Survey responses indicated that speaker value and venue rotation for both meeting locations and times were important to the membership, therefore, a rotation between lunch and dinner meetings throughout the greater Toronto area has been adopted for 2008. 

Furthermore, the ASIS Toronto Chapter volunteer team has grown from eight to 33 officers as a result of the survey. The growth and commitment of the new volunteers ensures that the structure of the executive and committees will result in an efficient chapter delivering high-value programs to the membership, while continuing to plan for future successes. The ASIS Toronto executive and committee structure now features six committees: membership; program committee, Best Practices seminar committee, golf tournament committee, a website committee, and an education committee. Each committee is made up of several committee members each with unique roles and responsibilities as outlined in newly created job descriptions.

Awards program
A new Security Practitioner Award program has also been established this year, where three award recipients will be selected from the categories of: Front Line Security, Investigations and Security Technology.  Individuals are encouraged to nominate professional security practitioners from the corporate, contract, retail, government, IT, transportation, hospitality and tourism, and health-care sectors.

The Front Line Security award will be awarded to an industry member who has shown exceptional service and results in their role as a front line security practitioner. The Investigations award will be presented to the recipient who has best demonstrated outstanding investigative ability. Lastly, the Security Technology award will be issued to the professional who has demonstrated ultimate competence in the selection, specification, project management or installation of a security technology.

The award selection period is open for nominations of outstanding service and results from Sept. 1st, 2007, closing Aug. 31 2008. The three recipients will be presented with their awards in conjunction with the Toronto Chapter’s annual Law Enforcement Appreciation awards dinner in October 2008.

ASIS Toronto continues to receive support from its Vision Plaque Sponsors, where 2007 donations helped the chapter purchase two sets of PSP and 1 set of CPP study guides, and finance the purchase of two professional banners which are used at all functions and trade shows. 2008 Plaque Sponsorship donations will continue to aid the chapter at the 15th Annual Best Practices Seminar on May 21, and the Golf Tournament June 21. ASIS Toronto would like to thank the following 2008 Vision Plaque Sponsors: Bay Area Investigations, DHL Express, GE Security Canada, Group 4 Securicor, Intelligarde, King-Reed & Associates Inc, Mul-T-lock Canada, NCI Secured Intelligence, OBN Security & Investigations, Profile Group of Companies, Reilly Security, Respond Solutions, Security Locksmith & Design Ltd., and Total Security Management.

Visit www.asistoronto.org for more in-depth information about the program and initiatives, and check out the new online discussion forum which has been developed, where members can openly discuss current topics, committee issues and general chapter matters. The forum can be found at www.asistoronto.freeforums.org.