Workshops

Workshops provide a very different type of learning to normal presentations. Have your company’s specific challenges tackled by an industry leader. A workshop is a 3 hour session covering a key counter-piracy challenge identified by experts in the industry. Workshops usually run with 1-2 facilitators and the format encourages interactive learning and participation from all attendees. The main aim is to learn from one another’s experiences as well as benefiting from the experiences and expertise of the workshop leader.

Pre-Event Workshops: 22nd October 2012

09.00-12.00: Workshop A) Uncovering the Hidden Costs of Piracy: Addressing the Recruitment and Retention of Seafarers

By attending this workshop you will learn:

• How to assess how your company rates against others in the training and handling of your crew and how to carry out effective crew training
• How to establish an emergency action plan that accounts for the crew involved, their families and other employees
• Effective actions to take following an incident to minimise the impact on your crew and overall business

You’ll leave with a clear understanding of:

• The actions you can take to increase your overall retention of staff, even following an incident
• The areas you should factor into your consideration and overall business strategy regarding the recruitment and retention of your staff: Leave with a checklist of areas you can assess and improve back in the office.

Workshop Leader

Douglas Stevenson, Director, Seamen's Church Institute

Douglas directs the Center for Seafarers’ Rights at the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York & New Jersey, providing legal assistance and advocacy for merchant mariners worldwide. He also serves as Chairman of the International Christian Maritime Association, a free association of 27 Christian organisations serving merchant mariners in 526 seafarers’ centers in 126 countries. Mr. Stevenson is a maritime lawyer and a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer.

Prior to joining the staff of the Seamen’s Church Institute in 1990, he served in a variety of Coast Guard legal and operational assignments.

13.00-16.00: Workshop B) Using Serious Games and Simulation as Collaborative Tools to Fight Piracy

We all know piracy is a hard problem. It is even harder when major stakeholders are dispersed all over the globe. The need to work together has never been more important, and modern technology allows for such efforts. This workshop will report on the use of social networking tools and simulation by multiple partners to fight piracy.

By attending this workshop you will learn:

• How “serious games” can help fight piracy by enabling everyone to get their ideas voiced
• How idea generation can lead to valuable action plans
• How these action plans can be used to solve or better analyse key issues
• How modelling and simulation can provide experimental analysis and cost savings for the maritime community.

You will leave with a clear understanding of:

• Which key piracy related issues are facing organisations, military, and policy makers... and how to best tackle them
• How to encourage innovative thinking, across numerous organisations and groups, for strategy development

Workshop Leader

Dr Don Brutzman, Associate Professor, Moves Institute

Dr. Brutzman is a computer scientist and retired U.S. Navy Submariner. He and his team developed the web-based Massive Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet (MMOWGLI) serious game.

Post-Event Workshops: 26 October 2012

09.00-12.00: Workshop C) Addressing the Legal and Liability Consequences of Piracy

A surge in piracy over the last several years has everyone in the maritime industry looking to evaluate their risk and implement increased security measures. But these security measures can come at an enormously high price for a corporation. What happens when the security measures fail to prevent or mitigate a hostile incident? Or the amount of force used to defend a ship or oil platform causes unintended casualties? This workshop is designed to help companies learn the best risk mitigation techniques to protect themselves against lawsuits arising from acts of piracy and terrorism.

Attend this workshop to learn how piracy or terrorist attacks can lead to tort exposure for your company:

• The current legal landscape: Who gets sued in tort, where, and for what after piracy or terrorism attacks?
• What are your best defenses to these liability suits?
• How successful have the corporations been in defending such suits?

Leave this workshop with the “best practices” for mitigating liability exposure after piracy or terrorist attacks:

• Your most proactive protective measure: Obtain U.S. Safety Act tort protection coverage for your MTSA certifications and safety plans
• Contract clauses that can reduce and manage your risk with customers
• Minimizing your tort risk with third party security providers

Workshop Leader

Ray Biagini, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge

Ray has been practicing law for over 32 years at McKenna Long & Aldridge where he leads the Homeland Security and Product Liability Defense Practice. Ray specialises in developing risk mitigation strategies designed to diminish or eliminate tort liabilities arising out of terrorist attacks, including those by pirates.

Named in 2007 by The Washington Business Journal as one of its “Top Washington Lawyers” in Government Contracts, Ray has risen to national prominence in numerous high profile tort cases, defending companies in the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation; radiation exposure cases at border check points; and “war crimes” allegations filed against manufacturers of military weapons systems sold to Israel.

13.00-16.00: Workshop D) Addressing the Increasing Importance of Handling the Media

The workshop will demonstrate to participants what might happen once a vessel has been hijacked and the international media become seriously interested in the story, and how best to handle the media during these difficult times. The workshop will consist of:

• Briefing on the relationship between the maritime industry and the media: Examples of past piracy incidents - showing how events developed and how the media were managed throughout the whole period of the hijacking
• Interactive training session: Attendees will be taught how to respond to media calls coming into the office once news of the hijack is known and difficult questions are posed, at a time when information is scarce and the duty of care is to the crew on board, their families and to the company itself. Clear key messages will be prepared from the scenario used and tested against incoming phone calls from ‘journalists’.
• In front of camera training: Door-stepping, stand-up interview and press briefing techniques will be taught and practiced with lifelike interviews. These will be played back to the participants to allow a full analysis of the interviews.

Workshop Leader

John Wickham, Director, MTI Network

John Wickham has been involved in the maritime industry for over thirty years and has held senior positions at Inchcape Plc, Denholm Shipmanagement and Wallem Shipmanagement in the UK, Hong Kong and New York.

Before joining the MTI Network, he worked for Royal Olympic Cruises Lines Inc. in Piraeus, Greece and further to his responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer, he was an active member of the team that took the company public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 1998.

His diverse experience brings a wealth of first hand knowledge of ship owning, ship management and the cruise industry to the maritime media response sector.