ASTD June 2007 Chapter of the Month: 

Eastern PA
Building on our Strength

Founded in 1962 with eight members and nationally chartered in 1969, the Eastern Pennsylvania (Eastern PA) chapter is comprised of more than 140 workplace learning and performance professionalsrepresenting over 100 local Eastern Pennsylvania companies, small businesses, and independent consultants. 

Our region is in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, with the major cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton as its anchors. We also extend into western and central New Jersey, and north towards the Pocono Mountains. We are located 60 miles north of Philadelphia and 90 miles west of New York City. The Lehigh Valley is an actual valley, covering over 700 square miles, and is the state’s third most populated metropolitan area, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

During the last 45 years, the chapter has been led by a “Who’s Who” of business in the Greater Lehigh Valley, including people representing Pennsylvania Power & Light (PPL), Bethlehem Steel, Air Products & Chemicals, Just Born, Martin Guitar, Crayola, Lafayette Ambassador Bank, Merchants Bank, Lehigh Valley Hospital, Lafayette College, Penn State University, and our two local community colleges (Northampton and Lehigh Carbon counties). As the workforce changed and grew, the Eastern PA chapter did too. 

The chapter has had an impact on the Lehigh Valley through the 2004, 2005, and 2006 and this year’s fourth annual 2007 CEO Forum. CEOs who have attended these programs found it invaluable as they do not have many opportunities to discuss the challenges they face, and our chapter received national recognition from ASTD. The chapter also holds an annual Learning and Performance Conference, geared to the trends and issues facing our industry.

The Eastern PA Chapter has also been recognized on a national level (through the “Sharing Our Success” program) for its innovative and strategic programs, including “Be Strategic: Hold a CEO Forum” (detailed above) and “Build and Maintain Your Board on Solid Foundations.” This submission looked at how the chapter uses a team building format for an annual leadership orientation and five-year strategic planning meeting. Additionally, it targeted the chapter’s model of how to develop a pipeline for new leaders and ways to enhance the leadership skills of existing leaders.

Building on the idea of a “pipeline,” one of Chapter President Don Dutko’s initiatives for 2007 is a knowledge management initiative (KMI). KMI is about documenting all the "stuff” board members do, which will assist in succession planning endeavors and recruitment of new people into leadership positions. Our board didn’t realize how much it did until we started our documentation!

The Eastern PA chapter has been honored to present at several recent ASTD Leadership Conferences (ALCs), giving us the opportunity to share the details on our SOS-winning ideas and the CEO Forum. In addition, due to our proximity to Washington, DC (approximately 220 miles), we have been able to have a high percentage of our board members attend. We are always energized by the creativity and enthusiasm of our peers from around the country!

Our chapter’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have been a valuable resource that many members take advantage of. We are specialized into several areas including our Best Practices for Internals SIG (for trainers working in a corporate or business setting) and our Consultant’s Forum (for independent consultants). We also have a Publishing SIG, which has resulted in several members getting published (books, T+D magazine, and other magazines).

Communicating with our members is vital, and we also believe in people communicating with each other. In 2007, we relaunched an online message board system (via Yahoo! groups) where chapter members can reach out to each other for help in work issues and job leads. We also have made strides to make it easier for people to attend meetings through the use of a safe online payment system for programs and events.

The Eastern PA Chapter would like to thank ASTD for this important recognition. We may not be the largest chapter, but our numbers are growing! We are “small but mighty,” and like to think we are building on our strengths. Just wait until we hit our 50th Anniversary in 2012!

Please visit us at http://www.easternpa.astd.org/.