Getting Back to Business After Disasters

The Collaborative for Disaster Mitigation is sponsoring their Third Annual, "Business Continuity Planning Conference" on Nov. 20, 2002 at Applied Materials, Augustine Conference Center, in Santa Clara, CA. The conference is designed to address the Business Contuity Planning needs of the smaller businesses in Silicon Valley area. Planning for unexpected interruptions is the key to business continuity!

SAN JOSE, Calif., Applied Materials, Inc. is again hosting CDMs Third Annual, Business Continuity Planning Conference on Nov. 20, 2002 at their Augustine Conference Center, in Santa Clara, CA. The Collaborative for Disaster Mitigation (CDM) sponsors this half-day conference series every year as a means of information acquisition and exchange among industry professionals involved in Business Continuity Planning.

Silicon Valley is home to the worlds largest concentration of high technology industries. With three major faults running through the Valley, an earthquake could strike anytime. Is the Valley prepared for a major one? If this industry is disrupted, it could cause severe economic losses that can jeopardize the US technological leadership" says Dr. Guna Selvaduray, Executive Director of CDM. Experience has shown that even moderate earthquakes will put many commercial enterprises out of business and cause severe hardship for many others.

The objective of this conference is to address the Business Continuity Planning needs of the smaller businesses in the Silicon Valley area. Small businesses are generally the suppliers for the larger businesses. As such, the vulnerability of small business to business interruptions can have adverse effects on the ability of the larger corporations to be able to continue their business and manufacturing operations. Consequently, planning for unexpected interruptions is the key to business continuity!

This year, the theme of the conference is Building & Maintaining Preventive Programs". Experts in the field of Emergency Management will show how simple business continuity programs and/or plans are to implement. Attendees will walk away knowing the essential elements in a successful business continuity plan. CDM has invited experts like Marcia Cronk, Genentech, who will discuss how one can engage support from management and Alex Hesterberg, of Veritas Software Corp., will address disaster recovery strategies.

Three in-depth workshops will also be offered. Raelene Wong, the Disaster Recovery Manager for Solectron Corp., will lead a workshop on the tools available for risk assessment. Other workshops will address development of an emergency response plan, critical incident stress management, and physical & IT security issues.

Like CDM, the conference is also an avenue for professionals to network and meet their counterparts from the public sector. It is by collaboration between the public and private sectors that we can work together towards planning for, and maintaining, business continuity and reducing the damage to our economic base to accelerate economic recovery.

The co-sponsors of this conference include The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, Association for Facilities Engineers, Business Recovery Managers Association, California Emergency Services Association, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Emergency Services Coordinator Forum, California Governors Office of Emergency Services, Manex, Microelectronic Packaging and Test Engineering Council, Santa Clara County Emergency Managers Association, Santa Clara County Emergency Preparedness Council, San Mateo County Sheriffs Office of Emergency Services, Santa Clara Valley Water District and Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

The conference will be held at Applied Materials, Inc., 2727 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara, CA, from 12:00 pm -- 6:00 pm. Registration is $45 before Nov. 6, 2002 and $65 for late & walk-ins. The fee includes workshop materials, lunch, and wine & cheese reception. More information is available at: www.sjsu.edu/cdm/bcpconference.