As I prep for my first time at Smoky Mountain Weekend in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I am comforted that I will be joined by some instructors and classmates from my firefighter I class as well as my chief from Lone Oak Volunteer Fire Department. Based on the class offering I felt that at this stage in my career I’d be better suited to take more classes to be on the generalist side of things similar to my marketing expertise. Here’s a look at my class schedule:

• Recognizing elder abuse – in my district we have an aging population so figured this could help
• Residential concerns: Old house, small house, large house
• Reading smoke
• Modern single family dwelling fire attack

So based on these I’ll have a good sampling to expand my knowledge, training and skills.

Another objective is to connect with other departments to learn best practices in terms of public information, recruitment and retention, grant writing, fundraising and to share my knowledge of marketing. It’s making these contacts that are necessary to expand my learnings and to help others. I’ll pass out cards and perhaps gain some contacts that could be potentially bring me in to help them with their marketing efforts. It’s going to be a great opportunity on several fronts and I look forward to it!

Stay tuned as I’ll post an update to this post next week which will cover the event and post-event.