D Foster Associates

I have accepted a position as the Board Member-at-Large for the Central Mass Chapter of ASTD.  In this position I will be working with the other Board Members to help define the program offerings for the upcoming year.

So, what can the CMASTD do for you?  I joined the Board because I have some specific ideas of what I would like to get out of the meetings, but I’m just one point-of-view.  Please let me know what kind of events you would be interested in and what you would like to get out of your involvement in the chapter.

What, you’re not a member?  Well, then let me know why not.  Is it the cost?  Are the events not interesting enough?  Are they not relevant to what you do?  Let me know.

Without your feedback, we can’t make the chapter better.

When I talk about the need to train and educate your sales team, do you think I mean just the ones on commission?  Just the “real” sales people?

If sales drives your company, don’t you want as many people driving as possible?

If someone, anyone in your company touches a customer or prospect, aren’t they selling too?

Wouldn’t you want them as knowledgeable as possible?

No matter what your role in the company, if you are out at a networking event, aren’t you selling?

Don’t want to been seen as “sales”?  Do you think you could do what my sales mentor does, and just ask questions?

If you can help your new “extended” sales team know what questions to ask, and how to share those questions, don’t you think they could understand their customer’s needs better?

If all of your employees are excited and knowledgeable about their products or services, don’t you think the prospects will notice?

If they help a customer understand how the product helps solve their needs, don’t you think that customer will be selling for you?

Now how big is your sales force?

So, will you just train your sales force?

Last night at the NELA Choice Awards my presentation “Moving from Training to Collaborative Learning” was selected by the audience as their top choice.  The competition was fun and very challenging, with all seven presenters working hard to get their points across in just five (okay really six) minutes.

I have posted my full presentation here on the site in web format, but it may not work on all browsers and without me explaining all of it you may be a bit confused.  I will work over the next week or so to write up parts of it to post here and explain what the concept is.  But for now, feel free to comment here and ask me questions and I will answer as best I can.

Thanks again to Pat O’Malley, Allan Cole, and all the presenters for their hard work and for making this such a fun event.  And thanks to the audience members for voting for me… I’m sure I owe a couple of you the drinks that I promised if you voted for me!

My presentation “Moving from Training to Collaborative Learning” has been accepted for the NELA Choice Awards coming up on Wednesday the 14th.  If you want to see me talk for just 5 minutes (not easy for me) then you should register and come on by.

There are a number of other great presenters, and the event will allow you to see eight different presenters give what they feel is their best 5 minutes of content.  Then the audience will vote for their three favorites.  So, please come by and vote for me!

It has been quite an exercise for me to try and get my ideas for collaborative learning down to five minutes, but I’ll be giving it a shot.  I’ll be posting my presentation and comments from the event here on Thursday.

Okay, I’ll admit that I don’t really understand the difference between a “Pandemic” and an “Epidemic“, but I just received a newsletter today that copied my last post about e-Learning for Disaster Recovery.  So, while they probably got the idea from my blog, the seminar looks interesting with speakers from the UN and the WHO.  You can register for the online seminar here.  While you’re registering for Elluminate seminars, you might also want to check out this other one by Lance Dublin.  I’ve always been impressed by Lance’s work and he’s working to start his own blog now, so check it out if you get a chance.