Ahead of a new school year, school officials and law enforcement around the world are coming together in Orlando. They will be attending the 2024 National School Safety Conference on how to identify threats of violence and how to stop mass shootings from happening in schools.The conference is a week long and takes place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Orlando at SeaWorld."We have an opportunity to make a huge difference; we are not only saving students, but really saving families in our community by intervening before violence ever occurs," said retired law enforcement expert Clayton Cranford. Cranford is a retired Orange County Sheriff's deputy and a former school resource officer. He is the founder of "CyberSafetyCop.com" and speaks at hundreds of schools each year in the U.S., teaching schools and organizations threat assessment courses to identify the signs of danger and how to stop mass shootings. Cranford says there are always signs that someone is on a path to violence. "I want them to know that these acts of violence are preventable and what signs to look out for," said Cranford.Cranford says they will go over how to protect kids on social media. He says a key goal is to distinguish between an individual who makes a threat versus one who poses a threat. Mike Rudinski works as a safety and security manager for Howard County Public Schools in Maryland. He says he attends this conference every year as school safety is constantly evolving. "In order to stay at the top of your game, you need to get the constant updates on things like technology, AI, and emergency planning in order to keep kids safe," said Rudinski. The U.S. is on pace to see a drop in mass shootings compared to last year, but the number of incidents so far this year has already far surpassed the mid-year totals from a decade ago, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Curt Lavarello says this conference is all about supporting students and making schools a safer place. "This has to be something we are doing 365 days a year because we know our kids are at risk at schools," said Lavarello, an executive director for the School Safety Advocacy Council. This conference goes until Friday, Aug. 2.