During this show you could assure yourself of two things — they’d provide entertain- ment with established performers and new talent, and raise a great deal of money. This money was used to help pay for research to find a cure for MDA, but more importantly, for the individuals who had loved ones af- flicted with this disease, the money was used to offset the costs of treatments. Instead of the hospital stay costing maybe $1,000 per night, perhaps it was only $200 a night. Instead of the medicine costing $100 perhaps it was only $50 or free. It made the fees associated more affordable, and therefore easier, for the people to get the help they needed. Vendors Help Make Training Possible Sponsorship is the key to affordable training classes for young security professionals. By Jim Hancock T 54 wo things I loved growing up were movies and television. I’d wait all week for the weekend, and when Saturday rolled around I’d catch the bus or walk from my house to downtown Gulfport and go to one of the four movie theaters. I’d oſten watch a western or a James Bond adventure, but on many occasions I’d watch what I referred to as “vs. movies”: the ones that had no prequels, sequels, or plot or character development. They were just good, old-fashioned entertaining films with titles like Dracula vs. Frankenstein or Abbott and Costello vs. Jesse James. It was mind-numbing, nonsensical, cinematic mush, but it was a great distraction. Another thing I enjoyed were telethons that helped raise money for various causes. My fa- vorite was the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. This came on early evening the night before Labor Day, and ran continuously through early evening on Labor Day, which meant it ran overnight (In those days this wasn’t the norm for television. Generally TV would sign off or shut down between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. with the Star Spangled Banner and a test pattern). KEYNOTES JANUARY 2014 Fundraising for a Good Cause In 2014, I’d love to see at least one of my fa- vorite guilty pleasures from my youth make a comeback — a little fundraising for a good cause. One of the biggest issues facing the industry is keeping people informed and trained in new technology, as well as finding a way to affordably train the new generation that will take over the industry in the years to come. While ALOA has always offered some of the finest education in the industry and has steadily progressed to offer an ever expanding curriculum, one issue that contin- ues to plague not only ALOA, but any other entity that offers real hands-on, instructor-led training without having on-staff instructors, is the cost to the student to attend classes. To host a class, whether at a local asso- ciation or even ALOA’s Annual Convention, there are several factors that effect costs. The tangible numbers are instructor fees (which include daily pay for teaching), travel expenses, lodging, class handouts and manuals, trans- portation from the airport, parking, baggage fees and, probably the biggest expense for a hands-on class, the shipping of materials (locks, mounts, machines, hand tools, etc.). All of these factors contribute to the cost per student, per class. However, there are other costs the students incur, such as their own travel, lodging, meals and perhaps the largest WWW.ALOA.ORG
