From November 9-10th, RapidSOS hosted its annual public safety event — READY22. Over the course of the two full days, thousands of public safety and technology leaders gathered to explore the future of 911 and share insights and advancements to make our communities safer.
What is READY22?
READY22 is the premier event for public safety, with public safety. This year’s theme, advancing safety, set out to explore the future of 911 through conversations with public safety leaders, technology partners, and the RapidSOS team as we shared unique insights, trends, and best practices in the public safety industry.
Didn’t get a chance to attend READY22 live? Registered attendees can view the sessions on demand for up to three months. We’ve also provided a quick summary of each of the READY22 content tracks below.
Track 1: Thought Leadership
The Thought Leadership track showcased some of the industry’s top leaders for discussions related to the future of public safety.
Sample sessions included:
Understanding 911’s Role as the Front Door of Healthcare
During this fireside chat between former Secretary of the United States Veterans Administration, the largest healthcare provider in the United States, Seema Verma, former Administrator of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and serial healthcare entrepreneur and disrupter Tom Lee, we unpacked the often underappreciated role that 911 plays in healthcare and discussed opportunities to better integrate 911 with the US healthcare system.
During this session, we answered key questions including:
- What are some examples of how enhanced communication between 911 and emergency medical services has led to better outcomes?
- How can additional information or enhanced communications improve the relationship between healthcare and 911?
- How can technology better inform how ECCs dispatch specialized emergency services?
Accelerating Innovation: Bridging Technology & 911
During this session, we were joined by Brian Fontes, CEO of NENA, and technology pioneers Dave Nagel (NASA, Apple, AT&T, and PalmSource) and Ralph de la Vega (former AT&T Vice Chairman) to discuss methods for accelerating innovation within the public safety industry.
Primary topics of conversation during this session included:
- What are today’s most common barriers to tech advancement in 911?
- How can we accelerate the digital transformation of emergency response?
- What are some examples of how 911 can partner with innovative technology companies to advance emergency response?
Track 2: Trends
Within the “Trends” track, attendees joined ECC leaders to explore the different ways to navigate public safety industry trends and challenges, take advantage of the latest opportunities available to public safety professionals, and stay ahead of the curve.
Sample sessions from the Trends Track included:
Mapping the 911 Caller’s Experience
During this session, we were joined by an amazing panel of public safety and technology leaders for an exploration into the modern methods for contacting 911 — with a particular focus on the user experience behind each of these situations. Attendees also reviewed the latest user interfaces and features of wearable devices, crash detection functionality, panic buttons, and more to better understand how today’s callers are connecting to 911.
Key takeaways of this session included:
- What methods of contacting 911 are rising fastest in popularity?
- What types of new situations are callers in when contacting 911 and how can ECCs adapt to this evolution?
- What are the implications behind these new methods of contacting ECCs and what do they mean for the future of emergency response?
Filling the Gap: How to Attract More ECC Applicants
During this panel discussion, we heard firsthand from ECCs as they shared their solutions for the challenges that ECCs face when recruiting and retaining talent. We also heard about the more innovative tactics that these directors have adopted for meeting today’s hiring challenges and shared best practices that they’ve learned for filling the hiring gap.
Topics of discussion included:
- What are key reasons behind ECC staffing shortages?
- What non-traditional tactics and strategies can Directors take to fill the hiring gap?
- What can different industries within Public Safety learn from one another when it comes to attracting talent?
Track 3: Safety Solutions
Watch recordings of our Safety Solutions track to join leading tech companies and public safety partners for discussions on today’s most innovative safety solutions. Experts in their fields, these panelists discussed how technology and public safety merge to bring safety features that help citizens in our communities to feel and be safe. Featuring speakers from companies including SiriusXM, Raptor Technologies, Ecobee, ZeroEyes, and more – watch these sessions to learn more and stay up to date with the latest public safety technology.
Sample sessions included:
Smarter Buildings, Safer Communities
During this session, Mark Fletcher, VP of Public Safety Solutions at 911inform, Frank Kondor, Managing Partner at Omni Data, and Tom Reed, Head of Commercial Security Sales at RapidSOS each discussed how connecting smart buildings with 911 impacts community safety today and how this technology might protect our communities in the future.
Key takeaways of this session included:
- The different types of innovations in connected building technology that aim to provide a safer environment for building owners, tenants, and the broader community
- How these technologies send data to 911 and field responders, providing more effective support at the scene of an incident
- New technologies and features in development that will allow for even smarter emergency response in the future
Advanced Automatic Crash Notification: Data-Driven Response with Vehicle Telematics
Watch this session on-demand with Alex Schoeneberger, Director of Product at SiriusXM Connected Vehicle Services, and Jamison Peevyhouse, VP of Public Safety at RapidSOS, as they discuss how RapidSOS is working with SiriusXM Connected Vehicle Services to bring vehicle telematics from the scene of the emergency directly to the ECC — enabling a faster response that saves lives.
Key takeaways from this session included:
- Real-life use cases of 911 centers leveraging telematics data in the emergency response process
- SiriusXM’s perspective on the importance of effective and fast incident response and the need to streamline existing processes
- Insights from a public safety technology expert on the benefits of integrating telematics data into the 911 workflow
Track 4: RapidSOS Products
Within this content track, you can join ECC users and the RapidSOS product team as they walk through new RapidSOS features and solutions that streamline ECC communications and empower faster, data-enriched emergency response. Watch these sessions to learn about new products that reduce false alarms, provide new ways of visualizing emergency data, and much more.
Sample sessions included:
Why Choose RapidSOS Premium – A Unified Mapping Solution for Your ECC
Watch this on-demand session featuring Emily Ingram, Director of Product at RapidSOS, Heather Butler; 911 coordinator at DeKalb County, IL, and Deb Rozeboom, Product Manager at GeoComm as they discuss how a single all-in-one mapping solution helps to streamline workflows and provide even better situational awareness during an incident.
Key questions this session answered include:
- What are the differences between RapidSOS Portal and RapidSOS Premium?
- What RapidSOS-vetted public safety vendors can be integrating ECC maps for operational efficiency?
- How can RapidSOS Premium improve ECC operations via local GIS data?
Enhanced Situational Awareness – Bringing Critical Data into the Field
During this session, Jamison Peevyhouse, VP of Public Safety, and Daniel Seidberg, President of IamResponding discussed how RapidSOS’ intelligent safety platform helps share real-time data – including accurate location, medical and and more – with first responders so that they can arrive on scene better informed.
Key topics of conversation during this session included:
- What is an intelligent safety platform and how does it work?
- How does incident data shared by RapidSOS benefit first responders?
- In what capacity does RapidSOS work with first responder agencies?
Track 5: Excellence in Public Safety
The entire 2nd day of READY22 was dedicated to Excellence in Public Safety — a unique opportunity for thousands of public safety leaders around the country to learn from each other as they exchange ideas and best practices for taking care of their teams, overcoming today’s top challenges, and achieving operational excellence.
Sample sessions included:
Cultivating a Culture of Excellence
Join this session to hear from ECC leaders as they highlight their tactics for turning their team culture around to one of positivity, teamwork and excellence. Attendees will hear, candidly, about the challenges and bumps that ECCs face when transforming their culture and how they overcame them through expectations, accountability, and sustainability.
Dispatcher Stress: What Field Responders Should Know
Join this session to learn what is happening behind the scenes to our first responders beneath the headset that is causing staffing shortages and mental health issues. By watching this session, attendees will get an inside look at what stress looks like for dispatchers, how they inherit trauma from the job, and what organizational factors play a part in it all.
Didn’t get a chance to attend READY22 live? It’s not too late to catch up! Watch our live session recordings on-demand by registering at rapidsos.com/READY22 and tune in to each of these amazing sessions with today’s top public safety leaders.