Three tracks are being designed to enable attendees to gain the maximum benefit from the NICE 2015 Conference:

Track 1: Accelerate Learning and Skills Development - Invoke a sense of urgency in both the public and private sectors to address the shortage of a skilled cybersecurity workforce.

• Stimulate approaches and techniques that can more rapidly increase the supply of qualified cybersecurity workers
• Reduce the time and cost for obtaining knowledge, skills, and abilities for in demand work roles
• Influence employers to shape job descriptions to reflect knowledge, skills, and abilities appropriate for tasks to be performed
• Pursue displaced workers or underemployed individuals who are available and motivated
• Identify and fill gaps in cybersecurity skills training to support identified workforce needs

Track 2: Nurture a Diverse Learning Community - Strengthen education and training across a multifarious ecosystem that prioritizes learning, emphasizes outcomes, and celebrates diversity.

• Strengthen formal education programs, co-curricular experiences, training and certifications, and employer-based training
• Explore tools and techniques that effectively measure and validate knowledge, skills, and abilities
• Inspire cybersecurity career awareness, exploration, and preparedness with students in elementary and secondary schools
• Encourage creative and effective efforts to increase the number of underrepresented populations
• Build on institutional initiatives to improve student success by establishing academic pathways for cybersecurity careers

Track 3: Guide Career Development and Workforce Planning - Support job seekers and employers to address market demands and maximize talent management.

• Identify and analyze data sources that project present and future workforce demand and supply of qualified cybersecurity workers
• Promote the National Cybersecurity Workforce Framework and encourage sector implementations
• Facilitate state and local consortium that identify cyber pathways that address local and national workforce needs
• Promote tools that assist human resource professionals and hiring managers with recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention
• Explore international approaches that could inform practice in the United States and share NICE successes with other countries

Special ... Birds of a Feather (BoF) Luncheon Sessions If having three tracks isn't enough for the NICE 2015 conference goers, we will be having Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions during lunch as an informal way to connect like-minded people. BoFs can be organized around individual projects or broader topics such as best practices, standards, tools, etc.

We expect to receive too many valuable presentation proposals from experts across the nation to fit within the sessions of the two-day conference. As such, we will be inviting some experts to host a lunch table where they can share their expertise and engage your expertise and experience in their work.

See You Soon!

We are looking forward to seeing you at the NICE 2015 Conference and Expo!