If you weren’t in Memphis, Tenn., in April attending the NAMTSE Program, then you missed an opportunity to learn what some of the best minds in the field of monitoring are thinking and doing. NAMTSE – the North American Monitoring Technology Symposium & Exhibition – is sponsored by the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA), but you don’t have to operate your own central station or be a CSAA member to take advantage of this educational program and networking experience. NAMTSE is an annual event, and it is open to the entire industry.

Through its agenda of guest speakers, workshops, three educational tracks, and a product exhibition, the 2004 NAMTSE Program demonstrated that operational practices and emerging technologies are quickly maturing the area of security monitoring. For instance, the seminar, “Telematics and Location-based Services: Opportunities for Central Station Alarm Companies,” discussed the revenue potential for alarm companies that choose to offer GPS services to their customers. The speaker panel explored both the positive and negative aspects of reselling this service, and left the attendee with little to question about the complexities of that business.

Regardless if you operate your own central station or if you purchase monitoring services from a third party, the sessions at NAMTSE were relevant. Topics included: “Reducing False Dispatches and Central Station Activity,” “Resolving the Reasons for Attrition,” “Running a Mid-sized Security Company,” “TCP/IP Technology,” and “Business Training for Technicians.” NAMTSE held more than 40 seminars in all during the four-day program, held April 16-19 at Memphis’ famous Peabody Hotel.

“You are a first responder,” guest speaker Tony Harrison told the NAMTSE audience at a general session. “This is a great job; this is a noble profession. What difference are you all making every single day? You are saving lives and property every single day. You are putting away criminals every day.

“In this line of work, respect is earned every day by the way you do your job – by being a professional; by being the fastest, by providing the best customer service,” Harrison said. Harrison is president of The Public Safety Group, Edmond, Okla., a training center for public safety professionals.

For more information, visit www.csaaul.org, or call (703)242-4670.