India conference bridges 'resilience professions'

There is no more important long-term challenge in protecting businesses, homes and lives than bridging the knowledge gaps between what I call "resilience professions" - jobs in business continuity, disaster response, disaster recovery, emergency management, crisis management, risk management and security.

Asia is about to host the first conference I've seen that takes on that challenge explicitly.

The 2008 International Disaster Management Conference on Public Private Partnership will bring together for the first time in Asia both public- and private-sector professionals in disaster, emergency and business continuity management, as both presenters and attendees. The conference is on April 16-17 in Delhi, India, and is endorsed by India's National Disaster Management Authority.

At a single conference, you'll be able to hear and meet senior executives from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Society, the British Standards Institute, India's Oil Industry Safety Directorate, the Micro-Insurance Academy, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, the U.S. Agency for International Development International Resources Group - and the Mumbai airport. There are about 20 presentations, plus India's usual introduction and thank-you rituals.

The conference is organized by volunteers at Responsenet, an initiative of the Aidmatrix Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) supported by high-tech companies. Aidmatrix offers supply-chain technology and know-how from its corporate partners to support its mission statement, "Right Aid to the Right People at the Right Time". The organization mobilizes more than US$1.5 billion in aid each year, works with over 35,000 nonprofit entities, companies and government agencies worldwide, and affects the lives of 65 million people.

Some financial support for the conference has been given by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), GeoHazards International, Tata Indicom and Sphere India. Last year’s conference organized by Responsenet on supply chain for disasters drew 120 people.

The conference will be held concurrently with the Disaster Management India trade show that features search and rescue and emergency response equipment, shelter and tenting, emergency medical services (EMS), and all kinds of fire fighting, communication, detection, geographical information (GIS) and global positioning (GPS) systems. There will be booths for NGOs, training organizations and--I think this is significant--insurance companies like Swiss Re and Tokio-IFFCO, the India affiliate of Japan's Tokio Marine. These are photos from the 2007 exhibition that drew 4,000 attendees.

A real bargain, the conference costs just INR 3,200 (US$85) for two days. I've never been to a two-day professional conference anywhere for under a hundred bucks. There's no online registration facility, so if you're interested in attending, just fill out the registration form via this link.

Why this is significant
No other conference I've seen anywhere so explicitly aims to bring together private-sector business continuity and public-sector disaster and emergency management professionals to learn from each other. It may not be a runaway success this year, but I'll bet that the format will become common for shows and conferences in resilience professions in the next few years.

It seems to me likely to be popular because, if for no other reason, the business continuity profession is populated overwhelmingly by white-collar males who've never been near an actual disaster, who would like nothing better than to have a business excuse to take off their suits and ties to stare at serious-looking equipment the way that young boys watch fire trucks. I know, I count myself one of them.

And I don't know of an NGO or public sector agency on the planet that isn't looking for support, volunteers and funding. Members from the community of resilience professions are interested individuals who are both committed and capable of providing all three.

Note: I am a Singapore volunteer representative for the International Association of Emergency Managers, and I will be speaking at the conference on the future of BCP jobs for public- and private-sector professionals in Asia.

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Nathaniel Forbes

Nathaniel Forbes is the director of Forbes Calamity Prevention, a Singapore-based consulting firm providing business continuity, crisis management and emergency response advice and training to multinational companies, with a focus on companies with offices in Asia. The firm is 10 years old. FCP's current and past clients include Singapore Exchange Ltd, OCBC Bank, AXA Insurance, The Gillette Company, Siemens and ABN Amro Bank. A former President of the Singapore Computer Society’s Business Continuity Group, Nathaniel passed the DRII’s Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP) examination in 1997. He has lived, traveled or worked in Asia since 1973.