Event Date: 6/16/2008
Event Title: 2nd Annual Networking Forum
Description:

You Asked for it – You Got It: 
Focused, Fun and Effective Professional Networking!

  Attendees at ASTD-SCC events have repeatedly asked for more opportunities to network and build professional relationships.  Due to this demand, and to build on our success in supporting professional learning and development, we are proud to offer you this program!

• You will find out more about your colleagues
• You will build relationships in the field through structured networking activities
• You will enjoy good food in a relaxed setting and celebrate the summer!

The evening will also include:

-- A raffle for great prizes including a free ASTD meeting, books, gift baskets and more.

-- A mini-expo of independent practitioner chapter members

Our current exhibitors: 

Accent on Communication 
http://www.accentfairchester.com

Barnet Associates LLC
http://www.barnetassociates.com 

Career Corner Associates
http://www.careercorner.net

Comhunicate
http://www.comhunicate.com

L.E.A.D.-USA
http://www.lead-usa.com

Southern Cross Associates
http://www.southerncrossassociates.com 

Event Date: 5/19/2008
Event Title: Learning Leader Panel on Strategic Training and Development
Description: Don’t miss this opportunity to get updated on how companies are developing employees to meet current and future business demands. Find out how Learning Leaders from GE Capital Solutions, People’s United Bank, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and Purdue Pharma:
*Align learning strategies with business priorities
*Determine and allocate their investment in learning and development
*Deliver content in ways that appeal to diverse audiences
*Involve senior teammanagement
*Measure outcomes
Location: Norwalk Inn and Conference Center

Speaker: Vicky McGrath, Learning Leader, GE Capital Solutions
Barbara Healy, Vice President, Learning & Development, People's United Bank
Bill Cocolis, Learning and Development, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
Steve Gardiner, Senior Director, Management and Organizational Development, Purdue Pharma
Company: GE Capital Solutions, People’s United Bank, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and Purdue Pharma:
Bio:
Presentation:

Event Date: 4/21/2008
Event Title: Selling Training in the C-Suite
Description: Whether you are an internal learning professional or external consultant, an on-going challenge is to get the senior level to buy into your ideas

Selling training is all about measuring and communicating outcomes. Measurement is not a "black art" that requires an advanced understanding of finance or quantitative analysis. It's a common sense approach to an ongoing conversation with the senior executives, sales managers, finance, IT and operations departments that run the enterprise.

David Earle of EDVISE Partners will share his insights on:
*How to get the attention of key decision-makers
*Getting out of the “transaction” side of training
*Linking training success to the outcomes that are critical to organizational stakeholders
*How, what and when to measure
Location: Norwalk Inn and Conference Center

Speaker: David Earle
Company: EDVISE Partners
Bio: David Earle is CEO of Staffing.org and the Managing Partner of EDVISE Partners, an investment company focused on building efficient information resources for HR professionals. He has worked at the senior management level in publishing, electronic media, education and technology, and has run a worldwide training program. Staffing.org provides monthly HR research and best practices to 60,000 HR professionals.
Presentation:

Event Date: 3/24/2008
Event Title: Building Strengths-Based Organizations
Description: The best leaders in the world are those who focus on developing their strengths and find ways to unleash the strengths of the people around them. The greatest opportunity for personal growth and impact lies in capitalizing on an individual’s natural talents.

Join us and discover why Strengths Finder 2.0, from the Gallup Press, is #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List of Business Books. Robyn will share the results companies have achieved by grounding their talent management efforts on strengths. Attend this meeting to find out:

*The pay-off for identifying and focusing on strengths in organizations
*The research behind the Strengths Finder assessment
*Five clues to talent: What it looks like when a person uses strengths
*What your unique strengths are and how to capitalize on them

To accelerate the learning process, each meeting attendee who registers prior to March 17th will be sent a link to the "Strengths Finder 2.0" assessment to take prior to the workshop. You will be able to print out your results on your own printer. Sign up early to take advantage of this unique offer.
Location: Norwalk Inn and Conference Center
99 East Avenue
Norwalk, CT
203-838-2000
Speaker: Robyn Seales
Company: Gallup
Bio: Robyn Seals is a Sr. Consultant with The Gallup Organization, a global research-based consultancy, specializing in employee and customer management. She conducts selection and development training and provides strengths consulting, employee engagement and selection analysis for Gallup's corporate and education clients. Since joining Gallup in 1999, Robyn has helped Gallup's pharmaceutical, financial services, manufacturing, retail, nonprofit, government and education clients learn how to use their individual strengths more effectively in their work and lives. Robyn has a bachelor's degree in psychology and master's degree in educational administration from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Gallup has studied human nature and behavior for more than 70 years. Gallup consultants help organizations boost customer engagement and maximizing employee productivity through measurements tools, coursework, and strategic advisory services.
Presentation: StrengthsPresentation-ASTDMarch2008.pdf

Event Date: 2/25/2008
Event Title: Managing Resistance and Sustaining Organizational Change: An IBM Case Study
Description: *What makes a large-scale global change initiative successful?
*How do you change culture as well as process?

Lauren will share her experiences as an integral part of a multi-year change initiative in Customer Relationship Management at IBM, which impacted 80,000 employees across diverse business units and geographies.

Lauren will unveil the tools that led to achieving change in a challenging environment:
*Commitment Curve model – the importance of understanding the stages people progress through during a change initiative
*Benefits of using a Change Readiness Assessment
*8 Critical Success Factors for Organizational Change
*How to gauge the success of a change initiative
*How she overcame resistance and accomplished results
Location: Norwalk Inn and Conference Center

Speaker: Lauren Lowenthal
Company: Northeast Utilities
Bio: Lauren I. Lowenthal is a Senior Leadership and Organization Development Consultant at Northeast Utilities. Previously, Lauren spent eight years in change management at IBM. She brings over twenty years combined consulting and corporate business experience in organizational change and human resources management.
Lauren’s areas of expertise include the management of large scale change initiatives in matrixed environments as well as the design and implementation of HR management systems and programs to enhance performance and foster employee well-being. Lauren holds an M.A. in Organizational Psychology with honors from Teachers College, Columbia University. She also holds a certificate in Executive Coaching from New York University.
Presentation:

Event Date: 1/28/2008
Event Title: Making Training Stick
Description: We are happy to welcome back John Gumpert, Human Resource Director of Organizational Development and Training at Praxair Inc. John will host a “town meeting” on the topic of “making training stick.”
John will start the evening by sharing Praxair's approach to training each level of their leaders. He will then present specific cases of the training activities. Some of the topics he will address are making training memorable, making training relevant and making training stick. Participants are invited to question and engage in an interactive discussion with John.

John Gumpert is a well-known speaker on leadership issues in corporate circles. During his career at General Electric, John was instrumental in developing a number of leadership and learning initiatives used at the GE Learning Center at Crotonville. He continued his creative and successful approach to developing leaders at Union Carbide and Praxair, Inc. John is a former member of the ASTD Research Advisory Board.

Praxair, Inc. is a global, Fortune 300 company that supplies atmospheric, process and specialty gases, high-performance coatings, and related services to a wide diversity of customers. Headquartered in Danbury CT, Praxair is one of only 21 companies included among Forbes magazine's "best big companies" every year since 1999.
Location: Norwalk Inn and Conference Center
99 East Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06851
Speaker: John Gumpert
Company: Praxair
Bio: John Gumpert is a well-known speaker on leadership issues in corporate circles. During his career at General Electric, John was instrumental in developing a number of leadership and learning initiatives used at the GE Learning Center at Crotonville. He continued his creative and successful approach to developing leaders at Union Carbide and Praxair, Inc. John is a former member of the ASTD Research Advisory Board.
Presentation:

Event Date: 12/3/2007
Event Title: Best Practices Smorgasbord
Description: Come and benefit from each other’s best practices and innovative ideas. Focused, Fun and Effective Professional Networking!

Bring your favorite tool. It can be a book title or a great article or an exercise you would like to share with your peers. We will have topic tables with facilitators. Use the following “hot topics” as a guide to select your contribution to our smorgasbord.

*Leadership Development—How are you developing leaders to effectively manage the complexity of business today? Starting points for the discussion will focus on the role of classroom training, executive coaching and action learning in developing future leaders.
*Training diverse audiences—Given the complexities of three different generations and a global workforce, how are you adapting content and delivery to meet the needs of diverse populations? What approaches and tools work best?
*Turbo training—How do you facilitate learning with the ever-increasing pressure to do more in less time? Bring your thoughts on the new design and delivery techniques you have found to be particularly successful in achieving learning objectives.
*Team building—What activities, assessments or simulations do you use to help teams achieve better results?
  *Change Management—How can Workforce Learning & Performance professionals best add value during a merger, acquisition, downsizing or reorganization?

  As with all good smorgasbords, you will get to sample a number of topics and tables. We invite you to bring information on a variety of the above topics.

Our contract with the Norwalk Inn requires a guarantee by the Friday prior to the Event. Please reserve and pay online by Thursday, November 29.
Kindly bring a canned food item for donating to a local food bank.
Location: Norwalk Inn and Conference Center
99 East Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06851
Speaker:
Company:
Bio:
Presentation: Summary Best Practices Smorgasbord Dec 2007.doc

Event Date: 10/29/2007
Event Title: SMARTS: Are We Hardwired for Success?
Description: Is your organization matching its people’s strengths with tasks to create a competitive advantage?

During this interactive talk, you’ll learn about the groundbreaking Executive Skills Profile featured in the business book SMARTS (Are We Hardwired for Success?) by New York Times best-selling business author Chuck Martin, with Peg Dawson, Ed.D., and Richard Guare, Ph.D. Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the book.

Attend this program and you’ll learn how to quickly identify each of the 12 Executive Skills in yourself, your clients and those you manage. Since each person has a few strong Executive Skills and a few weak ones, understanding them gives you the ability to play to your strengths rather than focusing solely on improving your shortcomings.

You can apply the knowledge you gain to your business immediately. When you understand how to align skills with tasks, you can increase revenue and drive results by improving:
*Productivity—accomplish more in less time
*Quality— decrease the likelihood of errors
*Recruitment—hire the right people for the right job
*Teamwork—engage and maximize the strengths of those with whom you work including direct reports, colleagues and clients
*Stress—gain greater awareness of your tolerance for stress to reduce the toll when performing difficult tasks
*Meetings— put the right people in the right meetings to increase efficiency and accurately predict outcome.

We are grateful to Pitney Bowes for hosting our meetings. Security requirements and meal service require that we know who is coming in advance. See below for registration information. You do not need a PayPal account to pay online.
Seats are limited so reserve now!
Location: Pitney Bowes Corporate Headquarters
1 Elmcroft Road
Stamford, CT 06926
Speaker: Chuck Martin
Company: NFI Research
Bio: Best-selling author Chuck Martin is a noted researcher, business strategist, syndicated columnist, and Chairman and CEO of NFI Research, a top Management research firm in Madbury, New Hampshire.  He is a New York Times business best-selling author of seven business books, including Tough Management and Coffee at Luna's and a highly sought after speaker who lectures around the world on management and business issues, and regularly appears on television business shows.
Presentation: SMARTS Handout.pdf

Event Date: 9/24/2007
Event Title: What Do They Really Want? Generational Differences in the Workplace

A closer look at recruiting, retention strategies and the general learning tendencies of Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y
Description: One of the greatest issues facing organizations today is the generational shifts that are occurring in the workplace. Attracting and retaining talent is more important than ever. Leaders, managers, recruiters, and learning professionals will have to acquire new knowledge and skills in order to engage and motivate three distinct generations converging on the workplace at one time. Sharing data gathered from an ongoing Madison Consulting Group study focusing on generational tendencies, Marilyn Volpe, Founder and President of The Madison Consulting Group, will discuss how to maximize your effectiveness with Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y.

Key learning points: *How does each generation learn best? *How do their mindsets differ? What makes them tick and what are they looking for? *How can an organization capitalize on the strengths of each generation?

***We are grateful to Pitney Bowes for hosting our meetings. Security requirements and meal service require we know who is coming in advance. See below for registration information. No charge for cancellations received in advance. Call 203-321-429 to cancel.
Location: Pitney Bowes Corporate Headquarters 1 Elmcroft Road Stamford, CT 06926
Speaker: Marilyn Volpe
Company: The Madison Consulting Group
Bio: Marilyn Volpe is Founder and President of The Madison Consulting Group. Marilyn began her career at Bank of America, where she worked her way up to Vice President of Global Information Systems. Following a distinguished career in the financial sector, Marilyn moved to Italy and became a professional singer. Upon her return to the United States in 1989, she entered the training profession, developing and delivering sales, management and customer service programs across the country while continuing to embrace her singing career. In 1993, Marilyn founded The Madison Consulting Group. A dynamic speaker, Marilyn believes that “at the heart of communicating is the need to make ‘human contact.’” She employs this philosophy to provide highly targeted, and fully customized, solutions within all levels of an organization. Today, Marilyn holds a rare distinction as a member of both the National Arts Club and the Society of Human Resources Managers.
Presentation: Generational Differences in the Workplace, ASTD 092407.ppt

Event Date: 6/11/2007
Event Title: First Annual Networking Event & Best Practices Demo
Description: You asked for it – you got it -- Focused, fun and effective Professional Networking & Best Practices Demo!

Join us on June 11 to:

*Build positive business relationships with colleagues in the field through structured networking activities

*Gain new information about best practices in the areas of Talent Management, Learning Management Systems and Experiential Learning through mini-demonstrations from local experts

Attendees at ASTD-SCC events have repeatedly asked for more opportunities to get to know other meeting attendees, build professional relationships and find out about best practices that others are using.

Due to this demand, and to build on our success in supporting professional learning and development in our community, the Southern Connecticut Chapter of ASTD is proud to announce the First Annual Networking Event and Best Practices Demo.

Join us for a fun and focused event where you can meet other Workplace Learning and Performance professionals, enhance your knowledge of best practices, and build business relationships.

Best Practices Mini-Demonstrations:
*Pitney Bowes – “Talent Management System,” Derek Hann, Manager, Strategic Talent Management
****Pitney Bowes has implemented a single, end-to-end Talent Management solution that supports all areas of employees’ career lifecycle – on-boarding, classroom and on-line learning, certifications, performance management, development planning, and succession planning – giving employees access to view all relevant information for learning and development.

*Thomson Financial – “How to Tell A Talent Story,” Kimberly Bates McCarl, Vice-President, Organizational Effectiveness
****Learn an approach for building a talent story so you can talk about your staff with senior management or tell your own talent story.

*L.E.A.D. – “Experiencing Experiential Learning,” Rich Kuepper, President
****"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." Confucius
Participate in an activity designed to have you gain a true understanding of and gain access to the untapped potential within you. Learn a powerful tool to break down barriers with any group

The evening will also include:
*Raffle for great prizes, including an American Management Association training class, an Executive Education session at UConn, select books from the ASTD Library and more!
*A mini-expo of independent practitioner chapter members
*Delicious food and cash bar

Location: Dolce Norwalk
Speaker:
Company:
Bio: Thank you to our event sponsors:

*Career Corner Learning Tools
www.careercorner.net

*Hire Aspirations
www.hireaspirationsusa.com

*McClive Communications
www.mcclivecommunications.com

Presentation:

Event Date: 5/14/2007
Event Title: Give More, Get More! A Mutual Gains Approach to Negotiation
Description: Do you like to negotiate? How do you feel about negotiating your fees or the scope of your services? Should you be more cooperative or more competitive? Are you leaving value on the table?

Whether you are negotiating project scope and budget with internal clients in a corporate environment or fees with external clients, André Bello’s expertise in negotiation skills and consultative selling will help you explore powerful ways to maximize the agreements you make. You will learn how to:

• Think and act more strategically
• Reduce objections to your recommendations and fees
• Build your leverage with more powerful parties
• Proactively build the right relationships
•Deal with difficult people
• Plan your offers to ensure the best results

Get ready to leave this program with specially designed tools that will help you plan your very next negotiation!

“André is a storyteller par excellence, but he is a storyteller on a mission. He wants everyone to become a better negotiator.” — Professor Lawrence Susskind, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
Location: Dolce Norwalk
Speaker: Andre Bello
Company:
Bio: An expert in negotiation skills and consultative selling, André represents professional development programs from the Service Quality Institute, a global leader in customer service. Initially a natural scientist, André developed a passion for negotiation theory while completing his MBA. His career path included advertising and sales positions at Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi, PepsiCo International, Maritime Financial Group; he re-engineered corporate communications and brand identity at Jamaica Money Market Brokers which he brought from a product-centric orientation to a more relationship-centric model. In his books, The Sword & The Spirit: A Negotiation Tale, and Give More, Get More! Your Way to a Richer Life, André Bello transforms technical negotiation details into simple lessons that can help you better connect with your clients. (We will raffle off several of André’s books.)
Presentation:

Event Date: 4/23/2007
Event Title: Learning Leaders Panel
Description: Here's your chance to get the inside story on learning and development from leaders in the field! Join us for an interactive panel discussion with top professionals and find out how major companies in our area are tackling today’s pressing issues.
What you’ll find out:
**Business priorities driving learning and development strategies
**Best practices for measuring return on investment
**Recent challenges and successes
**What to expect for the future of the profession
Attend this exciting event and interact with an impressive group of leaders in our field!
The panel will be moderated by Kimberly Bates McCarl, Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness, Thomson Financial and Past President, Southern CT ASTD.
Location: Dolce Norwalk
Speaker: Sandy Flynn, VP of Thomson University, THE THOMSON CORPORATION
Hy Pomerance, Head of Learning and Development for the Americas, UBS INVESTMENT BANK
Valerie Procopion, Global Head of Talent Development and Training, ENDURANCE SERVICE LTD.
Arlene H. Meritz, VP, Talent and Organizational Effectiveness, CADBURY SCHWEPPES Americas Beverages
Company: The Thomson Corporation, UBS Investment Bank, Cadbury Schweppes, Endurance Service Ltd.
Bio: Speaker Bios will be provided at the meeting.
Presentation:

Event Date: 3/26/2007
Event Title: Remodeling Leadership
How Competent is Competence?
Description: This is not just another presentation proclaiming the importance of leadership. In this presentation we explore that organizations may be teeming with highly competent leaders, yet this in no way guarantees great leadership will occur.

It is well documented that nearly 90% of strategic plans for all companies are never realized. Companies are desperate to identify, develop, retain and attract those with the leadership abilities necessary to carry forth their organizational visions – only to discover that finding competent leaders is not only difficult - it is not enough. Leadership that achieves results requires more than competence, it requires effectiveness. Even the most competent leader will be ineffective working within ill-defined and inadequate Organizational Leadership Systems.

In this presentation we introduce the Leadership Maturity Model™ (LMM). Based on the principles of the Capability Maturity Model® (CMM), the world-wide standard for organizational process maturity from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University, the LMM addresses the effectiveness of leaders within the context of their existing organizations.

This session will explore the LMM’s ground-breaking 720° exploration of leadership performance to supercharge succession management, leader development and organizational development.


Location: The Dolce, Norwalk, CT
Speaker: Scott Schulz
Company: 7th Wave Solutions
Bio: Scott Schulz is Director of Business Development for 7th Wave Solutions, LLC, a Massachusetts based firm that works with senior organizational management to identify and grow those who will become the organization’s future leaders. Scott co-developed the Leadership Maturity Model.

When it comes to understanding customers, Scott is a proven matchmaker – pairing customer needs with the right solutions. He brings that same understanding to delivering hard-hitting content and best practice thinking to prospective audiences. Providing a fresh perspective and a matter-of-fact style in his speaking engagements, Scott leverages 25 years of presenting to CXO’s in a competitive sales environment - engaging clients and bringing real world experiences front and center.
Presentation: Remodeling presentation CT ASTD.pps

Event Date: 2/26/2007
Event Title: SELLING TRAINING IN THE C-SUITE -- CANCELLED FOR TONIGHT DUE TO WEATHER
Description: What are the strategic priorities of your business?
How does your organization measure success?
What’s on the mind of your CEO?

Selling training is all about measuring outcomes. Measurement is not a "black art" that requires an advanced understanding of finance or quantitative analysis. It's a common sense approach to communicating with the senior executives, sales managers, finance, IT and operations departments who run your enterprise.

David Earle of EDVISE Partners will share his insights on:

§ How to get the attention of key decision-makers
§ Linking training success to the outcomes that are critical to organizational stakeholders
§ Constructing performance contracts
§ How, what and when to measure
Location: The Dolce, Norwalk, CT
Speaker: David Earle
Company:
Bio: David Earle is the Managing Partner of EDVISE Partners, an investment company focused on building efficient information resources for learning professionals. He has worked at the senior management level in publishing, electronic media, education and technology.
Presentation:

Event Date: 1/22/2007
Event Title: High Potential Development
Description: One of the few remaining sources of sustainable competitive advantage for corporations is their people.

UBS is a leader in this area through their talent development programs – and in particular the ASCENT Program for mid-career employees who are considered key talent. The program was developed and implemented through a partnership with HR and the business. It was the UBS Board in particular that was the genesis for the program by prioritizing and committing to investing in retaining and developing mid-career employees via a new approach to development in 2005.

The program’s aims include:
· trust and alignment across functions and regions
· a ‘one-firm’ culture and global mindset
· future leaders prepared to meet the new business challenges of tomorrow
· increased engagement and retention.

Michelle Blieberg will share her insights and experiences in creating, launching and implementing a talent development program like ASCENT within UBS and what has made it successful, where the stumbling blocks and lessons learned have been, and how she has continued to keep senior management engaged.
Location: Dolce Norwalk
32 Weed Ave., Norwalk, CT
Speaker: Michelle Blieberg
Company: UBS Investment Bank
Bio: Michelle B. Blieberg is currently Chief Learning Officer for UBS Investment Bank. She oversees all learning and development initiatives across the Investment Bank. Since her arrival, the L&D function has grown tremendously and taken on many new initiatives to meet business strategy. The ASCENT program is one of the key achievements.

Before joining UBS Investment Bank, Michelle was head of Human Resources and Community Relations for Moody’s KMV (MKMV) from 2003, responsible for world wide human resources programs and policies.

In 2000, Michelle opened up her own Human Resources consulting firm, which specialized in organizational learning, HR strategy, and executive coaching.

Michelle held the position of Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc for five years. She spearheaded the Best Practices initiative for the company and had responsibility for starting up Schwab University, in addition to overseeing Employee Relations, Staffing and the Generalist Organization in the US and Internationally.

Michelle’s previous positions include Senior Vice President of Organizational Development and Training with Travelers/Smith Barney, four years with JP Morgan & Co. in the areas of Staff Relations, Compensation & Policy and two years with American Can Company.
Presentation: ASCENT Jan 07 v3.ppt

Event Date: 12/11/2006
Event Title: World Cafe: Your L&D Career - Please email dbussey714@aol.com to register
Description: A highly Interactive Program focusing on YOUR Career in Workplace Learning and Development

Don’t wait until January to start your New Year’s Resolutions!
Join us on December 11 for a FREE event that focuses on your career development while allowing you to learn an exciting new group facilitation technique at the same time.

Reasons to attend the Career Café:

• Focus on your career plans and questions
• Experience the World Café technique and learn how to facilitate it in any setting
• Network with colleagues
• Carve some time out of the busy holiday season to focus on YOURSELF
• Take away valuable insights to move your career forward in 2007
• It’s FREE!

What is World Café/Career Café?

• Café conversations are an easy-to-use large group method, developed by the global World Café movement, for creating a living network of collaborative dialogue around questions that matter in the service of real work.
• Cafés in business have been named in many ways to meet specific goals, including Creative Cafés, Knowledge Cafés, and Strategy Cafés—hence, our Career Café.

Location: Dolce Norwalk
Speaker:
Company:
Bio:
Presentation:

Event Date: 11/13/2006
Event Title: Relevance Squared: Making Learning Relevant to the Business
Description: The profession of workplace learning and performance (WLP) is at a tipping point. The opportunity for massive contribution and relevance has never been greater. Now, it’s time to deliver on these higher expectations.

Stepping up to this challenge means that everyone in this profession needs to understand relevance: having the necessary skills and competencies to be a successful WLP professional and showing business leaders that your work is relevant to the organization’s bottom line.

Tony Bingham, President and CEO of ASTD, will share his insights into how learning and development professionals can help their organizations demonstrate results and achieve success by having the right people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time.

Areas covered will include:
. How to improve your relevance by developing WLP skills and competencies
· How to help your organization improve its performance and achieve results
· How to partner with senior leaders in order to achieve organizational success
Thank You to This Program's Sponsor: Cohesive Knowledge Solutions (CKS) Cohesive Knowledge Solutions (CKS) is a global leader in email efficiency and etiquette training. CKS’ Info-Excellence Seminar has helped over 5,000 participants from companies like P&G, Novartis, and Capital One: Reduce email processing time by 20% Write better messages and File and find info in a flash.
Location: Dolce Norwalk
32 Weed Avenue, Norwalk, CT
Speaker: Tony Bingham
Company: ASTD National
Bio: As the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) is at the forefront of trends in training and workforce development.

With broad-based business, financial, operational, and technical management expertise, Tony joined ASTD in 2001 as the Chief Operating Officer / Chief Information Officer. He became President and CEO in February 2004.

Before joining ASTD, Tony served as the Senior Vice President, Technology and Operations for Britannica.com, where he was responsible for the technology and infrastructure required to operate the digital side of Encyclopædia Britannica.

Previous management positions include leading the operations department for Classified Ventures, an Internet classifieds business, Vice President of Marketing/Director of Sales for Perceptual Robotics.com, an Internet software company, and Senior Market Manager for Baxter/American Hospital Supply.
Presentation: 20061113 Southern CT.pdf

Event Date: 10/23/2006
Event Title: Speaking The Language of Business
Description: Successful L&D professionals speak the language of business and finance. They are able to present their initiatives in terms of the financial link to the bottom line results.

Anna Samorukova will introduce attendees to the critical financial concepts that L&D leaders need to understand to position and sell their initiatives to senior managers. The presentation will center on these key areas:

· Understanding the language of CEO’s
· Key financial metrics that express strategy and results
· What drives profit
· How L&D professionals impact shareholder value

Location: Metro Center
One Station Place, Stamford, CT
Speaker: Anna Samorukova
Company: TRI Corporation
Bio: Anna Samorukova provides consulting and training services in the area of business financial management. As an associate of TRI Corporation, specialists in the corporate experiential leadership programs and business simulations, Anna conducts educational programs that focus on business strategy, finance, and leadership internationally. Customers include General Electric, Praxair, Stanley Works, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, and Unilever. Prior to starting her company in 1999, Anna worked as the Director of Finance of SGA, a management consulting and training company. Anna graduated from St. Petersburg Institute of Trade in economics St. Petersburg Russia with a B.S. in Economics and received her MBA from Fairfield University with a focus in Finance and International Business.
Presentation:

Event Date: 9/18/2006
Event Title: The Johnson & Johnson eUniversity Experience
Description: A key challenge of the Johnson & Johnson eUniversity is to be able to effectively present learning solutions for an ever increasing and evolving set of competencies in a highly decentralized global business environment. Many organizations have traditionally structured learning around clear objectives related to content deemed appropriate to given job functions. However, the rapid rate of change in the core competencies of most jobs today has limited the ability of organizations to react quickly to meet the learning needs of its employees through traditional learning methodologies. Johnson & Johnson felt the urgency to deliver knowledge and skills more rapidly and efficiently whenever and wherever it was needed. The Johnson & Johnson eUniversity has given the corporation the ability to provide learning opportunities that are critical to the professional development of its employees and in the process, contribute to sustaining the competitive advantage of the corporation.

Areas covered in this presentation include:
- The strategy for developing and implementing the J&J eUniversity
- The implementation process
- Lessons learned over the past 3 years
- The role of technology, including the enterprise LMS
- Support structure
- Measurements of success

Location: Dolce Norwalk
Speaker: Kee Meng Yeo
Company: Johnson & Johnson
Bio: Kee Meng Yeo is a business oriented Human Resources and Organizational Development professional, serving both domestic and international clients for over 20 years. Originally from Singapore, he is currently the Director of Johnson & Johnson’s first virtual corporate university focused on the facilitation of collaboration in learning and development within Johnson & Johnson worldwide. Kee Meng was responsible for both the conceptualization and startup of the J&J eUniversity. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, he worked in a number of multinational organization including Pharmacia, Monsanto, Dow Chemicals and Olivetti. Although Kee Meng spent most of his career in the human resources and organizational development areas, he has also had experiences in Knowledge Management as well as Pharmaceutical Marketing. Kee Meng's areas of expertise include strategic organizational change, talent development and global cross-cultural business communications. He has also demonstrated skills in the design and implementation of technology-based talent development processes. Additionally, he has co-published several papers in the area of cross-cultural dialogues.
Presentation: Facilitating Learning In a Decentralized Global Business Environment-CT.ppt

Event Date: 6/12/2006
Event Title: Using Improvisation to Train:
Description: Looking for a way to get your new team to trust themselves and each other? Concerned about how to help your employees be ready to respond to rapid business change? Interested in encouraging individuals to unlock their creative potential to help grow the business?
World Class Indifference, an improvisational comedy team, will lead this experiential workshop which will teach you how to use improvisation exercises to achieve business outcomes. In improvisation, individuals learn to work with each other by listening and building trust as they become more comfortable tapping into their creativity and taking risks. These exercises are designed to improve participants’ team skills and their ability to respond to the unpredictable and rapidly changing nature of business with alacrity and humor.
This interactive workshop will teach you techniques applicable to a variety of business needs, including: Facilitated brainstorming Team & trust building Creative problem solving Listening & communication skills building Responsiveness to rapid change World Class Indifference is an improvisational comedy team, specializing in improv comedy for public performances and interactive workshops. The team includes public speaking experts, stand-up comedians, entrepreneurs and an inventor, who bring to the team their experience from a variety of business backgrounds, including sales and communications training, marketing, engineering and counseling.
Location: Dolce Norwalk
Speaker: World Class Indifference Improv Comedy Team
Company: World Class Indifference Improv Comedy Team
Bio: Members of the team have facilitated workshops at corporations such as GE, Xerox, Ernst & Young, IBM and Forbes. They have also performed on New York City comedy stages such as Gotham City Improv, Caroline’s and The Duplex, and theaters throughout the region.
Presentation: improvisation.pdf

Event Date: 5/18/2006
Event Title: Using Humor in the Workplace to Impact the Bottom Line
Description: *Build overall productivity in the workplace * Attract and retain the best-qualified people and inspire them to excel * Create a corporate culture as "user-friendly" to your own people as possible Increase employee satisfaction It’s no joke--as funny as it may sound, incorporating humor in the workplace can get you serious results. Studies say that for every 1% increase in employee satisfaction, we see a 2% increase in customer satisfaction. Not surprisingly, studies also show that organizations with satisfied employees enjoy substantially higher net income and revenue growth per employee than their competitors. Truly, one of the best investments you can make today is to create a corporate culture as "user-friendly" to your own people as possible. Far from disrupting work, humor can actually enhance it! The most recent research shows that humor—appropriately used—cuts stress, builds rapport, encourages "outside the box" thinking, consolidates teams, and builds overall productivity. That's why organizations that use humor tend to attract and retain the best-qualified people—and inspire them to excel. In this hilarious, highly interactive presentation, you'll practice appropriate ways to bring humor into your work—and be ready to use the "Humor Toolbox" Doni so thoughtfully provides. SOCTSHRM
Location: Holiday Inn Select, Stamford, CT
Speaker: Dony Tamblyn
Company: HumorRules, LLC
Bio: Doni Tamblyn is an internationally-published author, a professional speaker, trainer, comedian, singer, and former commercial actor with clients like Apple, Nestle, Chevron, Wells Fargo Bank, Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Hewlett Packard. She has taught communication skills to thousands of people in the US, Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia. She is the author of The Big Book of Humorous Training Games (McGraw Hill, 2000) and Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways to Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training (AMACOM Books, 2002). Last year, Doni spent ten months training business people in the People’s Republic of China.
Quotes:
"I heard several comments from participants after the seminar to the effect that 'she was one of the best speakers I've ever seen,' and 'I wish we had all day with her.' Thanks for the great job you did." — Robert S. Williams, Brand Director, Definity® BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB MEDICAL IMAGING, North Billerica, Massachusetts
"I prepared myself for a no-think evening. Surprise! Far from being passive, we actively laughed as we learned, and furthermore, learned why we learn as we laugh. Trust Doni Tamblyn to explain why humor reinforces both learning and creativity, and to prove these facts in one must-be-experienced session." — Nancy R. Katz, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, California
"In their evaluations, attendees repeatedly used the words 'dynamic' and 'motivational,' words that I think fit the bills exactly. Your skillful use of humor adds a refreshing note of humanness and seems to affect all types of people equally positively. My warmest thanks for your fine work." — Celeste Parcell, Coordinator, Experience Unlimited EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, California
Presentation: