CEM Corner: Professional Contributions, Part 2

By Daryl Lee Spiewak, CEM, TEM, CFM, CEM® Commissioner and ASPEP President Emergency Action Coordinator, Brazos River Authority, Waco, TX

In Part 1, I discussed some tips and ideas to assist you in meeting the requirements of Section V Professional Contributions in the Field of Emergency Management for submissions in the categories of membership, professional conference, service role, leadership role and special assignments. This month I will discuss some tips and ideas for five more categories. They are speaking, teaching, course development, publications, and audiovisual and interactive products.

Speaking. To receive credit for speaking, you must develop and participate in at least one presentation or panel (including radio, tele-vision, educational video, etc.) directly related to disaster or emergency management. Some examples of various speaking engagements include workshops, breakout sessions, presentations and panel discussions. The speaking engagement could occur at conferences, seminars, local civic club meetings or schools.

You have an infinite variety of opportunities to speak on disaster and emergency management subjects. Use your imagination. Right now there is no requirement for a minimum number of minutes that your presentation must last. So you have no excuse not to speak when the opportunity presents itself. While you are thinking about it, consider becoming a speaker at the next IAEM annual conference. Be sure to properly document your speaking engagement. A signed letter from the sponsor is best. You may also include a copy of the program indicating your speaking engagement along with a point of contact. A third method is to include a copy of a newspaper article that describes your participation in the speaking engagement. Finally, you may include a video or audiotape made during your presentation with a point of contact.

Teaching. Some people confuse this category with the requirements in the speaking category. The two categories are not the same. This one requires that you complete a formal teaching or instructing commitment directly related to disaster or emergency management that equals or exceeds a total of three hours of actual platform instruction. The key word here is "formal." The course you are teaching should have an official course title, number and syllabus (for example, Emergency Planning Course, G120).

Any of the standard FEMA emergency management courses are acceptable. You may have taught the course at EMI, as part of a state-sponsored program, as part of a state emergency management association-sponsored program, or even as part of a pre-conference training program. Other acceptable courses are those conducted for local colleges and universities as well as those conducted in the formal military schools.

Breakout sessions and workshops, regardless of their title, are not considered a formal teaching commitment. Technical courses, such as HAZMAT, fire, law enforcement or EMS, are not considered emergency management training either. Teaching is intended to impart knowledge on professional emergency management topics and not on technical skills. Teaching ICS is an example of emergency management training, whereas teaching how to decontaminate people and equipment is an example of technical skills. Again, proper documentation is required to verify this contribution.

Course Development. To satisfy this category, you must complete a significant role in the development or extensive revision of a formal course in disaster or emergency management that is taught at the state, national or international level. Local level courses will be considered on a
case-by-case basis.

The CEM® Commissioners will not grant credit for simply developing a PowerPoint® presentation regardless of how or where it is used; that does not constitute course development. Course development includes developing the course curriculum; objectives; tasks, conditions and standards; syllabus; teaching module; instructor notes; exams; handouts; and teaching aids.

Acceptable documentation to verify this contribution is a letter from the course manager or institution confirming your involvement. Do not forget to provide the commissioners a description of the course content. You do not have to provide a copy of the entire course; a course syllabus, table of contents or other similar document is helpful for our evaluation.

Publications . Any substantive disaster or emergency management article, research project, instructional pamphlet or other similar publication in which you have primary or secondary authorship is acceptable. The article/publication must have independent editorial review and be published in a document beyond the candidate's control. Do not submit self-published articles/publications.

A substantive article is about 750 words or longer. Simple fillers and short news items are not substantive. Announcements, flyers and documents written as work projects are not acceptable either. IAEM offers you the opportunity to be a published author through this monthly newsletter. Contact our editor, Karen Thompson at thompson@iaem.com with your article ideas. The deadline is the 10th of each month.

Provide a copy of the article, pamphlet, the title page, abstract or other short copy to demonstrate the document you are claiming credit for. Include the name and title of the publication, the publication source and date, and indicate whether you have primary or secondary authorship.

Audiovisual and Interactive Products . This category requires that the candidate develops and distributes a disaster or emergency management related video, computer software product or other audiovisual tool. Development of presentation materials, forms and computer programs that are part of the candidate's job or mission are not acceptable. This also includes videos of exercises that the candidate participated in.

To receive credit, you must provide the title, date of production, sponsoring organization, description of the product and a description of its significant contribution to the emergency management field. A copy of the actual product is not required unless the commissioners specifically request it.

Next Month : So far we have discussed ten professional contribution categories. Next month we will cover the remaining four categories.

August 2001, IAEM Bulletin