The 17th International Boating & Water Safety Summit (Summit) will be held in San Antonio, Texas, on March 24 – 27, 2013. We invite you to become a presenter at the Summit and share your experiences and knowledge.
The Summit
The National Water Safety Congress and the National Safe Boating Council will host the 17th Annual International Boating & Water Safety Summit in San Antonio, Texas, from March 24 – 27, 2013. The Summit is the premier boating and water safety education and training conference and will serve as the national forum to implement the Strategic Plan of the National Recreational Boating Safety Program (Strategic Plan). Having the most current boating and water safety information available is one of the keys to creating an environment that promotes the Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan’s mission is “To ensure the public has a safe, secure and enjoyable recreational boating experience by implementing programs that minimize the loss of life, personal injury and property damage while protecting the environment and assisting in national security efforts.”
The Summit will provide training and education using the objectives and strategies of the Strategic Plan to implementing partners and other boating and water safety professionals and volunteers. There will be general sessions and breakout tracks on education, law enforcement, outreach and communication, paddlesport safety, risk management and accident prevention, and waterways management. The information will be presented in both the classroom and hands-on/ on-the-water settings. All attendees may participate. These presentations should showcase the programs that are supporting the Strategic Plan. Pre and post conference training workshops will also be available. The Summit is expected to attract up to 400 boating and water safety professionals and volunteers from organizations across the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Rim.
This is your opportunity to help shape the Summit program to better meet your professional training and development needs and to showcase elements of your program or project that will directly benefit the Summit participants while highlighting the Strategic Plan objectives and strategies. Please use this form to indicate your interest in offering a presentation at the Summit in either a general session, breakout session, or an on-the-water session. The deadline for submitting this form and your proposal is August 1, 2012. If your presentation is selected during our initial review, you will be contacted to provide additional information.
The Audience
The Summit’s multi-track program aims to provide information, resources, education and training to support professional and organizational development priorities to groups and individuals working in areas of recreational boating and water safety. The audience for the Summit will be comprised of representatives from boating and water safety advocacy groups, including national and international government or non-government agencies; boating and water safety education organizations; community and university aquatic education programs and boating safety equipment manufacturers and suppliers.
The Program
The Summit program is designed to provide information on several levels to the attendees. General Session topics are selected based on the information they provide to the entire conference group. Breakout session topics offer an opportunity for more detail in an effort to appeal to the special interests of the individuals attending the Summit. The On-the-Water sessions provide an opportunity to both visualize and participate in the presentations. Presentations should support the Strategic Plan of the National Recreational Boating Safety Program (Please see http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/Page/National RBS Strategic Plan.pdf to review the 2012-2016 Strategic Plan) in one of the following subject areas in boating and water safety: Education; Outreach and Communications; Risk Management and Accident Prevention; Law Enforcement; Paddlesport Safety; Waterways Safety Management.
Types of Presentations
Individual speakers or panels may give presentations. General Sessions are designed to be a maximum of thirty minutes in length and address all conference attendees. Breakout sessions are designed to be approximately sixty minutes in length with an additional ten minutes allocated for question and answer sessions. On-the-Water sessions will be conducted either indoors or outdoors depending on the local facilities and the program. On-the-Water sessions may be conducted as a general session or as a smaller break out session. On-the-Water sessions typically last one hour and fifteen minutes which includes fifteen minutes for questions and clean up.
Selection Criteria
Proposals are competitively selected on the basis of the information submitted with this application. Applications which directly support the IBWSS and the mission of the Strategic Plan objectives and strategies, will be given precedence. However, all boating and water safety proposals will be reviewed for presentation potential.
Submission Procedures
- Complete the application (download here) – please print or type.
- Submit an abstract in narrative form in a Word Document – approximately words in length.
- Submit a detailed presentation outline and please indicate if you have made this presentation before and at what venue.
- Submit an autobiography on presenter(s) in narrative form in a Word Document. The autobiography should be not mort than200words in length.
- If you plan a panel format, submit a complete list of all speakers with an autobiography for each panelist. Limit panels to three speakers. The panel moderator/chair should be identified as well.
- If you would like to submit a proposal for more than one session, submit a separate application for each session.
The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012. Applicants will be notified of proposal selection not later than November 2012. Accepted proposals will require submission of a copy of the presentation for use in the 2013 Summit Program and Proceedings. If you have questions, please call the office of the National Water Safety Congress at (440) 209-9805 or the office of the National Safe Boating Council at (703) 361-4294.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 1, 2012
Please download the form here and mail your submission to:
International Boating & Water Safety Summit
C/O National Water Safety Congress
P.O. Box 1632
Mentor, Ohio 44061
Call for additional information: Phone / FAX: NWSC: 440-209-9805
Or Phone / FAX: NSBC: 703-361-4294 FAX: 703-361-5294
You may also e-mail the document to: Director@watersafetycongress.org or office@safeboatingcouncil.org
Partially funded through a grant from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund administered by the United States Coast Guard.