From their website:
Communications Academy is a non-profit coalition of volunteer communications teams to provide a high quality, professional-grade training opportunity for the various emergency communications teams around the Pacific Northwest. By providing a once-a-year large-scale venue for training, volunteer communicators are exposed to topics in emergency management, communications techniques and protocols, real-life emergency responses, and other pertinent subjects, which might not otherwise be available to them.

If you're in the Seattle area and are interested in the use of radio technology for emergency response, you might be interested in the 2006 Communications Academy taking place this coming weekend (April 1/2) in Burien. Although this is primarily geared towards ham radio operators, there is a lot of general preoparedness information presented during the sessions.

Here's the website with a rundown of the sessions being presented:
http://www.commacademy.org/2006/index.php

I have no affliation with the group that runs this, but I've gone to this in previous years and felt that it was generally worthwhile. I probably won't be able to attend this year, but thought others might find it useful.

Dave F>