What Can We Do for the Developing World? SFPE Denver Inspirational Talks

Arup's Ray Grill on the Denver Sunrise Sunrise Walk.

On Monday, the first conference day, early birds joined the Denver sunrise walk/run. For a jet-lagged Swede like me, waking up 4.45 am, it wasn't hard to make it for the 6.30 am scheduled walk. Conferences means sitting still a lot so starting the day off with a walk does the trick.

Following the introductions we got to hear where President Laurie Leshin of WPI presented "Inspiring Future Innovations", telling us her story and about really cool space exploration projects - a very exciting area for mankind and our (and possibly others) existence. There's always need for innovation in any business, not least in fire safety. Listening to leaders in other industries is very refreshing and a good (and new I believe) addition to the North America Conference.

Laurie Leshin of WPI holding a very inspiring talk on innovation. 

Finally, in the morning session we also had a talk on a subject that means something extra for me. We were fortunate to have Cathy Leslie speaking to us on "Engineering in Developing Countries" which is a very interesting topic in my opinion. Cathy is the CEO of Engineers Without Borders USA-branch. Globally, more people die in fires than in warfare and I do think that we as a global fire safety engineering community could do more. Cathy gave us interesting examples and also pressed the need for local support. It is also vital to have a good understanding of the third world problems. Applying rich world solutions to third world problems will not work.

CEO Cathy Leslie of Engineers Without Borders
delivering a highly relevant speech to SFPE.

However, I think we can look back in the history of the developed countries and see how fire protection developed. From the Swedish perspective, a simplified way to look at it is that we've gone from preventing cities from burning down, limiting the fires to a block of buildings, later being able to have fire walls and other measures to keep the fire within on building. In the later half of the 20th century we're protecting the compartments, and we're now using suppression systems and other measures to prevent the rooms, or even prevent ignition or growth. To some degree, this may be seen as a path of development. As society's develops and reaches a higher welfare level, it may be possible to add another level of fire safety. Recognizing this may help in finding the right level of fire protection for the risks that developing countries face.

I do believe that EWB is a natural partner for SFPE.  Most fire casualties are in the developing world and as a global engineering society I think SFPE has a unique opportunity to make a difference. What could SFPE and its members do for developing countries? Let me know what you think!

SFPE Denver Sunday Recap: Keep up the good work!

The chapter leadership forum kept everyone busy to improve SFPE Chapters.

During the Sunday afternoon prior to the conference the Chapter Leadership Forum was held. Many chapters were represented and this time there was lots of work to be done too. All participants were asked to give input on certain topics as to how chapters can be improved. For example, how can we get members involved or use social media and new technology? Very relevant questions followed by good discussions. 

Great work by fellow Swedes awarded us the Silver! Someday we'll get the Gold!
Photo: Nils Johansson

And of course, there was the chapter awards and while there are many chapters doing good work I'm proud or course extra proud of my fellow Swedes pulling home a silver medal. Sweden has I quite good track record pulling home medals of bronze and silver valors the last few years. But we're still waiting to get awarded the gold medal some time! 




At the Business Meeting leaders presented the reports on how the society's going, including the president, other board members, committee chairs and not least our CEO Nicole Testa Boston. Nicole is doing an excellent work to bring our society forward and showed the results in her presentation. 

SFPE CEO Nicole Testa Boston giving the Chief Executive Officer's Report.

After the Business Meeting the Presidents Reception & Expo Opening followed, providing great networking opportunities. Many exhibitors return year after year, showing their latest products to the conference attendees.

President's Welcome Reception and Expo Opening, fellow Swede Nils Johansson
speaking to SFPE Staff Julie Gordon.

Finally, I'd like to conclude that the chapter forum, committee reports and everything presented at the Business Meeting really show how much volunteers for the Society. So a big thank you to all volunteers! And to those not already volunteering, please take the opportunity to join a committee! Not least, we need more international representation as SFPE grows globally.

Fresh report from SFPE Denver Conference!

So finally, I'm back blogging again. Parental leave in 2015 and other stuff came in the way and it can sometimes be hard to prioritize social media to other tasks at work. 

SFPE's North America Conference and Annual Meeting is right now going on in Denver and I've been here since Friday. Many things are going on in the society and we're soon coming to the end of year two of the three year strategic plan (2015-2017) that we worked on in 2014, which was my first year on the board of directors. I am very glad to see that things are rolling along well; the chapter model is being looked over, the new committee structure is running well, a democratic election system for society's leadership and much more. All in all, I think we are well under way to meet the needs of our growing number of SFPE members and chapters, and most importantly - with a global perspective too.

Board meetings start early and finishes late - lots of things to be covered in the two face to face meetings that we have each year (the other are online meetings).

Board meetings are long days, where many have travelled far for the meetings. In the evenings there's a board meeting at a local restaurant. At the board dinner in Denver we thanked the two board members whose terms are up at the end of the year and who are not up for reelection. I've been fortunate to be able to work with Mike Madden for my three years on the board and he's been doing a great job as president of the society, showing strong and wise leadership. John Woycheese has been on the board for two years with me and like me, he also represents a non-US region - Middle East - which has been welcome and refreshing, adding to the board's global perspective. A big thanks to both for excellent service on the board!

Director John Woycheese receiving a gift from current president Milosh Puchovsky.

Immediate past president Mike Madden holding a great thank you speech to the board.

At Sunday the second day of the board meeting continued and now was the time for the five committee chairs to report to the board. In their reports they give an overview of ongoing activities, subcommittees and also point out areas where directions and decisions from the board is needed. SFPE is dependent on all the good work done by volunteers in the committees and we are grateful to all those walking the extra mile.

Committee chair Paul Hart and president Milosh Puchovsky discussing the increased focusing on online content.

People start to arrive for Sunday afternoon's Chapter Leadership Forum, SFPE Annual Business Meeting followed by the President's Welcome Reception and Expo Opening. All in all - great opportunities to catch up on what's happening in SFPE, how the strategic plan is coming along, and not least networking with fellow members in the fire safety engineering community.