Employee training is an investment in the future. A long-term strategy, perhaps, but employees don't always stay around for the long term. How can an employer reap the best and most immediate ROI? Clearly, employees' thinking skills affect the company's bottom line. Success is predicated on organization-wide ability to solve problems, see opportunities and make decisions. Critical thinking skills training provides a focused, systematic approach to doing what employees are called upon to do each and every day--and doing it better, faster and with less stress—with immediate ROI. What problem or decision could you tackle in your workshop?

Workplace behavior isn't what it used to be, or is it? Employers and employees, alike, frequently lament their loss of freedom to interact as they used to. They grumble about new rules of social correctness and losing their rights to just be who they are. Angela Deitch helps identify workplace behaviors that may be considered harassment, sexual and other forms. Hear what other organizations are doing to protect themselves and their employees against discrimination complaints. Find out how recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions could increase your protection or your liability.

The most important element in any business is managing customer relationships. It impacts your firm's survival and profitable growth. Attracting and retaining key customers is both an art and a science. In this presentation, Angela Deitch and Hugh Devine share their strategy and process for successfully managing customer relationships. Hugh Devine presents the strategy for customer relationship management and Angela Deitch presents the process. Mr. Devine covers which customers should be emphasized, and why those customers should be the priority ones for building lasting relationships. Ms. Deitch explains how she goes about managing her customer relationships.

Only a small percentage of new product ideas become commercial successes. Companies with good track records of successful products share common management techniques. Mr. Dorman presents key factors that influence the outcome of a new product idea and discusses ways to identify problems before they become fatal. Mr. Dorman has conducted a workshop on this topic at NASA conferences for the past 5 years. Topics include: Technological Development Timeframes; Strategic and Operational Reasons for New Products; Barriers to Product Development; The Product Development Process – From Idea to Commercialization; Write A Commercialization Plan That Attracts Investors.

Executives that leave corporations are prime candidates for starting their own consulting business. Corporations that purchase consulting services also want to know what drives consulting fees and how to evaluate proposals and performance. This presentation tells the real story of what it takes to start, build and manage your own firm profitably while providing a world class service to clients, including: Key Drivers for Success; Why Marketing Consulting Services is Unique; Marketing and Sales Techniques That Work; Setting Fees; Implications of Adding Staff; Managing Projects and Clients; Seven Critical Personal Attributes For Success.

This workshop begins with the premise that the opposite of networking is not-working! At the end of this one-hour workshop, the participants will have crafted and practiced their "Elevator Self-Introduction" and their "Tell Me More Response." Developing one’s Networking Action Plan and how to implement it are covered and the participants will have their own plan, complete with goals and how to achieve them.

This one-hour motivational workshop is for individuals and firms to develop the steps to attain a business or financial (or personal), goal. All the individual has to do is come to the workshop with an open mind and a goal. He/she will leave with a written format for reaching the goal and the skills/resources identified to start down the path to success. The intent is that each person or group completing the workshop have a format for developing a goal—plus a checklist of achieving that goal—and the experience in using the "Get a Goal and Go!" checklist.

Successful businesses have learned that their customers are no longer satisfied with "the same old thing". These customers want new products and services that meet their needs better than ever or that interest or entertain them in new ways. Yet, new product failure rates remain unchanged, and the costs of failed new products climb. Dr. Gondek, a certified New Product Development Professional, reviews the essential stages in developing new products and managing the new product portfolio. He highlights the key areas in which companies lose time, money, motivation and good ideas, and provides methods for reducing failure rates and reducing costs.

Although the changes in telecommunications have made the world seem physically smaller in very little time, the cultures and regulatory environments of the world have not changed as much or as fast. Companies that assume that their new products processes can be imposed internationally are finding that successes at home do not guarantee successes elsewhere. Dr. Gondek, a certified New Product Development Professional, explores the special issues associated with managing the new product development process and portfolio when the people and business units involved are separated from each other by distance, culture, and even regulatory environment. He provides models for addressing these problems, thereby making your global NPD effort more successful.

Why do some organizations think that strategic planning is a waste of time while others put significant resources into this activity? These 10 principles are at the heart of developing and successfully implementing a plan: Goal Orientation; Team Orientation; Thorough knowledge of all the Players; Prioritization; Quantitative and Qualitative Inputs; The value of Low Hanging Fruit; Estimating the real Probability of Success; Calculating the Specific ROI of each activity; Assigning Roles and Responsibilities; Active Follow-up.

Energy Savings Programs in Industry were very common during the oil crisis of the 1970’s. The DOE has a program to reduce energy consumption in manufacturing facilities. Optimization of energy systems continues to be an important method of reducing operating costs. Deregulation has increased the options to reduce energy costs. Most organizations must overcome several obstacles to implement a successful optimization program, including lack of trained personnel, corporate initiative, a lack of awareness of government resources and failure to properly estimate the return on investment.

What is marketing? These days, there are as many definitions of marketing as there are Internet sites. Management consultant Loraine Kasprzak will present a different way to answer the question "Marketing is about getting to know customers, and turning that knowledge into profits for your company." Ms. Kasprzak will present the "secrets of the trade": proven techniques for developing customer insight and your company's bottom line. She'll discuss: Getting to know your customer; Discovering profitable niche markets; Setting realistic marketing goals; Increasing impact with integrated marketing; and Using the Internet to support your efforts effectively.

Professional Service firms and Corporations spend a great deal of money and professional time sending their people to seminars, meetings and conferences as attendees or as speakers. Yet the business development opportunity is seldom used to it's fullest advantage. This presentation offers proven techniques on how to use all types of speaking engagements as an opportunity to develop business for you and your firm, including pre-meeting planning, at the seminar/conference, before the presentation, during the presentation, creative use of coffee breaks, lunches and receptions, and post-meeting communication techniques.

Across a lunch table, in a Board Room or in front of an audience of potential clients, the ability to effectively communicate one's expertise can make the difference between success or failure. This session covers proven techniques for improving presentation skills and how to apply them in all types of interactions - with colleagues, clients and in business development situations. Topics include: Organizing your thoughts; Coping with "stage fright"; Eye Contact; Voice and Vocal Quality; Jargon - When to use it; Use of Visual aids; Using the Q&A Session to Reinforce your Key Points.

Learn how companies can best meet their human resources needs abroad and track the global skills of their people. Discover how global professionals can be kept connected to the home office and satisfied with their job and organization.

Do you have the skills but get overlooked when it comes to receiving the credit? Does your performance review reflect communication needs? If so, this interactive talk is for you. Explore the relationship of confidence to communication and receive concrete ideas to bridge the gap between communication competence and communication performance.

Throw away your pills and forget about electric shock therapy! There are techniques to manage public speaking fright. Understand nervousness and practice inside-out and outside-in skills to support your leadership and presentation skills.

Chief Executives look to human resources to improve their business' bottom line. HR is expected to increase performance and productivity, while reducing overall expenses. And to make lives more exciting, there are programs touted as "wonder drug" solutions in business journals read by these executives. But many consultants unveil their own proprietary programs, which often seem unnecessarily complex. And there are caveats which cause HR professionals to wonder if any published solution is right for our own company. In this presentation, John Sturges discusses the new developments in terms of both effectiveness and applicability to various business challenges.

Enlightened employers today search for cost-effective ways to motivate and retain employees without incurring costs which over-price products. In this presentation, John Sturges discusses cost-effective compensation to retain and motivate employees. Sturges believes "today's employees are truly ready for performance based pay and non-traditional benefits, while employers have not realized it." Sturges points to many major firms which miss the mark by using unrealistic levels of pay to "buy" employees, rather than addressing the most important retention factors. At this meeting, he discusses both creative and nontraditional compensation solutions including a significant shift into incentive pay programs, and low-cost benefits.

More and more companies are finding ways to use Emotional Intelligence to increase organizational effectiveness and profitability. Studies have shown that Emotional Intelligence, a skill set that helps people manage their relationships with others, is far better than IQ in predicting success and star performance. In this dynamic, interactive workshop, Terry Wall of TG Wall Management Consulting will help sort through all the hype, and unravel the core elements of this concept. Find out what Emotional Intelligence is, why it is important, and specific strategies for using it to improve your organization.

Locked inside each individual is leadership potential waiting to be unleashed. Whether you are a CEO, mid-level manager, first-line supervisor, or frontline employee, you need to use all your leadership potential. Terry Wall of TG Wall Management Consulting presents a dynamic, interactive workshop to help you discover the essential ingredients of leadership, methods for applying your abilities to everyday situations, and strategies for maximizing your personal effectiveness. Use the skills and insights you learn here to be a better leader at work, at home, and in the community.