Available at any location.  All programs are customized to address your specific goals & concerns. Topics can be combined for 60, 75, 90, and 120-minute seminars, as well as half-day and full-day workshops:

Improving Security and Protecting Visitors, Staff & Collections
w/ Reduced Staff & Budgets:

The story is the same across the country.  Budget cuts, reduced staff, hiring freezes, and yet the duty to protect has not gone away.  In fact, it has been elevated because of heightened fears and escalated threats to public safety.  So how does the astute administrator balance the need to provide a safe environment with a lack of funds and personnel?   This session, presented by a nationally recognized authority on the protection of cultural institutions, walks the audience through reasonable, practical, cost-effective steps to improve the institution's protection, make better spending decisions, and meet the demands of our ever-changing national environment.  Attendees will learn how to develop a realistic protection plan based on available staff and budget.  Emergency response planning is included.  Necessary improvements based on actual threat to patrons, assets/collections and staff will be outlined in detail.  This includes the need to handle crises of varying proportions.

Workplace Violence Prevention:

No one likes to think about it, but any institution may be faced with the prospect of violent or other criminal acts unfolding in our cultural facilities.  This program presents a professional, safe, and cost-effective approach to prevention, preparation, and response.  The program leader will discuss and demonstrate proper methods of defusing potentially violent situations, identifying potential troublemakers, protecting patrons and staff, improving employee awareness, and responding to unplanned emergencies.  Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss particular problems, and determine practical solutions.  This seminar is a must for any institution that opens its doors to the public.  Extensive handout material and topical policy information will be provided. Participants will learn how to reduce the threat of violent incidents and other loss, promote staff awareness and customer service in relation to violence prevention, identify potential threats, and de-escalate potentially violent confrontations.

Loss Prevention:

Theft, fraud and related crimes are growing nationally as professional criminals enter the field where penalties are minimal.  Losses at many institutions are difficult to track.  Any form of loss has a direct impact on business, but is most often preventable.  This session will show you how to prevent these crimes, apprehend perpetrators, and successfully prevent (and recover) losses without spending your life in court.  Participants will be given practical recommendations on how to better protect property and assets, enforce rights, and conduct business without fear of exposure to liability.  This workshop will also examine the various ways that losses occur and will provide suggested policies and guidelines for prevention.

Ejecting Unruly Patrons:

In a nationwide survey, we found few institutions with a published policy on how to remove persons who violate rules or refuse to follow directions.  For the mutual protection of staff and other patrons, as well as reducing litigation, the institution needs a firm policy.  It's not enough to put it in writing...staff needs to be familiar with those procedures that assure everyone is treated fairly, and that employees are not exposed to any potential threat.  This session walks attendees through the most reasonable, most effective procedures in initiating a policy, and assuring it is adhered to.

Public Relations/Employee Awareness:

This program shows employees how their attitude, actions, and reactions influence every person who contacts the institution.  Attendees learn how to make a great first impression, make every visitor feel welcome, turn a bad situation into a good one, use employee awareness to reduce losses, and de-escalate potentially violent confrontations.

Protecting Valuable Collections:

Exposure to natural disasters, the intentional or unintentional acts of visitors, or the acts of employees all serve to threaten our collections.  Unscrupulous alarm dealers, poorly screened and/or trained security officers only add to the threat.  This session addresses the most reasonable protective measures available to institutions of any size.

Emergency Preparedness/Crisis Planning:

A very topical, nationally acclaimed program discussing recommended methods to reduce injury, loss of life, and loss of collections.  A national leader in emergency preparedness walks you through step-by-step procedures for assuring that necessary arrangements are in place to prepare any institution for dealing with emergency evacuations, transportation and protection of assets, working with emergency response agencies, and more.  This is a "how-to" session, dealing in very real scenarios and life-safety issues.  You'll get "hands-on" information outlining what institutions of all size and scope need to know about dealing with critical incidents.  Using examples of actual events and the solutions that have been proven under fire, the presenter will demonstrate the proper methods for dealing with a variety of situations.   The session will also address the assignment of critical roles for staff, volunteers, and others, to assure that every floor of every building is properly evacuated when appropriate, and how to put into place a practical plan to deal with assembly areas, accountability of staff, and emergency service participation.

Guard Force Management:

In our ever-increasing need to protect the workforce and the public, many companies now employ proprietary or contract security officers. This session outlines the proper methods of selection, training, and placement of security officers for maximum benefit and minimal liability.

Pre-Employment Screening/Hiring, Training, Firing:

Employee theft costs U.S. businesses and institutions billions every year!  Everyone who hires or supervises employees is vulnerable, and our constantly changing laws make the running of an institution more and more difficult. Now you can meet potential problems head-on, and prevent the disastrous results of negligent hiring, improper training, and negligent firing.  As leading consultants in hiring practices and effective management, we share the latest methods in hiring GOOD EMPLOYEES, presenting needed training, and if necessary, the right way to terminate employment.  

Attendees will learn:

• How to Screen Applicants with Minimal Expense
• Where to Find Accurate Background Information
• How to Get Previous Employment Information
• How to Organize, Apply, & Document Training
• When and Where to Terminate Employment
• How to Make Your Personnel Actions Work

Assaults on Public Institutions:

A very topical, nationally acclaimed program about incidents that have occurred in public facilities. The program touches on recent violent events around the country – what went right and what went wrong – then shifts quickly to outline reasonable prevention measures and cost-effective self-help methods of dealing with similar incidents.  This is a “how-to” session, dealing in very real scenarios and life-safety issues.  It presents the professional and safe approach to prevention, preparation and response.

Emergency Exercise Coordination:

If you haven't had some form of practice exercise, bringing together your emergency response agencies, you have run the risk of confused, delayed, or improper response. We can assist with the development of a professional drill, from start to finish. Our experts help update existing evacuation plans, based on standard of care in the industry. We then help create a relevant exercise scenario and develop the script for its implementation. This includes coordination with police, fire, emergency medical response, on-site security personnel, department heads, and staff. Finally, we offer complete coordination, implementation and management of the exercise, with classroom follow-up. Typical scenarios include bomb threat, chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, small arms attacks, fire, and more. Proper response, especially in the face of traumatic conditions, is the result of sound planning and hands-on practice exercise.

Other Available Programs & Topics:

Emergency Exercise Coordination, Bomb Threats, Conflict Resolution and much more.