 Kauai Studios for another episode of Security Matters. I'm your host, Andrew Lanning, and I'm joined today by Paul Ragusa, Editor of Security Systems News. I'm sure a lot of you know him out here. Hey, Paul, welcome. Thanks for joining us in the studio today. Hey, Andrew, how are you? Right on, man. Good to see you. I know you're in Maine and it's a little warmer here than there, I'm sure. Appreciate you unbundling yourself and getting ready to talk with us. Today, what we're gonna do is talk a little bit more about your other role as I think program director maybe will call that as for the security next event that's coming up in New Orleans. So first of all, we'll pump that up today, but first of all, let's give our audience who may not know you. I think you're a well-known guy, but anyone who's watching who maybe doesn't know your affiliation with the industry and how you got started, kind of give us a, you know, you just your background of what you, as much as you care to share. Okay. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Andrew. I appreciate it. It's nice to be on. I did want to say it's a little strange being on the other side and being the one who's getting the questions asked to him. I'm usually the one who- Yeah, you do a lot of these interviews. Ask the questions. So you turn the table on me here. Yeah, so I've been on the editor for security systems news for about four years now. And we, you know, cover the industry from all the different angles from, you know, integrator, dealer perspective, consultant, manufacturer, you know, just all the different aspects that make up the industry. I come from, you know, a background, a journalism background. I was an editor for several B2B magazines in New York. I grew up in New York, moved to Maine about five years ago. So, and yeah, now I also program the security next conference, which we're going to get into in a little bit. But yeah, it's been an amazing four years in this industry, just so much has been happening. It's really been a great time to be in the industry with all the changes that have been going on, all the disruption, new technologies. When I first got here, they said the industry was slow to adapt and change. And I think that was kind of flipped on its head by just all the different things that have been going on since then. So that's kind of me in a nutshell. How does, let's talk a little bit about being an editor because it's, it's so exciting. I got a little content here I produced. I've written a few things, but like how do you choose what to talk about? As you said, there's so many things going on. And like, so do you have to like pick a quarter, pick an episode, pick a month? Like I just, I can't imagine what that's like. You must have just, I just imagined boxes of material and hundreds of thousands of emails and articles to sift through like, how do you decide what to put out? Yeah, you're really hit on one of the toughest aspects of the job is, what do you actually report on? What's important? How do you sift through all of the news that's coming down and kind of really present what is the most important pressing kind of topics and issues of the day? So there's a lot of thought and sometimes it's just a breaking story and you're gonna report on it, but then also that you wanna cover some of the bigger topics and issues and delve in kind of deeper than just the surface. So that includes reaching out to industry experts and talking to people like you about the different perspectives on the topic and issues. So that is probably the tougher thing as an editor is to kind of sift through all that noise and try to make sense of it for the readers, try to simplify, you know, all that's going on because it could get kind of complicated and so that is kind of our goal here. Yeah, do you hold space for hot stuff that pops up like, cause you have to print like earlier, right? A month or two ahead, you gotta kind of have ready what you're gonna print or do you just do like that online? Is that easier to handle just like through your online stuff? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, it is nice having the digital side, you know, the online side so things can go up immediately. And then on print, I do kind of leave the front page open for, you know, breaking stories that might be coming in at the last minute there and get them on the cover. So yeah, that does play into it as well. So it's an interesting dynamic that plays out sometimes when you get close to deadline and you're like, do I run the story? Do I have time to run the story? That's awesome. And get it, yeah. Yeah, I think people probably don't think of that, it just arrives and they're like, okay, you know, but they don't know what goes into it. So that's good segue, I think, into our next bit here. There's a new deal, it's security next and we're going to New Orleans and I don't know if it'll always be there, but kind of take us to the genesis of how that came about and then we'll get into kind of what everybody can expect. Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. So security next is bringing two conferences that we previously organized, Cloud Plus, which people may recognize in Texx Solutions. So I kind of brought the best of both conferences into one conference. I know we were talking a little bit before we went on air about how many shows that are on the industry and just how insane it is to map out your year and what you're going to go to. And there's a lot of time spent on the road, so you want to make sure that you're making them, making the best of that time. So a lot of the thing he was, our attendees at both shows were saying, it would be great if you brought these shows together that way it was more value. We can make it a little bit longer, which is what we did. There's some key elements from both shows that we brought in and I think it's working out. The program kind of represents some of the best parts of both of those shows. And I love the way that the conference kind of program came together this year. It was very organic, I guess, in the way that we did it. I created a editorial advisory board, which Andrew you're on, of course, so you know about that. My whole thinking was, try to bring some of the key thought leaders in the industry together to just pick their brains and figure out what would be the best content for a conference today, especially with all the conferences that are going on. So obviously there's, you could go on our website and see all the great people that are on that, editorial advisory board. We have a tab set up on both the security next conference website and our security systems news website. But, you know, it's people like yourself and, you know, Christine Lanning, your wife, Bill Boseman from PSA, Jim Henry, you know, Don Erickson from SEA, Janet Fenner, Rebecca Bain. So there's just, the list goes on and on of some really, really great people that have kind of helped to guide the content and inspire, you know, a lot of the content that's in the program. And we can get a little deeper into that, but that's kind of how the show was born from those two shows and from the thoughts and ideas of our editorial advisory board. That's awesome. And was New Orleans always a target or I did a show with PSA down there a few years back, but I don't, I just don't remember a lot of shows being there. So I think it's a good choice. Yeah, you know, we were, you know, that's another tough thing to decide where do you have a show today? You know, we looked up, you know, what are some of the hotter cities that have conferences? We had, you know, several on a list, you know, Austin and, you know, New Orleans and so, you know, I spoke to actually Bill Boseman who was from New Orleans and he was saying, oh, that's a great idea, especially in February, you know, the temperatures are mild, you know, it's to be a great place to do it. So he helped with that. I did pick some people's brains about who, you know, run conferences of their own like Bill Boseman to the world to find out what they thought would be some good ideas. So that's how we settled on New Orleans and just kind of rebranding the conference and starting in a new location. We thought that would be a good idea and it really has garnered a lot of attention. People just want to come and spend the weekend and then, you know, taking the conference, enjoy the, you know, all that's great about New Orleans. I knew you've been there before and what's great is Bill put together like his picks for New Orleans, you know. So, you know, the best restaurants, the best clubs. Yeah, so that's, be sure we're gonna, you know, everyone is good to go. We'll have access to that. And so, yeah, it's gonna be fun to be in New Orleans. I really haven't had a chance to enjoy it. So I'm gonna get down there a little early and I'll stay a day later and just enjoy some of it. Awesome, that'll be fun. Well, we've also got, I think a lot of people may not know how much charity work these events generate. You know, our industry is big on charity, Mission 500. I saw that posted on there that there's gonna be some work going on for Mission 500 while we're there. Maybe targeting campaign towards the, I know there's the annual run that we always do at ISC West. And then I saw you gonna have some women, a women in security down there represented as well. And I'm not sure if there's a forum or an event for those folks, but that's another great group. Tuck, give us a little bit, a little sense of what sort of the charity mission that we're gonna see while we're down there. Well, yeah, we are, you know, big proponents of Mission 500. It's an incredible organization that helps families and children in need. We're, you know, one of the organizing founding sponsors of the 10K race, the 5K race and 2K run, 2K walk in ISC West, which celebrated 10th year last year. So this year we're very excited to be part of that again. And, you know, I really encourage anyone who's listening is going to ISC West and has not been involved with Mission 500. This is a really easy way to get involved. You could sign up to run or walk. I'm gonna walk, it's really easy. It's a beautiful morning. You know, you've got the sun rising and cool temperatures still in the morning. So in beautiful mountains behind you. So, you know, it's a great cause. You go out, you walk a little bit. And if you're game, I know you used to run. I ran one year, I almost died, but yeah, there's so many ways to get involved, even on an individual level. And then at a corporate level, there's so many companies that have stepped up and really given big and given their time to make a lot of their events successful. And at ISC West, they are also doing a house build, which, you know, with Habitat for Humanity, which another great organization that Mission 500 teams up to give, you know, homes back to people that need them. They do backpack builds for schools with supplies. So, I mean, you know, they do trips to Puerto Rico, most recently to help those in need. So if you're not involved, if you're in the security industry and you're not aware of Mission 500, I say, you know, go to that website right now or after the show and sign up or, you know, get involved, it's just a no-brainer. And then, you know, they're gonna be, we're gonna be promoting it at Security Next, of course, and trying to get people signed up for the race. And so, yeah, it's one of those organizations where you could just, you know, I could talk all day about how important it is to give back, especially in an industry that is doing so well. And a lot of companies are making a lot of money these days, as you know. And so giving back time and maybe even some money is not gonna hurt anyone right now in the industry. So. Yeah, for sure. For sure, thank you. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, and then on the women in security, that's been a real fun past couple of months. We've been doing our women in security issue in December for 10 years now. And then, I know you're involved with the Women in Security Forum that Cia put together. And, you know, that whole committee, that whole forum has been great. So we reached out to them, it was just, it made a lot of sense, you know, the synergy there between what we've been doing and what they're doing. And so we partnered this past year and we profiled 14, you know, incredible women, many of them that were recommended by the Women in Security Forum. Maureen Carlo, who's been instrumental in getting that going. I know you know her. She's been incredible throughout this. Don Erickson helped as well to get this partnership. And my managing editor, Ginger Hill really spearheaded the effort in connecting with Maureen and the forum and broadening my reach to a more diverse network of professionals is just huge. I can't tell you how much it's opening up my mind in terms of having more speakers that are female speakers and at our conference and getting them more involved in the issues and the articles. So yeah, I know it's a big part of what you do as well. It's to support that home movement. So yeah, we're very happy about that partnership that we were able to connect with them this past year and take it to another level, so to speak. Awesome. Yeah, it's really good. We, yeah, I'm sworn off the manholes, you know, I think yours is the, before I took that oath, I had already agreed to do, I have an all male panel at your event, but it's the last one this year. The rest must have at least one woman on the panel and hopefully 50%. I'm pushing all the guys to start to do that. You just don't accept it unless there's women on it. Tell you what, we're at the midpoint, yeah, sorry. Let's take a break real quick for one minute. We'll pay some bills and we'll be right back. Hello, Ha. I'm Lillian Cumick, host of Lillian's Vegan World, the show where we talk about veganism and the plant-based diet located in Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm a vegan chef and cooking instructor and I have lots of information to share with you about how awesome this plant-based diet is. So do tune in every second Thursday from 1 p.m. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Daelyn Yanagita, one of our hosts of our Business in Hawaii talk show on the Think Tech, Hawaii. The theme of Business in Hawaii is to share with you stories of local businesses by local people and our guests share with us their journey to building a successful business right here at home. We are streamed live on Think Tech weekly at 2 p.m. on Thursdays. Thank you so much for watching our show. I am Daelyn Yanagita and we'll look forward to seeing you then. Hey, Aloha, and welcome back to this episode of Security Matters. I've got Paul Ragusa on here from Security Systems News, but we're talking about security next. We were just talking about the Women in Security Forum and the Women in Security in general. I know you've had a lot of success at promoting the women and they're amazing. I mean, for me, it's an easy sell. So I appreciate you doing that work. The other thing that's happening at Security Next, and it's awesome because there's gonna be a new award, the Legends Award, and we're gonna get Jim Henry up there and we're gonna see what he's got to say and I hope it's not politics. I hope it's industry, Jim, if you're listening. And I think Bill's getting an award as well. Such a, Bill's done so much for me and Jim as well. I mean, these guys are great, are legends for so many people. What was the genesis of that award? Yeah, that's a great question. At this show, we're doing our 40 under 40 awards which is celebrating all the young professionals in the industry. And I get all the time, what about an award for people that are over 40? A bald guy. Yeah, it gets a lot of laughs of course and many jokes ensue. But yeah, the truth is, it's always been on the top of mind for me is adding an award that kind of, it's sort of like a lifetime achievement award. People like Bill and Jim Henry who have dedicated their whole careers to advancing the industry, giving back and you know how much Bill and Jim give back to this industry. And I mean, I couldn't think of two better people to be our inaugural winners of that award. And we're gonna be giving the award to them in New Orleans which is gonna be great at security next as part of the 40 under 40 award reception as well. So I can't wait to give that to them in person. And what's nice and is really special is, as you know, Bill Boseman is from New Orleans. He's a native of his family. He could tell you more about this but they came over in 1700s. So they were there before America was America. And he could tell you all about that. But to give, you know, Bill that lifetime achievement award in his hometown is gonna kind of be special because he's just a great guy and he's been a mentor to me as well as Jim Henry. So very excited about giving those to the award. Yeah, that's awesome. And I love the blending with the 40 under 40 and then the legends award. It's just a great idea. I'm looking forward to that evening for sure. But what people really need to come down for not that they don't need to come and congratulate all those folks and do some charity work but there's gonna be some great content which we, I think worked pretty hard to sort out. So let's walk through some of the sessions that you think are particularly interesting. Maybe we'll tease the audience a little bit. Let's not give too much away or they'll wait for the cliff note. Come on down to New Orleans with us. Exactly. But yeah, I mean, just looking at your session to start off with because we're gonna have a conference call tomorrow about that session. But just the end user mega panel, looking at end user where they're coming from what are some of their pain points? What are they looking to do? We have Travis May from MasterCard, Adam Warrell from American Electric and Power and Adam Stilford from Biogen. So they're gonna each give their perspective. One little teaser that I wanna give away is Travis May from MasterCard. He has created an incredible VR program for training. So imagine like active shooter training using VR in the workplace. So we're gonna dive into some interesting topics on that session. And then the opening session, we have a great keynote from Intel. He's gonna get into smart cities, IOT and AI, some really interesting topics. And then the opening session, the panel that is kind of building off the whole theme of the show, the whole securing profits in the age of convergence is really the theme. How IT, physical security, the impact of cyber on physical security and the convergence of IT and physical security. So that first session was gonna be moderated by Pierre Bourgex, I know you know him well, consultant very well known in the industry. I can't think of a better person to kind of frame the theme of the whole conference, about how, what that means for security providers today in all aspects, the bringing together of IT and physical security. So that's gonna be a great, and Christine's on that panel. So she's gonna do a great job on there. We've got some, and then, you know, we have got some great individual presenters, Steve Vantil, obviously we know almost Steve from GRIVO, and you know what better person to come and talk about cloud, because he's gonna do a session. I love the title of this one, the cloud one and now what, you know? Because really the, he's been telling us for years that the cloud is here and we really need to get on board. So I'm looking forward to seeing his thoughts on where the cloud is today, where it's going. And then, you know, we have some incredible other individual presenters, John Max, gonna come and do what he used to do at cloud every year is kind of like a financial forecast for the industry. He's from Imperial Capital, I'm sure everyone recognizes his name. Some more cloud will have Chris Peckham come in and do doing a presentation on cloud and cloud providers. And we also have Steve Vantil moderating a session on cloud, a bunch of really good people on that panel as well. So, and then one of the highlights I think, and kind of bringing some of Norelene's flavor into it, we have day two keynote is gonna be George Brown, who kind of runs the crime center down there, the real time crime center. So he's gonna kind of give us an inside look into the crime center. And I think one of the more exciting things about that is he's also gonna be hosting a tour. Attendees can all go on this tour if you signed up in advance. At the end of day two, we're gonna walk on over to the crime center and go in there and get a personal tour. So hopefully Andrew, you signed up for that. So I'm very excited about that. So we're gonna really have a firsthand look at the crime center, what it's been able to do. He's also gonna even look at, you know, that recent cyber attack on New Orleans, which, you know, it really was amazing what, what, you know, a city can, you know, kind of what can happen to a city in the blink of an eye. They had to really shut everything down. He's gonna discuss how they avoided disaster and were able to, you know, make sure, you know, he basically had everything prepared. And so they had no, you know, negative impact on what they were doing, but they obviously he could discuss some of the ways that they were able to avoid any major problems. So that's gonna be an interesting aspect of his presentation as well. So those are some of the, you know, highlights that I could think of, you know, right off the bat, you know, there's good to be. The team from New Orleans, I was with them, with the, I was up at Quantico at an FBI event last November and we went to town, we went to the, you know, downtown of the Herbert Hoover and they were part of, they were presenting some of the progress that they've made for the, that FBI group in, down in Dees, down in, you know, we were downtown. We are at Quantico for the week, but we took the bus in town and they were part of the presentation that day. And they actually have a Honolulu city has been visiting with New Orleans to kind of understand what they're doing because they're building out a center here. So those guys are doing a great job of educating and sharing their experience and what they've learned, helping other cities adapt some of these smart city technologies. And like, as you mentioned, how to build some resiliency into that. So if you do get attacked in some way, you know, you can rebound from it and not lose services to the community. So I think that's gonna be really exciting. I hope a lot of people show up for that. Yeah, it's gonna be really fun. Yeah. And then there's, you know, there's gonna be some great panel discussions. What I love about the show is you, it's not too big, you know, where you can't just walk up to someone, you know, the Bill Boseman to the role that Jim Henry's and just start talking to them, you know, you can walk up to the keynote and pick his brain. That's, you know, the networking opportunities are really good to be some of the highlights. You know, we have an opening welcome reception, looking forward to meeting everybody. And then we have the award reception on Monday and then the, you know, the tour on Tuesday. So there's a lot of cool events that are, you know, mixed in with the, you know, the panels and the keynotes and the individual presentations. So yeah, I'm very excited about the show. Yeah, it's gonna be great. It's not too late. Yeah, no, I think, you know, what you mentioned, so the sad thing, you know, so many people, you know, plan to go to ISC West. And I don't know about their experience, but for me, the smaller events, I get so much more contact with people, so much more sort of one-on-one networking time because they're not so busy, they're not so pulled away by, you know, all that's going on. And so I applaud you for keeping it, you know, keeping it industry relevant because when you can get next to someone who's done something different, as you mentioned, like what we may hear about what MasterCards efforts have been, things like it, when you can get there and go through that, spend the time to go through it and listen and understand what's good, what's bad, what was hard, what was easy, it really brings value for these events. And, you know, the more, we're pretty much a sharing industry anyway, right? And so the more people can absorb when they go back to their community, they're able to share that much more. And so I really do applaud you for working on this, you know, to build the content, make it relative and not, you know, have another, you know, 10,000-man army just sending upon New Orleans, you know. Hey, do you think we'll have it, you think you'll stay in New Orleans? Like maybe sometime we'll be butted up against Mardi Gras or something like that? Yeah, right. I know it's another thing, the timing of when do you do this? Yeah. Do you stay away from the big, the big events, you know, there, you know, the Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras, or do you, you know, because you don't want to get caught up in that as well. But yeah, that was an interesting idea to have it before or after. Yeah. But I don't know about having it after, people just be zombies. Yeah, they are, they're toasties. Yeah, yeah. Well, I got about 30 seconds left. Give us your final teaser and I hope all of you will come down and see us at Security Next. Yeah, it's not too late to sign up. So, you know, go to our website, securitynext.com, sign up, you know, and sign up for the tour, for the crime center. And then one shameless plug, I know we're doing your podcast, but we're about to launch a podcast as well. Oh, awesome. To keep an eye out for that. We'll definitely have you on there, Andrew. Yay. And so yeah, another than that, we're also launching a new website this year, so we're excited about that. And a lot of good things happening at the publication. Awesome. Paul, you know, applaud your success, man. I really am happy to see Security Systems News supporting the industry the way they have. They're sort of one of the standard, you know, benchmark media companies in the industry that we all know. And I know you've been the guy that sort of grew that and helped it happen, so I really appreciate that. And I appreciate you sharing your time with me here today. I know you're a busy guy with the show coming up. Get down to Security Next, folks. New Orleans, when is it? It's week after next, I know that. Yeah, it's February 9th through the 11th. 9th through the 11th, so get your tickets. Come on down. We'll see you there. Paul, I appreciate it. Audience, take care. Aloha, everybody. We'll see you next time.