UAS DRONES Disaster Conferences Expanding to Los Angeles and Miami in 2019

As unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – also known as “drones” – continue to reshape the way public safety officials and emergency managers tackle disasters, the UAS DRONES Disaster Conference (UASDISCON) will build off its successful 2018 event in Miami with an expansion to Los Angeles for 2019. The mission of UASDISCON is to provide a series of regionally-focused events for stakeholders tasked with emergency management to share best practices, develop new policies and procedures, and experience relevant UAS technology specifically related to use in public safety and disaster management.

“This summer’s volcanic eruptions in Guatemala and Hawaii, the most recent California wildfire season, and the impact of Hurricane Florence have each continued to serve as new benchmarks for the use of unmanned aircraft systems during disasters,” says Christopher Todd, Executive Director of the Airborne Incident Response Team (AIRT).  “The 2019 set of UAS DRONES Disaster Conferences will review key learnings surrounding these deployments, while also providing live flight demonstrations of drones and UAS technology related to public safety and critical infrastructure restoration.”

The UASDISCON Los Angeles-area event will be held at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California on March 7-8, 2018.  The Miami-area event – now entering its second year – will again be held at the Kovens Conference Center at Florida International University on April 11-12.  Each event will feature key speakers from government agencies, major universities, and private industry who have first-hand experience and knowledge in utilizing UAS during disaster operations.

Unlike large industry events that cater to wide audiences across multiple sectors, Todd says the UAS DRONES Disaster Conferences are designed to provide a more intimate, VIP feel for attendees resulting in an increased level of interaction and networking among participants.  Todd credits the high-caliber of solution providers exhibiting at UASDISCON as one of the key differentiators for the event.

“UAS DRONES Disaster Conferences provide unique experiences that attendees cannot find at others events,” says Todd.  “We’ll talk about how unmanned technology helped solve a specific disaster-related problem, and then invite the audience outside to witness how the system works in real-time, right before their eyes.”

Keynote speakers and workshop facilitators for the UAS DRONES Disaster Conferences will be announced in the coming weeks, and will include experts from both the public and private sector representing all key phases of disaster management.

Proceeds from UASDISCON will benefit the Airborne International Response Team (AIRT), a Florida-registered 501(c)3 non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides unmanned aviation assets and aerospace systems for disaster assistance and humanitarian relief. More information about AIRT is available via http://airt.ngo

For more information, and to register for a UAS DRONES Disaster Conference, please visit:
LOS ANGELES: http://la.uasdrones.org
MIAMI:  http://miami.uasdrones.org