2020 Review
What a year! Below is a roll up of some of "My Favorite Things" from 2020. Originally, these were posted on social media using the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song as a format. If you are so inclined, get the tune in your head, and sing along! Otherwise, just enjoy reading.
A Keynote at EDRC
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One of my favorite things this year was to work with Sean Guerre, Sara Pettit and the Energy Drone and Robotics Coalition team on a Keynote speech for their Global Gathering in November 2020 (https://vimeo.com/479922913). This Keynote was a fast-paced whirlwind year-in-review so be sure to check it out if you want to walk down memory lane and get up to speed all at the same time. The ERDC is doing amazing things for the drone industry and the energy sector and I look forward to seeing what they do in 2021!
2 columns that I love
What a privilege to be a columnist for two world-class magazines, Inside Unmanned Systems (IUS - https://insideunmannedsystems.com/) and Inside GNSS (GNSS - https://insidegnss.com/) Fischer took a chance on me (thank you!) and the rest is history! I write a Law-Tech Connect™ column for IUS and the Washington View column for GNSS. It’s an absolute privilege and pleasure to dig deep into legal, tech, political and industry issues and write about the amazing things all of you out there are doing. I look forward to 2021 and, in the words of Emeril Lagasse, “kicking it up a notch!” Subscribe and stay tuned - it’s gonna be great!
3 podcasts
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I had a blast this year working with some amazing folks on their podcasts, including the Remote Identification and the Roadmap for the Future: Drones in America (Grant Guillot, Adams & Reese), Mike Pehel and CJ Smith from InterDrone with Miriam McNabb (Episode 42: Drone Delivery Report, UV Drones Battle Coronavirus & Surveillance Drone Contracts + Zoldi Interview and last, but not least, Drones in the Pandemic with Dawn Zoldi an American Bar Association Standing Committee on National Security & the Law production with Elizabeth Poteat and Yvette Bouricot. Check them out at my Podcasts tab. Looking forward to many many more in 2021!
4 Women to Watch
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One of my firsts this year was to have the privilege of providing strategic consulting to Women and Drones CEO Sharon Rossmark on her incredible Women to Watch Global Awards initiative (https://womenanddrones.com/2020-women-to-watch-global-awards/). These awards recognize women who represent the business leaders, innovators, mentors and visionaries making an impact on the global drone economy. Congrats to the following recipients of the 2020 Women To Watch in UAS Global Awards in the following categories: Entrepreneurship – Raquel Molina of Brazil; my successor in Leadership – Denise Soesilo of Switzerland; Education – Kaye North of Australia; and Public Safety/Service – Susan Minne’ of the U.S.A. I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be engaging more fully on the milestone 5th year anniversary W2W program in 2021! Stay tuned for more...
5 important words
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NO MORE FEDERAL DISCLAIMERS - REALLY! Big news! Most of you know that I’ve had to include a federal disclaimer in everything I’ve done, as I have held a federal position in addition to my role as CEO of P3 Tech Consulting. This year, I’ve made the call to transition from federal service to 100% P3T! Starting in February 2021, NO MORE FEDERAL DISCLAIMERS - REALLY! What this also means is that I’m finally free to fully engage, without limitation, and put my time, talent and considerable energy at work for you. Contact me at dawn@p3techconsulting.com to discuss business development opportunities and synergies. I’m excited to fulfill P3T’s vision: To be the premier international resource within the advanced tech ecosystem, developing policy, planning and programming solutions to fuel the innovation that will forge a better future for us all. Let’s do this!
6 InterDrone panels
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InterDrone was one of my first clients and this year, it was an honor to work so closely with Mike Pehel, Leslie Wolf and CJ Smith curating conference content (including 6 panels and 2 keynotes) as an Adjunct Conference Planner including 8/9 UAV Coaches’ Top 9 speakers (https://uavcoach.com/interdrone-2020-keynotes/). I also provided strategic input as a Board member, contributed to their online newsletter and participated in their podcast series. These 3 folks represent so many that I’ve been blessed to meet and work with this year, who made “work” so fun and fulfilling! Keep your eyes peeled for bigger and better things for InterDrone 2021 and this core team, which I’m pleased to continue to be a part of!
7 events & conferences
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Despite the pandemic, the drone industry carried on, holding many successful conferences of which I was honored to be a part - the IberoAmerican Drone Conference, Energy Drone & Robotics Coalition's Global Gathering, Vertical Flight Society's 3rd eVTOL Infrastructure Workshop, the NASAO - National Association of State Aviation Officials, Duke University Law School Center for Law, Ethics & National Security’s 25th Anniversary conference, the AZDroneFest and, last but not least, InterDrone Online 2020. Most of the panels I participated in are posted in the Webinar/Webcast tab so check them out. Looking forward to plugging into the 2021 versions of these and many more --maybe even in person!
8 fifteen-minute videos
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It’s been a pleasure working with Darshan Divakaran and Airavat Solutions on drone education this past year, including the AZ DroneFest, for which we forged an educational partnership. Darshan has many lines of effort including his Beyond Unmanned YouTube channel where he is posting up 15-min bite-sized videos of my 2 panels (commercial drones and public safety drones - the latter coming at you in January). I’ve added the available links to my Webinar tab, so check the 4 that have been posted thus far there. Looking forward to launching a larger state-wide drone education initiative with Darshan in 2021!
9 strategic partners
2020 was the first full year of operation for P3 Tech Consulting and we were able to strategically partner with incredible companies and organizations including: Inside Unmanned Systems magazine, Inside GNSS magazine, InterDrone, the Urban Low Altitude Transport Association (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/urbanlowaltitudetransportassociation_ultra-press-release-dawn-zoldi-senior-advisor-activity-6637763862298927104-SfnZ/), Airavat Solutions, Commercial UAV (News), UAS Colorado, DRONERESPONDERS and last, but certainly not least, Women and Drones. Thank you!!! Looking forward to those continuing collaborations and more. Add your company to this prestigious list and the sky’s the limit!
10 online articles
In addition to the columns I’ve been writing for IUS and GNSS, I’ve contributed a total of 10 articles this year to both InterDrone and Commercial UAV News. Topics included: UTM in Singapore, remote ID/5th Amendment/4th Amendment/FISA, Women to Watch, Chinese drones, drones in the pandemic and drone deliveries. My piece, “Innovation Loves a Crisis” hit the Commercial UAV Top 10 List in the first half of the year (https://www.commercialuavnews.com/public-safety/innovation-loves-a-crisis). You can find all of my articles in one place on my Articles tab.
11 webinars and webcasts
It’s been a busy year on the speaking front, to be sure! I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with many amazing people, talking about everything from drone regulations (in general), drone education, counter UAS, remote ID, Chinese drones, vertiport regulations, UTM, UAM, public safety drone operations, drones and privacy and the impact of women in the drone industry, to name a few. Check out these webinars and webcasts at the tab of the same name and reach out if you have a conference, event or workshop at which you’d like me to present.
12 magazine articles
OK, I already talked about my 2 columns -- but between them, I authored 12 articles this year (15 if you count the 3 from 12/28) on topics including: Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, Vertiport Infrastructure, Urban Traffic Milestones, Technology Transfer & Transition (T3), BVLOS, the Role of Tribes in the drone ecosystem, RID, T&E, self-driving cars and spectrum issues. It’s been incredibly rewarding to dive into these advanced tech topics and provide value-added practical information to our global readership.