The first thing is that it takes an organization of some sort to organize and pay for a conference. Conferences cost money...$25 to $50,000 not being unusual... and that means either self-funding the conference and/or finding corporate sponsors, who will not talk to, let alone pay space for an exhibit to some "Joe Blow" who decides to hold a conference. Also, conference centers will not rent space to "Joe Blow", either. There also must be an organization in order to have a set of books, structure, etc. to manage the financial end.
May I suggest that there are models available to think about. For instance, visit the website below, which is a Cygnus (sponsor of this forum) site for EMTs. Click on "EMT Expo 2007" and observe that Cygnus, in connection with NAEMT, is ramrodding this convention. Then, take a look at how this conference is put together, with lots of sponsors AND lots of training sessions.
Cygnus EMT Website
The problem with us is that we have no organization like NAEMT that could work with Cygnus to create such a conference. Hence, sponsors could have no confidence that the conference would be sufficiently well-attended..etc.
Now, if someone started an organization - say, "APPSO" - the Association of Private Police and Security Officers - and if that organization developed a significant membership, I'd be willing to bet Cygnus would see an opportunity to participate in organizing a conference like they do with NAEMT.
(I thought about NAPPSO - the National Association of Private Police and Security Officers, but decided anything that would raise jokes about NAPPING in our domain would be a bad idea


Oh, and by the way...NAEMT itself is not a bad model for a professional organization such as APPSO either, apart from any considerations about conferences.
Leave a comment: