Welcome to the Be the Difference Virtual Conference, the Denise Amber Lee Foundation’s FIRST virtual conference!! The conference will feature 23 speakers over 3 days, with over 19 hours of potential continuing education training hours. What is the best part of the Be the Difference Virtual Conference???? It is totally FREE!

Message from Denise Amber Lee Foundation Founder Nathan Lee:

Hello everyone!!! As the world we live in continues to present new challenges in the 9-1-1 world, the Denise Amber Lee Foundation wanted to provide an arena to bring everyone in 9-1-1 together. If you participated in Ricardo Martinez’s Dare to be Great virtual conferences in 2020, you saw the need and yearning that 9-1-1 professionals had to reconnect with others in the industry. You also saw how amazing and valuable virtual training can be. When the Be the Difference concept started to formulate I knew that Ricardo HAD to be a part of it. After reaching out to him, with no hesitation, we decided to work together to bring you the Denise Amber Lee Foundation’s Be the Difference FREE Virtual Conference on February 9-11, 2021, powered by Within the Trenches Media.

Even though the pandemic has caused a lot of new hurdles and challenges for 9-1-1 professionals to receive and participate in training, it has presented a whole new world of virtual training. Over 7000 people attended the two Dare to be Great Virtual Conferences, and I was blown away with the turnout, the quality of the sessions/speakers, and also the participation, not only from attendees, but also vendor partners. Ricardo and his team did an absolutely amazing job bringing the 9-1-1 world together during one of the most challenging times all of us have ever experienced, and we are so excited to have them on board to make Be the Difference an amazing event.

What does Be the Difference mean to me? I have had the pleasure to travel the country over the last few years with a true gem in the 9-1-1 world, Matt Grogan of Las Vegas Fire & Rescue. He has helped me tell Denise’s story in over a dozen states, along with telling his personal story of working the 1 October Shooting at Mandalay Bay in 2017. At a class in Tarrant County, Texas, Matt made a statement that struck a chord with me. After we had explained the story of the failures in Denise’s story, Matt preached about how with every call you take, every time you key up the radio, “You can be the difference in someone’s life.” He went on to explain that you have “a choice” of what difference you are going to be. He then asked all fifty 9-1-1 professionals in the room, “What choice are you going to make? What difference are you going to be?” He then showed a picture of Denise. It was SO powerful. I had a hard time keeping it together.

When we decided to make the virtual conference a reality, I knew right away what the name needed to be. Be the Difference. My goal for you in participating in this conference is to be aware of how you can Be the Difference every single day/night, every single shift, every single call.  The choice is yours to Be the Difference.

Each session will be done live in the eastern timezone.

Make sure to register even if you cannot attend live because each session will be recorded and available for immediate replay. The best viewing/learning experience will be through this platform, however, the video's will also be uploaded to our website.

Do you have to be a dispatcher to register/attend? No. Many people have asked because they are looking at becoming a dispatcher or in general to understand the profession more.

Certificates will be made available two weeks after the end of the conference for those who need them

Are you interested in a conference t-shirt or sweatshirt? Follow the link below to pre-order one!

Be the Difference Virtual Conference Store

Within the Trenches Media

Business Year

Be the Difference 2021 - Virtual Conference

Opening Session - Nathan Lee, CEO, Denise Amber Lee Foundation

Natalia Duran, CPE, State Coordinator, FL-TERT - Preparing for Communication Center Deployments

Sara Weston, 911derWomen & Halcyon Frank, The Dispatch Lab - Why is it So Hard? Perspective on Tough Topics in Your Center

Tina DeCola, Instructor, Denise Amber Lee Foundation - Human Trafficking Awareness: 9-1-1 Can Be the Difference

Sheila Hanna, Project Manager, Denise Amber Lee Foundation - Man in the Mirror

Tony Harrison, President, The Public Safety Group - Stress: It's all in your head

Charles Goodwin, MBA, RPL, ENP, Natick PD - A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings

Travis DeVore, Instructor, Denise Amber Lee Foundation - Training & Quality Assurance; Happy Marriage?

Hank Hunt, President, Kari Hunt Foundation - Have Some Animal Magnetism

Doug Showalter, CEO/National Instructor, Showalter & Company - Dispatching During Civil Unrest