CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
7:00 A.M. - 8:00 A.M.

ADVANCED DEPLOYMENT

TUESDAY, JULY 29   |    8:00 A.M. – NOON

This advanced session builds on the basics and focuses on advanced strategies and considerations for achieving greater levels of sophistication and increased performance. You’ll learn how to quickly get the statistics you need, plus how to compare small samples to a population average to give you accurate statistics even when your data are poor or limited. Participants will leave knowing:

• Use of pivot tables to tap the power of Excel
• The tenets of statistical significance and how to best use statistical sampling
• Use of linear programming to optimize distance traveled
• The latest in decision support software

Advanced Deployment is open only to those who attend the Deployment Fundamentals Seminar (Monday) or have attended previous Pinnacle deployment seminars

ENCHANCING ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO TAKING YOUR AGENCY TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MONDAY, JULY 28   |    8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
TUESDAY, JULY 29 8:00 A.M. –NOON

EMS agencies struggle to make breakthrough improvements in organizational performance, as measured by such diverse indicators as unit hour productivity, retention, morale, clinical care, and customer service programs. In the process, they almost always pay too much attention to tactics — dealing with individual actions and isolated events — instead of implementing a strategy for overall organizational performance enhancement, based on proven fundamentals. Every day, managers must not only make key decisions with potentially significant implications, but they also must make the right decisions. Having a management strategy and improvement philosophy to draw upon makes even the toughest decisions easier, consistent and better.
   Dave Williams and Mike Taigman, two of the most renowned and innovative leadership facilitators in EMS, will share what they learned in their experience with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Model for Improvement, which is the backbone supporting the highly successful “Protecting 5 Million Lives” campaign.

You'll leave this highly interactive seminar knowing:

• Why current performance improvement efforts fail (and how to avoid that rut)
• How to apply systemic, strategic thinking to problem-solving
• Which tools can identify when performance problems require action
• How to test assumptions and use mini-experiments for process improvement
• How change affects the workforce (and how to manage change to best effect)

EXECUTIVE READINESS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE THE NEXT DISASTER STRIKES

TUESDAY, JULY 29   |    8:00 A.M. – NOON

How will your agency — and your community — respond to the next major incident? September 11 and several major natural disasters during the past few years have brought funding, enhancements to training and increased attention to operational preparedness. But much more needs to be done to develop disaster readiness at the leadership level. Brandon Graham, associate director at the George Washington University Office of Homeland Security, will reach beyond the threat of terrorism in this seminar to discuss true systemic readiness for any incident that overwhelms resources, whether it’s a suicide bomber, earthquake, fire, hurricane, flood or even pandemic flu. Brandon will challenge EMS leaders to examine institutionalized flaws in resiliency building and their decision-making process to fundamentally change their approach to readiness. In his session, you’ll learn:

• Why organizational and community readiness plans are often flawed
• How to judge your organization’s (and community’s) level of readiness
• Which strategies work best for developing systemwide collaboration
• How readiness for pandemic flu can jump-start innovations in your system
• How decision support systems can guide short- and long-term choices about resource acquisition, training, and command and control capabilities
• How to ensure continuity of EMS operations when the workforce is disrupted
• How to use critical partnerships and inter-organizational relationships to build successful collaborations
• What questions the National Incident Management System command structure doesn’t answer, and how to address them

PINNACLE INSIGHTS 2008: ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS
EVERYONE’S AFRAID TO ASK

TUESDAY, JULY 29   |    1:30 P.M. – 3:30 P.M.

What do you get when you mix a “who’s who” of veteran EMS leaders with a group of fresh upstarts who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo, then toss in a professional leadership expert who’s helped some of the largest companies in the world overcome their problems? You get more than debate — you get a recipe for action. This special bonus session is not to be missed. Be a fly on the wall as we bring together this stellar group for a fast-paced, boardroom-style forum that’s sure to be jam-packed with new ideas about EMS management and a bold vision for the future. The session will be facilitated by Bruce Griffiths, an award-winning leadership consultant to leading corporations, including Nike, Hallmark, Dow Chemical and Disney.

PROFESSIONAL EMPHASIS GROUPS (PEGs)

TUESDAY, JULY 29   |    3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Select a topic of interest and join your colleagues for informal learning, discussion and sharing, led by expert faculty.

• Women in Leadership: Sharing Experiences and Strategies (Christine Zalar and Joanne Hayes-White)
• Third-Service EMS: Challenges of the “Ideal System Model” (Allen Johnson)
• Fire-Based EMS: Can Fire Take the Lead to Improve EMS? (Jeff Forster)
• Private Sector: What Happened to Entrepreneurial Innovation? (David Williams)
• Electronic Patient Care Record Users: The Success — and Failures — of Early Adapters (Frank Gresh)
• The Continuum of Care: The Why and How of Prehospital/In-Hospital Partnerships (David Carter)
• Data, Surveillance and Situational Awareness: Transforming 9-1-1/EMS Data Into Insight — and Action (Todd Stout)

SPECIAL TUESDAY EVENING KEYNOTE

TUESDAY, JULY 29   |    5:00 P.M. – 6:30 P.M.

You decided to work in EMS because you wanted to help people, but at some point you began to wonder whether that was still possible. Regulation, financial pressure and bureaucracy conspire against initiative and doing what’s right for the patient. You want to change the profession for the better, but where do you look for ideas and encouragement?

Steven Tomlinson, PhD, a playwright and professor of entrepreneurship, studies the connection between motivation and innovation in business. He uses exercises and simulations from theater to help corporate executives and start-up managers getfresh perspective on the problems that limit their business. In preparation for Pinnacle, Steven hit the streets to run calls with EMS in his hometown of Austin, Texas, and connected with EMS thought leaders. Join us for an hour of cutting-edge ideas and inspiration.

(Immediately followed by reception in the Exhibit Area)

OPENING RECEPTION
6:30 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.