2008
Georgia
Safety, Health and Environmental Conference Report
By Jimmy W. Mize,
Conference Coordinator
What
a Success! The 15th
annual Georgia Safety, Health and Environmental Conference had
record attendance and a record number of exhibitors October 7-9 at
the Savannah Marriott Riverfront Hotel in
Savannah.
Even with the current economic problems, employers from as
far away as Oregon traveled to Savannah to take advantage of the
best opportunity to learn about issues dealing with, not only
safety, health and the environmental, but for those involving human
resources, workers’ compensation, risk management, industrial
hygiene and transportation.
Every
company and every family is really having to buckle down and watch
every penny, so we were very pleased to be able to produce a quality
event at a very reasonable cost. With the support and involvement of
such well known companies as Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Southwire,
Briggs and Stratton, Delta Air Lines, and Constangy, Brooks and
Smith LLC, and with associations such as the American Society of
Safety Engineers, we can keep costs to individual attendees at an
absolute minimum. We have other lesser know sponsors, but even
though they are lesser known, they are in no way insignificant.
Through
donations of services and door prizes, we can provide not only a
great conference, but a very successful
Kids’ Chance Silent Auction.
This year’s auction added over $10,000 to the Kids’ Chance
treasury.
We
are deeply grateful for all contributions of money, gifts, services
and man and woman power.
With only five Department of Labor employees working the
conference, our advisory board members, who are now busy planning
next year’s conference, are instrumental in making the conference
run smoothly and effectively.
Our
speakers, who volunteer their time and talent, are the key to all
educational and training opportunities we are able to provide. We
are very appreciative of all our speakers and trainers.
Even after travel
restrictions were imposed, we only had one of over seventy speakers
who had to cancel. That
is commitment which should be recognized as outstanding.
Our
exhibitors provided information and services which will, can and
does enhance each attendee’s job performance and provide their
employees with a much safer and healthier work environment. The
exhibition hall is an integral part of the conference and we
appreciate each one. Some come back year after year.
One of our long time exhibitors paid us a great compliment
when she said our attendees and staff are so cordial and everyone is
so memorable it’s like coming to a family reunion.
The audio-visual
professional’s of CCR Events make the conference come alive with
stage productions and a compatible learning atmosphere. They make
the rest of us “look really good” by anticipating and correcting our
mistakes before we make them. How neat is that?
The
hotel staff, as usual, did an outstanding job. We always receive so
many compliments on our lunches. Of course, the Executive Chef is an Albany, GA
native and he and his staff really go to great efforts to provide
the best service and quality. We cannot pay enough well deserved
compliments to our hosts at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront.
Thank
you to all who participated and attended. Please plan your time and
budgets early for next year. We will return to
Savannah, October 20-22, 2009 and our theme
will be “Catch the Spirit.”
You won’t believe what we are planning for next year. I will
keep you informed. www.georgiaconference.org
Mark
Your Calendar, now!
