is a Senior IT Specialist IT Security for Broward County. He is responsible for insuring that the County’s data meets the confidentiality, integrity and availability triad. Franklin is the primary contact for the coordination of the County’s disaster recovery program to insure that the County is able to provide essential services to it citizens in the event of a disaster. He also works as a liaison to the EOC and the County’s agencies to validate that individual COOP plans are reviewed and current. Franklin has held various IT management positions at the South Florida Water Management District, Vivendi Universal, and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Franklin has an MBA for the NY Institute of Technology and a BA from the City College of New York. Franklin is a Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP), Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP).

Reginald L. Browne, Professional Standards & Special Investigative Unit, Broward County Schools - Speaker 3

Topic: School Security the new norm: Prevention, Response, Recovery

Reginald has been working with the Broward County Public schools for approximately 10 years and has been working with youth & law enforcement for over 15 years He has been with the SBBC Special Investigative Unit for 8 yrs and has work experience in: Drug prevention & psycho-social assessments, youth sexual offenders field, gang, emergency management, NIMS, terrorism, CPTED, and is a former teacher.

Currently Reginald is the task assigned; Visitor management, STAR project manager, Emergency Response & Crisis Management grant manager and for the past 4 yrs Project designer for new school online safety plan. He is the coordinator for all School SAFE team emergency management training.

Past Meeting:

March 15, 2007

Location: Westin Hotel - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Time: 7:30 - 10:00

Agenda:

7:30 – 8:00 Registration (Coffee and juices will be available at this time)
8:00 Breakfast and networking (Full buffet style breakfast will be offered – Lots of choices!!)
Meeting begins 8:30 ACP Welcome and announcements
Nuance will be presenting: 9:00-10:00

SpeechAttendant™

Nuance SpeechAttendant, the industry’s most natural and accurate speechenable auto attendant, allows callers to speak the name of a person, department, service, or location and be automatically transferred to the requested party—without the hassle of searching for phone numbers or waiting to speak to an operator. SpeechAttendant provides reliable call routing and information retrieval—24 x 7—for organizations with up to 25,000 directory listings. Combining powerful speech recognition with a simple-to-use conversational interface, SpeechAttendant routes callers through voice-driven menu options and provides speech-driven access to frequently requested information, such as operator hours, mailing address, and driving directions. The end results are reduced costs, increased productivity, and enhanced caller satisfactio

Business Continuity Plan

The very latest in voice-driven high-speed notification technology for today's critical communications needs. Now, corporate, industrial and government operations can quickly access and activate automated "call trees" – by voice - for immediate notification of key management, response teams, employees and countless others before, during and after a crisis. Using speech to automate the process eliminates the need for remembering scenario numbers, extensions or group codes. Callers can send a notification with their voice simply by speaking who they want the message to go to-an individual's name, scenario or group, or a combination of these.

Speaker: Nuance Communications Ltd.

Robbie Austin has been in the Information Technology sector for over twelve (12) years employed by IBM, Nortel and Ronco Communications. He is a Regional Sales Manager for Nuance Communications, Inc. supporting the Southeast, which encompasses VA, WV, KY, NC, SC, TN, MS, AL, GA and FL. Robbie has worked with a variety of public sector and enterprise accounts,

The Westin Fort Lauderdale (East of I95 at the Cypress Creek exit)
400 Corporate Drive
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33334

Event Cost – FREE admission to members and new members who provide $75 application check and submit application on the day of the event. $20.00 for non members. (We hope you join!!!!

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Having been rescheduled from October due to Hurricane Wilma, the ACP Southeast Florida Chapter's quarterly meeting was held on Thursday evening Dec 15, 2005.

Let me say that having these meetings now later in the day (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM) affords us more time to meet without having to rush back to work, allows for more than one presentation to be given per meeting by an invited guest/vendor, is conducive to a more relaxed networking environment, and offers the opportunity to include a dinner, which is another opportunity to network.

Thursday's evening was hosted at the NAP of the Americas (www.terremark.com), in Miami. Josh Snowhorn (jhorn@terremark.com), Director, TerreNAP Data Centers Inc, was our host and tour guide of the facility. Now, if you have never been to the NAP facility, it is very impressive, not only in it's shear capacity, size and structure, but what goes on within the walls and why the NAP is a critical component of our worldwide telephony and internet infrastructure. For you IT folks, this is the crème-de-le-crème of Data Centers. Being careful as to not to give away too many secrets, you'll have to contact Josh if you would like a tour or if the NAP would be suitable to house your IT systems.

Along with the tour of the NAP, there was a presentation by Eric Brill (eric.brill@emergin.com) of Emergin (www.emergin.com). As we have learned from the onslaught of hurricanes this year, communication is key during disasters, but usually the area where we experience most of our frustrations. Disparate communications devices (ie cell phone, blackberry, pager, etc), outdated contact information and call trees, as well as human errors all add to the confusion. Eric discussed these issues as well as others and explained how a product could help manage our communications regardless of devices used, help monitor the status of a message, and how automation could remove the human factor from the equation. Of course, the Emergin product goes into more detail and does other things, so contact Eric for more information and a handy little CD he gave out with his presentation. Eric gave an insightful presentation without sounding like an infomercial, but did explain his software when asked. Also thanks to Eric and Emergin for the T-shirts.

Linda Hoffman, President of our chapter, hobbled in using a crutch as she is nursing a herniated disc. But she did share with us the details from National that she received when she attended the annual meeting recently. The presentation gave additional insight as to the purpose and goals of the ACP as a whole, and included some interesting stats:

For additional information, contact Linda (lindah@baptisthealth.net) for a copy of the presentation.
Well, the night capped off with dinner at a local restaurant, Los Ranchos (http://www.losranchossteakhouse.com/index.htm), over at Bayside, just a few blocks from the NAP. On Josh's recommendation, after the house salad which was crisp and snappy and appetizer of Caribbean Caviche (bits of grouper in fresh lime juice), we all had the Baby Churrasco, which is a thin, but juicy steak (around 8 oz.) with assorted sauces for flavor. Even thought this is the only thing on the plate when served, the waiter comes by and piles on the "Gallo Pinto" (rice/beans combo), along with some thin, baked plantains. Good conversations over dinner just added to the value of the meeting, and this was a great way to finish off the day.

Well, after a meeting like this one I am certainly looking forward to our next meeting in the 1st Qtr 2006. It's to your benefit to attend and be an active part of our chapter.

Organization

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	Meetings Schedule