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Reminder: ASTD International Conference Discounted Rates for Chapter Teams
If at least five members from your chapter are attending the ASTD International Conference & Exposition, your chapter will qualify for discounted chapter team rates of $1,100 for national ASTD members and $1,400 for non-members. To set up your chapter team, contact Natasha Porter at nporter@astd.org or 703.683.8154. Chapter teams will be established when at least five registrations from the same chapter are received. 

Submissions for the 2013 International E-Learning Awards - Academic Division, presented by the International E-Learning Association (IELA), are currently being accepted! The Entry Submission Page is posted on the IELA site and the deadline for submission is June 15, 2013.  Entries for the Business division have closed for 2013 and will be accepted in March 2014 for the 2014 awards. We are currently accepting only entries in the Academic division.

Awards will be given for successful courses, sites, and products, in three categories: e-learning, blended learning, and mobile learning.  The winners will be announced in September 2013 at the ICL Conference in Kazan, Russia, though you do not need to come to the conference in order to win an award.

The International E-Learning Association is a leading international group that brings together researchers and practitioners in all forms of e-learning.  IELA's sponsorship of international conferences and journals, and its strong membership base, continue to advance the state of the art of the e-learning field worldwide in academic and business areas.

Submissions for the 2013 International E-Learning Awards - Academic Division are due on June 15, 2013.   For more details regarding the submission process, please check the IELA Awards Page.  We look forward to your submissions!

WHAT: Innovation Initiative SIG Event - “Understanding Innovation: The Silicon Valley Case Study”

WHEN: Tuesday, 23 April 2013, 6 to 9 PM

WHERE: Versatile Company, 12304 32nd Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125

COST: Free, but you must register.

All the buzz these days is about innovation, in organizations large and small, and all around the world.  But how do you really make innovation happen?  We have answers. 

The ASTDps Innovation Initiative will be presenting the outstanding and fascinating PBS documentary, Silicon Valley, as the case study of how innovation happens.  This event is a great first step in building the foundation of your knowledge about innovation and how to help others innovate. The event will also feature facilitated conversation about the video to deepen your learning.

Synopsis: The story Silicon Valley begins in 1957, decades before Steve Jobs dreamed up Apple or Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook.  A group of eight brilliant young men defected from the Shockley Semiconductor Company in order to start their own transistor business. Their leader was 29-year-old Robert Noyce, a physicist with a brilliant mind and the affability of a born salesman who would co-invent the microchip. They launched a revolution that changed the world. You will learn their secrets for makng an organization and its people innovative, not just once, but continually.

Noyce and his team also planted the seeds that produced one of the most innovative geographic regions the world has ever known.  The video demonstrates clearly the vital links between innovation and regional economic development, links that produce the virtual cycle of continuous innovation, the key to ongoing prosperity.

Puget Sound, too, is a highly innovative region.  But we can’t afford to sit still; the process of innovation is relentless.  Someone out there even now is developing the Next Big Thing that will generate the enormous wealth and influence that comes from human creativity.  Make sure that you are creating a better future for yourself and your team by continuing your education in innovation through this stimulating, information-packed learning session.

The Details. The video is approximately an hour and 22 minutes long.  The showing will include a break for facilitated conversation and refreshments, along with a final wrap-up facilitated conversation at the end.  We encourage you to bring a “sack dinner” to eat during the event.  Coffee and cold beverages will be provided..

There is no charge for this event, nor do you have to be an ASTDps member to attend. But seating is limited. Ensure a reserved space at the showing by registering. Here is a link to the Chapter's registration page.

Free parking will be available on-site and on the streets nearby.

For more information, contact government affairs@astdps.org.  

Appreciation. We express our gratitude to Eric Verzuh and Versatile for their generous hosting of this event.

A Report by Mark Sideman and Dr. William "Bud" Wurtz

On March 13th the Washington State Economic Development Commission formally issued the final version of its strategic plan, "Driving Washington's Prosperity". The plan positions the Evergreen State to become a leader nationally in innovation, the key to both job growth and long-term competitive advantage.  “Driving Washington Prosperity” puts “talent development”, and thus the interests of ASTDps and the WLP profession, at the forefront of the strategy to foster innovation statewide.

The event was held in the beautifully ornate Senate Rules Room in the state capitol at Olympia.  The Lieutenant Governor, several State Senators and Representatives, and a number of state agency heads were in attendance, along with envoys from major companies (e.g., Microsoft), business associations, labor unions, education groups … and the ASTDps Innovation Initiative Team, represented by Joel Kanter, Mark Sideman, and Dr. William “Bud” Wurtz.  ASTDps was complimented by several of the Economic Development Commission members during networking breaks for making its presence felt at the meeting and in offering specific potential connections to advance the State’s innovation agenda.

“Driving Washington’s Prosperity” was developed over many months with input from over 650 citizens and experts at fifteen different regional strategy forums across the state. Earlier drafts of Driving Washington’s Prosperity” attracted substantial nationwide attention to the State’s bold plan, including the honor of receiving the prestigious Innovations Award from the Council of State Governments.

The plan is a direct outgrowth of the Economic Development Commission’s mission, as chartered by the State Legislature, to boost economic growth and increase the number of good-paying jobs in Washington State. As noted earlier, “Make talent [and talent development] a top priority” is the first of five “pillars” that make up the foundation of the plan, something of direct interest and benefit to WLP professionals.   

Using our systems thinking skills, WLP professionals can appreciate that a comprehensive innovation strategy requires additional components or "pillars". In the case of Washington State’s plan, these are: Invest in entrepreneurship; Connect through reliable infrastructure; Regulate in the smartest ways; and Expand international business.  Some creative thinking will probably reveal for each of these other pillars important workplace learning and performance issues that need to be called out and addressed.  We encourage you to start by reviewing the complete plan here.

Dear Potential Speaker:

Are you interested in becoming one of our concurrent session speakers at this year's conference?

We are inviting you specifically because we believe you have a unique perspective on our conference theme, which is Collaboration. Here are some questions that we'd like our speakers to explore this year:

• How do I encourage more collaboration among my students during virtual training sessions?
• What are the best practices to help my organization increase collaboration in the cloud?
• Can I increase the frequency of events where I co-facilitate?
• Are there other tools/technologies that our organization should consider to increase collaboration?
• How do I hold my learners accountable for collaborative learning?

You get several benefits by presenting at the ASTD-Cascadia Conference:

• Exposure to the largest association of training, human resources, and workplace learning professionals in the Northwest; we're on track for more than 300 attendees this year!
• Opportunity to attend our keynote presentation by Peter Block, author of Flawless Consulting
• Recognition as a thought leader on best practices in collaboration
• Promotional opportunities to sign and sell books that you have authored

The March 31st Deadline Is Approaching Fast!
For more information and to submit a proposal, visit our conference webpage. You will want to access the RFP Form and the Speaker RFP Information document. With regard to the RFP form, be sure to complete ONLY the "RFP Form" worksheet and NOT the Official Use Only worksheet.

We look forward to reviewing your proposed workshop. If you have any questions about the process, please contact Melinda Krueger, our Concurrent Session Lead, at conferencesessions@astdcascadia.org. Please remember that submissions (in the original Excel format) must be received by March 31, 2013, and feel free to forward this information to other potential speakers.

We Welcome Your Feedback
Is there anything we can do to improve the RFP process? We'd like to know if there's anything we can do to make the RFP process easier for our potential speakers. Share your thoughts with me at dnetz@gpstrategies.com.

We look forward to receiving your RFP!

DJ Netz
2013 Conference Chair
ASTD - Cascadia Chapter

PNODN presents:

Designing The Future of Organizational Development will be a fast-paced dialogue on important business topics and networking with your peers. Reflect on the history of Organizational Development then set course for the year ahead, by discussing the most critical emerging trends in the field of OD we need to be aware of. Explore how to sustain communities of OD practitioners in partnership with PNODN.

COST:

$15 Members when pre-paid & pre-registered

$17 Non members when pre-paid & pre-registered

$17 Walk in rate for members

$20 Walk in rate for non members

$10 for students pre-registered or walk in

AGENDA:

6:00 - 6:30 pm We gather – Arrival, Registration & Opening (Refreshments served)

6:30 – 8:00 pm Topic Presented

8:00 – 8:30 pm We wrap up, evaluation, & closing announcements

http://www.astd.org/Events/International-Conference-and-Exposition (May 2013)

http://store.astd.org/Default.aspx?tabid=167&ProductId=23429 (Designing Learning Certificate, July 2013 here in Kirkland)

http://www.astd.org/Education/Certificate-Programs/Training-Certificate (Training Certificate in July, here in Kirkland)

http://www.astd.org/Education/Certificate-Programs/Mobile-Learning-Certificate (Mobile Learning Certificate, September in Kirkland)

Another day, another serious skills gap identified. This would be getting tedious if it weren’t so consequential for society. What is also getting tedious is the proposed, incomplete solution.

This time the serious skill gap identified is computer programmer. In recent years the number of college students declaring a major in computer science has declined by 30 percent where it has plateaued. This means that there will not be enough people with the requisite skills to fill the one million job openings that are forecast between now and 2020. And these are good paying jobs.

The solution identified in the audio report, attached here, is to change the image of the computer programmer from that of a nerd working long into the night, surrounded by empty pizza boxes and crushed soda cans into that of someone who works on rock music videos and other glamorous projects. OK, I’m being a bit flip here, but this is in fact mentioned in the report, along with other steps to boost enrollment in computer science programs.

It’s all well and good to boost college programs to fill the pipeline with trained young people, but I say such efforts are short of the mark. Does anyone besides me remember that this country still has a serious and persistent unemployment problem? This situation is ripe for some creative training solutions that train new entrants, in addition to college-age young people, in these high-demand, well-paying jobs. Anybody out there have any ideas of how to do this?

Here is some very good news: Patty Murray, Washington State's senior U.S. Senator, is taking on the issue of the skills gap, promising to propose legislation to close it. The skills gap is an important issue that National ASTD has championed and that should be of concern to every workforce learning professional. The very first story in Senator Murray's most recent letter to constituents, issued late yesterday, has this to say:

"Last week, while the Senate was in recess, I spent time traveling around the state to talk with constituents about what matters most to them. On Tuesday, I traveled to Everett to host a workforce development roundtable, where I met with business and labor leaders, educators, employees and workforce experts to talk about the “skills gap” employers in the region are facing. Across our state, there are nearly 52,000 jobs that are vacant. These are jobs that employers want to fill, but in many cases, they simply can’t find the workers with the skills needed to fill them. This is unacceptable if we want to compete and win in the 21 st Century, and it’s why I’ve been working so hard on efforts to train a workforce for growing industries.

"I also had the opportunity to discuss my new role as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. This is a role that certainly won’t be easy, but it will put me in the middle of the decisions we make as a nation about investing our finite resources. To me, being Budget Chairman isn’t just about addressing our budget deficits, it’s about addressing our education, training, and jobs deficits. Working to close the skills gap is a critical part of that effort. I am going to take the stories I heard in Everett Tuesday back to D.C. to fight for increased investments to end the skills gap."

The story ends with a link to an article about the meeting from the Everett Herald, which I have attached here to this entry as a link.

Senator Murray is in an excellent position to do something about this issue. As she notes in the letter, Senator Murray is the new Chair of the Senate Budget Committee. This is one of the most powerful and important committees in the Government,

Murray also remains the chair of the Employment and Safety subcommittee of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. HELP has jurisdiction over federal training programs and legislation. An interesting sidelight here is that Murray's chief legislative aide on the HELP subcommittee is Scott Cheney, who was with National ASTD's research department for several years.

In my role as the ASTDps Chapter's manager of public policy, I will be writing Senator Murray to thank her for her leadership on this issue and offering the Chapter membership as a resource to consult while crafting legislation. I encourage all ASTDps members to write or call one of Senator Murray's offices to express their own appreciation for her leadership on this issue that is so central to our profession. Such legislation promises to make important investments in our economy to the benefit of all Americans. Not incidentally, such investments will mean more training jobs for trainers.

Here is relevant contact information Senator Murray:

Washington, D.C. Office
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2621
Fax: (202) 224-0238
Toll Free: (866) 481-9186

Seattle Office
2988 Jackson Federal Building
915 2nd Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98174
Phone: (206) 553-5545
Toll Free: (866) 481-9186
Fax: (206) 553-0891

Tacoma Office
950 Pacific Avenue, Ste. 650
Tacoma, Washington 98402
Phone: (253) 572-3636
Fax: (253) 572-9488

Everett Office
2930 Wetmore Avenue, Ste. 903
Everett, Washington 98201
Phone: (425) 259-6515
Fax: (425) 259-7152

Visit  http://www.astd.org/Certification for more details