The Webcomic, “The Secret in the Cellar – A Written in Bone Forensic Mystery from Colonial America”, won the 2009 Best Practices in Distance Learning Programming Gold Prize from the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA).
Developed by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the Webcomic combines graphic novel techniques and interactive activities to tell a story.
On the Panel:
Robert Costello, National Museum of Natural History
Dan Bliton: Project Designer, Booz Allen Hamilton
Paula Dosch-Haworth: Instructional Designer, Booz Allen Hamilton
Annabelle Reitman and Sylvia Benatti, career management consultants will be speaking at the ASTD ICE on Sustaining Engagement & Succession Planning Through Intergenerational Conversations.
Tom Kuhlmann, Vice President at Articulate, manager of the user community for Articulateand author of the Rapid E-Learning Blog.
Mike Parmentier, Principal at Booz Allen, founder of the Training Education and Performance Support CoP at Booz Allen .
This panel discussion about Communities of Practices (CoP) integrates the academic, private and social perspectives of Communities of Practice.
CoP’s are defined around a shared passion and a common goal driven by the learning from one another. In fact a CoP already exists in your organization whether it is formally recognised or not.
Discussion rises around the tension between the corporate desire to formally capture the knowledge being shared in the community and the requisite grassroots informal learning environment to grow a CoP.
The first section discusses:
Defining a Community of Practice
Infrastructure and Technology
Levels of participation–The lurker
The second section discusses:
Growing a community grass roots style
Measuring the effectiveness
The corporate perspective, capturing and nurturing
BRM is a full service marketing firm that specializes in the strategic development, implementation and continued execution of integrated marketing programs and services. We Bring Results by maximizing the skills and talents of your team and blending them with ours to ensure you meet your goals.
Dealing with the “right” firm will allow your organization to maximize efforts and enables you to successfully complete projects on time and under budget.
A seasoned marketing professional, Tonia Blackwood, brings BR MarketLaunch LLC (BRM) over 15 years of experience in all facets of sales and marketing strategy, channel communications, customer service and program management. Tonia is recognized in her industry for her ability to make cutting-edge decisions, build and execute successful marketing programs and lead energetic result-oriented teams. These qualities support her ability to manage all types of business challenges, which includes supporting the marketing needs of start up, turnaround and growth organizations. All while effectively controlling the bottom line and providing value for all concerned.
Before BRM, Tonia served as the Member Engagement Program Manager for CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association. Tonia successfully implemented and managed both the Membership Lifecycle and Member Education Programs for a membership base exceeding 10,000 members. Prior to this role, she served as the Industry Information Manager to the Technology Learning Group where she managed all marketing communications, print media, web content development, and events marketing.
As a prelude to CompTIA, Tonia’s professional contributions at Thomson-Prometric included departmental supervision of marketing communications, corporate communications and events, domestic and international channel communications for over 3,000 partners, and operations management for five international call centers.
Along with her unique blend of skills and leadership style, her natural ability to identify, develop and execute creative marketing solutions for customer service, retention and process management has enabled Tonia to consistently meet high-level business goals and objectives.
Her philanthropic contributions include the Baltimore City Tsunami initiative – BaltimoResponds, Rotary International projects that have benefited YMCA programs, Community Food Ministries, Disabled Veterans and the Catonsville School District. Tonia currently resides in Harford County.
Today’s episode features Joe Willmore of Willmore Consulting talking to us about Performance Improvement.
Joe Willmore is the President of Willmore Consulting Group, a performance consulting firm located near Washington, DC. He has more than 25 years of consulting experience with a wide range of organizations. He is the author of Performance Basics (ASTD Press) and has written numerous articles on the subject of human performance improvement.
If you purchase one of the above from the ASTD Bookstore, help raise money for Metro DC ASTD - Use our source code, Ch2034, for all ASTD bookstore purchases.
Today’s episode features Joe Willmore of Willmore Consulting talking to us about Performance Improvement.
Joe Willmore is the President of Willmore Consulting Group, a performance consulting firm located near Washington, DC. He has more than 25 years of consulting experience with a wide range of organizations. He is the author of Performance Basics (ASTD Press) and has written numerous articles on the subject of human performance improvement.
If you purchase one of the above from the ASTD Bookstore, help raise money for Metro DC ASTD - Use our source code, Ch2034, for all ASTD bookstore purchases.
Michael has a reputation of generating extraordinary profit across multiple international organizations in diverse industries, including oil and gas. He mines and teaches key position holders to mine business opportunities that, throughout the course of his 17-year executive career in organizational development and change management, have produced a combined cost savings in excess of $100 million for his clients. To illustrate, he re-engineered a mentoring strategy for an overseas gas and oil services company failing to meet business objectives, resulting in cost savings of $26 million while accelerating career progressions of a national workforce by 20%.
A strategist focused on excellence, Michael says that “clarity in defining business objectives is the most effective way to focus all levels of an organization on common goals to secure a competitive advantage.” That’s what he did when he led a major service-culture change initiative for a Citigroup service center of 10,000 employees assisting 25 million customers that was adopted industry-wide as a best practice.
His passion is creating strategies that drive organizations toward their maximum potential in terms of people, technology and processes. For example, Michael developed production utilization metrics that measured the effectiveness of resources resulting in 50% lower idle times, a $650K annual savings for a data entry unit already meeting production targets.
The degree by which he holds himself accountable for achieving measurable ROI targets is demonstrated in profits generated from the implementation of leadership and management training initiatives. For instance, a production decision-making course for a financial services company significantly contributed to cutting operating costs by 5% and led to numerous process changes adopted as best practices.
In summary, Michael is a results-driven senior executive with an established record of delivering quantifiable ROI through organizational development and change management initiatives.
In this episode, Chuck Conley of the Ripken Leadership Center will talk to us about Leadership.
Chuck Conley, CEO Ripken Leadership Center
Phone: 410-720-3736
Cell 443-248-0645
E-mail: chuck@RipkenLeadership.com
Web Site: http://www.RipkenLeadership.com
Guest Bio
Today’s guest is Chuck Conley, Chief Executive Officer of the Ripken Leadership Center.
Chuck Conley is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Ripken Leadership Center. He also provides leadership and holds the position of Managing Principal for Workforce Innovations. He is the former CEO and co-founder of the Paradigm Alliance Group, a Human Resources Consulting Group he managed for eight years. He provides consultation in all aspects of Human Resources with particular emphasis on Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Engagement.
Chuck has worked in Human Resources for twenty nine years. For the last ten years, he has provided leadership to key clients on corporate-wide initiatives to transform culture and increase employee engagement. Chuck has also worked for notable companies like USF&G, Travelers, and Paul Revere Insurance Company. His most recent corporate assignment before Paradigm Alliance Group was Vice President- Human Resources for USF&G. This assignment included leadership for all Human Resource initiatives of the Property and Casualty business as well as Corporate Staffing, Field Operations, Employee Service Center and Employee Relations functional groups. His responsibility in this role encompassed strategic planning, organizational development and intervention, executive coaching, employee relations, recruiting and selection, cultural development, compensation strategy, and performance management. During Chuck’s five-year tenure at USF&G he received numerous recognition awards for leadership and performance. These included the CEO’s most coveted leadership award for character. He was the first and only Human Resource executive ever selected for such an honor.
Chuck’s current interests include development of employee relations programs that cultivate high performance, build core competence to create competitive advantage, drive organizational change through leadership development, and position the Human Resource function for greater organizational effectiveness. His works in these areas have not gone unnoticed. Chuck was interviewed by Best Review magazine regarding his work on competency development for employees. He has given lectures to numerous organizations including the Internal Revenue Service on creative approaches to workforce transformation. Chuck has also written various articles for business journals on the strategic approaches to employee relations. Recently Chuck’s consulting assignments have included work with National City Corporation where he led the Branch Transformation, Employee Engagement, and Learning strategic initiatives. He also served as the Chief Learning Officer for an interim period of time.
Chuck received his Bachelors in Business Administration from Texas Southern University and has been certified as Senior Professional Human Resources by the Society for Human Resource Management. He has also been certified by the Institute for Applied Management and Law for advanced level Employee Relations Law.
Today’s guest is Kathy Reiffenstein, founder and President of And…Now Presenting!. Kathy is a passionate educator in the art and science of public speaking. With more than 20 years as a business owner, trainer, manager, team leader and published writer, Kathy has what any good decision-maker is looking for in a professional trainer and business partner - practical experience combined with the ability to transfer knowledge, assess skills and coach performance.
In today’s highly competitive business environment, the ability to present yourself and your ideas successfully is an absolute necessity. And…Now Presenting!enhances your business communications skills by offering presentation skills training that helps corporate executives, authors, salespeople and non-profit leaders become confident and persuasive speakers.
Working with pharmaceutical, packaged goods, high-tech, airline and major consulting companies, Kathy has trained people at various levels and disciplines. Acknowledged by her clients for exemplary customer service and a dedication to understanding their needs, she continues to help people learn how to excel at presenting their ideas, their strategies and their vision.
Prior to creating And…Now Presenting!, Kathy was a principal at a sales and teamwork training company specializing in experiential learning programs. She also worked in the financial services and telecommunications industries for Bell Canada, American Express and Royal Trust. Kathy has a degree in English from Cornell University.
The Metro DC Chapter of ASTD is an ASTD Chapter of Excellence, recognized as a regional association for workplace performance professionals. The chapter provides members with a forum for professional development opportunities and resources to improve the workplace learning and performance industry.
Our purpose is to enrich the knowledge and skills and increase the impact of our constituents in their workplace learning communities.
During the podcast episodes we will cover topics that relate to the ASTD Competency Model such as the Interpersonal, business/management, and personal foundation competencies.
We will also cover the areas of expertise that include:
Designing Learning
Improving Human Performance
Delivering Training
Measuring and Evaluating
Facilitating Organizational Change
Managing the Learning Function
Coaching
Manaing Organizational Knowledge
and Career Planning and Talent Management
We will have interviews with Workplace Learning and Performance professionals in different roles such as:
Learning Strategist
Project Managers
Business Partners
and Professional Specialists
If you would like to be a guest, please send your name, specialty, idea for a program, relationship to the ASTD Competency Model, and an outline of your topic to podcast@dcastd.org.
Leave Voicemail Feedback at: 877-6-DCASTD, ext. 92 or preferably leave your feedback on our blog at dcastdpodcast.org which is hosted at WordPress.com. You will have to register to post feedback. While you are here, create a blog for yourself.
Record a .wav or .mp3 file of no more than 2 minutes and email it to podcast@dcastd.org.
In addition to feedback, we would like for you to share links, tips, and resources at the Metro DC ASTD Wiki. Once, registered you may edit the pages to add your knowledge regarding the podcast topics or any of the ASTD Competency Model topics.
Technical Issues
The media player for each episode is an Adobe Flash file. If the sound speeds up when you are listening, please update Adobe Flash. The Adobe Flash player can be found at this link.
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Marshall Brown, President of 
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Dr. Nada Dabbagh, Associate professor in the 
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Leadership with Chuck Conley 
Presentation Skills with Kathy Reiffenstein
