Committee Chair Bob Brown, Chair, Chisholm Fire Dept. 111 - 2nd Street NW Chisholm, MN  55719   (877) 507-0911 toll free (218) 262-7958 work (218) 254-7945 fax (218) 996-1913 cell browncfd@mchsi.com
	Bob Brown, Chair, Chisholm Fire Department Tom Brace MSFCA Executive Director Brian Bramley Metro Fire, Vendor Representative Brad Emans Hutchinson Fire Department Jeff Juntunen Esko Fire Department Greg Martin Rochester Fire Department Bill Mund St. Cloud Fire Department Lance Olson EAM, Vendor Representative Randy Polzin Isanti Fire District Jerry Rosendahl State Fire Marshal Shannon Ryder SBM Fire Department Marty Scheerer Edina Fire Department Dave Schreier EAM, Vendor Representative Dale Specken Hopkins Fire Department John Strongitharm Duluth Fire Department Bruce West HSEM

 

The mission of the Conference Committee is to provide leadership and direction to the Executive Director, who has the responsibility to manage the annual conference in October of each year. The chairman of this committee is the immediate Past President of the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association, who may call a meeting at any time. This committee exists to make sure the needs of the membership, as it pertains to the conference, are met. This committee interfaces with the Education Committee, the Marketing Committee and vendor representatives to ensure that a quality conference is offered at an affordable cost. Every effort is made to ensure exceptional educational offerings for all attendees.

Conference Committee 2011 – Bob Brown

The mission of the Conference Committee: is to provide leadership and direction to the Executive Director, who has the responsibility to manage the annual conference in October of each year. The chairman of this committee is the immediate Past President of the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association, who may call a meeting at any time. This committee exists to make sure the needs of the membership, as it pertains to the conference, are met. This committee interfaces with the Education Committee, the Marketing Committee and vendor representatives to ensure that a quality conference is offered at an affordable cost. Every effort is made to ensure exceptional educational offerings for all attendees.

The members of the Conference Committee organize the annual conference with guidance from the Education Committee and Marketing Committee to provide you with the largest event that the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association hosts each year and that is our annual conference. This provides our membership with an excellent educational opportunity for the Chief and Chief Officers for the Minnesota Fire Service.

The Board of Directors also provides guidance to how our conference is organized and also by you the membership. There have been some significant changes to the schedule of the conference recently. We are trying to meet the needs of everyone that attends our annual event. This year St Cloud has increased the size of their Conference Center which will help with a great problem we have been dealing with during the past few years, and that is not having enough room for all the vendor displays! Please take the time to view our “Vendor Exhibit” and to thank them for their continued support of our organization! Without their support we would not be able to provide you with the high quality conference that you have come to expect, the vendors help with keeping the cost low so we don’t have to raise the registration fees.

Members of the Conference Committee include officers of the MSFCA, each of the chiefs from the three cities where the conference is held, the chairs of the Education Committee and the Marketing Committee, as well as vendor representatives. You also play a very important role with how the conference is organized by filling out the evaluation forms.  Please take the time to give us any feedback you have.

Our Conference Committee works very hard to provide you with an exceptional conference at a reasonable cost. This year again you will experience some changes with the format. Your feedback is very important to help steer us in the right direction to meet your needs.

Conference Committee 2011 Report
Conference Committee 2010 Report
Conference Committee 2009 Report
Conference Committee 2008 Report

Click Here for a Printable Copy of These Minutes

MSFCA Conference Committee Meeting Minutes
November 17, 2009
Hinckley Fire Department

Present:  B. Brown, R. Polzin, B. Bramley, L. Olson, J. Noah, B. Emans, J. Rosendahl, J. Strongitharm, B. Mund, T. Brace, M. Scheerer

Approval of the minutes of the last meeting

Conference Budget:

• T. Brace gave a 2009 conference budget report, not all monies have been received and not all bills have been submitted, it appears that the 2009 conference will be profitable as expected
• Duluth Conference had a record number of attendees (571) and the cost at the DECC is much higher than other venues

Old Business:

• The 2009 Conference was a big success!  Overall things went very well, just some minor improvement recommended.

New Business:

• Conference schedule:
  • 2009 Schedule worked very well
  • Recommended change is to have the Awards presented at the Friday night Banquet and not have the awards Luncheon on Saturday.  This will allow more time for the Symposium on Saturday.
  • If the Awards presentations are moved Friday night, the Memorial service should also be moved to late Friday afternoon.
• Food and Beverages discussions:
  • Recommend to have more cookies and soft drinks available during all the breaks and to have donuts, coffee and juice available in the morning before classed begin and at morning breaks
  • Boxed lunches were more expensive and the vendors thought the idea did not work well for them, people took the boxes and left without staying and speaking with the vendors
  • Recommend a buffet for lunch and presidents reception
  • Friday and Saturday buffet breakfast recommended
  • Recommend a desert at the Banquet
• Schedule of breaks: seem to work well
• President’s reception: no recommended changes,  buffet style food worked well
• Past President’s breakfast: recommendation to eliminate, few attend and expensive
• Friday Banquet:
  • Have Awards presented at the Banquet
  • Get either a DJ, a piano player or comedian instead of the band
• Conference education:
  • Excellent feedback on education, symposium could have been allotted more time
  • Recommendation to eliminate the name “pre-conference” and include it all in the conference schedule
  • Instructor Gifts and Certificates; Education committee will work with Marketing committee for instructor gifts
• Vendor survey and issues
  • Vendors would like:
    • better signage to vendor areas
    • hoses to wash trucks as they enter
    • a cleanup area for trucks
    • vendor sponsorship form/packet
    • better security
    • wireless internet
    • possibly a “Grand Opening”
    • better listing of vendor hours and be clear they are open and would like to speak with delegates during the President’s reception
    • Let it be known that the vendors want you to share their booths with them during breaks and meals
    • Conference schedule, including breaks on the back of nametags
• Conference fees
• Annual meeting issues
  • Can we reduce the meeting to 3 2-3 hours?
  • Get the agenda out sooner?  May not be possible
  • Door prizes given away to those that stay the entire meeting
• Memorial service issues:
  • Keep the same, move to Friday after the Annual meeting
• Awards Luncheon issues
  • Move to Friday Banquet

2012 Conference in Duluth, Minnesota
October 18-20, 2012
Duluth Entertainment & Convention Center

2011 Conference Transcripts The Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association Conference was recently held in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This year we are providing all educational transcripts through the internet. Click Here to View and Download your Transcript. In the next few weeks we will be adding photos, workshop notes, awards presented, and other information from this year’s conference. Links to all of this information will be posted in the near future.