Validating pre-employment screening polygraph examinations

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AAPP Seminar a Great Success - Elmer Criswell
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(Hey Everyone, its Ralph here. I'm going to butt-in on
Elmer's article here to say how pleased I was to meet
many of you at the AAPP Seminar.

I enjoyed it so much that I have already made plans to
be at the APA seminar in August. Please stop by our
booth and say hello. I would love to meet as many of
you as possible.

Here are a few pictures we took from the AAPP seminar.
http://www.polygraphplace.com/docs/aappseminar.htm

See you in August. Sorry Elmer...you may continue now)

The AAPP Seminar held in Hilton Head, South
Carolina, in late April/early May was excellent as
usual. The ambience of Hilton Head and its many golf
courses (and the oceanfront location of the hotel)
created quite a conflict between "duty" and "desire"
when it came to attendance. The seminar itself was
"sold out", but the lecture room did not reflect
this on most days since, with exception of one day,
they were all nice and sunny. Our seminar hosts,
Toby McSwain and Don Imbordino should be applauded
for all of their hard work in making the seminar
happen.

The only complaints that I heard from anyone was
that they wished that the seminar had had the "two-
tiered" structure we had in Austin that gave a
greater variety and choice of speakers and topics
and "break-out" sessions.

The reason that this couldn't be done was that the
hotel did not have the facilities to do this since
they only had the one main ballroom and the upstairs
room that was taken up by the vendors.

I personally thought we were very lucky to get the
facilities that we had, and I doubt that we would
have been given the same room rates at a bigger
property. If you checked the back of your room
door, the non-oceanview rooms went for $345 a night,
and we got them for $96.

Some were comparing the hotel to the Hyatt where we
have stayed in the past, but they would have
unlikely been as generous as the Holiday Inn was.

Some also complained that the food at the hotel was
not all that great. I know very few hotel
restaurants where the food is even "all that good",
let alone great. There were plenty of great
restaurants that were within walking distance or a
short cab ride from the hotel.

Since the speakers had to compete with the beach,
golf courses, the pool bar, extramarital liaisons,
the swimming pool, hangovers, etc., attendance was
pretty stable until late afternoon and strippers
male and female, would have had a tough time keeping
people in the room.

Since my family went too, I succumbed to the
pressure of my sons (6 and 8) to go to the beach and
pool as well as a trip to Parris Island to see the
U.S. Marine Museum (they both want to be Marines,
police officers, football players, and superheroes,
among other things), but they enjoyed the museum and
the tour of the Island most of all their activities
(well - right next to being out of school for a week).

All of the presentations were informative and
relevant, and the speakers were well-prepared and
well-versed on their subject matter.

Probably the most controversial program was the one
given by John Schwartz on ASTM and the two most
recently devised standards on "Paired Testing"
(Marin Protocol) and on Screening.

The Screening standard melded well with Keith Gaines'
presentation on the LEPET (Law Enforcement
Pre-Employment Test). At least, I think it was Keith
Gaines or Robin Williams trying out a new routine on
polygraphy.

The best speaker, of course, I think all will agree,
was the banquet speaker, Dr. Bobby Smith, the best
inspirational and motivational speaker I have ever
heard. The trauma and tragedy he has faced makes
the problems of most people relatively
insignificant.

He is author of Visions of Courage and founder of the
Foundation for Officers Recovering from Traumatic
Events. More information about him may be found at
his website: http://www.visionsofcourage.com which
would also include the availability of the ordering
of his book.

Awards were presented by President Mike Mann to the
various officers for outstanding performance during
the 2002-2003 year.

Regional Director's Awards went to Ted Todd in Region
1 (Ted also won the Jonathan Livingston Seagull Award
for having a sea gull drop a present right in the
middle of his dinner plate during the Low Country
Boil).

Al Teschendorf won Region 2. Region 3 went to James
Wardwell. Bill Taigen won Region 4 and Matt Avrill
won Region 5.

Judy Covin won the one-time "killer" Award for
providing self defense lessons to several of the
spouses that attended the seminar.

The Holly S. Canty award was given to Anne Reed
(Department of Energy) and Kay Logan (formerly
Lafayette Instrument Company), and the Max Wastl Award
went to Billy Rakes.

During the business meeting, the position of Treasurer
was won by Toby McSwain which was the only change in
the current administration. All other current officers
were re-elected or were not up for election.

The seminar next year will be held in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada, at the Delta Pinnacle Hotel
which looks to be an outstanding facility. The dates
for the seminar are May 3 to May 7, 2004.

Please keep in mind that the exchange rate for U.S.
dollars to Canadian dollars is very favorable right
now - approximately $150 Canadian per $100 U.S.

For those who attend, the best exchange rate is usually
given by credit card companies. For more information on
the Delta Pinnacle, their website is:
http://www.deltahotels.com and more information may be
found about Vancouver at http://www.wherevancouver.com.

The local contact is Dennis Paulson of the Vancouver
Police department.

The 2005 seminar was tentatively voted for Chicago
over Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Branson.

Vendors present included: Axciton, Lafayette,
Limestone Technologies, and Stoelting Instrument
Companies as well as the Academy for Scientific
Investigative Training Polygraph School.

Ralph Hilliard and Drew Nelson, the Owner and
Administrators of the Polygraph Place Website and the
"Polygraph Chronicles' were there with their website
designing services, WordNet Solutions.

In summary, if you have never attended an AAPP seminar,
I would highly recommend it. Some polygraphists are
unaware that membership in AAPP is not required to
attend one of their seminars. The atmosphere is always
relaxed and friendly, and there is a hospitality room
open every night of the seminar that gives all
newcomers the opportunity to meet the other attendees.

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