Security Systems News

June 2011

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SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS JUNE 2011 www.securitysystemsnews.com SPECIAL REPORT 27 2011 NFPA Conference & Expo in Beantown Boston rich in fire history, and easily accessible to East Coast fire manufacturers and community By Tess Nacelewicz I t’s back! Back in Boston, that is. The annual NFPA Conference & Expo is held in a variety of locations around the country. But this year it will be held here from June 12-15 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. The show was in Boston four years ago, but had been held elsewhere for a number of years before that, said Lorraine Jack Nelligan Carli, vice president of communications for the National Fire Protection Association, based just south of Boston in Quincy, Mass. The fact that the show is in Boston, the NFPA’s backyard, carries a number of benefits, according to Carli and some East Coast attendees this year. “We’re really excited to bring the conference to Boston. Boston is always a big draw for our conference attendees. It’s usually a beautiful weather time and Boston is so rich, not only in generic his- tory, but really rich in fire history,” Carli told Security Systems News. “In fact, we have a couple of sessions at the confer- ence on historical fires that have occurred around the Boston area, and their impact on codes and standards.” This year’s May/June issue of the NFPA Journal also gives details of the “Boston Fire Trail,” a walkable guide to the city’s fire and disaster history that conferees can follow. Carli said another reason the NFPA show also stands out this year is the addition of post-conference seminars on Thursday, June 16, such a whole-day session on NFPA 3, a new document on commissioning that will come out of the Association Technical Meeting at the conference. NFPA 3 also will be addressed in a number of the shorter educational ses- sions during the conference, Carli said. “Because this is a new document, I think people would be very interested in that,” Gamewell-FCI and Silent Knight dealer, plans to use the show to highlight the fact that the company has a new name, because it now consists of Norel Service Co., and two companies Norel Service acquired last year, National Fire & Security and also Flagship Security. Nelligan expects the show will be an ideal place to get that message out. “This she said. “We have a very exciting agenda for the conference this year.” The conference has 125 educational sessions and more than 300 exhibitors will fill the sold-out show floor. Jack Nelligan, vice president of sales for Norel Companies, based in Waltham, Mass., is looking forward to having the show in close proximity. “I love it when it’s in Boston.” He said that more than half the fire manufacturers are based on the East Coast, “so having the show in Boston gives them the opportunity to mobilize a little bit faster and easier; they can send more people to the show to represent their companies.” He also said that Norel Companies, a will be a good show especially because it’s the footprint of where the NFPA started. Everybody likes to come to Boston,” he said. Ara Beurekjian, owner of Fire Command Systems of Peabody, Mass., a Notifier dealer, also is happy the show is in Boston, not just because Fire Command has many clients in the area but because Boston is a draw to others. “The Boston area has always been, we like to think, on the up and up when it comes to codes and compliance so there’s always a lot of interest from people in related fields, end users, AHJs and what- not,” Beurekjian said. He said what he most looks forward to is meeting with other attendees. “It’s the face-to-face more than any- thing else,” he said. “You see a lot of industry leaders, associates, all gath- ered in one place. It’s an opportunity to network, to talk about business, to talk about product.” Ara Beurekjian Carli said that usually 5,000 people attend the event each year between the conference and the exhibits, and she expects this year’s attendance to be on par with that. The annual NFPA show has not seen a downturn despite the economic recession over the last few years, she said. “The NFPA conference has stayed very strong,” Carli said. “We’ve been very fortunate in that we put together a very comprehensive conference and we’ve been NFPA see page 28 How long do you think it would take you to install access control on this door? www.hesinnovations.com

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