Tag Archives: FDIC

Last night, I joined many other friends at the meetup at Indy. The meetup was hosted by Fire Rescue Magazine, Firefighter Nation, and FireEMSBlogs.com and sponsored by ISI and Black Helmet Apparel. It is always fun hanging out with friends and meeting new ones.

I went into the class with the thought that if I can learn what the attendees want/need to know I will be better suited for teaching the class in the future. I found that while I spoke about the basics of the utilization of social media, some of the questions were for the more advanced. That is ok....however, in reviewing the evaluations on the class I found that some thought it was too basic and others thought it was not basic enough. Hopefully the majority found it useful!

I will be talking about Charlotte FD's social media presence in my class today at FDIC 1:30-3:15 in room 134-135 titled "Social Media: The Fire Service's Next Big Innovation". They do a great job!<

I consider FDIC 2010 the beginning for me. The realization of the bigger picture. I had worked too long and too hard locally only to find out that wasn't the focus I should have been spending my time on. In short, I got a rude awakening...a very rude one. However, I am gracious for it. I am actually a better person because of it in too many ways not to realize that it was for the greater good.

I will be teaching a class on Social Media for the Fire Service at FDIC this year. The class is titled "Social Media: The Fire Service's Next Big Innovation" Who should attend? Anyone interested in social media, blogging, and branding their department online. Administrators who want to learn about social media, get examples of social media policies, as well as firefighters who want to brand their companies and departments. There will be information for all levels!

I must say that I am very pleased with my LEO: The Fire Within shirt! Other than being made in Honduras, I couldn't really find anything to pick apart. The sizing, fit, and feel of the shirt was very nice and I plan on wearing the shirt more in the future. However, if I were one of the LARGER firefighters I might find issue with the fact that LEO does not offer XXL or XXXL. I know some guys who would never fit into a XL!

There were some new blogs in the mix and some non-bloggers who submitted their articles to be posted on blogs as well! It seems as though this thing is catching on. Episode 2 titled "Influential Fire Reports" struck a cord with a lot of people and really helped put a thumb on what has influenced many firefighters! I must say that the best part of episode 2 is the thought that a family member may come across it and see that their relative's death/injury resulted in a positive learning experience for someone else. It also proves that no one is forgotten...

My time at FDIC was a blast. We managed to pack the week full of friends, fun, and work (Firefighter Netcast). The people I have met through this blog, twitter, facebook, etc. will stay with me for a long time. Our occasional chance to meet is always fun!

A sincere thanks to Fire Rescue Magazine, Firefighter Nation, and FireEMSBlogs.com for sharing their booth with Firefighter Netcast. Special thanks to Dave Iannone, Chris Hebert, Tim Sendelbach, and Jeff Berend as well as the rest of the crews of the aforementioned companies. The hospitality, networking, assistance, and conversation was very much appreciated!

I had a blast at FDIC 2010! I have so many people to thank and so many stories to tell! I met so many friends for the first time and others for a second. I will be bringing you my FDIC show in retrospect soon! In the meantime, check out the following live netcasts from Firefighter Netcast. We will have many more podcasts online this week after editing. Stay tuned for that!