Three first-time APCO conference attendees from O’Fallon Police Department, Missouri, wrote up their experience about what the conference meant to them.
APCO Conference & Expo
By Mike Conte
The 2025 APCO Conference and Expo, what an experience it was. With our division recently becoming members of this organization, I went into this conference not knowing what to expect and only had what I have been told about the conference. First and most important, the amount of training classes or sessions they offer opens the door to anyone regardless of your role. They offered anything from wellness, technology, and leadership, to career advancement, and emergency preparedness. To put it in a better perspective, it was a very rare occurrence that Paul, Mike N, Lisa, and myself ended up in the same class throughout the entire time we were there because they offered so much. We all only attended one particular class together.
It was great to hear from people from all over the world and get new ideas to bring back to our center. It was also great to meet and connect with the teams behind the programs we use. These teams are working hard to ensure they provide us with the best products on the market and are always looking to enhance what we already have.
Lastly, the conference as large as it was very easy to navigate. APCO did an amazing job with signage and the use of an app to ensure you always knew where to go and when. I encourage each of you when presented with it to take advantage of this conference as you will come out of it with a new perspective of our industry.
Choose Your Words Wisely
By Mike Nunnery
One of the sessions I attended while at the APCO conference discussed ways to master effective communication. This session really hit home since the word communication is literally in the job title and description of what an ECO does. The speaker went into detail about shifting our reactions from reactive to proactive. She did this using 5 chairs that were different colors. 
The chair colors were red, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
The red chair symbolizes someone who is always on the attack. It is someone that is defensive, blame-focused, and reactive. They do not listen to feedback, and instead they are always placing blame or shifting the focus back on to the evaluator. Often this is where we go when we feel threatened.
The yellow chair is someone who is insecure, uncertain, and withdrawn. This person lacks confidence and is hesitant to offer suggestions. They often second guess themselves and is quick to apologize even if they did nothing wrong.
The green chair is where you will find someone who waits. They are calm, observant, and patient. This allows them to receive information and react after pausing. Doing this calm and intentional before reacting. This chair is crucial because it is in the middle of all the others. Ideally this is where we all need to start.
The person in the blue chair is detecting. They are asking questions to learn more about why the other person feels the way they do. It gives that person the opportunity to pause, gather more information, and then react with a level head. This chair probably takes the most work because we become vulnerable, but it allows us to grow and figure out exactly what is going on with the other person.
The purple chair is the connect chair. A person in this chair is empathetic, compassionate, and collaborative. They like to build trust and strengthen relationships. This chair is all about connection and empathy. It is where we understand others, build trust, and resolve conflict.
In a world where everything is face paced and people depend on you to be on top of your game 24/7, I challenge you to take a look at what chair you are in at any given time. Try to always place yourself in the green or blue chair. If you find yourself in the red or yellow chair, just take a deep breath and shift your focus to the next chair over. It is possible to start in the red chair and get to the green chair very quickly. These chairs are symbolic of how we react to both coworkers and callers. Slowing down will de-escalate situations and improve our communication with others. Slowing down will also ensure that our mistakes are lessened, and we provide better customer service to those that are calling us on their worst days. It is imperative that we really try and get into that green chair or blue chair quickly. Never forget that the work you perform is necessary and important to all of those that you serve.
APCO From a Dispatcher’s Perspective!
By Lisa Hagedorn
So from one dispatcher to another, I just want to share my experience at the APCO Conference. When I put my name in to be picked to attend, I didn’t expect much from it. With all the years that I have been here at the PD external training has never been something that we were offered so I wasn’t expecting much. So, for anyone that has been wanting extra training this is definitely a training that I would suggest going to. Our days were not only filled with classes that range in all categories from dispatch classes up to management classes, but also motivational speakers that just spoke to me in a way I needed. Anyone that wants to advance here can definitely take some classes to help with that process. I attended classes that were meant for dispatchers, CTO’s and even supervisor training so that I can make myself a more rounded dispatcher. One of my classes spoke about self-care which is something that most of us don’t think about. The class I attended was “Trauma Tapping-Changing your energy.” Tapping is a tool that we can include in our emotional first aid toolbox. It can help give us some relief from stress, anxiety, fear, distressing thoughts, and depression which can be found at your fingertips.
APCO also can put on some nice evening events, Mike C. and I attended the New Attendees Reception, it was a nice evening event which gave us a chance to network and meet new people in this crazy hectic job we do. They also had a once in a lifetime Block Party that was held at M&T Bank Stadium (home of the Ravens) which provided many opportunities and experiences that are not open to the public, and being the transparent person that I am we did not attend this event, however we did do some networking that evening with 1 of our vendors. All of us were invited to attend the baseball game with Caliber so it gave us an opportunity to meet and greet with the people that we work with every day.
The final event, Connect & Celebrate reception and dinner was a nice way to come together at the end of the week to have one last chance to do some final networking with everyone that attended the conference. I brought back some ideas that I want to talk with others after I put together some research and hope to put some new things into place. So just remember when you are thinking about some upcoming training whether it be APCO or any other training, really take the time to take everything in and make the time provided worth it.
