Eric is an accomplished public speaker who uses humor and information to both engage and enlighten audiences, both large and small. He has presented in plenary sessions for both national and regional conferences of 500 or more people. The following are topic areas that he can speak to:

Social media is washing over our culture like a tsunami. It is revolutionizing how emergency managers use technology to respond and recover from disasters. Situational awareness, common operating picture, damage assessments, warnings are all aspects of emergency management that can be enhanced by using social media. Invite Eric to speak at your next conference on this topic of surviving the Social Media Tsunami and learn about the tools and techniques you can use for your emergency management and first responder programs. To read more about the use of social media check out Disaster Wiki an article by Eric Holdeman on the use of social media.

Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Design, Construction and Operation—EOCs are becoming extremely complex facilities that need to integrate people, systems and technology to make them effective for that mission. Design considerations concerning survivability, flexibility, redundancy and others are provided.

Future of Emergency Management is Regional—Emergency management is still an emerging profession. Eric sees the future of emergency management as being regional. This presentation provides a perspective on the past and a description for what the future of the profession should be. Specifically, it needs to be: joint, unified, national & international, coordinated, collaborative, inter-operable, synchronized, with standards, the media is a partner. The underlying framework for all of this is the need for it to be done on a regional basis and it cannot be accomplished internal to your agency, jurisdiction or organization.

Pandemic Flu—Perhaps the worst catastrophe that could strike the world. As the King County Emergency Management Director, Eric was a leader in building one of the nations best known pandemic flu preparedness programs. In this presentation learn about the challenges and risks, along with the strategies for continuity of operations and continuity of government. Experience in exercising these plans and strategies is another aspect of information that will be shared.

Media is My Friend—The media dominates our 21st Century lives. Many government and business people fear working with the media. Eric believes that there can be a partnership with local media. Learn his strategies for creating a new paradigm for you and your organization.

Public Education—If the public is not prepared, then you are not prepared. How many days of preparedness is enough? What can you be doing to motivate people to become prepared for the disasters that will strike in the future? Eric will share his experiences in building regional public education campaigns for all types of populations.

Past Speaking Opportunities

  • Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Oregon Health Sciences

Attendee Comment: “I am sorry I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye yesterday, but wanted to formally thank you for providing such an engaging and informative talk yesterday. As one of my colleagues said, ‘business continuity is often pretty boring, but Eric’s talk was the furthest thing from boring and provided such good local information that we can actually use”. I wholeheartedly agree.” Jennifer Dimoff

  • Snohomish County Public Utility District
  • City of Yarrow Point, Personal Preparedness Presentation
  • City of Medina, Personal Preparedness Presentation
  • Oregon Emergency Management Conference
  • World President’s Association (WPO) Seattle
  • 2012 Esri Homeland Security Summit, July 2012 (VIDEO)
  • FCC Testimony, November 2007
  • EIIP Online Forum
  • Partners in Preparedness Conference, Tacoma, Washington
  • State of Utah Emergency Management Conference
  • Pandemic Flu Summit, Howard County, Maryland
  • Natural Hazards Workshops, Boulder, Colorado
  • International Association of Emergency Managers Conference
  • 18th World Conference on Disaster Management
  • Wisconsin Governor’s Emergency Management Conference

Contact Eric for more details or to schedule him to speak at your next event.

Speaking Testimonials

“I am sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye yesterday, but wanted to formally thank you for providing such an engaging and informative talk yesterday. As one of my colleagues said, "business continuity is often pretty boring, but Eric's talk was the furthest thing from boring and provided such good local information that we can actually use.”

“We so appreciate your being part of our day yesterday and your sharing your expertise. While we will send you evaluation summaries in the next few weeks, I can tell you that the crowd greatly appreciated you, your info and presentation style.”

“I had no idea…that Eric is such a wonderful speaker and filled with such wisdom. Your presentation at the Boulder Workshop was one of the best I’ve ever experienced (and I’ve seen and heard most of them). Thank you for the contribution you are making to emergency management.

Dennis MiletiNoted author & Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado Boulder

"Eric delivers technical as well as practical information in a motivationally passionate style. Audiences of all backgrounds have appreciated the way he relates to them, keeping content relevant and interesting and clearly demonstrating his understanding for the needs at hand."

Barb GraffDirector Emergency Management City of Seattle

Eric’s inspirational keynote shared emergency preparedness information to help ensure our employees can be ready for a disaster both at work and at home. He was even willing to work with us to pull off an entirely virtual keynote session!

Laura ZorickSnohomish County Public Utility District