Kidz In Motion
Lifesavers may be the biggest highway safety conference, but it’s no longer the only game around. This year marks the 5th anniversary of the KIM (Kidz in Motion) conference. It may not be as widely recognized as Lifesavers, but it should be. While it is a smaller conference, that’s only because it is dedicated specifically to child passenger safety. Lifesavers has significant attendance for other areas of traffic safety. That’s a bonus if you want exposure to this information, especially if you are a member of the law enforcement community.
On the other hand, Kidz In Motion has the same quality and quantity of content related specifically to child passenger safety. Well, I think it’s still devoted to child passenger safety. Sadly, Lifesavers switched from CPS to OPC (Occupant Protection for Children) a few years back. I’m still not sure why. Maybe someone just decided we needed another three letter acronym, even though it is no more descriptive than the perfectly good one we had been using for years.
So, Kudos to KIM for calling itself the National Child Passenger Safety Conference. It clearly would not be worthy of this blog had they called it the National Occupant Protection for Children Conference. Just doesn’t have the same ring to it, am I right?
More Kudos to KIM for putting on a great conference. Last year in Denver, that included a pre-conference Special Needs (NICU) session, an expanded exhibitor hall and roughly 30 conference sessions. Some of the key ones were repeated twice, so you could still attend there was a conflict with another presentation you didn’t want to miss. In addition, 14 of the sessions earned CEU credit for child passenger safety technicians (thankfully we’re not called occupant protection for children technicians, yet!).
Anyway, it’s a great conference with a lot of familiar faces. It’s smaller and cozier than Lifesavers, but even so, over 260 advocates attended in Denver last year. I was there, also, and it was a great time! I highly recommend it for attendees, presenters, exhibitors and sponsors. And no, I’m not a fanboy for just any conference with Child Passenger Safety in its name. I had a bad taste in my mouth after having my money stolen from me by the the International Center for Injury Prevention when they disappeared without a trace before holding the ICPSTC Sacremento in 2002. I reluctantly gave KIM a chance and was not disappointed. The organizers are very professional and the conference is absolutely first class.
KIM 2009 in Ft. Worth falls late in August (28th-31st) this year. That’s tough for me since it’s after school starts and close to the ABC Kids Expo, though I’m hoping I can still make it at for Saturday and Sunday at least. Even if I can’t, I’m still looking forward to it in future years. In fact, I saved one of the best things about KIM for last. It’s back at the Omni in Orlando for 2011 and 2012! Start making your plans now, as the Omni was absolutely fantastic (and I don’t even golf!). I’m even targeting 2011 as the first annual CarseatBlog/Car-Seat.Org reunion!
Until then, I’ll be busy starting a petition to abolish “OPC” and return us all to the glory days of “CPS”. Who’s with me? Even if I fail, you will still be able to find our forums at www.opcforums.com !
No. No love for the CPS here at all.
Tough crowd! No love for CPS 🙁
I have to say that CPS is a very confusing acronym to most people. And in most minds, it has a very negative connotation (Child Protective Services.) So, um, I can see why they’d want to distance themselves from that, especially among the law-enforcement community.
I’m hoping to make KIM next year. Flying to DFW is much cheaper than flying to FL from the west coast, and I can double it up with a family vacation since my in-laws are in Dallas!
Sadly, opcblog.com was already taken!
Nice touch, D. I like opcforums.com better anyway, less confusion.
I’ll be in Orlando in 2011, perfect place to stage a large scale meet-up! Cheap flights and cheaper hotels, just avoid the animatronic mice.