- An introduction of the constituent group was given. Everyone introduced themselves, their institutions and why they are participating in this forum. There were two representatives from Educause present at the beginning of the gathering.

- Policy will be a focal point of the immediate discussion along with the near term CG discussions. This is a crucial are to focus on that will shape institutional implementation, use and acceptance. 

- One point of concern that was raised is policy and responsibility for who, how and when a mobile message delivery (raised in the context of SMS).

- The group shared some of their experiences with mass notification systems and focused specifically on SMS delivery.

- Some are not sure how IT fits into their institutions or campus emergency management.

- There is policy concern with respect to proper use of a mass notification system for the purpose of emergencies. The point here being improper or spam produced rather than valid emergency use case.

- The preferred term being used is ÒguidesÓ (and ÒguidelinesÓ) rather than ÒpoliciesÓ for many institutions.

- Individuals are eager to seek out those best practices.

- How do you begin to roll out scenarios to campus and practice drills Ð let alone become good at them?

- Are high schools preparing students?

- How do you get users to subscribe to services?

- How do you group populations?

- Infrastructure capacity was acknowledged as a challenge.

- What if there is no central coordination of emergency management?

- A majority of institutions focus their communications on defined members of community rather than any flavor of guests or visitors.

- By policy and law some institutions have to contact minors who are under 18.

- The people locator is a pat of restarting Berkley. Find your studentÉ.

- The Red Cross has a people locator service.

- Many folks do go back and correct bad data or more commonly contact end users.

- A few institutions are testing their mass notification systems once a month.

- Some use their mass notification system for non-emergency situations and communications.

- What if parents expect their students to register and the student does not?

- The topic of mass inbound call answering services was discussed.

- Concerns were raised surrounding emergency notification systems being flagged as spam.

- There was discussion of using Avaya to broadcast to geographic areas, groups and defined individuals.

- Some institutions provide instructional videos during an emergency in conjunction with their mass notification system.

- How effective is voice messaging over outdoor or indoor speaker arrays?