Don't Leave It In Vegas - NFPA Conference & Expo 2018

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”,  may be a great slogan for your evening activities, but not for the content of the 2018 annual NFPA Conference and Expo. Every attendee receives valuable knowledge, tools, and resources that they should bring back to their respective fire departments and organizations. Educational sessions, vendors, and networking opportunities abound for all functions and components of fire protection and life safety:

• Healthcare
• Fire Service
• Emergency Management
• Fire Protection Engineering
• Fire Protection and Alarm Systems
• Facilities Management

General sessions featured two speakers that focused on the theme of future innovations. Futurist, Jim Carroll, provided a broad overview of the future of technology, and how that future is already here. He challenged attendees to stay attuned to the world around us and strive for continuous growth and development with the quote, “The future belongs to those who are fast.”

Keller Rinaudo inspired the audience with the accomplishments of his company, Zipline. Zipline is utilizing “futuristic” drone technology to bring life saving medical supplies to the most remote parts of the world. The company is currently in the process of opening its second distribution center which will provide the entire country of Rwanda with readily available blood and medicines.

NFPA President, Jim Pauley, introduced the “fire and life safety ecosystem” concept. The ecosystem is eight elements that must work in harmony to protect people and property. Pauley stated, “We have forgotten that safety is a system – not a singular action, piece of equipment, or event.”

My particular interests led me to presentations on pre-incident planning, human factors and behaviors, risk and resilience, media relations, and training and development.  Two of the most impressive presentations were case studies, one from Uber and the other from Carvana.

In “The eVTOL Revolutions: How the Next Generation of Air Travel Will Impact Fire and Life Safety”, representatives from Uber presented the next phase in their growth strategy and its impact on the fire and life safety industry. Celina Mikolajczak, Director of Engineering, painted a picture of the what Uber plans to do with electric VTOL travel and transportation. Rex Alexander, Head of Aviation Infrastructure, discussed the impact that this new form of public transportation would have on codes, standards, and FAA regulations.

Carvana, the online-only used car dealer, created the innovative concept of the car vending machine.  Their presentation, “Carvana: Performance-Based Design of an Automated Vehicle Storage and Retrieval System” demonstrated how they were able to implement the performance-based design process to create a product that would garner acceptance from a variety of local officials and regulatory agencies.  

The NFPA Conference & Expo is one of the world’s biggest and most comprehensive fire, electrical, and life safety events. It's an opportunity to gain valuable insights, meet with industry experts and learn about new products and solutions.  With 110 knowledge enhancing presentations, several hundred vendors exhibiting in the expo hall, and more than 1,000 attendees to network with, the NFPA Conference and Expo should be the primary event on the fire and life safety professional’s calendar.  

Handouts of the all presentations are available for download from, NFPA.org/conference.

Featured New Developments:

• NFPA Codefinder Tool
• NFPA 78, Guide to Electrical Inspections
• NFPA 1078, Standard for Electrical Inspector Qualifications
• NFPA 3000, Standard for an Active Shooter/Hostile Event Program

How to Persuade

Communication is a primary required skill in the fire protection/life safety industry.  Persuasion is the most powerful tool that we can have in our communications toolbox.  Persuasion plays a big role in educating our clients/community on why violations need to be corrected, showing the value of our work, and in the successful acceptance of our designs and ideas.  But, how can one be persuasive?  How can this skill be learned?

In the 1930's, Alan Monroe, a speech professor at Purdue, created an organizational pattern for creating persuasive speaking.  His pattern is referred to as, Monroe's Motivated Sequence Pattern.  By structuring your speech according to Monroe's method you are enabled to lead the audience to see and take action on the issue at hand. Monroe's motivated sequence pattern requires five steps:

1. Attention
2. Need
3. Satisfaction
4. Visualization
5. Action

Properly employed, these five steps can lead to a persuaded audience regardless of the topic.

Attention - Gain the attention of the listener.  This attracts the listener to what you are about to say.  You want to create interest in the audience.  A typical tool to be utilized here would be story, questions, a quote, or facts.

Need - Describes the problem and demonstrates a need for change in the current situation. This details what the problem is. Proof that a problem exists can be validated to the listener by following these steps:

• State the problem
• Provide an example of the problem
• Provide statistics/testimony that show the seriousness of the problem
• Show how the listener is directly affected by the problem

Satisfaction - Presents the solution, providing sufficient information and evidence to allow the listener to understand how it accomplishes the goal. This answers the question, "how will you satisfy the need?" The following five step order will accomplish this:

• State the solution
• Explain how the solution will work
• Show reasoning behind your solution
• Show successful past implementation of the solution
• Meet and respond to any objections

Visualization - This describes the benefit, of the applied solution, to the listener. At this point you would want to bring in your visual aid to better enable your audience to see what could be if the problem was solved.

Action - Tells the listener what they must do, right now, to solve the issue. Ensure that your action steps are clear, concise, and have a clear completion timeline.

The next time you want to persuade - whether you are making a formal presentation to a large audience, presenting a new idea to your boss, or educating a client on the importance of a product - ensure success by applying the five steps of Monroe's Motivated Sequence Pattern.

2014 NFPA Conference and Expo - Review

The Venue

The site of the 2014 NFPA Conference and Expo was the Mandalay Bay, in Fabulous Las Vegas.  This was my first visit to Las Vegas.  It is a great place! There are lots of things to do to occupy your time.  It is enjoyable just walking the strip and visiting the different hotels, casinos, and bars. The weather was amazing (even at 103 degrees, it’s not an oppressive heat). I stayed at the Luxor.  The room was low priced ($55), comfortable, and clean.  I look forward to visiting this location again in the future.  There is not much more I can say, because as you know…what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

The Value

The 2014 NFPA Conference and Expo provides great value in the number of educational sessions that are offered.  There are sessions that appeal to every part of the fire protection industry.  

The general session was highlighted by speaker, Michael Beschloss author of, Presidential Courage.  A vivid story teller, he reveals the qualities that have made great presidents in history and shows how to apply these qualities to leadership today.

Kurt Schwartz, Director of Homeland Security for Massachussettes during the Boston Marathon bombings gave an in-depth presentation on the local, regional, and state planning process for the 2013 marathon. He discussed the multi-jurisdicational/multi-agency response, challenges encountered, lessons learned, and best practices for response to and recovery from an attack.

A few of the sessions that I found interesting included:

NFPA 1730 and the Identification, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Fire Prevention Program -  Referencing the requirements of NFPA 1730, Standard on Organization and Deployment of Code Enforcement, Plan Review, Fire Investigation, and Public Education Operations to the Public, this program outlined the steps used to analyze data from a community risk assessment, identify appropriate fire prevention programs, and develop, implement, and evaluate those programs. This session also served to provide a guide for the conduct of a community risk assessment.

Management of the Complex Fire Scene: Lessons Learned From the West Texas Explosion -  utilizing NFPA 921:26, this session addressed many of the challenges raised by the complex fire scene where multiple federal, state, and local entities, together with private parties, each have a legitimate interest in the fire scene.

Revisiting Analysis of Potential Fire Sprinkler Performance in the Great Adventure Fire of May 11, 1984 – using computer modeling,  this presentation was able demonstrate what the results of this tragic fire could have been had fire sprinklers been installed. The presenters shared A history of the fire including construction details, interior finish, travel distance and available exits. Exhibits also included, pre- and post-fire photographs, facility plans, re-creation of the sprinkler plan used in the trial, and a smokeview movie of the fire timeline.

Aircraft Down--Are You Ready? – this session, presented by Duane Kann, Fire Chief, for Orlando International Airport, provided an overview of preparedness considerations, and applicable NFPA standards and FAA regulations for emergency response.

Life Safety for the Vegas High Roller Observation Wheel - This presentation described the safety analysis conducted, including the redundant power drive systems, external drive mechanism, and quality control measures. Also discussed was the emergency procedures for unloading passengers and methods for emergency passenger extractions. The Vegas High Roller is the world’s tallest observation wheel.

The Visitors

At the 2014 NFPA Conference and Expo, as with all conferences, the greatest value is in the people that you meet and the connections that are made.  Besides the opportunity of receiving an eclectic learning experience by sitting under the instruction of those who are more knowledgeable, provide a different perspective, or perform in another sector, is the opportunities to meet others in your field.  Its always interesting to hear how others are doing things, how other departments function, how the private sector and public sectors differ in their thinking.  From the speakers to the people you meet on the plane, these introductions serve to add as much value as the conference presentations itself.

Key West Fire Academy 2014

Check out the below post and information from Paul Bryant, fire strategist, engineer, author, and owner of Kingfell.

Following the publication of my book Fire Strategies-Strategic Thinking, my plan was to set up specialist fire strategy workshops around the US and elsewhere. However, after setting up a second home in Key West and meeting a number of enthusiastic fire professionals there, we realized that setting up a series of workshops in "Paradise" could be an attractive alternative.

What type of workshops?
The idea is to bring the world of new and innovative fire engineering thinking to US fire professionals and to anyone who can take out two or three days to get there. Initial subjects will include the concept of strategic thinking when preparing a fire strategy. Other subjects will be structural fire engineering developments, fire engineering for transportation hubs and tunnels, and fire training techniques. Speakers will initially be from the UK, Egypt, Germany and Ireland. This will increase as the Academy develops. 

The venue?
Workshops will be held in the Firehouse Museum in the centre of old Key West. 
http://www.keywestfirehousemuseum.com/

Next steps:
The website is being set up which will provide more information on courses and speakers. We are also seeking NFPA accreditation for each of the courses.

Join the Key West Fire Academy LinkedIn group:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Key-West-Fire-Academy-7422355?trk=my_groups-b-grp-v