Past NISC Events
Leveraging the NISC's Member Portal Resources
An overview of the new tools and apps freely available in the NISC Member Portal

Thursday, February 4, 2016
1pm Eastern / 12pm Central
This webinar is both for members to learn more about the resources available to them and for non-members to learn about the benefits of NISC membership. Topics covered will include:
- Recent updates to the NISC Member Portal including the myTHIRA template and vUSA webapp
- How to test drive Essential Elements of Information (EEI) templates and download them to deploy operationally
- An overview of the NISC's upcoming information sharing exercise, CHECKPOINT 16
The presenters will provide an overview of all resources in the NISC Member Portal, and how these resources will be used during the upcoming CHECKPOINT 16 exercise that will take place May 11, 2016.
Speakers:
- Doug Eades Systems Integration Manager, Kentucky Emergency Management; NISC Chair
- Alan Spraggins G&H International Services; NISC Support Staff
- Jeff Sopel G&H International Services; NISC Support Staff
For more information, email info@nisconsortium.org.
Leveraging the NISC Member Portal
Leveraging the NISC's EEI Resources- How to use the NISC Member Portal from NISC Consortium on Vimeo.
This webinar was designed both for members to learn more about the resources available to them, and for non-members to learn about the benefits of NISC membership. Topics covered included:
- How the NISC Member Portal can fit your organization’s needs
- How current NISC members use the Member Portal
- How to test drive templates, and download those you want to implement
Our presenters provided an overview of the new NISC Member Portal and the various resources it contains. They took a close look at the Essential Elements of Information (EEI) test drives, including real-world examples of when and how they can be used.
Speakers:
- Charles Werner Chief, Charlottesville Fire Department; NISC Chair
- Doug Eades Systems Integration Manager, Kentucky Emergency Management; NISC Board Member
- Joel Thomas G&H International Services; NISC Support Staff
For more information, email info@nisconsortium.org.
Detecting and Monitoring Disease and Illness Outbreaks -- October 23, 2014
- Data sources and systems for public health and emergency management officials
- Best practices, resources, and lessons learned on detecting and monitoring illness, disease, and syndrome outbreaks
- Dr. Michael Jung, Medical Officer, Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS
- Dr. Teresa Quitugua, Deputy Director, National Biosurveillance Integration Center, Office of Health Affairs, DHS
- Lt. Cody Thornton, Program Manager, U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Div. of International Health Security, ASPR, HHS
Applying Technologies to Enable Effective Decision Making -- July 24, 2014
- Lessons Learned from CUSEC's CAPSTONE-14 Earthquake Exercise
Presenters:
- Mike Stehn, Manager Applications Development, Illinois Emergency Management
- Doug Eades, Systems Integration Manager, Kentucky Emergency Management
- Tommy Hodge, Information Technology Director, Tennessee Emergency Management
- Debbie Briedwell, GIS Specialist, Missouri Department of Public Safety
View the recording.
- Session I: Overview of the Exercise
- Massive exercise with 2,500 participants from 450 counties in 7 states
- Planning and implementing the exercise
- Adapting this model for other regional exercises
- Session II: Private Sector Integration
- Public/private sector engagement with essential elements of information, mutual aid, and systems integration
- Field to headquarters reporting with mobile apps
- Public-private information sharing myths
- Mike Stehn, Manager Applications Development, Illinois Emergency Management
- Doug Eades, Systems Integration Manager, Kentucky Emergency Management
- Debbie Briedwell, GIS Specialist, Missouri Department of Public Safety
- Jeff Sopel, G&H International Services, Supporting Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate's First Responders Group
- Understand the role, functionalities, and user communities of EMAC OS, MASS, Mutual Aid Net, ROSS, and how to access and use these capabilities;
- Identify the value of the Mission Ready Package and how to use the MRP data model;
- Explain the purpose and functionality of the Mission Explorer/Mission Ready Package tool and how it is used to discover planned missions and MRPs;
- Explain the purpose and value of FEMA's Resource Typing API and how to use it;
- Carol Walton, Chair of EMAC Executive Task Force, EMAC National Coordinating State, and Operations Branch Manager at Arkansas Department of Emergency Management
- Doug Eades, Systems Integration Manager, Kentucky Emergency Management
- Tommy Hicks, Assistant Executive Director, International Association of Fire Chiefs
- Background on the CAUSE initiative;
- Plans and focus areas for CAUSE III; and
- How to contribute to and participate in CAUSE events.
- Jack Pagotto, Head, Multi-Agency Crisis Management Science and Technology, Defence R&D Canada Centre for Security Science
- Dr. David Boyd, Director, Office for Interoperability and Compatibility, Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Public-Private Coordination in Emergency Response and Recovery --August 26, 2014
- Lessons Learned from CUSEC's CAPSTONE-14 Earthquake Exercise
- Successes and identified gaps in public-private sector integration
Presenters:
- Jon Monken, Director, Illinois Emergency Management Agency
- Edie Casella, Project Administrator, Illinois Emergency Management Agency
- James Williams, Manager, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Walgreens
- Brooke Brager, Senior Manager, Emergency Planning and Preparedness, Walmart
- Michael Marx, Manager, Utility Operations Response, Ameren
The webinar recording will be posted shortly.
The Canada-U.S. Enhanced Resiliency Experiment (CAUSE): Cross-border Information Sharing for Public Safety -- July 16, 2014
- CAUSE is a priority in President Obama’s and Prime Minister Harper’s Beyond the Border Initiative
- The upcoming event, CAUSE III, is the third in a series of cross-border experiments that are applicable to many bi-national relationships
- Experiment priorities:
- 700 MHz/PSBN interoperability protocols
- wireless public alerting
- cross border mutual aid
- social media for emergency management
Presenters:
- Phillip Dawe, Multi-Agency Crisis Management S&T, Canadian Safety & Security Program, Defence R&D Canada’s Centre for Security Science
- Dan Cotter, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate
View the presentation slides.
- Tips for improving security, implementing policy, and designing apps
- Jeff Cohen, Chief Counsel, Director of Government Relations, APCO
- Jay English, Director, Comm. Center/ 9-1-1 Services, APCO
- Alex Kreilein, Office of Emergency Communications, DHS
- Eddie Reyes, Deputy Chief, Alexandria (VA) Police Department
- Implementation projects, working groups, and products designed to address tactical information sharing (and management!) needs of first responders;
- Strategies for communicating needs to policymakers and other stakeholders through our engagement with the White House;
- Our involvement in helping establish Virtual USA criteria; and
- Ways you can engage in every effort--from programmatic design to peer-to-peer capacity building.
- Charles Werner, NISC Chair; Chief, Charlottesville, VA Fire Department
- Jeff Dulin, NISC Treasurer; Deputy Fire Chief, Charlotte, NC Fire Department
- Barney Krucoff, NISC Director; GIO, MD Department of Information Technology
- Richard Butgereit, GIS Administrator, Information Management, FL Division of Emergency Management
- Tommy Hicks; Assistant Executive Director, International Association of Fire Chiefs
- Common communications challenges, tactics, and lessons learned for responding to school emergencies - local, state, and federal perspectives;
- How the Computer-Based Assessment Tool (CBAT) uses 360-degree geospherical video to help emergency response personnel prepare for and respond to incidents at schools;
- How the state of New Hampshire is preparing emergency responders with school maps that include floor plans and color-coded exit and entry points; and
- A sample of situational awareness tools and technologies that can help schools and emergency responders prepare for emergencies.
- Sean R. Goodwin, GIS Administrator, Division of Emergency Services, New Hampshire Department of Safety
- Jaysen Goodwin, CBAT Coordinator, Office of Infrastructure Protection, Protective Security Coordination Division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Mary Schoenfeldt, Public Education Coordinator, Everett (WA) Office of Emergency Management
- Michael O'Shea, Senior Law Enforcement Program Manager