ZeroNow, a nonprofit organization of school safety experts dedicated to ending harmful incidents in schools, hosted its annual gathering last month at the 2024 Campus Safety Conference in Atlanta.
Open to ZeroNow members and those interested in learning more about the growing community, the annual meeting is a forum for sharing leading practices and strengthening partnerships that are critical for ensuring the safety of students, staff, and faculty nationwide.
Dozens of live and virtual attendees had the chance to engage with industry professionals, explore emerging trends, and collaborate on initiatives that enhance security in educational environments. Discussions were had on future goals and endeavors, including ZeroNow’s recently launched Path to Safer Schools, a holistic seven-step interactive guide to making schools safer.
View some photos from the event.
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Attendees also discussed the group’s newest initiative, the National Council of School Safety Directors (NCSSD). NCSSD is a dedicated group of current and past school safety directors whose main goals are to develop standards, disseminate leading practices, and advocate for establishing and funding the role of the school safety director.
Co-locating ZeroNow’s annual meeting with this year’s Campus Safety Conference, which brought together more than 450 K-12 and college campus protection professionals, was an ideal pairing as many of ZeroNow’s NCSSD leadership members are longtime partners of the Campus Safety Conference.
“The event allowed us to engage with a concentrated group of school safety leaders, fostering meaningful discussions. It provided an excellent opportunity to connect with our partners and potential individual members, particularly school safety directors,” Mary Beckendorf, ZeroNow’s director of operations, told Campus Safety. “We signed up many school safety directors at this conference, further expanding our reach and impact.”
The meeting was highly effective, leading to a remarkable 35% increase in membership, which Beckendorf says “speaks volumes about the engagement and interest generated during the Campus Safety Conference.”
Interested in hosting a meeting at a future Campus Safety Conference? Reach out to Conference & Operations Manager Kelly Jacobus at [email protected].
More About Campus Safety Conference
At this year’s Campus Safety Conference, attendees had access to sessions on reunification, the intersection of technology and school safety, stress and its impact on behavior, securing funding and buy-in, increasing community engagement, tabletop exercises, and many more.
Some highlights from this year included:
- An all-attendee interactive session on preparing for, responding to, and recovering from on-campus protests
- More than 50 solution providers displayed safety and security technologies
- Georgia Tech Police Department tours led by Chief Robert Connolly
- UNLV leaders shared lessons learned on the deadly 2023 mass shooting
- The Scholars Program, an inaugural program where decision-makers purchasing safety and security products/services in the next 18-24 months heard directly from solutions providers
- 1-on-1 grant consultations with representatives from the Grants Office LLC
- Several all-attendee receptions for zero-pressure mingling
To read more and check out some photos from the event, check out this recap article.
