• Thomas Carroll, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• Richard Fairlamb, Fairlamb Int'l LLC
• Sue Hornstra, GE Capital
• Frank Perlmutter, Strategic BCP
• Jeffrey Yu, DRI China

• Ernie Bryan, Engineering Solutions, Inc.
• Bruce Gillespie, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• David Mahoney, Northrop Grumman

The DRI International Foundation is now accepting donations for our Silent Auction to be held at DRI2013 on June 6, 2013 in Philadelphia. 

The foundation would welcome a service, product, or item to be auctioned off at this event. Any denomination of gift card, gift certificate or actual item also would be greatly appreciated, and all contributors will be listed on our web site.  

Your tax-deductible donation will support communities impacted by disaster connect with relief organizations as quickly as possible and when they need it the most.  Some of 2013's donations include: lunch and tour of the iconic New York Stock Exchange, theater tickets, hotel stays, sports memorabilia, electronics, and gift cards.

Donations can be mailed to:

Melissa Smith, Secretary

Disaster Recovery International Foundation

691 N. Squirrel Road Suite 111

Auburn Hills, MI  48326

Donations are due by March 15, 2013. Contact Pascale Phelan, Development Officer, at (914) 358-6451 or pphelan@driif.org with questions.

Just in case you missed it yesterday, here's a reminder that the latest issue of Thrive!, DRI International's online magazine, is out now. Click here to get to it.  You'll find advice from your fellow certified professionals on keeping passwords safe, as well as informative articles on cybersecurity, BCP in Brazil, lessons learned from the Queensland floods, and detailed descriptions of the breakout sessions offered at DRI2013.

We are currently looking for authors for Thrive! as well as ideas for articles and people to interview.  If any one (or more) of those sound like you, please let me know.  Send me an email at brojas@drii.org or call me at (248) 630-7371.

Hazardous Runways

I'm all about the silver lining.  My cup isn't half full; it runneth over.  I keep my shades handy because I can always find the bright side.  And here it is: this week, I'm keeping company with supermodels!  That's a stretch, and not just because I'm 5'2".  Why supermodels?  Well, it's because sometimes they fall down in public too.

And this week I took a header for all the world to see.  It's been about a year since I was last responsible for a high-profile typo.  I typed hickey pucks when I meant hockey pucks in an article about silent auction items (Yes, we are still looking for donations, see article below). The bright side that time was that I misspelled hockey, not pucks.  Well, I've done it again.

This time, on the cover of Thrive!, our online magazine that was sent to you yesterday, there's a typo.  Country is misspelled.  There are a couple of other typos too.  And I got emails from a lot of you about it.  I appreciate the heads up, and I also have an answer for those of you who couldn't believe I let that happen.

The answer is: people make mistakes.  This time it was two people - me and the awesome designer with whom I've worked with for nearly 20 years.  You see, he rekeyed some text for me in a few spots. Time was tight, and he was trying to help out.  But there's a reason that designers aren't editors.  This is it.

So, I apologize for the errors.  I'm as mortified as the runway models in that crash and burn video clip (FYI, even Naomi Campbell hits the deck). But there's a bright side here too.  When he misspelled Country, at least he didn't leave out the "o".  That would have been way worse! And, since I've been hanging out with you BCP folks for 20-some years now, I've also identified lessons to be learned:

Don't let your designer type.  Or better said: even if it's going to save you time, cutting corners, is cutting corners. Make sure that people are assigned to the tasks that best suit them.  Imagine if this had been a crisis communication, and he typo-ed an address or some other piece of critical information. Yikes!

It's more complicated than you think.  Whatever "it" is, that's true.  We all type.  How hard can it be, right?  Well, we all walk too.  But I wouldn't want to walk in any of those models' shoes (or the crazy get-ups).  My parents are teachers, and they used to remark that because people have been to school, they feel that they can critique teachers.  I think there's some truth to that, and I've always tried to put myself in other people's shoes (just not those towering platforms!) to understand the intricacies and challenges of their jobs before I ask something of them that, to me, seems easy. 

I'll work on eliminating the typos, after I crawl out from under this rock.  And here's another bit of silver lining for you: it's Friday!

Enjoy your weekend!

On Wednesday, you should have received an email from DRI International.  It was our weekly DRI2013 conference update, called Philly Phocus.  If you didn't receive it, please let us know!  If you did, we hope you enjoyed it!

This week's Philly Phocus contained information about an exciting new session added to the DRI2013 lineup.  Microsoft's Michele Turner will follow-up her highly-regarded DRI2012 presentation with "Organizational Governance: Developing the Governance Program Script (Part 2)." The session will discuss the framework needed for a governance program: starting the dialogue, socializing this script with the necessary parties, and mapping the components to better understand their interrelated themes. Updated industry references and enhanced templates will be provided to support program development.

If you're missing Clyde's Corner, that's now found in Philly Phocus.  So, make sure you're reading it to stay in touch with Clyde and in tune with Volunteer Day opportunities.  Also in this week's issue: group discount information and tourism tips.

Every single issue of Drive is now available online right here.  If you're one of those Drive readers who has requested a back copy or if you're just interested in taking a look at some issues you might have missed, this archive is for you!

Navigating the Drive archive is easy.  Simply click on the issue you'd like to read and you've got it!  The archive goes all the way back to our first issue on February 10, 2012.  We're pleased to provide you with this information resource and wish you happy reading!

How people react to a close call with a tornado may surprise you.  According to Jerry Suls, a University of Iowa psychologist, they become rather optimistic.

His study, which focused on tornadoes, concluded that "after people survive a brush with death, they think a tornado is not likely to hurt them in the future. In fact, they think they have a much better chance of surviving a tornado than most other people who have been through less," according to this ABC News report.

Suls believes the optimism helps people get on with their lives and keeps them motivated. They also think they are less likely to be struck by the same disaster twice.

"There's the old idea that lightning never strikes twice in the same place," Suls stold ABC.

"One month after the disaster, participants were quite optimistic that they would not suffer injury in a future tornado and they remained optimistic 6 months post-tornado," the study says.

Most participants "were more optimistic that they would avoid tornado injury in the future than the average Iowan," according to the study. Why they thought they would do better than their peers is not quite clear, although it's possible that just surviving one tornado breeds confidence.

Well, someone's got it worse than I do with the typo situation.  Electronic Arts (EA) launched a new version of that ultra-popular game on Tuesday. Ever since, disaster has struck the simulated metropolis, according to news reports and social media posts by cranky SimCity fans.

Error messages and random disconnections are making it nearly impossible to play the game.  One reviewer hasn't even been able to get in (ouch!).  SimCity Senior Producer Kip Katsarelis issued a  statement that said:

"We are hitting a number of problems with our server architecture, which has seen players encountering bugs, and long wait times to enter servers. This is, obviously, not the situation we wanted for our launch week and we want you to know that we are putting everything we have at resolving these issues. " That includes a response team working 24x7 to add more servers and fix bugs.

Read this CNET article for more on the disaster and the response.