The Food for Thought Luncheon held on the last day of APCO 2018 recognized newly certified agencies, strong APCO chapters and a “comedian-therapist” who explained how people could better understand their co-workers.

APCO chapters recognized for membership strength were:

• Chapter Growth in Number of Members went to the Atlantic Chapter, accepted by Brian LaMonica, for adding over 1,100 new members.
• Chapter Growth by Percentage of New Members went to the Mississippi Chapter, accepted by Sheri Hokamp.
• Membership by Population Density went to the Montana Chapter, accepted by Kimberly Burdick.

The rapid pace of technological change is one of the reasons that ongoing training for emergency call centers is important, said APCO Executive Director and CEO Derek Poarch.

“Certification of an agency’s training standards by APCO demonstrates the agency’s commitment to meeting national standards and represents a major accomplishment for the agency, its staff and the community it serves,” Poarch said.

After recognizing  agencies that achieved certification, Poarch invited the co-chairs of the convention, Mark Pallans and Nonie McCandless of the APCO Nevada Chapter, to the stage.

“Our committee hopes you had an amazing time, that you enjoyed the cutting-edge training on key topics affecting the public safety community,” Pallans said, “that you were able to experience the industry’s largest vendor floor, and that you were able to renew old friendships and create new ones.”

Bob Bloom of the Mid-Eastern Chapter, and Chair of the 2019 APCO International Conference and Exposition, invited APCO members to the convention in Baltimore to be held next August.

“Baltimore is fun for the whole family,” Bloom said. “The Inner-Harbor where the conference will be held is full of activities: the aquarium, power plant, science museum, black history museum, children’s museum, shopping, dining, Betsy Ross House and let’s not forget the spot where Francis Scott Key penned our national anthem.”

Mike Maiorana, Verizon’s Senior Vice President – Public Sector, addressed the conference after lunch and described his company’s investment in the communications network.

“Our team realizes that you rely on us. So we invest in technologies and solutions that make those communications possible,” Maiorana said. “That investment includes the more than $120 billion dollars we’ve put in network infrastructure since 2000 alone. Our 4G LTE network spans 2.57 million square miles, covering more than 98 percent of the United States population.”

Maiorana introduced the keynote speaker Connie Podesta. Podesta calls herself a comedian-therapist and she proceeded to deliver a standup routine-cum-mass-therapy session while assessing the personality types of hundreds of APCO members in the audience.

What’s more, she demonstrated how different personality types could more effectively get along with each other. She divided the room into squares and triangles, circles and squiggles and asked everyone to determine which they were by drawing their chosen shape in the air.

She explained what drives one personality group crazy about the other personality types. Circles and squiggles are chronically late; squares and triangle take lateness as a personal affront. Circles want to get to know you; squares don’t want a relationship. But she said that if you want to sell your ideas and if you want to have influence over others in your organization then you have to adjust to the preferences of other personality types.

Her delivery was humorous, but Podesta closed on a serious note. She said that many public safety communications professionals don’t feel they are sufficiently appreciated. Podesta said her daughter was held up at gunpoint recently and her family’s house burned down a few years ago. It was public safety professionals who came to their aid. “You just have to know there are thousands and thousands of people like us who know what you do. So thank you.”