Leader Connection Newsletter (LCN)

This is a free monthly newsletter from ASTD Chapter Services department specifically targeted for chapter leaders highlighting useful news and information.

September 2009

Chapter Recognition:
Congratulations to the Chapter of the Month for September: Puget Sound!

Calendar Dates

Chapter Leader Community Web Tour – September 14
Disney’s Approach to Inspiring Creativity webcast – September 15
BEST Awards Announced – October 1
Building a Partnership with the Local Public Workforce webcast – October 1
Learn from the BEST Conference – October 2
Employee Learning Week webcast – October 13
Create a Meaningful Career webcast – October 15
ALC: Pre-conference – October 29
ALC: October 30–31
Employee Learning Week: December 7-11
CORE submission deadline: January 31, 2010

Upcoming Webcasts

Disney’s Approach to Inspiring Creativity – September 15, 2009 (4 p.m. ET, (3 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. MT, 1 p.m. PT)) – The Disney Institute continues to partner with ASTD chapters in a revenue-share opportunity created around professional development. Find out more about this unique opportunity here.

Learn from Others’ Successes and Avoid Recreating the Wheel - September 22, 2009 (4 p.m. ET, (3 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. MT, 1 p.m.) Co-facilitators Paul Smith (2009 Chapter Recognition Committee Chair,  National Advisor for Chapters) and Lisa Downs (2010 Chapter Recognition Committee Chair) will lead a webcast designed to  help you leverage the best practices of your peers by tapping into tools, resource, and templates other chapters have successfully used. Click here to register.

Building a Partnership with the Local Public Workforce System – October 1, 2009 (2 p.m. ET, (1 p.m. CT, noon MT, 11 a.m. PT)) – Your local public workforce investment system can be a great resource for your chapter. Join Michael Ferraro, a member of ASTD’s public policy team, to find out how you can tap into the billions of dollars state and federal governments are spending for job training and related services. Click here for event details.

Employee Learning Week – October 13, 2009 (1:30 p.m. ET, (12:30 p.m. CT, 11:30 a.m. MT, 10:30 a.m. PT)) – Join this webcast to get great ideas for making Employee Learning Week (December 7-11) a tremendous success for your chapter or business. Jennifer Homer, ASTD VP of Communications and Member Relations, will share ideas, best practices, and lessons learned to help you put together a plan to highlight the value of learning. Register here.
Create a Meaningful Career: Find a Soulcheck, Not a Paycheck – October 15, 2009 (2 p.m. ET, (1 p.m. CT, noon MT, 11 a.m. PT)) Wall Street Journal columnist and ASTD author Alexandra Levit will present a free webcast for members who join or renew their national ASTD membership before September 30, 2009. Space is limited. Click here to reserve your spot!

ALC News and Information

2009 CHAPTER LEADERS CONFERENCE (ALC)
Cruising to Chapter Excellence
October 29-31, 2009

Marriott Crystal Gateway, Arlington (Crystal City), VA

Register online

• Speakers and facilitators include Beverly Crowell, Beverly Kaye, Jim Smith, Jr., Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan, ASTD CEO Tony Bingham, Bob Pike, and members of the National Advisors for Chapters (NAC).

• Concurrent session topics such as growing your membership, volunteer recruitment,  and nonprofit finance basics are now posted online and are categorized into five tracks:
Chapter Management
Leadership
Branding
National ASTD
Learning, Development, and Performance

• Join the ALC Green Initiative. All session handouts will be provided on a thumb drive—allowing you to view handouts from all sessions (even the sessions you don’t attend). Bring your laptop and use the thumb drive to access the handouts during the session, or print in advance!

CORE Corner

NEW CORE Planning Workbook Coming Soon! 

The finishing touches are being put on a new tool to help manage Chapter Operating Requirements. Check the Chapter Leader Community (CLC) after September 20 for this new resource.

Core Contacts Needed

If your chapter hasn’t indicated your designated CORE contact to receive the CORE survey link yet, please send the name and email address of the chapter CORE contact to Lisa-Marie Gardner. The CORE submission deadline is January 31, 2010.

Checking in: Chapter Joint Membership Challenge

How are you doing on the Joint Membership Challenge? ASTD is challenging ALL chapters to increase the number of joint members!  Encourage ASTD national members to join chapters and chapter members to join national ASTD. Build a partnership between national ASTD and local chapters to inform members of the benefits of the “Power of 2.” Chapters that have been working on a plan to increase joint membership and have already invested resources this year will be recognized and rewarded.

Each chapter will receive an email message informing them of their individual goals for the challenge. For more information on the challenge, and to see the list of prizes, please click here. If you have any questions about this membership challenge please contact your chapter coach.

New Membership Resource – Value of National ASTD Membership

A new marketing resource has been created for chapters to promote the value of national ASTD membership to chapter members. The flyer outlines the benefits of the “Power of 2” and benefits national ASTD provides to its members; please Click here to view. Chapters are encouraged to distribute this piece at upcoming chapter events and post to your chapter's website to increase joint membership. This is also a great way to reach your chapter's goals in the Chapter Joint Membership Challenge. To find additional membership resources available to your chapter, please visit the “Power of 2” website or contact your chapter coach.

Are You Using the Right ASTD Logo?

Make sure you are using the correct ASTD chapter logo on your website and all of your communications! Click here for downloadable logos that meet ASTD branding guidelines!

Tools for Chapter Success

New Chapter Leader Community Debut and Webcast Tour!

The Chapter Leader Community (CLC) website has a new look. The site was revamped so chapter resources are easier to find. This information-rich website serves as a one-stop shop for all chapter leader needs. The url will remain www.astd.org/clc.

The largest portion of the CLC will be dedicated to chapter management including CORE, Chapter Administration and Membership Program (ChAMP), discount partnerships, chapter best practices and chapter recognition. The CLC will continue to include toolkits, chapter coach contact information, a chapter locator, and logos available for download in addition to other professional development resources. Check out the new design and streamlined navigation! Click here. All chapter leaders are invited to attend a webcast on September 14 as we “tour” the new CLC site. You may find that there is much more at your fingertips than you ever knew! Click here to register.

News From National

Welcome to Two New National Advisors for Chapters!

Veronica Bruhl, CPLP and Barb Smith have been elected to serve as National Advisors for Chapters (NAC) for a three-year term, 2010-2012. For more information about NAC, click here.

Veronica is the past president of the Chicagoland Chapter and has held national leadership positions with the Chapter Recognition Committee, Chapter Operating Requirements Committee, Chapter Excellence Awards Team, and currently serves on the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference Program Advisory Committee. She has more than 10 years experience in the fields of designing learning, delivering training, improving human performance, measuring and evaluating, and managing the learning function. She has been an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University since 2008 and an independent consultant since 2007 working with a wide range of industry sectors, both public and private.  She has held several positions in the training and development field and has a Doctorate degree in Instructional Technology from Northern Illinois University.  She is a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) and is certified as a Professional in Human Resources from SHRM.

Barb has been active in ASTD and the local Rocky Mountain Chapter, including serving on the chapter board for the past six years. She brings more than 20 years of organizational development, change management, strategic planning, and training experience to her clients.  Barb’s background includes serving as the organizational change manager for a joint venture of two Fortune 100 oil and gas firms where she participated on and coached the executive team, and facilitated new strategies, structures, and culture. As an internal training and human resources manager and professional, she designed and implemented hundreds of successful leadership, professional and technical improvement processes, programs, workshops, and organizational development interventions. In her current work as an external partner, Barb collaborates with leaders of diverse organizations to achieve results.

The OfficeMax discount printing program has been modified. Specifically ASTD has negotiated new pricing for the online orders placed by chapter leaders for chapter business cards, letterhead, envelopes, note cards and note card envelopes. Online ordering will be unavailable while the new pricing is updated. Look for this functionality to be back on line in late September. If you have immediate ordering needs, contact Cami Best-Jones at cjones@astd.org.

National Operating Requirements – coming soon!

The National Operating Requirements (NORE) will be announced to chapters next week. Please look for an email to arrive from ASTD. Your National Advisors for Chapters (NAC) representative and ASTD chapter coaches will be available to answer any questions you may have.

Learn from the BEST – ASTD’s premiere awards, the BEST Awards, will be announced on October 1. Join the BEST winners for a conference and take away award-winning practices to implement in your business or chapter. Make plans to attend and click here for more information.

August 2009

ALC NEWS and INFORMATION

Congratulations to the August Chapter of the Month: New Mexico!

Ahoy Chapter Leaders!

2009 Chapter Leaders Conference (ALC) – Cruising to Chapter Excellence
October 30-31, 2009, Arlington VA

• The ALC Program Advisory Committee is offering financial sponsorship opportunities at a variety of different levels. If you are interested in sponsoring ALC, or if you have knowledge of an organization that would be interested, please contact committee members Veronica Bruhl, vbruhl@sbcglobal.net or Nanci Appleman-Vassil, nanci@aplsgroup.com.
• Don’t miss the boat! Attend the only conference that will provide you and your board members with the tools and resources vital for chapter success.  Over 300 of your fellow chapter leaders from around the country will be in attendance. The conference dates are October 30-31, with an optional preconference workshop offered on October 29. Preconference space is limited—make your reservations today.
• Your cruise itinerary includes keynote speakers Beverly Kaye, Jim Smith, Jr., Thiagi, ASTD CEO Tony Bingham, and two opportunities to attend a concurrent session facilitated by Bob Pike.
• Book your cabin now. This is a popular event and room blocks fill fast. Links to conference registration and the hotel may be found at www.astd.org/alc.

CORE Corner

BUILD YOUR CORE: Non-ChAMP chapters that would like assistance with increasing their joint membership may send updated rosters to your chapter coach and national ASTD will send national membership invitations to your members who are not yet taking advantage of the “Power of 2” special discounted rate for chapter members.

Chapter Leaders – To meet the Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE), you must be a joint chapter and national member. Chapter leaders qualify for a special $119 discounted national member rate (save $50 off the regular joint member rate). Click here for the membership form.

Chapter Membership Stars and Superstars Announcement
In 2008, about 75 percent of ASTD chapters met or were above the CORE requirement of 30 percent joint membership. The CORE membership goal helps establish that members of the national organization and its chapters are part of the same organization with shared valuable resources and a shared compelling mission that effectively meets members’ professional development needs. ASTD would like to recognize those chapters that went above and beyond the 30 percent requirement; these chapters are our membership STAR and SUPERSTAR chapters. For a listing of these chapters please click here.

Special recognition goes to the Mid-New Jersey chapter, which achieved 91 percent joint membership within their chapter. This is a remarkable achievement and shows their commitment to informing members of the benefits of both national ASTD and its local chapters. The Mid-NJ Chapter received one complimentary registration to the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference (ALC). Congratulations to the chapter—be sure to attend ALC to learn how they did it!

Chapter Joint Membership Challenge
ASTD is challenging itself and ALL chapters to increase the number of joint members!  Encourage ASTD national members to join chapters and local chapter members to join ASTD national. Build a partnership between national ASTD and local chapters to inform members of the benefits of the “Power of 2.” Chapters that have been working on a plan to increase joint membership and have already invested resources this year will be recognized and rewarded.

The challenge is for chapters to increase the number of joint members in their chapter by one of the following criteria:

TOOLS FOR CHAPTER SUCCESS

Chapter Excellence Awards-NEW REQUIREMENT
A chapter may not receive a CEA award in a category if they won in that category the previous year. The purpose of the new requirement is to maximize opportunities for recognition among different chapters in each size category in each of the three areas. If you have further questions, please contact your chapter coach. Remember, submission deadline is September 7!

THE Chapter Leader Community website is chock full of resources for you –
• FREE CONTENT is available for your chapter newsletters and website here
• ARCHIVED webcasts and podcasts – like the latest one on the Skills Gap are found here.

NEW SOS Submissions – Check It Out!
New SOS submissions from Eastern North Carolina, Central Ohio, Mount Diablo, Greater Chattanooga, Sacramento, Greater Atlanta, Greater Cleveland, New Mexico, Research Triangle Area, Eastern PA, and Long Island received SOS recognition. View their best practices and others on Sharing Our Success – “Success Stories” page.

Approved CPLP recertification points language for marketing chapter programs
Chapters that wish to attract CPLPs to attend their chapter programs may use the approved language below in marketing these learning events for recertification points. Currently, the ASTD Certification Institute does not pre-certify any programs but if your chapter’s event is centered on one of the areas of expertise defined in the ASTD Competency Model then the event will be evaluated to receive recertification credit. Chapters are encouraged to use the description below for those learning events the chapter believes align with the ASTD Competency Model. Contact your chapter coach if you have any questions and be sure to look at the CPLP toolkit for other ways to promote certification.

“Participants may earn up to 1 CPLP recertification point for attending this program, provided this program is approved by the ASTD Certification Institute. Check the CPLP Candidate Bulletin on the ASTD website for further information about acceptable credits for CPLP recertification.”

NEWS FROM NATIONAL
INSTALLMENT BILLING is here! Your membership fees can now be paid over the course of a year, making it much more budget-friendly to keep your membership current and forego the risk of losing your benefits. Click here for more information.

Want to present at the 2010 ASTD International Conference and Exposition in Chicago? Proposals are due August 26, 2009. Click here for more information.

SAVE THE DATE! Employee Learning Week 2009 is December 7-11! For more information, or to check out what ELW Champions did last year, go to www.employeelearningweek.org.

What support can chapters expect from national ASTD?
National ASTD has received feedback from chapter leaders requesting clarification about what support they can expect from national ASTD. The National Advisors for Chapters, a special team of past chapter leaders, and ASTD chapter services collaborated to develop National Operating Requirements (NORE) that are parallel to the Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE). Look for the NORE announcement later this month.

INTRODUCTIONS: 2010 National Chapter-Related Committee Chairs

LISA J. DOWNS, Chair, Chapter Recognition Committee (CRC)

The 2008 President of the ASTD Puget Sound Chapter, having served as its Vice-President of Membership for two years, Lisa is currently serving on the Chapter Board as the Immediate Past President, and is serving her first year on ASTD national’s Chapter Recognition Committee. Lisa is a Leadership Development Manager for T-Mobile USA’s Integrated Customer Experience Group, where she conducts communications, leadership, and management training and serves as a coach and curriculum developer. She owns DevelopmentWise, a consulting business in Redmond, Washington, and is the author of three books in the ASTD Trainer’s Workshop Series: Listening Skills Training, Time Management Training, and Negotiation Skills Training.

SARDÈK P. LOVE, Chair, ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference Program Advisory Committee (ALC PAC)

 Sardèk is a past president of the Southeastern Virginia and Metro DC Chapters of ASTD. As a former National Advisor for ASTD, Sardèk and his fellow advisors were awarded the prestigious 2003 ASTD Staff – Partnership award by Tony Bingham, ASTD’s President and CEO. He is the Founder and President of Infinity Consulting and Training Solutions (ICTS), a management consulting and customer service training provider to an array of global customers.  Prior to establishing ICTS, Sardèk led and managed high performing teams at Booz Allen Hamilton, MetLife Insurance Company, and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Upcoming Webcasts:

• Leveraging Public Partnerships and Resources to Train Your Workforce (Free webcast) (Wednesday, September 2, 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT, 11 a.m. MT, 10 a.m. PT)) Featuring speakers from the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration and ASTD.
  Finding and retaining a skilled workforce is challenging even in a down economy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), or the stimulus legislation, has created new grants and funding streams for industries that are in need of help. Many companies want to understand how to find a partner at the local level and work together to apply for funding. Join ASTD for this unique opportunity to hear directly from the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration about immediate grant opportunities in the energy and healthcare sectors, and how your organization can partner at the local level with the publicly-funded workforce system. Click here to pre-register.
• Marcus Buckingham –The Performance Multiplier: How to Use the Four Principles of Social Networking to Reinvent Performance Management   FREE Webcast  September 9 when you join or renew your national ASTD membership! Call Customer Care 1.800.628.2783 to find out more about this limited-time only offer.
• CORE Overview (Thursday, September 10, 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT, Noon MT, 11 a.m. PT))
  The Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE) process assists chapter leaders in delivering consistent benefits to members and helps chapters attain the greatest level of success possible. This session will enable leaders who are new to the process and those who have an understanding of CORE to review the basics and gain insights into meeting the requirements. ASTD chapter coaches and National Advisors for Chapters will review the 2010 submission process for the January 31, 2010, deadline. Join discussions on best practices from other participants in this interactive session. To register for the webcast: http://core.eventbrite.com
• Disney Excellence for ASTD Chapter Members! ASTD chapter members can now take advantage of best-in-class practices delivered by the Disney Institute. Register now for one or more of these 60-minute webcasts. When you register at the discounted rate of $99 per webcast (standard price is $149), be sure to include your ChIP code and you’ll be entered to win a trip to the Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida, and earn ChIP dollars for your chapter.
  
  • Disney’s Approach to Brand Loyalty – Tuesday, August 25, 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT, 11 a.m. MT, 10 a.m. PT)
    See more dates and topics here.
• Professional Development: What’s New? webcast (Tuesday, August 18, 1 p.m. ET, (Noon CT, 11 a.m. MT, 10 a.m. PT)). Find out what’s on the horizon for ASTD conferences, certificates, online workshops, the ASTD Career Navigator (plot your career path!), and more.  Attend this workshop, facilitated by Nancy Olson, ASTD Senior Director of Education, to learn about the latest offerings, what’s in the planning stage, how chapters can get involved, and what’s popular now in professional development. To register for the webcast: http://professionaldevelopment.eventbrite.com/

Miss a chapter webcast and want to view? Click here to access the new Webcast and Podcast Archive page to download past chapter-wide conference calls/webcasts.
Are you on Twitter? We're planning to host a twitter chat for chapter leaders in September. Stay tuned to the Chapter Leader Community website (www.astd.org/clc) for more information (or follow @gurgena for updates).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR WITH THESE DATES:
Disney webcast “Brand Loyalty”: August 25
International Conference and Exposition Proposal Deadline: August 26
Chapter Excellence Awards Submission Deadline: September 7
Marcus Buckingham webcast: September 9
CORE Overview webcast: September 10
ALC Pre-Conference: October 29
ALC: October 30-31
Employee Learning Week: December 7-11
CORE submission deadline: January 31, 2010

How to subscribe to the LCN

Chapter board members are automatically subscribed to the LCN. Please send all chapter board member updates to your chapter coach so that they can receive important information for chapter leaders.