In my day, Casey Kasem was counting down the hits on American Top 40, advising "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."  Today, the countdown of the week's top singles continues, but my daughter's version is led by Ryan Seacrest. I don't know many of the songs, and don't think I can really tell most of them apart (although I'll admit to loving "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers).  What I do recognize is her excitement - waiting to find out which will be number one!

We're big on top lists. They're everywhere - best dressed, worst dressed, music, movies, bestselling books.  So, while listening with my daughter this week and trying to tune out some of the really earsplitting stuff (one song seems to be a collections of samples from some of the worst songs of the 80s all run together), I was thinking about how you might take the AT40 (which is what it's called now, and yes, there's an app) and turn into the BC10.

No, I'm not suggesting that you write disaster songs and rely heavily on autotune (although that might be fun).  What I am saying is that you might consider using a familiar and fun format to toot your own horn (top ten BC saves) or help employees (top ten at-home preparedness tips) or create awareness (top ten risks).  If you do (or already have) let me know!  Maybe I'll turn your experiences into a Top Ten Top Ten Lists for Drive!

Superstorm?  Super session!  Don't miss our Superstorm Sandy Panel at DRI2013!  The session features three superb speakers with real, first-hand Sandy stories to tell.  The speakers are AnneMarie Staley of NYSE Euronext, Greg Pinchbeck of Citi, and Bill Evans of ABC News!

The three will recount Sandy experiences, share lessons learned, and take questions from the crowd during the session, on Wednesday, June 5 at 4:45 p.m.  Get your questions ready, and here's a little more about our speakers:

AnneMarie Staley is the Director for Global Business Continuity Management at NYSE Euronext. In this capacity, AnneMarie engages with senior and executive management across the organization to develop, implement and manage the business continuity and disaster recovery arenas across seven countries. AnneMarie has been helping to build NYSE Euronext's Business Continuity Management program since 2002--prior to the NYSE she worked in business continuity for Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC). Her industry memberships include: BCP Steering Committee for SIFMA (Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association); Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC), Contingency Planning Exchange (CPE); Association for Contingency Planners (ACP) and Women's Bond Club.

AnneMarie is a DRI International Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) and an MBCI, certified by the Business Continuity Institute. In addition to Board Chair of the DRI Foundation, she is a Board Director of DRI International, sits on the NYSE Euronext Diversity Council and is on the Planning Committee for NY/NJ FIRST Robotics, an international organization designed to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders.

Greg Pinchbeck serves as the Continuity of Business and Controls Director in the Global Consumer Operations and Technology business with Citi. Prior to Citi, Greg was the Head of Resiliency & Recovery for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Americas region. He was also the Executive Director for Resiliency in the Treasury & Security Services line of business at JPMorgan Chase where he was responsible for the global alignment and linkage of business continuity and disaster recovery across 37 countries and a member of the bank's crisis management team. Greg held a similar role with Bank One and has held consulting positions at SunGard, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG.

Dr. Bill Evans is Senior Meteorologist for Channel 7 Eyewitness News and is the popular 12-time Emmy Award winning weather anchor for Eyewitness News This Morning and Eyewitness News at Noon.

Bill also forecasts the weather on WPLJ-FM Radio's Scott & Todd in the Morning in New York and on WGCH Business Talk Radio in Greenwich, CT as well as for the ABC Radio Network and ESPN Radio. He often fills in for Sam Champion on ABC News' Good Morning America, and has appeared on LIVE! with Regis and Kelly, ESPN Sports Center, the Discovery Channel's How Stuff Works and Martha Stewart Radio.

Before joining the Eyewitness News team in 1989, Bill was a Meteorologist at WFAA-TV in Dallas and morning show host for KHYI-FM Radio there. Before that he was Meteorologist for WALA-TV in Mobile, AL and was radio morning show host for Mobile's WABB-FM Radio. Bill began his broadcasting career at the age of 13 in his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi as a DJ on WDAL Radio and WTOK-TV, where he presented his first weathercast.

Bill is no stranger to the sound and fury of hurricanes. Growing up in Mississippi, he experienced first-hand the awesome power of Hurricane Camille, one of the most powerful and destructive hurricanes in America's history. He turned his interest in the causes and effects of severe weather into a career after earning a BA from Mississippi State University and a degree in Meteorology from Jackson State University. He also holds a degree from Sussex Community College. In 1985, Bill was awarded the prestigious broadcast Seal of Approval from The American Meteorological Society and has been honored by The National Weather Service as "Outstanding Meteorologist." Bill was recently awarded "Doctor of Humane Letters" from Dowling College, Oakdale, NY.

Our own Chloe Demrovsky is headed to Toronto! As many of you know, Chloe is the director of global operations at DRI International. She oversees DRI's global network that conducts courses in over 50 countries on 6 continents.  As part of her role at DRI, she has presented at conferences on four continents.
 

She will be speaking at the ISO 31000 conference being hosted in Toronto May 28, 2013. Her presentation is titled Toward Integration: "The Relationship between Risk and Continuity" and will be related to the ISO 31000 standards. Chloe says she will discuss approaching the incident from the perspective of risk management;  approaching the incident from the perspective of continuity management; cause versus effect: two approaches to achieve the same result; and integration through standardization.

So, if you are going to the conference, stop on by! We're sure Chloe would love to see you!

DRI International has a busy summer ahead, sponsoring three events in Latin America-specifically in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.

The first event is Foro Risk Mexico, to be held on Thursday, May 16, 2013 in Monterrey, NL Mexico.  It's an annual event of leading risk and security administration headquartered in Monterrey. Designed to demonstrate the latest innovation in risk management, it is also a valuable networking opportunity for risk and security professionals.  Informative sessions throughout the day allow for a timely analysis and discussion among colleagues and experienced industry leaders. Held exclusively in Spanish, this special event is open to risk and security professionals as well as risk administration executives.

Join director of DRI Mexico and editor-in-chief of Thrive! Iberoamerica Ing. Jorge Escalera for his informative discussion: Administración de Riesgos, Continuidad de Operaciones y Protección Civil, Mega tendencias y cómo se integran de manera óptima. Just in case you didn't catch that title, here's a description of Jorge's session:

As risks occur with greater frequency and magnitude affecting climate change throughout the world, leaders of public and private sectors are implementing plans and methods to increase resiliency of their organizations and adequately deal with unimaginable disasters taken from internal risks, from their environment and from their chain. The new public federal administration in Mexico has as one of its guiding directives that Mexico becomes a player on an international level and in turn, the country currently has enacted a new civil protection law-one of the most advanced in the entire world.  Learn how these mega-trends were integrated and work towards an integrated risk management for organizations.

Next, we'll be moving on to Alcont Week in Bogota, Colombia, June 11-14, and then to DRI Day 2013 in São Paulo, Brazil on July 2. More about those events in the coming weeks.  Stayed tuned!