Continuity Means Survival

I spoke on Tuesday, December 5, for the fourth annual continuity conference of State Street Corporation in Quincy, MA. I first met these people when speaking for New England Disaster Recovery Exchange (NEDRIX) in past years. Continuity—in this sense—involves taking steps to be sure the corporation or guvmint body survives any disaster or emergency. It has become a very hot topic since 9/11/2001 and also after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. How do you make sure that you can communicate with your people after a disaster? How do you protect your information technology? These are important questions that must be answered before the disaster strikes. So, why was I there? Aviation has done a terrific job of planning for emergencies and other contingencies, and my job was to explain how some—many—aviation standards are applicable in other industries. It was somewhat of a humbling experience to be in front of these pioneering experts, but they were quite receptive. To give you some idea of the importance of this subject and this meeting, a FEMA manager preceded me. He had been involved in 9/11 in New York, and in New Orleans post Katrina. When he spoke of being at ground zero in New York and of sleeping on the floor of the Super Dome in New Orleans, it carried a lot of weight. Reuters sponsored—paid for—my presentation and I appreciate it. As a person who lives on publicity, I am now trying to figure out how to word that. Maybe something like “Reuters pays fee for Ralph Hood’s presentation to major disaster recovery conference.â€