2012 NFPA Conference & Expo

Pre-conference seminar on maintaining fire and life safety systems

Code Requirements for Maintaining Fire and Life Safety Systems
Saturday June 5 and Sunday June 6
8:00am – 4:30pm
Instructor: Craig Schroll, CSP, SFPE, President FIRECON

Help ensure that your fire and life safety systems are ready to perform effectively when you need them by learning about the inspection, testing & maintenance (ITM) requirements.

This seminar brings together the ITM requirements from 15 codes and standards and identifies what ITM items need to be completed and how to conduct them correctly. It starts with NFPA 1®, Fire Code and NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, which form the foundation of the ITM requirements of your facility’s systems and drives the requirements from the other referenced standards. The seminar includes both virtual and practical inspection exercises allowing you to apply the knowledge you gained in the seminar. It also allows ample opportunity for your questions and discussion.

Even if you contract out most of your ITM, this seminar will provide you with a firm grasp of ITM requirements allowing you to discuss specific issues with your contractor to make certain that you are getting what you should. Best of all, you will gain the confidence that if a fire does occur, your systems will perform as intended.

We hope you’ll join Craig in Las Vegas for this one-of-a-kind seminar.

Craig Schroll has almost 40 years experience in the fire protection field. He founded Firecon in 1980 and works with clients from a wide variety of organizations throughout the world. He is a certified safety professional, professional member of both the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and the American Society of Safety Engineers. He is a longtime member of the NFPA and serves on numerous ANSI and NFPA technical committees.

- Erik Holden

"Vegas Vacation" - a look back at films that feature Las Vegas, site of NFPA's Conference & Expo

Have you ever gone to a casino and played "Rock, Scissors, Paper" or "Guess Which Hand"? The next movie in our series of films that feature Las Vegas is the 1997 comedy "Vegas Vacation", where Chevy Chase reprises his role as the bumbling patriarch of the Griswold family. In this movie, the Griswolds travel to Vegas after Clark earns a bonus check for inventing a long-life food preservative. Featuring "Cousin Eddie" (Randy Quaid) as well as cameos by Sid Caesar, Wayne Newton, and Christy Brinkley, this filmed earned more than $36 million and was the fourth in the Vacation film series (the only one not sponsored by National Lampoon).

We want to hear from you! What's your favorite movie that takes place in Las Vegas? We might pick your movie to highlight in a future blog post. It's easy to respond: just click on the "comments" link below, enter your name (just your first name is fine) and your e-mail address (this will NOT show in your post), and type your comments in the white box. Then select "post".

- Mike Hazell

Follow Us on Twitter

Interested in meeting your fellow Tweeters?  Follow @NFPA to receive information on how to meet other Tweeters at our Tweet-up planned during the conference.  You will also get updates on conference news and details on giveaways!  We hope you will join our conversation during the conference by using our 2010 Conference & Expo hashtag, #NFPA2010. 

You can subscribe to the NFPA updates on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/NFPA.

Meet Gerry McCambridge in the Exhibit Hall

Following the General Session on Monday, June 7 at 3:30 p.m. you will have an opportunity to meet Gerry McCambridge in Booth #1213 on the exposition floor.  Gerry's DVD, "The Best of the Mentalist," will be available for purchase for $20.  Have your photo taken with Gerry and get his autograph!

Miari to Sing National Anthem

International recording artist, Miari, will sing the National Anthem at the General Session on Monday, June 7 at 1:00 p.m.

Miari began performing at the age of 6.  Her resume includes commercial jingles and lead vocals for TV shows such as "City Guys," "That's So Raven," "Kimpossible."  She's also recorded with Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Brandy, and various other artists.  You can read more about Miari on her www.miari.com.

Early Bird Registration Deadline Ends Friday, April 30th

Don't miss out on savings!  Friday, April 30th marks the deadline to register for the conference at the discounted rates of $695 for NFPA members and $795 for Non-Members.

Expo Only registration is FREE when you register in advance.  Register now online or call 1-888-397-6209 to register by phone.

Today is Earth Day

We're doing our part to be environmentally responsible.  NFPA has begun implementing many green initiatives for the Conference & Expo including online handouts, requests for proposals, registration, and housing; distributing recyclable tote bags to attendees; reusing signs and using digital signage where possible; promoting the conference online; and offering a Green track of educational sessions at the conference.  In addition, we will donate excess prepared food to a local farm for animals or have it composted via kitchen composting stations and then fed to the foliage.

Mandalay Bay's green initiatives include an onsite recycling center, conserving electricity by limiting HVAC activity to 12 hours prior to an event, e-billing; using china and glassware instead of plastic; motion-sensitive, water saving faucets in most restrooms; and more. Click here to see Mandalay Bay's Green brochure.

"The Electric Horseman" - a look back at films that feature Las Vegas, site of NFPA's Conference & Expo

"Shake your thing to the beat, makes you wanna move your feet, Disco Magic! Disco Magic!" If you want to see showgirls in red hard hats and sparkly suspenders, and Robert Redford wearing a suit decked out in Christmas lights, check out the next movie in our series of films that feature Las Vegas: "The Electric Horseman". In this 1979 flick, which also starred Jane Fonda, Redford plays Sonny Steele, a former rodeo star who's been reduced to pitching breakfast cereal. His next gig is in Las Vegas, where he's supposed to ride his champion horse, Rising Star, on stage during a big production number. But when Sonny finds out that his horse has been drugged in order to keep him calm, he leaves Vegas and travels cross country to release Rising Star into the wild.

We want to hear from you! What's your favorite movie that takes place in Las Vegas? We might pick your movie to highlight in a future blog post. It's easy to respond: just click on the "comments" link below, enter your name (just your first name is fine) and your e-mail address (this will NOT show in your post), and type your comments in the white box. Then select "post".

- Mike Hazell

"The Amazing Colossal Man" - a look back at films that feature Las Vegas, site of NFPA's Conference & Expo

Next up in our look back at movies that feature the city of Las Vegas is one you may not have heard of before -- the 1957 cult classic "The Amazing Colossal Man". In this black-and-white film, Glenn Langan plays a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who grows into a 60-foot-tall giant after being exposed to plutonium radiation from a bomb blast. In the scene below, things go horribly wrong when Army doctors try to reverse the colossal man's growth by injecting an antidote into his large, tapping foot. The giant goes on a rampage through downtown Las Vegas before a final showdown at the Hoover Dam. The film was hilariously skewered on the TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000."

We want to hear from you! What's your favorite movie that takes place in Las Vegas? We might pick your movie to highlight in a future blog post. It's easy to respond: just click on the "comments" link below, enter your name (just your first name is fine) and your e-mail address (this will NOT show in your post), and type your comments in the white box. Then select "post".

- Mike Hazell

Book your Vegas hotel by April 15; be entered into drawing for iPad or registration for 2011 meeting

If you've not yet booked your hotel room for the NFPA Conference & Expo, now's an excellent time.

We've negotiated outstanding rates at four hotels closest to Mandalay Bay Convention Center, site of our conference:

• TheHotel at Mandalay Bay
• Mandalay Bay Resort
• Luxor
• Excalibur

A range of prices are available to meet every budget. Booking through the NFPA Housing Bureau not only allows you to take advantage of NFPA's special group rates, you will also be supporting the association and its programs.

IMPORTANT! Book your hotel room through the NFPA Housing Bureau by April 15 and you will be entered into a drawing to win an Apple iPad or a complimentary registration to the 2011 NFPA Conference in Boston.