ASTD Chapter Leader Conference: Backchannel Collected Resources #ASTDALC

I am a huge proponent of backchannel learning.  There are many conferences I would love to be able to attend, but my budget can only accommodate one or two each year.  The backchannel is an excellent resource for learning from a conference or event that you are unable to attend in-person.

I find collecting and reviewing backchannel resources to be a valuable learning experience for me, even when I am attending a conference in person.  Sharing these collections on this blog has shown that others find value in the collections as well.

This post collects the resources shared via the backchannel of the 2011 ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference, held October 14-15 in Arlington, Virgina.

Official ASTD Chapter Leader's ConferenceResources
Conference Website Home Page
Conference Sessions
Conference Session Handouts
Congressional Conversations 3.0 Pre-Conference Event Flyer

Conference Summaries and Recaps
A few thoughts from our Chapter Leaders Conference by Chris Coladonato (Added 10/18)

Session Specific
Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles" shared by David Wilkins
Leading by Example: Social Technologies and ASTD Chapter Practices slides by David Wilkins
Historic inevitability of social everything slides by David Wilkins
Social Media 2011 YouTube Video shared by Tony Bingham
Socialnomics 3 YouTube Video shared by Kella Price and Larry Straining
The New Face of Talent Management ASTD White Paper shared by Tony Bingham (Added 10/18)
ASTD Chapters Next Level Tool (Added 10/18)

Miscellaneous
The story of the four-way test by Darrel Thompson
Consultants: love-hate relationships with communities of practice research report from Katja Pastoors
The Usefulness of Wenger’s Framework in Understanding a Community of Practice Dissertation by Jane Bozarth
iPad in Learning LinkedIn Discussion Group
ASTD Vision, Mission, and Strategies shared by Kella Price
FORD Social Media Guidelines shared by Jane Bozarth
I Got It Wrong... Or Did I? by Craig Taylor
QR Codes in Education: Villanova University slides by Al Tucker
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ QR Code Generator shared by Larry Straining
Facebook Ads shared by David Kelly
Otherinbox.com resource shared by Valerie Noll
Free PowerPoint Twitter Tools by SAP2.0 Web Tools
RSS Feed Wikipedia entry
Social Media Toolkit for ASTD Chapters
The Steve Jobs Model for Education Reform by Rupert Murdoch
Skillsoft Aquires Element K

Dedicated Backchannel Queries [Tool and search terms shown in brackets]
Access the up-to-date #ASTDALC backchannel [Twitter: #ASTDALC]
Photos from the Backchannel [TwiPho: astdalc]

I will be adding to this list as I continue to review the backchannel transcripts and find resources.  I will tweet updates occasionally as additional links are added.  If you know of a valued resource I should add to the list - or if something is inaccurate - please add it to the comments or tweet me a link to @LnDDave.

If you find these collections of value, I have posts that consolidate the backchannel resources from other conferences.  An archive of all of these posts can be accessed by clicking the link below:

Click here to access the archive of backchannel resource posts.

Lessons Learned from the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference - Part 2

The first day of the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference was great. The sessions were informative, I was able to network with new and existing friends and peers, and I ended my day with a pretty extensive action plan for my chapter.

Of course, like most conferences, the marathon day was a little tiring, and I was looking forward to getting some much needed rest. I should point out that with a six year old and one year old at home, it's rare that I don't wake up earlier then I'd prefer each morning, so I was really looking forward to taking advantage of the opportunity and 'sleeping in' till 7:30 or so.

That was, of course, before I learned that Bob Pike was going to be conducting an informal Q&A session during breakfast, starting at 7:00.

Informal Q&A with Bob Pike

I arrived a few minutes after seven, and there was a already a crowd of about 75 people and growing present. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought listening to Bob Pike was worth getting up early for. By the time the session ended, there were probably 300 people in the room.

Bob Pike has always been a friend to ASTD, not only at a National level, but for the individual chapters as well. I was very impressed with how chapter-specific and relevant his comments were. Here are some of the highlights.

An interesting statistic was shared regarding the Learning and Development field: 50% of all trainers have been in the business for less than 5 years. That shows that half of those who may be interested in our events are novices in their roles. Does our programming reflect that?

There was discussion regarding legacy, specifically wondering if there is legacy to your chapter. Here's a good yardstick to initially measure legacy: if the incoming Chapter President is here less then three years, it shows that there is likely no legacy in the chapter.

Bob also discussed the marketing of chapter events and used a great example to drive the thought home. He asked how many of us would be able to attend a session he was having on October 28th, about 3 weeks from today. About 10% of the audience raised their hands. He then asked how many of us would be able to attend the same event if it was held on March 3rd 2010, and about 80% of the audience raised their hand. The same concept applies to our chapter meetings. People need to plan ahead - the more notice we give em, the better attendance we will likely see.

Bob closed his chat by reviewing what he considers to be the three major reasons that people join a local chapter: Content, networking, and most importantly, connections!

The session ended with the National Advisors for Chapters presenting Bob with a gift and thanking him not just for the morning, but for all the support he has given to ASTD and the local chapters throughout his career.

I could not agree more. It was a great way to start the day (and well worth getting up early for).

Breakout Session- Center Stage: Social Media

This session was actually broken into two parts. The first part was facilitated by Deb Lang and Linda Pinkham of the Central Indiana chapter. Their presentation was on introducing Social Media within Chapters, with the main focus being introducing Twitter to the group.

I've seen 'Introductory Twitter' taught a number of different ways, but never like this. All participants were issued handouts that had a number of fallout boxes on them. The facilitators used these boxes to walk the group through setting up their Twitter profile, composing their initial tweet, and the concept of reviewing, retreating, and following other people.

It was a highly interactive session that was informative and fun. As the audience started handing their pages around the table to review and retweet the tweets of others, there was a great deal of laughter. More importantly, there was learning, as there were a number of questions being asked of myself and the other Twitter users at the table by those that had not yet taken the jump into the Tweet-stream.

After a short break, it was time for the second half of the breakout session. This portion, facilitated by Patrick O'Malley of the Greater Boston Chapter, focused on marketing your chapter via social media.

Let me just say one thing before I talk about the learning points. If you have the opportunity to attend a session that Patrick O'Malley facilitates, DO IT. Don't think about it, just do it. You will not be disappointed. This was a highly energetic session, filled with extremely valuable and actionable content, delivered in a roll-off-your-chair humor style. Patrick is obviously a
naturally funny person, and he is able to channel it in a way that it enhances his message and the learning of his audience in a way you rarely see. This wasn't just the best session of the conference for me and others; we all agreed it was one of the best we've attended, period.

OK, that should be enough to warrant a referral fee of some sort. Now I can share with you some of the tips from the session. Patrick gave the audience a number of great ideas on how chapters can better market themselves via social media.

If people search Google for "professional training organization", you want your chapter's name on the top of the search results. Why is that so important? Consider this: ten percent of people never go past the first Google search page. If your chapter appears on page two of the search, ninety percent of searchers will never see it.

Google likes it when one sites points to another - it helps up your rank. If every chapter listed the other chapters on it, all of their Google search profiles would be raised.

Patrick also recommended that chapters market their events via Television commercials. There was a large number of people who sarcastically chuckled at this suggestion, as generally chapters don't have the budget for TV advertising. It wasn't until Patrick pulled the Flip camera out that people really grasped his message. If you have a Flip or an iPhone, you have all you need for TV advertising, via YouTube.

Have a speaker record a 30 second summary of an upcoming event, upload it to YouTube, and BINGO, you now have a TV Commercial that you can link to in your chapter communications.

Another area we explored was LinkedIn, and how chapters can find potential new members in its database. A popular misconception about LinkedIn search is that when you are searching for people to connect with, you search for the person's name in the PEOPLE search option. That label is misleading, because what you are really searching when you use the PEOPLE search option are profiles. That's important, because you can search for job roles like Training Manager or Training Specialist to find new people that may be interested in your meetings. This functionality is further expanded via LinkedIn's advanced search options.

Patrick also gave some tips for using Facebook and Twitter to market chapters.

He discussed advertising on Facebook as it targets the ad to profiles that may be interested in it. There is no upfront cost to advertising on Facebook, but there is a cost every time a user clicks on your add.

As for Twitter, it was suggested to search phrases that trainers may include in their tweets to prospect for members, such as "Taught a class" in your region. In addition, Twellow, which functions as sort of a Yellow Pages for Twitter users, was recommended as a resource.

The session ended with cheers and a well-deserved standing ovation. I look forward to my next opportunity to learn from Patrick.

Patrick has made the slides from his session, as well as a host of additional resources available on his website. You can get all the information HERE.

Keynote: Tony Bingham

Tony Bingham's keynote was what closed the conference for me, as I had an phone appointment during the last session of the conference. Tony shared with the group some important chapter updates, including:

*CPLP bundle is approved for public funding in NY - how can I leverage this?
*There is now a portal that chapters can use for collaboration. It is available at http://www.collaborate.astd.org/.
*CHAMP/website fees will be phased in. Fees will be scaled based on chapter size category. Specific fees will be announced in October.
*Chapter websites - ability to add new pages coming this month!
*Chapters are currently required to have 30% joint members. This will be staying at 30% in 2011, and increasing 5% annually till it reaches 50%. Currently the average joint membership for chapters is 41%; that percentage goes up to 67% if you're on CHAMP.
*National has just released a new toolkit for chapters that provide practices for succession planning.
*There have been enhancements to the CHiP program, including 10% on conferences and 10% on job bank referrals (employers also get a 15% discount when referred by a chapter)

At the conclusion of the session, many of the exiting members of the National Advisors for Chapters were thanked for their service, including the exiting NAC President, Cindy Hugg (Great Job Cindy! Thanks for all the assistance!).

Day 2 and Conference Summary

Day 2 reinforced the feelings that I had at the end of Day 1- that this was a valuable experience for me as an ASTD Chapter Leader, and one I hope to repeat in 2011.

The conference left me with many action items to review and plan for in the coming weeks and months. My train ride from Washington back to New York City was about 3 hours, and I spent the whole time reviewing and refining my notes from the conference.

My only regret regarding the conference was in my travel plans. I came to the conference late Thursday night after work, and left Saturday evening at the end of the conference. There were a great deal of chapter leaders who were there earlier than me and who stayed the night on Saturday, and I would have enjoyed continuing the networking with those peers.

Thanks to all those I met and shared with at the conference, both in person and via the Twitter backchannel. I look forward to seeing you again in 2011.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lessons Learned from the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference - Part 1

Through exceptional learning and performance, we create a world that works better.

This is the newly drafted mission of ASTD, the American Society for Training and Development. It is a simple statement that is very true, and an exceptional way to set the stage for the annual Chapter Leaders Conference.

This was my first time attending the Chapter Leaders Conference, and I can say without question, it will not be my last. I greatly enjoyed the conference, and meeting many of my fellow chapter leaders. It was an extremely valuable, if quick, two days. I am hoping that this blog post is of similar value to those that were unable to attend the conference, as well as reinforcement for those chapter leaders in attendance.

Like most conferences, ALC (not sure why that's the acronym - feel free to comment if you know) is comprised of a few keynote speakers and a variety of breakout sessions to choose from. What follows is a summary of my key learning points from the conference. I'll be separating this into two blog posts to make the length of each a little shorter.

DAY 1

Ed Betof Keynote

The conference kicked off with a keynote session featuring Ed Betof, author of Leaders as Teachers. This was a great way to start things off, and I think Betof did an excellent job of positioning his work with Leaders as Teachers for not only the audience, but the context.

I always prefer speakers that actively engage their audience rather than simply speaking to the crowd, and Betof did this very well. Ignoring the podium, and the stage for that manner, he conducted most of his presentation from within the audience itself.

The main message that I got from Betof is that all of those in the audience, as both learning professionals and chapter leaders, should have teachable leadership points of view or perspectives. We should be be setting the example and raising the bar in our leadership.

I particularly liked the series of reflection questions that were posed, which I thought were an excellent method of self-analysis of one's leadership skills

Reflection Questions:
1. Who were the leaders in your life that helped you the most to grow, learn, develop, and change for the better?
2. How did these leaders teach the lessons that made a positive difference for you?
3. Self assess yourself as a leader-teacher/coach (1-10)
4. If asked the first question, would your organization identify you?

Side note: I thought all of the keynotes were very good. I did not, however, think that they all targeted their content towards the context of the event. Based on the audience - chapter leaders for local chapters of ASTD - there is a reasonable expectation that the attendees are leaders and in some capacity work in the learning and performance field. The context of the event, though, was chapter leadership. I came to this event to develop my skills as a chapter leader, not as a general leader or as a learning and performance professional. I feel some of the keynotes missed out on the context.

Breakout Session: Managing Your Teams of Volunteers

This was a very interesting session facilitated by Dawn Mahoney of the South Central Wisconsin Chapter, that focused mostly on sharing ideas and successes related to the team of volunteers in a chapter.

One of the most simple and powerful ideas that came up during this session was in reference to getting more people to attend our 'meetings'. The focus of the comment was to change the labeling of our regular events from 'meetings' to 'Professional Development Events'.

I really like this idea because, as George Carlin used to say, "We think in language, so the quality of our thoughts and ideas can only be as good as the quality of our language". When was the last time you got a meeting request at work and thought, "I can't wait!". However, if you were invited to a Professional Development Event, you'd probably be a lot more interested in attending. Why would people think any differently about our chapter 'meetings'? This will be one of the first post-ALC actions that I recommend our board take.

Lunch with National Advisors for Chapters

This was a structured lunch with chapter leaders from our regions, facilitated loosely by our representatives from the National Advisors for Chapters. I greatly enjoyed connecting with the other chapter leaders and sharing ideas and best practices.

One of my favorite parts of conferences lately is having the ability to connect in person with people I have developed relationships with online, especially through Twitter. This conference was no exception, as I was able to meet up with and enjoy sharing conversation with two 'tweeps' from #lrnchat, @britz and @ThomasStone.
(If you are not familiar with #lrnchat, the weekly Twitter chat for learning professionals, check it out Here.)

Getting Volunteers Involved in Chapter Leadership

This was one of the first sessions I highlighted to attend when I registered for the conference. The chapter I am President of has a challenge bringing in new volunteers, and has a high percentage of current board members that will not be returning in 2011. I was coming to this hoping to have some actionable steps I could implement shortly after the conference. I was not disappointed by this session, facilitated by Christie Ward of the Rocky Mountain chapter.

One of the more simple, yet effective tips was simply this: Ask. Many times we ask the membership as a whole for volunteers, but don't reach out to potential leaders on an individual basis. I know this was the case for me. I assumed that I wasn't part of the chapter long enough to serve on the board, and didn't really see it as an option until someone approached me about it. (Hey Linda Berke, in case I never actually said it, Thanks for that!)

Another important theme was to emphasize the relationships forged through participating in chapter leadership. Being part of a chapter and a chapter leadership team makes you part of a unique community.

We also spent time discussing why people do, and do not, volunteer. Here are some of the points shared:

What do volunteers expect?
*To be involved and contribute.
*To work with like-minded people.
*To network.
*To learn and keep their skills sharp.
*To be recognized.
*To get career advancing competencies.
*To participate in a cause they believe in.

Why DON'T people volunteer?
*Time constraints
*Family and responsibilities
*They lack info about volunteering
*They lack info about virtual or short-term volunteer opportunities

Many family people are not going to volunteer, at least not formally, but are searching for connections to the professional world through volunteering. We can take advantage of this by building ad-hoc volunteer opportunities.

You'll Never Work in this Town Again! Creating a Career Portfolio

Being someone that is always looking to move ahead towards a greater opportunity, I was very interested in learning about a career portfolio, and Greg Williams of the Maryland chapter did an excellent job of describing and walking the group through the process of building one.

In today's day and age, it is incredibly important that individuals find a way to distinguish themselves from their peers in the job market. A career portfolio is an excellent way to do just that, yet it is estimated that less than one in ten learning professionals have a portfolio of their own. I find myself in this unfortunate majority.

This topic queued my interest because I found out first hand how hard it is to distinguish yourself from other job seekers about two years ago. The biggest lesson I learned during that time was that the time to prepare yourself for your next role isn't when you need it, it's while you are still in your current role. That's why I wanted to participate in this session.

A portfolio for a learning professional is really no different from a portfolio of a photographer or a model. It's a collection of artifacts that show, in a tangible way, the quality of the work you can produce. What are some of the things a learning professional can include in their portfolio?

Some of the suggestions included:
*Learning materials you wrote, such as participant guides, facilitator guides, job aids, etc.
*Communications that comment on the quality of your work, even something as simple as a complimentary e-mail
*E-learning modules you may have created. You can also include screen prints with a descriptive narrative.

Seeing these types of artifacts during an interview will make you memorable to a recruiter, and distinguish you from your competition.

Of course, the dreaded 'copyright' question did come up, and it is something you need to be conscious of. When adding artifacts to your portfolio, make sure you have permission to do so, and take out any proprietary information.

The session ended with a nice bonus - a quick walkthrough of creating an electronic portfolio using Adobe Acrobat's PDF portfolio functionality. I was already familiar with the PDF portfolio functionality myself, but had not yet connected it as an option for my portfolio. This seemed to be a highlight for many attendees.

Jack Phillips Keynote: Measuring what matters

First, a disclaimer. I believe in the need to show the value of training. Whether there are 4 levels, 5 levels, or whether you call it ROI, ROE, or any other description doesn't really matter to me. Phillips, Brinkhoff, Kirkpatrick and others may have different approaches to the 'ROI' theory, but one similarity they all share is that training needs to have a benefit to the business. When it comes to that concept, I drink the Kool Aid.

I should also disclose that In my efforts to learn more about showing the value of training, I went through the process of getting certified by the ROI Institute in Phillips' ROI Methodology Phillips. I don't necessarily agree with every piece of the methodology's process, but I find value in it and the work of Phillips' peers as it pertains to the business value learning.

With those disclosures out of the way, I enjoyed the presentation Phillips gave. Having participated in many of his presentations in the past, most of what he said I had heard or read in some manner before. That was one of the minor drawbacks to the presentation for me. I'm not sure how many others had seen him before and if they felt similar to the way I did.

If you have seen Phillips speak before, you probably know the drill. His presentation focused on the desire of CEOs to know the TRUE value of learning. Let the smile sheets go away, and don't report how many people attended sessions. He describes this as the 'Show me' evolution, as in, 'Show Me The Value' of learning. (or Show Me the Money, the title of a Phillips book ;-) )

Phillips shared a number of statistics with the audience, most of which showed a substantial gap between the type of information CEOs want about the training function as compared to the information they get. Overall, it was interesting information that I personally found interesting.

What I found to be the main drawback of Phillips presentation was the lack of connection that it brought to the context of the event: Chapter Leadership. I would love to have heard him apply his ROI model to Chapter Management, and provide examples of how chapters can measure the value they are providing to their membership, the chapter, ASTD National, or the profession as a whole.

Hmmm... Maybe that's an idea for a speaker proposal in 2011.

Day 1 Summary

Before I even stepped into Jack Phillips' keynote that ended the session, I had already decided that I was planning on returning to the ALC conference in 2011. I found a great deal of value in the sessions and networking, both personally and for my chapter.

As with many conferences today, there was an active Twitter backchannel, which I always find to be a great reinforcer of content and key learning points.

Most importantly, I found myself in my room that evening, making notes for a post-conference action plan. To me that is the most important measure of a conference: Can I use what I've learned? The answer in this case is a resounding yes... and I hadn't even gotten to Day 2 yet.

Better still, Day 2 had what was probably the best session of the conference.

Coming soon, my recap of Day 2 of the ASTD Chapter Leaders Conference.