You spoke and we're going to listen!

Dear InfraGardNCR Members:

I wanted to thank all the members who responded to our member survey. This was your opportunity to share with the Board of Directors what you want out of your InfraGard membership. We will be using the outcomes of the survey to help direct the priorities and activities for 2019. I also want to thank two of our Board members - Steve Raia and Boykin Jordan - for volunteering to create the survey, implement it, and analyze the results. Volunteers like Steve and Boykin are the wheels that keep our chapter rolling.

Because the survey only closed a few days ago, we haven't had time to fully analyze the responses. However, I did want to share a few high-level observations with you now. First off, it was encouraging to learn that 50% of respondents read the chapter newsletter each week, and more than 85% read it at least once per month. This is our main tool for communicating with you and it is good to know that members are reading the newsletter. We also received suggestions for changes to format and fonts for the newsletter to make it more readable, especially on mobile devices - this is something that the Board will work on in 2019.

Regarding programming, the top 5 subjects members expressed an interest in were (1) Insider Threat; (2) Cyber Attack Against SCADA; (3) Criminal Use of Social Media (4) Terrorism / Counterterrorism; and (5) Cyber Technical skills. We already have programming related to many of these topics planned for 2019. If you know a subject matter expert who could brief our chapter on any of these topics, please let us know - we will be working on additional programming in the next few months.

Several respondents indicated that our chapter focuses too much on cyber issues, and should pay more attention to physical security issues, which is probably a result of the largest segment of our chapter membership being cyber professionals. That said, in 2019 we are partnering with the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), Allied Universal Security, Whelan Security, and others to provide both in-person and webinar programming directly related to physical security issues. The first of these events is going to be on Thursday, January 10that the International Monetary Fund on the topic, "Civil Unrest - Are You Prepared?". Additional information can be found below and you can register here: https://tinyurl.com/Whelanseminar

Lastly, I want to encourage you to resolve in 2019 to be more involved with InfraGardNCR. We are fortunate to have one of the largest and most active InfraGard chapters in the country and we can become even stronger with participation from you - our members. A good first step would be joining us at the annual members meeting at Capital One Arena on January 23rd - it is going to be a great event! If you have ever been to a concert or sporting event, you'll want to hear the briefing from Monumental Sports about how they provide a world-class customer experience and security for the Capitals, Wizards, concerts, and more.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season and thank you for your service and membership in InfraGardNCR.

Steve