NEMA Annual Conference

[Elysa Jones <ejones@warningsystems.com>]

Friends,

The registration materials have just come out for the NEMA (National 
Emergency Management Association) Annual Meeting.  This is the association 
meeting for all state EM directors and FEMA folks.  Booth space is limited 
and expensive as are travel arrangements due to the location - Anchorage 
Alaska (rooms are only $161 while they last, though).  The annual meeting 
each year is located in the home state of the outgoing NEMA president.  The 
mid-year is always located in DC for access to political resources during 
that time of year.  I have participated in this conference for 7 years and 
have seen many changes.  For example, the Private Sector Committee has 
become more engaged and respected by the Directors.

At the mid-year this past Feb, I was invited to present the status of the 
EIC, CAP and EDXL to the Preparedness Committee during the 
conference.  This was a very welcomed opportunity.  At this annual meeting, 
I am expecting to be able to do a larger focus on CAP as well as EDXL 
although the details have not yet been worked out.  The current NEMA 
president, Dave Liebersbach was a founding member of the Partnership for 
Public Warning (PPW).  The PPW as many of you know was the breeding ground 
for much of the work that started CAP.  The PPW funded Art Botterells 
involvement in OASIS throughout it's existence.  Art and I were both active 
in PPW from its inception with a focus on improving public warning.

NEMA this year would be an excellent time to do an interop demo that will 
get quite a bit of exposure.  Please let me know if you are interested in 
doing a demonstration at this conference and we can talk about the right 
way to structure it for best effect.  The details for the conference can be 
found at:  www.nemaweb.org?1331.

Regards,
Elysa Jones, Chair
OASIS EM-TC
Engineering Program Manager
Warning Systems, Inc.
256-880-8702 x102