December 3, 2009 - Mary Kelly The State of the Training Economy   Hear about the state of the economy from noted economist, professor and CEO  Mary Kelly!     Leave with tips on how to improve training, increase communication, and evaluate the economy. Implementable Action Items:   1.  How to increase training with a limited budget. 2.  Ways to know when the economy is improving 3.  How to effectively communicate to organizations   Mary Kelly’s expertise as an economist is invaluable in her explanations that demystify the economy, and make the future more controllable.    Mary Kelly, Ph.D., is the CEO of Productive Leaders, a consulting firm specializing in professional speaking and business training for education, government and private business organizations.  Mary taught economics and finance at Hawaii Pacific University for 15 years, and taught at the US Naval Academy from 2003 to 2008.   She retired from active duty in the Navy as a Commander, with specialties in logistics and human resources.    Mary has trained organizations, educational groups, military organizations, and Fortune 500 companies for more than 15 years.  Specific examples include the FBI, Aramark, EPEDX, over 70 insurance companies, the Maryland House of Delegates, CHART, LIMRA, LOMA and numerous colleges and universities.    Mary is a member of the National Speakers’ Association, the American Speakers’ Association, the Global Speaker’s Association, the Colorado Speakers’ Association, the North Texas Speakers’ Association, the World Speakers' Association, MENSA, and the Colorado Springs Junior League.  She is an active volunteer at the Colorado Springs Memorial Hospital, where she runs a family room for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  Mary and her two dogs are also Therapy Dog Teams, visiting nursing homes, shelters, and hospitals.    Mary is a speaker, author, consultant, and mentor.   More information can be found at www.productiveleaders.com.
	November 5, 2009 - Ken Stibler The Application of Game Theory to Strategic Issues    Games designed for learning represent one of the hottest areas of emerging learning technologies.  Even though it may be hard to define a game, training professionals all over the world are starting to take a hard look at the possible benefits of using learning games within their organizations.    Major learning management platforms have added simulation or gaming extensions that allow them to launch games and track player results. Educational games and simulations now appear on cell phones, and traditional educational publishers have announced gaming initiatives in higher education and corporate training markets.   Because games provide a different way of interacting in education and training environments, their use immediately has the potential to change employee training dramatically.   But the question still remains: Are games effective in improving learning compared with other methods of training?  In addition to a number of business benefits, games are viewed as providing psychological benefits, particularly in motivating younger workers to get involved with workplace tasks.   Servant leader, team builder and catalyst for growth — Ken is a trusted advisor to Chief Executives, Presidents, and Business Owners.  He has been recognized for his leadership in accelerating growth and strategy integration for organizations across multiple industries.   His professional background includes CEO, COO and President roles of public and private companies.   Ken works with senior leadership teams improving their strategic effectiveness and Connecting Learning to Business Results.   Mr. Stibler is a Certified Trainer/Instructor for Game Plan for Change/Simulation Models, DiSC® Facilitation Systems, and Total Quality Management (TQM).   Ken is currently the CEO of SAVI Learning, Inc., a Dallas, Texas based Organizational Development Company and a Group Chair for Vistage International, the world’s largest Chief Executive Organization.  He serves on the boards of three companies.
	October 8 Lunch Meeting   Mary McElroy is an independent Executive and Life Coach, providing both business and personal coaching.  Mary is especially adept at planning by helping others clarify and prioritize needs, identify possibilities and resolve conflicts in order to overcome obstacles in both personal and professional expansion. Mary uses her strong intuition to guide clients using their own insight by drawing from her experience.  She has extensive business experience in a wide range of leadership positions and her clients are leaders in their fields.  Prior to her current specialization, she served at a Vice President level at a Fortune 500 company in the field of Human Resource training.    Mary McElroy is a certified Myers-Briggs instructor and uses the assessment in helping her clients with their own self-awareness.  Mary’s coaching combines her deep understanding of human and social behavior with knowledge gained through practical business experience with individuals, teams and various organizations.  McElroy now lives with her husband and children in Dallas, Texas.  She is an avid runner and believes that physical well-being is vital to mental and emotional balance.
	October 1 Chapter Meeting  Gary Stafford     Flowserve Leadership Development   Gary Stafford has over 25 years of experience in developing leaders in large well respected companies such as Ingersoll Rand and Eaton Corporation.  At Flowserve, Gary is actively working with senior leadership on issues of talent readiness, assessment and development planning.  Gary has a Master’s in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and has recently completed the UTD Executive Coaching program.
	September 3, 2009 Dianna Booher   Creating Executive Presence   How do you handle someone who continually upstages you in a formal presentation setting? How do you respond to someone citing data with which you’re unfamiliar? How do you react when your boss changes the course of your presentation midstream? Adding "finishing touches" will help you be yourself in front of an audience of 2 or 200. You’ll learn to think on your feet, handle tough questions, and build rapport with groups of any size.   Dianna is a high-caliber keynote speaker who captivates, motivates, and inspires audiences around the world. She delivers very focused programs addressing clients' specific communication issues as well as personal productivity or life and career balance.   Dianna has received the highest awards in the professional speaking industry, including induction into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame®. She is a member of the prestigiousSpeakers Roundtable. As a result of Dianna's work among top corporations on communication issues, Executive Excellence magazine has recognized Dianna on its list of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in America. Additionally, Successful Meetings magazine named Dianna on its list of 21 Top Speakers for the 21st Century!
August Program Second Life Demonstration	Get a Life...A Second Life. August 6, 2009   . . . Has the economy put a damper on your travel budget?  . . . Are you looking for ways to expand the reach of your training? . . . Have you considered offering your training programs in a virtual environment?  . . . Do you know about Second Life? What is Second Life?   Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003 and is accessible via the Internet. It has become the fastest growing virtual world on the Internet. SL enables its users, called residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities. SL provides a safe and powerful platform for interactive learning experiences, whether in a classroom setting or in an environment that simulates dangerous or expensive equipment or scenarios. Businesses are jumping into this new medium to improve their communications, launch innovative strategies, reduce costs, create new growth opportunities and much more.  ASTD has created an ASTD Island in Second Life. ". . . by the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users and major companies are expected to have some virtual-world-type presence." Gartner, Inc. Note:  Members who are already familiar with Second Life and have a laptop with a wireless receiver are invited to bring it to the meeting.  You too can participate in the demonstration of Second Life!

July's Guest Speaker   You	July 2, 2009 Come and Join Our 35th Anniversary Celebration   Title: ASTD FWMC BEST T+D PRACTICES   Description: We're at the half-way point of 2009 and we want to discuss in this open-forum event what were the most successful Training + Development initiatives you/your organization have undertaken this year?  In round-table format, we're going to discuss/learn from each other regarding successes (and perhaps a few "don't do's" as well!).   The discussion parameters are as follows:    What topics you've trained on (Please tie-in with the ASTD Learning Competencies Pyramid Model) Pre-training Issue/Opportunity as well as Post-Training Resolution What made them successful in your organization (For you, for those you trained, for senior leadership...) What was your budget (ballpark) New/old technologies implemented Resources used (# of T+D/Internet/Media/Consultants…) Metrics Identified to determine success/failure (ROI, Efficiencies, etc…) The future of training (Give us a “peak under the tent” for where you’re heading!)
	June 10th - Chapter Meeting with Jim Kirkpatrick This keynote address brings a message of hope amidst a global economic and HRD crisis.  Rather than sit back and hope and wait for things to get better, this address will provide you with a solid look at what you can do in a proactive and practical sense to contribute to the new generation of training that is waiting for us to define it.   Specifically, you will learn the keys to leverage the Kirkpatrick Four Level Evaluation Model to not only create significant value for your clients or your organization, but to demonstrate your contribution to the bottom line.  The methodology outlined will be to first gather evaluation evidence to create a chain of evidence, and then to make a compelling closing argument to your corporate jury.   This session is designed to be of relevance and value to consultants and organizational professionals alike.
	MAY 7, 2009 James Strock - 21st Century Leadership What does it mean to be a “great” leader? What are the characteristics and competencies of great leaders that remain constant across time? How do leaders need to adjust to a globalized, technology-driven, speed-of-light change environment? Transformational Leadership expert James M. Strock, author of Reagan on Leadership, Roosevelt on Leadership, and the soon-to-be-released Serve to Lead, will discuss how leadership has changed, how it’s stayed the same, and how you can be a Leader of the Future.

James Strock is an international author, speaker and commentator on transformational leadership. He works with organizations, teams and individuals to elicit their capacity for extraordinary performance and value creation. The leadership principles he shares are applicable in any setting—corporate, entrepreneurial, not-for-profit, government and military—and across all functions.

Mr. Strock is the author of two best-selling books: Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership and Reagan on Leadership. Both have been widely used in business and not-for profit organizations, educational institutions, government agencies and the military.

He has spoken on national and international network, cable, and local television and radio programs. He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Leadership (Goethals and Sorenson, eds.), writing the articles on Winston S. Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt. His study of transformational leadership is grounded and made applicable in various settings by his own diverse experiences in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

APRIL 2, 2009

Is Your T+D Healthy in this Economy?  See How Texas Health Resources CLO Insures a Perfect Check-Up!   Is the economy leaving you and your organization a little “run-down” and in need of a check-up?  Join us as Jim Dunn, PhD will share how he recently restructured the system of learning function at Texas Health Resources and its focus for improving staff performance and managing overall organization knowledge.  Specifically, you will receive the following takeaways from this session:   -          Collaborative Training Designs -          Impacting “Real Day” Challenges -          Measuring What Matters   Jim Dunn is the Chief Learning Officer for Texas Health Resources.  He is responsible for enterprise-wide efforts to build and advance best-in-class talent development through implementation of system-wide organizational learning strategies for 19,000 clinical and non-clinical employees.  He holds several degrees (Harvard, Emory...), certifications (SPHR, GPHR, CCD, RODC…) and association memberships (ASTD, SHRM, ODI...) highlighting his professionalism in Organization Development.  He has authored several books and articles on the topic and is a sought after speaker.

MARCH 5, 2009

TOPIC: "Your professional presence as a leader" Linda Thomas AICI CIP has been improving professional presence for men and women in the workplace for the last 10 years.  She is coming to ASTD Fort Worth to let you know what makes her pop out of bed like toast in the morning!  With the critical state of the economy people are making up their minds about us and our ability to lead others in a millisecond.  Our body language, clothing and overall appearance reassures people they have made the right choice or creates doubt.  Find out the details about your image that really matter right now in your career as a trainer.   As an outstanding member of the National Speakers Association, she has been a previous recipient of the prestigious Member of the Year Award at the National Speakers Association of North Texas. Her involvement with ISPI, the International Society of Performance Improvement keeps her up to date on the trends for excellence in the workplace. Linda travels across the United States training and speaking for companies and the professional individuals who want to excel and attain new goals in their industry. Linda has earned the credentials of CIP (Certified Image Professional) from the Association of Image Consultants International.  There are 117 CIPs in the world (87 in the US, 30 overseas).

FEBRUARY 5, 2009

David Patrick: Adding Comedy / Fun to Training

David Patrick knows what it takes to be funny!  He’s a trained actor having performed in television, film, theater, and commercials (you may have seen him driving a Saturn with his knees) as well as a credentialed comedian, having worked with the famed Second City comedy group in Chicago and performed standup comedy all over Los Angeles including the world famous Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip.  Now he’s goings to show you how you can inject humor into your training and development.
 
Got humor?  David’s research show that 85% of those that attend humorless training not only do not remember the training message two weeks after the session, but don’t even remember the instructor's name!  When humor is present, flip that number around and down to 15%!
 
Contact #: 214-686-9586

JANUARY 2009

Julie Burch

Julie Burch is the President of JLH Presentations, as well as, an adjunct instructor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the National Speaker’s Association.

Julie is also an author. She is the coauthor of: “The Princess Principle: Women Helping Women Discover Their Royal Spirit.” which is a motivational book for women.

Julie also has released two CD’s including her Assertive Communication Skills program as well as her Stress Management program.

In this dynamic, unconventional, and entertaining session, Julie addresses the subject of stress from a refreshing common sense point of view.  Helping you learn how to function with stress, as well as how to reduce it.  You’ll learn how to feel better about yourself and become less vulnerable to stressful situations. At the same time you will learn to lighten up and see the humor that is all around us!

Meeting synopsis:

Put On That Clown Nose and Reduce Your Stress!

Julie D. Burch 

Stress management is just like a red foam clown nose! I know, it seems strange, but it is true. A simple red foam clown nose can be seen in so many ways. Some see the circus of their childhood and smile; some see the circus of their childhood and get scared. Some think it is fun, some silly, some stupid. All these different opinions based on the same simple little red foam clown nose.  

Stress is the same way. It is not about the stress itself, it is all about how we perceive the stress. Most of us have read the many articles written and studies published about stress management. Most of these articles promise tricks, tips, techniques and ideas to eliminate stress from our lives. That is an impossible task! We will never live “stress free.” Sometimes we think, “Maybe when I retire! “…but I suspect retired people have stress too. What this tells us is that our goal is not the elimination of our stress, but rather the control of it.  

The key to stress management is to take back control!

To take back control of our stress we must first understand that some stress is good stress. What this means is that a certain amount of stress, called “optimal stress,” can give us energy, motivation and help us to be more productive, more efficient and more effective. When we go over our optimal stress daily limit for too long we see the long term ramifications of stress. Every day you are given a certain amount of stress that is enough to give you energy and support your productivity, but not enough to be debilitating or harmful. As long as we work within that amount of stress, we are productive, efficient and effective. As you go about your day, you are asked to give your stress to different events, situations, problems and people. As long as you don’t “overspend” your stress, you can manage it. When you give more stress than you have you become like a bank account… overdrawn!  

If you think of your stress like money it makes sense. When you have a limited amount of money, you make choices about what you will buy. When you have a limited amount of stress you must make choices about where to spend it. We must make better decisions about how we choose to invest our stress. You must be more judicious with to whom and to what you give your stress.   

So, remember we said some stress is good stress? That means there are aspects of your life that, although stressful, are good. A wedding, your children, your partner or your spouse are all rewarding AND stressful. These are vital components of our lives that we would never give up in the name of stress elimination. Most of us would not be willing to eliminate such stress! 

There are also parts of our lives that are bad stresses. For example, traffic, difficult coworkers, annoying strangers—the person at the grocery store in the “15 items or less” line with 30 items! If you let those bad stresses take all of your stress bank account you will not have any left for the good stresses - the ones you WANT to manage.  

So, the keys to taking back control of your stress are  

1. When the stress hits you, stop and ask yourself if this is really a good use of your stress? Is it a good stress or a bad stress?  

2. Once you have decided it is a good stress you take a deep breath and manage it.  

3. If it is a bad stress you must use the clown nose technique! Yes, the clown nose! Remember, everyone perceives it differently. You must redefine the way you perceive it by framing the event in a new way.  Traffic is no longer a bad stress - it is your “alone time”! That coworker is not difficult - just different! And don’t you feel sorry for that person at the grocery store that can’t count? How sad!

From now on stress management is simple. Just put on your clown nose and take back control of that stress!

Consulting PDN speaker and topic.

Brent Stephens, D.M. has 10 years of project management experience primarily in the small to medium sized business arena. Brent operated in a highly stressful environment where the analysts forced the job open by any means possible (he will leave the details to your imagination). Arriving on site having only scant details from the analysts file to prepare him for what was often a hostile client, or one with unrealistic expectations. Brent believes that one of the reasons he excelled was being able to find the hidden agenda. There was always a reason that the owner would make the decision to spend their hard-earned dollars and if a project manager could find that out early and address that critical element, either directly or indirectly, the project would run to full term and often expansion. This open forum presentation will allow management consultants to share their experiences and identify best practices to help them with their consulting endeavors.

DECEMBER 4, 2008

Lorelei Windeler - Manager Leadership Development

Lorelei began her career at Southwest Airlines in 1993 as a Customer Service Agent at the Las Vegas airport. Since then she has held positions as Customer Service Supervisor Dallas Love Field Airport, New Hire Trainer for Customer Service Agents, and Assistant Manager Customer Service Training. Lorelei joined the University for People staff in 2003 and has held positions as Instructional Designer, Team Leader of Design and Delivery and currently Manager of Leadership Development. She a Bachelors Degree from Concordia University in Austin and an MBA from Texas Women University in Denton.

NOVEMBER 6,  2008

Dave Vance

The Financial Crisis and Learning

The United States is in the midst of its worst financial crisis since the 1930s.  Dave Vance, 2006 CLO of the Year and former Chief Economist for Caterpillar, will explore the reasons for the crisis, implications for the economy and L&D budgets, and lessons for us in the learning field , including implications for a learning organization. Dave served as Chief Economist for Caterpillar (1994-2000) before founding  and leading Caterpillar University (2001-2007).

OCTOBER 2, 2008 

Patty Newbold, CPT Minimizing an Often Overlooked Obstacle to Good Performance

Patty has 34 years of performance improvement consulting experience. She has helped IBM, AT&T, J&J, Popeyes, the University of Pennsylvania, and others make it easier for their employees to do a good job.

Along the way, she discovered something. Unhappy marriages can torpedo job performance and our attempts to improve it. Patty will reveal easy ways for managers and trainers to help employees enjoy happier marriages, without becoming amateur marriage counselors.

Additional Biography

Patty is a top-notch instructional designer with a passion to reduce the need for training by building online tools. She helps clients align organizational and personal goals to motivate employees. She also helps them remove the physical, organizational, and mental obstacles to good performance. She was among the first to achieve the distinction of Certified Performance Technologist.

More Information

Unhappy marriages pose a major threat to good job performance and a huge drain on productivity. Managers can do a lot to help employees keep their marriages strong and happy. If they don't, they lose a good six years of full performance. That is how long a marriage typically worsens before a couple divorces.

Learn how managers and trainers can change the work environment to support strong, happy marriages and life partnerships. Learn which simple skills prove useful both on the job and in a relationship. These are approaches any trainer or manager can implement without violating anyone's privacy.

Hear about employers that have benefited from providing marriage education and marriage-friendly workplaces. Leave with three easy ways to get started and a list of resources for doing more.

Contact Information and Photo

Patty Newbold, CPT
President, MOST Performance Improvement

President, Enjoy Being Married, LLC

PO Box 1624

Doylestown, PA 18901
(215) 489-9266

www.enjoybeingmarried.com

www.assumelove.com

www.mostpi.com

September 2008 Meeting

Judy Feld – Coaching in the Workplace – Judy is a Master Certified Coach, a Certified Mentor Coach, a 1993 graduate of Leadership America, and was 2003 President of the 8000-member International Coach Federation¬where she also served on the Board of Directors for eight years. She is the Program Manager of the Executive and Professional Coaching Program at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Management.  Judy launched her coaching business (Coach Net) in 1995, after twenty years of corporate experience in technical, marketing, management and executive roles.

August 2008 Speaker

Larry Peters – Consulting Concepts – Larry is TCU Management Professor that has worked with Stephen M.R. Covey (Trust at the Speed of Light) and Vital Smarts (Crucial Conversations, Crucial Communication & Influencer books).  He provides consulting, training design, training, meeting design, facilitation, and applied research services to a variety of business, non-profit and government organizations.

June 2008 Speaker!

Dr. Jim Quick

Unwinding Stress in Today's Workplace

GALLUP WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 29, 2008

NATIONAL WELL-BEING MEASURE FINDS MAJORITY STRUGGLING

Data confirm illness and negative work environment have significant impact on productivity

Most Americans are struggling to achieve satisfactory health and well-being according to initial results of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index announced today.

Jim Quick’s program “Unwinding Stress in the Workplace” helps us understand these recent national headlines and the relentless pressure that many Americans are experiencing at work.  His life-saving and life-giving theory of preventive stress management offers actions that individuals and organizations can learn to craft emotionally healthy, vital, energized work environments where the human side thrives.

May 2008 Speaker!

Alex Hogan

Technology in Training

If we only discussed how technology is used in training today, would that be enough?

The use of technology in training hasn't really changed in the 20 plus years.  From the CBTs of 20 years ago to the online eLearning that emerged 10 years ago to the blended environments that encompass today's training facilities, the fundamental concepts are the same.

What would happen if someone came around and said that it didn't have to be that way?  What if someone said instead of creating assets or defining reusable learning objects you just have to instruct technology to teach?

What if someone built a better mouse trap?

In this session we will discuss the use of technology to increase retention and instructional capabilities through the use of "concept matrices", "chatter bots", "information architecture" and the use of the internet as an asset.

April 2008 Speaker!

Ann Lovett Baird, Lovett Consulting Group

On Your Mark, Get Set . . . Create Learning!

—Fast and Easy Learning Design

 Are things changing so fast in your company that the instructional design process is practically non-existent? The constantly changing environments of our corporations and organizations require that we use the most efficient means possible to create performance-focused learning venues. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in poorly designed training that does not work. In our rapidly-changing, information-filled world, we have to look at creative and ingenuous ways to impart knowledge and skill.

 This interactive session will cover

·   The basics of experiential learning design.

·  The importance of clearly defined outcomes from a learning intervention.

·  How to create performance and behaviorally-based learning objectives.

·  How to quickly develop custom case studies and exercises to meet learning objectives.

 Audience participants will leave the session with job aids for efficient learning design and some great ideas for courses or learning venues they are currently working on.

 Ann Lovett Baird has been creating custom designed training and other learning venues for clients since 1990. She has served as an instructional designer/developer and consultant to the Financial Services, Marketing Technology, Business Services and Health Service industries. Ann has held positions with various companies in the financial services industry as well as with the Dallas consulting firm, ActionSystems, Inc.

 In 1995, she founded Lovett Consulting Group, a firm committed to providing experiential, performance-based learning venues for clients.

 Ann holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance and accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been instructed in the Experiential Learning model from University Associates and Brain-Compatible Learning Techniques.

 Ann received the James E. Wallace Chapter Service from the Dallas ASTD Chapter in 1991. She served as Dallas Chapter president in 1993.

Some of Ann’s Curriculum Design clients include:

Snowed out meeting due to have been held on Thursday,  March 6, 2008

Speaker: Barbara Ashbaugh

Evaluation - It’s Just Not That Complicated:  Train-to-Ingrain and Get Results!!

Homework and report cards may come to mind when you think about evaluation. The question arises, “Do we really want to know how we did?”   Trainers can become defensive about measuring outcomes, especially when the results are dismal.  Poor evaluations can threaten your job security.

Come and learn the important levels of evaluation and how to use them to promote learning, job security, and organizational results.  The focus will be on a reinforcement-based approach to achieve permanent, measurable changes.  Because 55% of America’s employees are disengaged, expectations, clarification and measurement are critical to lasting change and improving productivity and retention.  Every great trainer will want to attend.

Barbara Ashbaugh is the CEO of Trade Secrets, a performance management and training company based in Plano, Texas.  For sixteen years she has been helping clients improve their productivity and manage their talent by engaging their workforce and achieving sustained results.