Free Webinar: Professional Practices Panel to Answer Penetrating Questions
Join us for a free webinar, "The DRI Professional Practices for Business Continuity: Specific Answers to Penetrating Questions," on May 15 at 2 p.m. A panel of experienced continuity professionals will tackle some important questions, and you won't want to miss it! To register, click here. And many thanks to our sponsor, RecoveryPlanner, for making the event possible. About the webinar: DRI International's Professional Practices are the global standard for business continuity planners. You need to know why they are the basis for business continuity best practice. Join our panel of experts as they mine the depth and breadth of the Professional Practices for the answers to some really pointed questions. Learn the benefits of utilizing the Professional Practices, and get the nitty gritty on some really specific and current concerns, like procedural impacts, risk impacts, establishing RTOs, handling gaps between maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPOD) and RPO, establishing business continuity policies, and more. The panel:- Joyce Shroka, Director Business Continuity & Records, NiSource, Inc.
- Thomas Wagner, Head of Business Continuity Management, Direct Edge
- Mike Janko, Manager, Global Business Continuity, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
System Requirements:
- PC-based attendees - Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
- Mac®-based attendees - Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer
- Mobile attendees - Required: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet
Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now, please click here.
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Last Chance to Win:
A Free Lifetime
DRI International
Membership!
Never want to pay your DRI maintenance fees again? Well, you only have one more week for a shot at making that wish come true. We're giving away a free lifetime membership, and to be in the running, all you have to do is register for DRI2013 by May 3, 2013. What's the deal? One lucky person will never again have to pay DRI maintenance fees....ever! Of course, the winner will have to continue to earn CEAPs to keep current, but the annual fee will be history! Free lifetime membership follows you, too -- from ABCP to MBCP and every acronym in between. We'll choose one lucky winner and make the announcement on our Facebook page on Monday, May 6. Click here for more information about DRI2013, and click here to go straight to the registration form. If you need help or are wondering if you qualify for a conference registration discount (there are a bunch of them, so you probably do!), call our customer care center at (866) 542-3744. And just in case you don't already know, DRI2013 will be held June 4-7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA. The conference program rocks. Opportunities for meaningful exchanges abound. And the event is simply like no other.
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Greetings!
 Yesterday, I engaged in a plan test of sorts. I went to my first industry event in almost two years! It was the ACP Liberty Valley Chapter meeting, and I can't thank that group enough for having me. The meeting was awesome, full of timely information on crisis communications, as well as a 10th anniversary celebration for the chapter, that featured touching tributes from past presidents. They even had killer chocolate cupcakes, which I eyed enviously but managed to resist.
I was thrilled to be there with such a great group of people. And for me, this foray out in public was a dry run, a warm-up, for our own conference, DRI2013 which is just around the corner (June 4-7 in Philadelphia).
Having not been out and about in a while, I made a list the night before -- a plan -- to ensure all went smoothly. Well, as people who plan, I'm sure you can appreciate that it didn't. But you've rubbed off on me enough that I have taken note of my "lessons learned." And while I won't detail my troubles, I will say that I'll look a lot less rumpled at DRI2013 (I have come up with an ironing workaround!).
To those of you who were at the meeting, thanks again for the warm welcome back. And to those of you in the area (PA, NJ), if you've ever got a BCP event going on, let me know. I'd love to meet you! And speaking of BCP events in the Philadelphia area, ours is not to be missed. I'm so looking forward to seeing many more of you at DRI2013.
Buffy Rojas
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Zombies May Eat Our Brains:
And Teach Us Something Too!
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Zombies haven't literally invaded our cities, towns or homes (yet!), but they certainly have invaded popular culture in a big way. This multi-billion dollar, brain-eating, flesh-chewing industry has spawned countless movies, TV shows, video games, books and merchandise, and shows no signs of slowing to a lifeless crawl any time soon.
And now they are starting to invade our classrooms, universities, lecture halls and even army training camps, in a surprisingly useful way - as "teachers" of disaster-preparedness and survival techniques.
This insightful article from the Wall Street Journal offers a thesis as to why "Zombie-Mania" has captured the brains (and dollars) of millions of consumers, but also discusses how scholars, policy-makers and even the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are starting to leverage our morbid fascination with the undead as a way to educate the masses on being better-prepared for post-apocalyptic scenarios.
The U.S. Army recently recruited Max Brooks, author of "The Zombie Survival Guide," as a guest speaker at its Hurricane Rehearsal of Concept event. "For the first time, you have young people being interested in being prepared, being 'tricked into' taking care of themselves, really, because even if the zombie apocalypse does not happen, they will be ready for the next hurricane or next disaster," Brooks said.
The University of Michigan's School of Public Health staged a "zombie apocalypse" -- modeled after a curriculum designed by the CDC -- and quickly attracted four times the number of students who usually attend its "Epidemiology and Public Health Management of Disasters" classes. Even local health departments, like the BCHD in Boone County, West Virginia, are using "zombie events" to prepare community partners and the public for real-life bioterrorism threats. |
Ancient Trees Make a Comeback on Earth Day?
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 Tree lovers had something completely new -- or rather very old -- to embrace on Earth Day 2013. A non-profit group based in Copemish, Michigan held ceremonial tree-plantings this week in seven nations (Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Germany and the U.S.). But these were no run-of-the-mill oak trees -- they were laboratory-produced genetic clones of three giants that were cut down in northern California over a century ago. One of the tree stumps that was used as a source for the clones is believed to be about 4,000 years old! "This is a first step toward mass production," said David Milarch, co-founder of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a nonprofit group spearheading the project. "We need to reforest the planet; it's imperative. To do that, it just makes sense to use the largest, oldest, most iconic trees that ever lived." Talk about a continuity plan! |
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Avian Bird Flu: Not So "Yummy" in China
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 Still reeling from last year's controversy over antibiotics and hormones found in its chicken products, Yum Brands, parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, has yet another problem on its hands -- the spread of the "avian influenza A(H7N9)" virus in China has caused its same-store sales in China to drop by 20%, with net income decreasing by 26%. Chinese consumers have become increasingly worried about the new strain of bird flu and are starting to shun the company's 4,200 KFC locations. Some of those infected with the virus had reportedly been in contact with live poultry. Nevertheless, the company remains upbeat, saying "The impact of Avian flu publicity has initially been dramatic at KFC but relatively short-lived. In the past, we reminded consumers that properly cooked chicken is perfectly safe to eat, and we continue to do so." |
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