The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has announced that the 2023 Training Summit will feature tracks focusing both on first responder health and safety topics as well as volunteer recruitment and retention.

Taking place June 23-24 in Oklahoma City, OK, the conference will provide an opportunity for firefighters and EMS providers to participate in valuable classroom training, idea sharing, and networking. The expanded Training Summit incorporates the NVFC’s Recruitment & Retention Experience, previously offered as a separate event, to allow more first responders the opportunity to take advantage of courses on a variety of topics.

Registration for the Summit is now open, and includes two days of breakout sessions with nationally-known instructors, keynote speakers, general sessions, networking events, mini vendor expo, and most meals.

The expanded agenda features a selection of 18 courses relating to critical topics impacting the volunteer emergency services, with a focus on physical and behavioural health, safety considerations during different types of response and training, recruiting new volunteer responders, best practices for retaining volunteers, and leadership. The agenda can be found here.

The conference will be held at the Sheraton Oklahoma City Downtown Hotel. The hotel is in the Bricktown district of Oklahoma City, which has a river walk with water taxi, restaurants, shops, and a minor league baseball stadium. As in previous years, the NVFC will offer a networking social event after class concludes on Friday, June 23.

The reception will include a vendor area featuring sponsors and partners. Sponsorships are available. Attendees can also choose to extend their weekend of networking by attending a casual dinner social hosted at the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association headquarters on Saturday evening.

To remove the cost barrier for some attendees, stipends are available that reimburse up to $900 of conference-related expenses, including hotel, airfare/mileage/transportation, and the event registration fee.