Issue: November 20, 2007

Headlines

1. Employee Learning Week 
Get involved and showcase employee learning in your chapter, December 3-7, 2007.
2. Chapter Wide Conference Call
“Jump Start New Board Members to Rev up Your Chapter,” Tuesday, December 11, from 3-4:00 p.m. ET

1. Thank you to all chapter leaders
The Chapter Services Team wishes all chapter leaders a Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for your leadership and all you do for ASTD and the profession!

2. OneVoice Forum call, Tuesday, November 27, 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT, 1 p.m. MT, Noon PT)
Join us for this toll-free, chapter-wide call to continue the dialogue about OneVoice, the strategic initiative to more closely align ASTD and the chapters and to provide additional resources for chapters. Sharon Wingron, National Advisors for Chapters (NAC) Chair, will facilitate the call, providing an update from the discussions at the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference (ALC). Chapter leaders are encouraged to join the conversation, ask questions, and share their ideas. Please RSVP to Lindsay Hemphill at lhemphill@astd.org with your name, chapter, and chapter leadership position. Please email your questions or comments to be addressed on the conference call to Sharon Wingron at sharon@wingsofsuccess.com.

3. Important reminder: CORE survey—chapter contacts needed
This year, the process for completing the Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE) survey is more streamlined due to an upgrade in our surveying tools. One assigned contact person from each chapter will be sent a unique url to access their personalized survey.  For chapters that did not designate a chapter contact for the CORE survey at ALC, please email your chapter coach with the information.

4. Chapters are busy planning for (ELW) December 3-7!
Many chapters are in the final stages of planning their ELW activities, including local and state proclamations. Three state proclamations are already underway, so please keep us posted on your chapter’s activities and proclamation requests. To obtain additional ELW materials or to let us know how your plans are coming along, please send a note to elw@astd.org. For tools and templates to help your chapter with proclamations and communications, click here to access the ELW Toolkit. All chapters that recognize Employee Learning Week will receive a “Champion of Learning” certificate.

Finally, keep an “ear” out for the ELW public service announcements that are playing on radio stations across the U.S. Already, they have played in 33 states and have been broadcast more than 600 times in major U.S. cities!

5. Chapter board member national membership discount available
As a chapter board member, you can take advantage of a $100 discounted national membership. You can also obtain reduced rates for specialized content to meet your career development needs, including the ASTD Book Club, Infoline Plus, E-Learning News and more. Click here for the discounted application form.

6. Deadline approaching—submit your chapter’s “Power of 2” ideas by November 30 and be entered to win a prize!
ASTD national and chapters are partnering to promote joint membership through the “Power of 2” joint membership campaign. Share your chapter’s “Power of 2” ideas and your chapter can be entered in a drawing to win a FREE set of ASTD Learning System Flashcards ($75 value)! Email Renee Eder at reder@astd.org by November 30, 2007, and each chapter will receive one entry for every idea submitted.

7. Thank you to outgoing chapter-related committee members and advisors
Thank you to the following individuals for their hard work and commitment as chapter-related committee members and national volunteers in 2007:

National Advisors for Chapters (NAC)
Ann Alexander, Mid-Michigan Chapter
Rebecca Boyle, Niagara Frontier Chapter
Lisa Hayes, Nebraska Chapter
Kathy Shurte, Fort Lauderdale Chapter
Donna Steffey, Chicagoland Chapter

Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE) Committee
Sarah DeLong, Lincoln Chapter
Lisa Hayes, Nebraska Chapter

Chapter Recognition Committee (CRC)
Ann Alexander, Mid-Michigan Chapter
Veronica Bruhl, Chicagoland Chapter
Deb Connor, Kansas City Chapter

Leadership Development Team (LDT)
Russ Brock, Central Ohio Chapter
Aaron Munter, Cascadia Chapter

8. Introducing 2008 incoming chapter-related committee members and advisors
At the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference (ALC), the National Advisors for Chapters (NAC), Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE) Committee, Leadership Development Team (LDT), and Chapter Recognition Committee (CRC) welcomed incoming 2008 team members. Below is a brief description of each committee and an introduction to new members.

National Advisors for Chapters (NAC)
The NAC is charged with addressing chapter needs and ensuring services are provided to chapters and members. The NAC welcomes four new team members:

	Paula Ruffy—Utah Chapter Paula Ruffy, Utah Chapter president, has had 25 years of experience in consulting and project management. She has led international project teams in Russia, Finland, and the United States, and in a wide range of industry sectors, both public and private.
	Michael Sabbag—Fort Lauderdale Chapter Michael Sabbag, past president of the Fort Lauderdale Chapter, has more than 20 years experience in organizational development, performance management, and training. He is currently the director of talent management services for Learn.com, and has been the keynote speaker at many professional organizations, discussing such topics as talent management, performance management, strategic planning, and measuring ROI for training.
	Ken Steiger—Central NY Chapter Ken Steiger, 2008 chair of the CRC, is president of the Central New York Chapter. He has 18 years experience in the training and development field and is currently president of Steiger Training & Development. Ken specializes in executive coaching and leadership development, and has expertise in change leadership, strategic planning, organizational development, training trainers, selling skills, and team development.
	Christie Ward—Rocky Mountain Chapter Christie Ward, past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, is the principal of the Impact Institute and a professional speaker, speaker coach, trainer, and facilitator. She is a volunteer for Colorado Homeless Families and an active member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and the National Speaker’s Association.

Chapter Operating Requirements (CORE) Committee
The CORE Committee provides chapter leaders with the support, knowledge, and resources needed to comply with ASTD’s CORE standard. The CORE Committee welcomes two new team members:

Don Dutko—Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter Don Dutko, president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter, has more than 30 years experience in the training and development industry. He has held senior-level training and organizational development positions in the U.S. Air Force, banking, financial services, manufacturing, and telecom industries. He owns his own consultancy that specializes in management and leadership development, customer service, and public speaking, and is also an adjunct professor for several local and national universities.

Veronica Bruhl—Chicagoland Chapter Veronica Bruhl, past president of the Chicagoland Chapter, has most recently worked at a telecommunications company in technical training. She has held positions as service line manager, manager, staff instructional designer, and lead instructional designer and has taught communications at Kishwaukee Community College. Veronica has been a member of the CRC and helped this year as a member of the Chapter Excellence Awards Team.

Leadership Development Team (LDT)
The LDT recommends the leadership development program for chapter leaders; reviews session proposals for the ASTD Leaders Conference and recommends ones for selection, identifies programming gaps, and recommends topics and speakers to fill those gaps. The LDT welcomes two new members in 2008:

Greg Rider—Metro New York Chapter Greg Rider, past president of the Metro New York Chapter, has more than 15 years experience as a learning and development professional. His professional experience includes manager and director-level positions with healthcare communication agencies, as well as consulting projects for Forest Pharmaceuticals, Cingular Wireless, and Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Joyce Wietrecki—Chicagoland Chapter Joyce Wietrecki, president of the Chicagoland Chapter, has 15 years experience in the training and development field and runs her own sales and marketing company. She is currently a director of training, with experience in retail, manufacturing, distribution, and the financial service industries.

Chapter Recognition Committee (CRC)
The CRC identifies, recognizes, and shares chapter best practices. The CRC welcomes three new committee members in 2008:

	John Dee–DC Metro Chapter John Dee, director of volunteers for DC Metro Chapter, has more than 20 years experience as a learning and development professional. He has trained hundreds of professionals in management, planning, training-of-trainers and project management. He has worked in 20 countries in many capacities–coaching, training, instructional design, and evaluation.
	Janet Skogerboe—Nebraska Chapter Janet Skogerboe, vice president of marketing for the Nebraska Chapter, has eight years of formal training experience. Professionally, her career has been in the media industry, customer service, hospitality, and now in the healthcare field.
	Joyce Thompson—Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter Joyce Thompson, vice president of finance for the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter, has been involved in training for 17 years, including becoming a principal network specialist managing a network of over 1,000 computers and electronic devices. She has held the role of director of computer training at a community college, and now teaches computer science and networking courses.

On November 15th, Congress failed to override President Bush’s veto of H.R. 3043, the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The president’s veto was not unexpected, as the bill exceeded the president’s budget request by about $9.8 billion, but the inability to override leaves Congressional leaders with some tough choices. Congress can either attempt to pass a new appropriations bill, with spending more in line with the president’s request, or choose to bundle the Labor-HHS with other appropriations bills in an “omnibus” spending package.