SMILE Conference Huge Success In Santa Monica, Next Stop Chicago
The SMILE Conference held 01/10/11 to 01/12/11 in Santa Monica, California was a huge success. Beyond the fact that the conference sold out and there were more sponsors (Raytheon, Alderson Software/Crime Stoppers, Securitas) than the initial SMILE conference in Washington D.C. 04/2010, this conference was hosted graciously by the Santa Monica Police Department at the awesome Rand Center. The sponsors and accommodations were great, but the speakers and attendees were really what made this conference awesome. There were over 120 attendees representing 5 different countries and law enforcement agencies all over the United States as well as the world.
The expertise that was shared from Chief Jackman (Santa Monica P.D.) to Mike Bostic (Raytheon) and all speakers in between was intimidating to me as a fellow speaker. As a speaker you would assume you are on the same level as the other speakers, but for me personally I ended up learning much more than I shared. Not surprising, but a particularly interesting presentation for me was Mike Bostic’s presentation on “LTE and What it Means to Public Safety: a Convergence of All Internet Capabilities” had my mind spinning. Another area I was not nearly as knowledgeable of was “Cyber Bullying.” Tuesday’s speakers focused on the topic of “Cyber Bullying” and other internet crimes such as child pornography, sexual predators, and other sex related crimes. The speaker caliber for Tuesday’s presentations was top notch as were the speakers for all days presentations.
I am honored to have been a speaker at both SMILE Conferences thus far and I am looking forward to participating in the next SMILE Conference in Chicago May 9th-11th 2011, to be hosted by the Chicago Police Department.
On behalf of me and my Dutch colleagues, thank you for the hospitable meeting in Santa Monica.We thought it was an interesting conference for us.
We have learned much from the American approach to social media and we’ve had the opportunity to connect and share with a lot of colleagues.
Thanks to Lauri and all the people who worked hard to make the smile conference a success.
Thanks to Lauri and everyone behind the scenes at the SMILE conference. Over the past 17 years, I have attended many Law Enforcement conferences. The SMILE conference was one of the best I have ever been to. From the start of class on Monday,until the close of the conference on Wednesday afternoon, I never stopped learning. I cannot wait to share this great information with my fellow officers. Thanks again!
Right on target Chris! “…material provided was informative, educational, eye-opening, and entertaining.”
Thanks to Lauri for the conference and for giving the opportunity to connect, share, and learn. Thanks to Chief Tim Jackman & all the staff from the Santa Monica Police Department for hosting…they did a great job and made everyone feel welcome!
Looking forward to much more!
Al0ha Mike,
I want to express a heartfelt “Mahalo” to Lauri Stevens for inviting me to present at the Santa Monica SMILE Conference. The caliber of the presenters were outstanding and the material provided was informative, educational, eye-opening, and entertaining. And as I mentioned to you and my other “braddahs”, if you guys will be in Chicago, I will be there to watch your “okoles” (figuratively speaking, that is -LOL).
Thanks for the post Mike. 🙂 Hope you celebrated your birthday and anniversary when you got home. I just posted some great #SMILEcon photos from Dale Stockton of LawOfficer.com on the Facebook page. There’s at least one in there of you.