By Richard Marinucci
Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to attend countless conferences, seminars, workshops, symposiums, forums, and whatever other term may be used. These have been national, international, regional, and on a state level. These have always proven to be beneficial to my home organization and to me personally. Like so much of what is done, those who participate are most likely to gain maximum benefit. These should never be considered a waste of time or resources.
That is why I am tired of hearing from folks who consider any event that requires travel to be a junket or boondoggle. They obviously don’t know what occurs at these events when the attendees elect to be active participants and pay attention to the various messages being delivered. In fact, I have found that in almost all cases I have picked up on something that has saved my organization money—either through some direct purchase, information that lead to a smart purchase or a decision to not make a purchase, or through some knowledge gained that contributed to a good decision being made.
Attendance at various conferences helps with professional development and in keeping current in one’s profession. Conferences allow great networking opportunities with others in the profession and with those who support the profession. These create great resources that prove to be beneficial in many ways. I have also noted that those who attend and get involved have great influence within the profession. This leads to better service and better options. There are so many benefits that it riles me up when someone questions the value.
For those who cannot support participation, I say they should reevaluate their reasons. I understand that often this is a political decision with no logic behind it. Those making choices solely based on politics are really missing a great opportunity to improve their organizations. Their personnel will not have all the advantages needed to perform at a high level. If they really think that allowing personnel to travel is a junket, they either are not adequately supervising their personnel or they flat out don’t trust the people to behave and participate.
I am also tired of dilettantes. If you do not know what a dilettante is, the dictionary defines it as “a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge.” To me this is the never-ending line of “experts” with minimal exposure to the fire and emergency service to extinguish a fire, respond to an emergency, handle an EMS call, be involved in fire prevention, or determine the origin and cause of a fire.
I don’t mind discussion and learning and even debating various aspects of this service. I think it is quite healthy. However, there are too many politicians and others who have never been on an emergency, crawled down a hallway, had someone die in their hands, get up and go on a call at three in the morning when it is 20 below zero, and so on. They often think they know because they saw “Backdraft” or some other movie. Or, they may have a third cousin, twice removed on their spouse’s side, who once served for six months as a firefighter. Or, it may the retired firefighter who has been out of the business for more than 30 years and can’t believe anything has changed in that time. There