Love it when our local chapters make news! It's great exposure for them and increases the brand value of ASTD as a whole. Read the article "Rochester networking becomes important business talent" in the Democrat and Chronicle!

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Categories: ASTD in the News | Chapters

In September, national ASTD provided the new National Operating Requirements (NORE) in response to chapter leader feedback that they wanted to know what specific support to expect from national ASTD. NORE mirrors the chapter’s commitment to the Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE). NORE and CORE have both been incorporated into a reciprocal affiliation agreement to be signed by all chapters to formalize the relationship between national ASTD and chapters.

All chapter leaders are invited to attend a webcast this Thursday, October 8, at 3 p.m. ET, facilitated by National Advisor for Chapters Christie Ward from the Rocky Mountain Chapter. The webcast will provide an overview of NORE and the affiliation agreement. If you are unable to attend, the webcast archive will be available on the Chapter Leader Community website.

If you have questions about the new chapter-national affiliation agreement or National Operating Requirements (NORE), please contact your chapter coach or NAC representative. National ASTD is committed to providing extensive support and resources so that you and your board have the tools needed to help your chapter thrive and grow!

 

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Categories: Chapters

Congratulations to the October Chapter of the Month: The Greater Chattanooga Area Chapter!

The value of membership is a key driver for the Greater Chattanooga Area Chapter of ASTD. The chapter’s selection as Chapter of the Month for October 2009 derives from a two-fold commitment to membership. First, the chapter has created a Board of Director’s position called CORE (Chapter Operating Requirements) Coordinator. The CORE Coordinator is responsible for educating chapter members about CORE statistics and tracking the chapter’s annual progress in achieving 100 percent CORE.

In addition, the Greater Chattanooga Area Chapter is committed to bringing members value at every turn. Upon realizing that monthly chapter meetings were not providing enough networking time for members, the chapter created a Membership Networking Directory that includes the professional experience and contact information of all members and is thus a tremendous resource for members to expand and improve their networking contacts.  The chapter continues to work for deeper connections with members through various committee opportunities and participation in community service events.

Chapter President Teresa Headrick believes that being a professional society in a smaller city gives the Greater Chattanooga Area Chapter the opportunity to offer learning professionals in the area a great venue for improving skills and gaining insights into the profession. The chapter’s commitment to members and the community at large is why the Greater Chattanooga Area Chapter  is ASTD’s Chapter of the Month for October.

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ASTD announces that 39 organizations from Canada, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and the United States are winners in the 2009 ASTD BEST Awards competition. Sun Microsystems, of Santa Clara, California, holds the first place ranking. The 2009 ASTD BEST Award winners are recognized in a special section of the October issue of Training + Development (T+D), ASTD’s monthly magazine, and were honored during a reception on October 1 in Washington, D.C. Many of the winners participated in the “Learn from the BEST” event on October 2 to share best practices during roundtable presentations and networking time.

The BEST Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate enterprise‐wide success through employee learning and development. According to Tony Bingham, ASTD’s president and CEO, “The ASTD BEST Award winners set the standard of excellence for exceptional learning practices, and demonstrate that a skilled workforce is vital to
achieving results. They use learning as a strategic tool and have the support of senior leaders who champion a learning culture.”

Through an online application, the 2009 BEST Awards received entries from 93 organizations in 10 countries. These organizations submitted quantitative and qualitative information to ASTD about their learning and development practices and programs. Their applications were assessed by members of the BEST Awards advisory committee, a group of experts in the learning and development field.

More information about the 2009 ASTD BEST Award winners may be found in the October 2009 issue of T+D magazine and online: www.astd.org/best. ASTD would like to thank the following sponsors of the 2009 BEST Awards: Platinum Sponsor: Booz Allen Hamilton; Silver Sponsors: General Physics Corporation, Learn.com , and SkillSoft.

The 2009 ASTD BEST Award winners and rankings:

1. Sun Microsystems, Santa Clara, California
2. MTR Corporation, Hong Kong, SAR, China
3. SCC Soft Computer, Clearwater, Florida
4. DPR Construction, Inc., Redwood City, California
5. BB&T, Winston‐Salem, North Carolina
6. VF Asia Limited, Hong Kong, SAR, China
7. Highmark (an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
8. BJC HealthCare, St. Louis, Missouri
9. Datatel, Fairfax, Virginia
10. Trust Company of the West, Los Angeles, California
11. Luxottica Retail North America, Mason, Ohio
12. La Quinta, Irving, Texas
13. Robert W. Baird & Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
14. Gables Residential, Atlanta, Georgia
15. Wipro Limited, Bangalore, India
16. T. Rowe Price, Baltimore, Maryland
17. LarsonAllen, Minneapolis, Minnesota
18. University Health System, San Antonio, Texas
19. CSC, Falls Church, Virginia
20. Reliance Industries Limited, Jamnagar Refinery Division, Mumbai, India
21. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, New York, New York
22. Infosys Technologies Limited, Bangalore, India
23. Reliance Industries Limited, Dahej Manufacturing Division, Mumbai, India
24. CIGNA Corporation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
25. Suzlon Energy, Ltd., Pune, India
26. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Mumbai, India
27. Prescription Solutions, Irvine, California
28. Whirlpool Corporation, Saint Joseph, Michigan
29. Barilla America, Inc., Bannockburn, Illinois
30. Fallon Clinic, Worcester, Massachusetts
31. InterContinental Hotels Group, Atlanta, Georgia
32. Mayer Electric Supply Company Inc., Birmingham, Alabama
33. TELUS, Vancouver, British Columbia
34. G4S Wackenhut, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
35. sanofi‐aventis U.S., Bridgewater, New Jersey
36. Brown‐Forman Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky
37. United Overseas Bank, Singapore
38. Grant Thornton LLP, Chicago, Illinois
39. Cbeyond, Atlanta, Georgia

In addition, nine companies on this list have been BEST ASTD Award winners for three years or more. They are: BB&T, CSC, Gables Residential, Infosys Technologies, MTR Corporation, Reliance Industries, sanofi‐aventis U.S., TELUS, and Wipro Limited.

Tags: astd, best awards, training and development, workplace learning, best practices, learning culture, tony bingham, t+d, skilled workforce

Categories: ASTD in the News | Chapters | Membership

At a recent meeting of the Ft. Lauderdale chapter of ASTD a speaker named Cher Holton was brought in to teach team building techniques to members. That session is the peg for a story titled "Go Team! Need for Collaboration Greater When There Are Fewer Employees" which offers so tips and strategies for teambuilding. This is the second story columnist Marcia Heroux Pounds has written using a speaker at an ASTD chapter meeting to peg a broader column on workplace issues. Last time her column was picked up in many major publications around the country (see blog posting here). It'll be interesting to see if this story is likewise syndicated!  

Tags: astd chapters, teambuilding, marcia heroux pounds, economy

Categories: ASTD in the News | Chapters

Building a Partnership with the Local Public Workforce System
October 1, 2:00 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT, Noon MT, 11 a.m. PT)

Speaker: C. Michael Ferraro, President & CEO, TRAINING SOLUTIONS, Inc.

Federal and state governments provide billions of dollars annually for job training and related services through the public workforce investment system at the local level. So why aren’t you taking advantage? Savvy workplace learning professionals can access a broad range of grants, tax credits, and other government resources to build a skilled workforce and maintain a competitive edge.

During the webcast, free to chapter leaders and members, Michael will explain how to locate and develop these opportunities for your organization, chapter, and how to influence state and local funding priorities.

Register HERE!

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Categories: Chapters

Thanks to ALC sponsor, Voice By David, ASTD is able to offer two scholarships for the 2009 ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference (ALC) to be held in Arlington, Virginia on October 30-31, 2009. 

This scholarship is intended for chapter leaders who would not otherwise be able to attend ALC without such financial assistance. (In an effort to allow greater participation, chapter leaders who received ALC travel reimbursement awards in 2008 may not apply for the 2009 scholarship.)

To apply for a scholarship, please register for the drawing by completing the online form in full by September 29, 2009. Scholarship recipients will be randomly selected by a third party and will be notified by October 1, 2009.

*Please note that this is not a reimbursement award. The scholarship will be applied to ALC registration or lodging at the Marriott Crystal Gateway prior to the ALC conference. Scholarship recipients may select one of the following scholarship options: 1) Complimentary Conference Registration or 2) Two complimentary nights at the Marriott Crystal Gateway

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Categories: Chapters

Are you a Chapter Leader - past or present - who has attended the annual ASTD Leaders Conference (ALC)? Do you have a story to tell about its impact? If so, we'd like to hear from you!

We frequently hear anecdotal stories about chapter leaders who walk away from the conference with tools and resources that they can immediately apply back at home.  We hear stories about the impact on leaders' personal and professional lives.  And even stories about lifelong friendships that are formed.

Would you be willing to share your story? 

If so, please contact me (chuggett at gmail.com) or Trish Uhl (trishuhl at gmail.com).  Thanks in advance!

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Categories: Chapters

The POWER OF 26 to Gain the POWER OF 2

The Power of 2 is a campaign to promote joint national and chapter ASTD membership.  While there’s power in two, it’s going to take a lot more than that to keep your chapters active, alive, growing, and engaged.  Chapter members are the reason your chapter exists. They influence the programs, services, and benefits you offer. Today, chapters are challenged with retaining and involving members, as well as attracting new members. A thriving membership doesn’t just happen; it requires good planning, year-round attention, and the Power of 26. 

During the 2009 ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference (ALC), Beverly Crowell, a Senior Associate Consultant for Career Systems International, will introduce us to the Power of 26; practical strategies to keep chapter members engaged, involved, and sticking around.  A “one size fits all” approach to chapter membership is not always successful.  If you can find the value of each membership segment, or better yet, each individual member, you are guaranteed a greater chance of success. 

The approach is as easy as A-Z and starts by discovering the 26 strategies from the best-selling book by Dr. Beverly Kaye, Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay.  In the preconference workshop, you will learn how to uncover what each member needs by asking; discover that development, environment, and style play a huge role in member satisfaction; and understand the zenith of your efforts happens when you use that information to unleash the power of your membership.

For more information on ALC, click here. Preconference workshop space is limited - register today!

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Categories: Chapters

                There are generally three types of people in the world today – those who live for what was, those who live for what is, and those who live for what will be. If you take a moment to think about it, you can come up with people in your life that fit all three categories. Rarely do you find those who are wise enough to incorporate the lessons of the past, live fully for today, and plan accordingly for the future. As a volunteer leader, it is imperative that you become just that for the sake of your chapter!

                As an avid college basketball fan, I look not only at the current state of my team, but also to what the outlook is for next year, the year after, and the year after that. As they say in the sport, “Your program is only as good as next year’s recruiting class.” This mirrors a question that confronts chapter leaders every year, “How do we ensure that this year’s team maintains success next year?” The answer is simple – focus not on the team, but also on the program as a whole.

                To begin, take a look at your “starting lineup” – your current board. Who will be staying on next year? Who will be leaving? Who might be a rising star due for a breakout year, and who is burnt out and no longer contributing to the success of the chapter as they once were? Then, look at your membership. Specifically identify the members you will actively recruit to fill holes on the roster and list as “bench players”.  Ask yourself, “Who is ready to step up and fill a gap immediately? Who needs additional training before they become a key cog on the board?”

                Once you have an accurate snapshot of your team, it becomes much easier to identify gaps in the roster and where to focus your recruiting efforts. A basketball team with a lot of returning talent amongst their big post players won’t make a pitched effort to recruit more big post players for the coming season. Rather, they focus their recruiting attention on the guards. This is the same strategy an effective chapter should employ. Let me use an example of a chapter that has an energetic V.P. of Membership that plans on remaining on the board for several years, but also has a V.P. of Programming that’s moving out of market.  The best method to add to the team is to employ a targeted recruiting campaign rather than a “one size fits all” appeal to the membership. In this case, approach a member who has been vocal about programming (and they’re in no short supply!) to make the recruiting pitch directly.

                The other key distinction between team and program is prestige. How well does the name alone recruit? The University of North Carolina and Duke University are “bluebloods” in the college basketball world. The prestige of their names alone have the best of the best drawn to them on a continual basis. Their name brand sells itself, self-perpetuating the cycle of excellence. When your chapter has reached the point where people approach YOU to become the next generation of volunteer leaders, you’ll know that your chapter has arrived.

                All in all, your legacy as chapter leaders will be defined not only by the state of the chapter in 2009, but also by the state of the chapter in 2019. If you plan ahead, identify talent, fill vacancies before they become gaps, and keep your name brand strong through great programming, you will become a true program builder yourself by establishing a prestigious name that recruits on its own and becomes a “blueblood” ASTD chapter.

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