Pub Ed Conference to Celebrate 40th Anniversary in 2013!

By Past Chief Timothy Boel
Vice Chairman, NYSAFC Pub Ed Committee

The 40th Annual New York State Public Safety Educators’ Conference conducted at the New York State Fire Academy will be held the weekend of May 3-5, 2013. The theme for next year is being developed and committee members are reviewing feedback from this year’s conference that drew over 200 public safety educators.

Click here to download more details about the conference and an application. This event has been co-sponsored for years by the State Chiefs and OFPC. Mark your calendars as we plan to celebrate our 40-year milestone of pub ed training!

In an effort to be proactive, next year’s Pub Ed Conference will provide to all that attend some of the tools they will need to help make their communities safer. Also, some of the management skills needed to facilitate program planning and many of the funding and budgeting concerns that come with having a comprehensive program will be focused on.

Some of the programs scheduled for next year’s conference are: "Safe Keeping Your Communities," "Teaching Fire Extinguisher Usage," "Age Appropriate Safety Ed Basics," "Clowning and Puppeting for Pub Ed," "Using Media as a Public Safety Tool," and "Injury Prevention vs. Codes." Many more are in the works.

What we do to educate the members of our communities to prevent an emergency is going to greatly impact the outcome of the incidents that do occur and the injuries that result from some of the many incidents we face. It’s not much different than the reason why we teach CPR to citizens, or why we see AEDs in many of our public buildings.

Next year we will be offering an "early bird" program on Friday afternoon, as we have in recent years. This Friday format was developed from the comments received from past attendees. One of the programs we are looking to offer will focus on car seat safety.

Next year, in addition to programs planned to help teach public safety educators what they need to know in delivering programs to a variety of different age groups, we will be offering a display of programs being conducted across the state that have had great results. We are encouraging agencies that have a program that is working well locally to contact the State Chiefs to showcase the program during the event. The format is a standalone display, photos, lesson plans, video and other material that can highlight your program.

We are in the planning stages to also offer a break out or ice breaker session for attendees on Friday or Saturday evening of the conference to allow them to network and discuss their program’s success in a roundtable format.

Those planning to attend next year's conference – we encourage you to please mark the date – May 3-5, 2013. Being the 40th anniversary, you will want to register as soon as possible. Again, click here to download a conference flyer and registration form.

For additional info, feel free to contact the State Chiefs office or any member of the Pub Ed Committee.