ASTD Philadelphia Chapter

Seasoned sales professionals understand that people buy from people that they trust and respect. How then do we as sellers gain trust and respect with buyers? In this podcast, Alan Prushan leads performance consultants through ways to provide prospects with the appropriate amount of information, pace and influence so the prospects can make a buying decisions. Prushan’s program, Sales Mastery, helps participants understand their natural behavioral preferences and give them with methods to understand the natural behavioral preferences of prospective buyers of their services.

About the speaker:

Alan Prushan is a Behavioral Analyst with 25 years of sales, management and leadership experience leading sales teams which produced over $125M in revenue. He has conducted behavioral mastery programs for over 1500 people ranging from Executive, Middle and First Level Management to Sales and Technical experts.

Description: How do you choose the best way to contact your prospective customers? What’s the best way to tell your story and deliver the appropriate message for your medium? How do you consider total cost, return on investment, cost per lead and other metrics? In this podcast, Rhonda Serkes answers these questions and others. Ms. Serkes speaks to training and performance-improvement consultants who want to boost the impact of their direct mail and e-mail campaigns. You’ll hear how she helps business owners arrive at strategies and consider tactics that are right for their businesses, and perhaps for yours, too!

About the speaker: As as head of the aptly-titled marketing agency “Help Me Rhonda,” Ms. Serkes creates results-oriented advertising programs for many different industries and businesses. Ms. Serkes has claimed numerous Gold, Silver and Bronze medals by The National and Regional Addys, The New Jersey and Philadelphia Advertising Clubs, The Art Directors Club of Philadelphia, The Best in Baltimore and Strathmore Paper Company. In addition, her work has been published in many publications and in a marketing textbook.

The subtle differences in every step of the job search process determine who ultimately lands the job and who does not. This is especially true in a bad economy, when unemployment is high and the job market is so competitive. Learn key strategies to help you succeed in your job search. Discover tools to gain access to your target market. Delve into the planning process, and learn how to properly communicate your value to prospective employers. This presentation will show you how to stand-out as the candidate of choice, and get the offer!

Ford R. Myers is President of Career Potential, LLC. Since 1992, he has been providing professional services in career consulting and executive coaching. After counseling thousands of individuals on their careers, Ford drew from his diverse experience to create Career Potential. Ford has served on the staffs of three prominent career management firms - Right Management Consultants, Manchester, and Lee Hecht Harrison, where he was Vice President, Director of Professional Services. In recognition of outstanding business contributions, both Right Management Consultants and Lee Hecht Harrison honored Ford with professional service awards - including the prestigious "President`s Award." He is author of two books: "The Ultimate Career Guide" and "Get The Job You Want - Even When No One`s Hiring" (John Wiley & Sons, May 2009). Ford`s education includes a Bachelor`s Degree in Communications, and a Master`s Degree in Human Resource Development. He has studied extensively with The Coaches` Training Institute and National Training Laboratories. Ford is also a certified consultant for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory, Leadership Effectiveness Analysis, Personal Directions and other career assessments.

Coaching is a powerful tool to help employees realize their career aspirations. Coaching skills are becoming critical management competencies as organizations prepare a new generation of leaders, using fewer financial, human, and training resources. Author, certified Full Experience Coaching founder, and chapter Past-President Sophie Oberstein explains to assembled ASTD-Philly members and guests why coaching has taken on such importance. Also included are Oberstein's debriefs of two interactive exercises in which all 55 attendees participated.

Coaching is a powerful tool to help employees realize their career aspirations. Coaching skills are becoming critical management competencies as organizations prepare a new generation of leaders, using fewer financial, human, and training resources. Author and certified Coach Sophie Oberstein explains to ASTD-Philly programs director Dave Fink why coaching has taken on such importance. A podcast of Oberstein’s presentation to the chapter is also available for download.

What does it mean for a professional seeking career opportunities to have a blog and an online portfolio? How can companies recruit candidates in a more meaningful way? How do smart recruiters use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to find top talent?

Social media is perfect for career development as it allows professionals to show what they know and think, interact with peers and build connections, learn from others, find mentors, and build a personal brand - to be known. Recruitment can be an outcome of this involvement. Recruiters and to a lesser degree companies are starting to use social media to spot candidates. But it`s not an overnight thing, it`s a slow process. And it can be messy, if one is not careful or does not have a personal brand strategy and goals.

Speaker Valeria Maltoni helps businesses understand how customers and communities have changed marketing, public relations, and communications - and how to build value in this new environment. Her Conversation Agent is recognized among the world`s top online marketing blogs. As a communicator with 20 years of experience, 10 of which online, she specializes in marketing communications, customer dialogue, and brand management. She built one of the first online communities affiliated with Fast Company magazine - Company of Friends Philadelphia - one of MyCareerTransitions sponsors. Valeria’s deep experience across a broad array of mid-to-large sized companies in the technology, health care, manufacturing, risk management consulting, non-profit and public sectors provide a wealth of experience and insights.

Have you ever found yourself in a contentious meeting that became stupid even though there were smart people in it? Have you ever felt “shut down” by an aggressive boss, client or team member? When the stakes are high and opinions differ, some people ramrod their ideas while others retreat to silence. But in most organizations there is a small minority, usually about ten percent, who are able to speak up and be heard when others have shut down. These people speak truth to power, and it gains them enormous respect from both their peers and their managers. For the last 30 years we’ve studied the skills these natural leaders use in high-stakes, emotional conversations. In this session Vital Smarts’ Candace Bertotti demonstrates these skills and show you how to use them to get the best out of people when the stakes are high and emotions are strong.

Dr. Prestera champions the value of blended learning and the design considerations involved in creating blended programs. In this session, he leads participants who design a blended program for their organizations. The participants consider their own organization's culture, technology capabilities, audience characteristics, and performance context. The debrief touches on alternative approaches, technologies, and ideas that all might consider.

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Using Personality Type Concepts to Connect with Employees and Clients.

Cindy is the President of The People Skills Group. She works with business leaders in mid-sized companies and organizations who want to build high performing teams and leaders.

Cindy's expertise is in the practical application of personality based instruments to foster interpersonal communication, team work and leadership development in companies and organizations. She is an expert in the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Jungian Psychological Type.

Dr. Bernadette Racicot, Director of Continuing Professional Education at Penn State Great Valley and Dr. Andrea Hornett, Senior Lecturer in the MBA program at Penn State Great Valley will present "Talent Management: Produce Better Results".

Adam Moskow speaks at ASTD Philadelphia chapter meeting.