Formerly known as "Communications Academy"
The first Communications Academy (as it was orignially known) took place in 1998. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Comm Academy was primarily a regional event organized by the Western Washington Medical Services Emergency Communications team. Over the years, it gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the West Coast’s premier emergency communications training events.
It began as a joint opportunity to provide local Amateur Radio teams, and other communications groups, with local, regional, and national presentations that would not be practical to offer to a smaller group. The first couple of years were mostly ARES, RACES, and ACS teams in King County. After that, it continued to grow and attract participants from all over the United States, western Canada, and elsewhere.
Headquartered in Seattle Washington, Comm Academy included training and information on various aspects of emergency communications, disaster response, technical communications, etc.
In 2019, Covid-19 came along and the 2020 conference was cancelled. In 2021, the conference went all virtual, and attracted over 3800 attendees from all over the world. In 2022, the final (so far) year was a one-day virtual event.
The original organizers and driving force behind this successful conference were unable to continue due to retirement and other personal reasons. For the foreseeable future, the sun has set on Comm Academy.
If you or an organization you trust is interested in picking up the reins, please let us know: webmanager[at]ww7mst.org
Participating organizations from past conferences include:
Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES©) | Auxiliary Communications Services (ACS) | EOC | Support Teams
Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) | Civil Air Patrol | Coast Guard |Auxiliary | REACT | CERT
Western WA. Medical Services Communications (MST)
2001-2021 COMM ACADEMY ARCHIVES
Presentations and content from the past two decades of Comm Academy conferences are made accessible to the public as part of our mission of education and outreach.
2021 Archives
Comm Academy 2021 Schedule, Presentation Details, and Speaker Bios: Sched.com Schedule
Comm Academy 2021 Presentations: YouTube Playlist
Comm Academy 2021 Extras: YouTube Playlist (How we organized and ran the conference, and Go Kits!)
Presentation Slides: See "Comm Academy 2021" link below!