May 8, 2023 • 8 mins
This week (8th-11th), Tampa is observing Special Operations Forces Week, or SOF Week, with events and presentations aimed at the Special Operators in all branches of the service and their families. Around 15,000 are expected and downtown Tampa is expecting an influx of traffic. No surprise as U.S. Special Operations Command is based at MacDill. We speak with Meaghan Keeler of the Global Special Operations Foundation about SOF Week.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. There is a lot of activity in
downtown Tampa this week, which happensto be Special Operations Forces Week or soof
week, and the City of Tampahas been advising people to be aware of
more activity and more traffic around theConvention Center and other locations. It's described
as by US Special Operations Command asksomething for the entire Special Forces community.
(00:24):
Meghan Keeler is the Chief Operating Officerfor the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation or
GSOF, and joins US now onBeyond the News. Meghan Keeler Welcome,
Thank you, Gordon. I'm gladto be here. Well. Now,
first, we know, of coursethat US Special Operations Command is based at
McDill Air Force Base at the southend of Tampa, and there have been
(00:45):
a week or several days of eventsaimed at that community in Tampa in the
past. What is different or whatis bigger about what's going on this year?
Yes, this event has happened forseveral years now every May downtown Tampa.
But what's new this year is reallyan expansion in the scope of the
(01:07):
conference agenda, so that in previousyears it was really focused on our industry
partners and how industry and defense companiessupported Special Operations Forces. And what's changed
now at this year is the agendais much broader than just industry, but
includes things like professional development, morekeynote speakers that have to deal with US
(01:33):
national security issues and strategy, aswell as sessions on transition, helping our
active duty special operators as they getready to leave active duty military service and
kind of navigate how they make atransition to their civilian life. So it
sounds like there's an attempt being madehere to make this week and this series
(01:57):
of events even more relevant to thosewho serve in Special Operations Forces as well
as their families. Yes, itis, Yes, that was one of
the goals was to attract more ofour service members and uniform to educate them
on different issues and also highlight theirtriumphs and their challenges as well. And
(02:22):
I think over the years, thisevent and that component that has to that
focuses on our service members and theirfamilies. Those sessions I think will grow.
I think we'll get more of themand more people to attend. How
big an event is this and howmany people are taking part in one way
or another, How many people arecoming here to be part of that.
(02:43):
This conference actually attracts more than fifteenthousand people to downtown Tampa, so a
pretty major scale event. I meanwhen we talk about comparing it to other
conventions that might draw three to fouror five thousand people, that's a really
large event. How big a footprintis this taking up in Tampa, Yes,
it is large. So we havethe conference, most of the conference
(03:07):
sessions are occurring in the Marriott WaterStreet. There's also an annual awards dinner
and ceremony at the JW. Marriott, and then we've taken over the entire
Tampa Convention Center all the floors andthere's a very large trade show with over
close to six hundred companies have boothsthere in the Tampa Convention Center. And
(03:32):
what another sort of new element tothis year in terms of the exhibit hall
is that it's organized by functional area. So if you go into the exhibit
hall, now there's a maritime areaand there's an air warfare area, so
that everything that's kind of similar infocus and those companies are all grouped together,
(03:54):
and we think that our attendees willbe kind of it'll be easier to
navigate now. Of course Tampa iswhere US Special Operations Command is headquartered.
But is there a sense beyond thatthat the participants in this event like Tampa
as a venue, like it asa place to hold that event. Yes,
definitely. Well, the Global StoftFoundation we're headquartered here in Tampa Bay.
(04:18):
Most of our employees are live hereas well, and part of what
we did want to do is highlightmore of what makes Tampa Bay such a
great place to live and what agreat region it is in terms of supporting
our military and armed forces. Sowe have the Mayor of Tampa Mayor Castor
(04:39):
will kick off the official start tomorrowmorning, and we're really showcasing a lot
of different venues around Tampa and thereare parts of it. Of course people
from McDill are coming to the event. But yeah, I think that's also
another element that we're going to hopeto expand in future years. Gordon is
to highlight more of Tampa Bay.But we do have a session today called
(05:04):
Doing Business in Tampa Bay, wherewe had representatives from the Chambers of Commerce
from Tampa and Saint Pete and theEconomic Council to attract more defense companies to
this area and kind of explain whythis is such a great place to do
business and to support the military.Now, that is a great point that
(05:26):
you bring up, and there areprobably people listening, maybe some of whom
are veterans who have started companies andwould like to be a vendor to the
Special Operations Forces and this do youprovide information about how they can get started
if they want to start a businessthat meets certain needs or sell certain products
(05:48):
or services that the Special Operations Forceswould require. Yes, this conference is
a great venue, a great eventfor people that are interested in doing business
with the military, but very specificallywith Special Operations Forces. All of the
US Special Operations Command acquisition leaders arehere this week and there I think there's
(06:13):
over fifty sessions on different areas thatthe Command is looking for defense industry partners
to help with. So this isa they we start off with a big
overview about what so common needs,what industry can provide, and then they
really dive deep into very specific requirementsas well. What are your metrics,
(06:35):
what are your benchmarks? What areyou going to use to tell you that
this event after you wrap up anddo the afterwards review has been a success.
A great question this event, especiallythe first year, since it's doing
so much beyond just industry. There'sa lot of different groups of stakeholders here
(06:58):
with lots of different designs and expectations. So I think, you know,
we're of course going to do satisfactionsurveys and and things like that, and
we're going to have some virtual focusgroups to discuss what went right, what
can we do better next year.But I also think we're you know,
our main customer is really is aSpecial Operations Command, and we want to
(07:23):
make sure that we met their expectationsand their desires for this event, and
a lot of it is just raisingawareness about the role of Special Operations Forces
in US national security, how importantthey are to this country, and I
think that I'm I'm not worried thatwe'll definitely achieve that with the event this
(07:46):
week. Megan Keeler, chief operatingofficer for the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation,
which is the organization behind Special OperationsForces Week or soof week going on
this week in Tampa, thank youvery much for joining us on Beyond the
News. Thank you, Gordon
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. There is a lot of activity in
downtown Tampa this week, which happensto be Special Operations Forces Week or soof
week, and the City of Tampahas been advising people to be aware of
more activity and more traffic around theConvention Center and other locations. It's described
as by US Special Operations Command asksomething for the entire Special Forces community.
(00:24):
Meghan Keeler is the Chief Operating Officerfor the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation or
GSOF, and joins US now onBeyond the News. Meghan Keeler Welcome,
Thank you, Gordon. I'm gladto be here. Well. Now,
first, we know, of coursethat US Special Operations Command is based at
McDill Air Force Base at the southend of Tampa, and there have been
(00:45):
a week or several days of eventsaimed at that community in Tampa in the
past. What is different or whatis bigger about what's going on this year?
Yes, this event has happened forseveral years now every May downtown Tampa.
But what's new this year is reallyan expansion in the scope of the
(01:07):
conference agenda, so that in previousyears it was really focused on our industry
partners and how industry and defense companiessupported Special Operations Forces. And what's changed
now at this year is the agendais much broader than just industry, but
includes things like professional development, morekeynote speakers that have to deal with US
(01:33):
national security issues and strategy, aswell as sessions on transition, helping our
active duty special operators as they getready to leave active duty military service and
kind of navigate how they make atransition to their civilian life. So it
sounds like there's an attempt being madehere to make this week and this series
(01:57):
of events even more relevant to thosewho serve in Special Operations Forces as well
as their families. Yes, itis, Yes, that was one of
the goals was to attract more ofour service members and uniform to educate them
on different issues and also highlight theirtriumphs and their challenges as well. And
(02:22):
I think over the years, thisevent and that component that has to that
focuses on our service members and theirfamilies. Those sessions I think will grow.
I think we'll get more of themand more people to attend. How
big an event is this and howmany people are taking part in one way
or another, How many people arecoming here to be part of that.
(02:43):
This conference actually attracts more than fifteenthousand people to downtown Tampa, so a
pretty major scale event. I meanwhen we talk about comparing it to other
conventions that might draw three to fouror five thousand people, that's a really
large event. How big a footprintis this taking up in Tampa, Yes,
it is large. So we havethe conference, most of the conference
(03:07):
sessions are occurring in the Marriott WaterStreet. There's also an annual awards dinner
and ceremony at the JW. Marriott, and then we've taken over the entire
Tampa Convention Center all the floors andthere's a very large trade show with over
close to six hundred companies have boothsthere in the Tampa Convention Center. And
(03:32):
what another sort of new element tothis year in terms of the exhibit hall
is that it's organized by functional area. So if you go into the exhibit
hall, now there's a maritime areaand there's an air warfare area, so
that everything that's kind of similar infocus and those companies are all grouped together,
(03:54):
and we think that our attendees willbe kind of it'll be easier to
navigate now. Of course Tampa iswhere US Special Operations Command is headquartered.
But is there a sense beyond thatthat the participants in this event like Tampa
as a venue, like it asa place to hold that event. Yes,
definitely. Well, the Global StoftFoundation we're headquartered here in Tampa Bay.
(04:18):
Most of our employees are live hereas well, and part of what
we did want to do is highlightmore of what makes Tampa Bay such a
great place to live and what agreat region it is in terms of supporting
our military and armed forces. Sowe have the Mayor of Tampa Mayor Castor
(04:39):
will kick off the official start tomorrowmorning, and we're really showcasing a lot
of different venues around Tampa and thereare parts of it. Of course people
from McDill are coming to the event. But yeah, I think that's also
another element that we're going to hopeto expand in future years. Gordon is
to highlight more of Tampa Bay.But we do have a session today called
(05:04):
Doing Business in Tampa Bay, wherewe had representatives from the Chambers of Commerce
from Tampa and Saint Pete and theEconomic Council to attract more defense companies to
this area and kind of explain whythis is such a great place to do
business and to support the military.Now, that is a great point that
(05:26):
you bring up, and there areprobably people listening, maybe some of whom
are veterans who have started companies andwould like to be a vendor to the
Special Operations Forces and this do youprovide information about how they can get started
if they want to start a businessthat meets certain needs or sell certain products
(05:48):
or services that the Special Operations Forceswould require. Yes, this conference is
a great venue, a great eventfor people that are interested in doing business
with the military, but very specificallywith Special Operations Forces. All of the
US Special Operations Command acquisition leaders arehere this week and there I think there's
(06:13):
over fifty sessions on different areas thatthe Command is looking for defense industry partners
to help with. So this isa they we start off with a big
overview about what so common needs,what industry can provide, and then they
really dive deep into very specific requirementsas well. What are your metrics,
(06:35):
what are your benchmarks? What areyou going to use to tell you that
this event after you wrap up anddo the afterwards review has been a success.
A great question this event, especiallythe first year, since it's doing
so much beyond just industry. There'sa lot of different groups of stakeholders here
(06:58):
with lots of different designs and expectations. So I think, you know,
we're of course going to do satisfactionsurveys and and things like that, and
we're going to have some virtual focusgroups to discuss what went right, what
can we do better next year.But I also think we're you know,
our main customer is really is aSpecial Operations Command, and we want to
(07:23):
make sure that we met their expectationsand their desires for this event, and
a lot of it is just raisingawareness about the role of Special Operations Forces
in US national security, how importantthey are to this country, and I
think that I'm I'm not worried thatwe'll definitely achieve that with the event this
(07:46):
week. Megan Keeler, chief operatingofficer for the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation,
which is the organization behind Special OperationsForces Week or soof week going on
this week in Tampa, thank youvery much for joining us on Beyond the
News. Thank you, Gordon
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