Washington - Aug 5, 2011 - FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Society of Broadcast Engineers and other industry groups will present their next online roundtable called "Are You Ready for the Nationwide EAS Test?" on Aug. 15, 2011.

The virtual roundtable will share, build and refine elements of the best practices guide; discuss overall improvements to the system through coordinated state/local and EAS participant activities; share and discuss an EAS test public awareness and information toolkit for state, territorial and local government and EAS participants; review the technical process to receive and relay the EAN; and conclude with elements of an EAS test Preparation Checklist.

IPAWS will briefly recap elements of the best practice guide and discuss a variety of topics with virtual roundtable participants, such as the EAS receive and relay process, EAS originator message content and quality, state and local EAS testing, EAS equipment operation and maintenance, the nationwide EAS test Information Toolkit and the EAS test Preparation Checklist.

To prepare EAS Participants for the Nov. 9, 2011 nationwide EAS test, FEMA IPAWS the FCC, and NOAA are partnering with industry leaders and experts to draft a comprehensive technical best practices guide on end-to-end national EAS message procedures. The guide will be updated incrementally with the EAS community through webinars, roundtables, and other activities leading up to the test. To contribute to the best practices guide visit A National Dialogue on the Emergency Alert System website.

The roundtable will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET via Microsoft Live Meeting 2007. Follow this link to attend the roundtable on Aug. 15.

More information on the Nationwide EAS test is available at the FEMA IPAWS website.