Bringing Value as a Leader
Workplace Application: This program is designed to challenge the thinking of those who are either viewed as a leader or are being prepared to step into the role of a leader.

How important is leadership to an organization? Is leadership a position, a presence or a job? Reality is, it is all three, but the priority must be understood. Before leadership is anything, it has to be a presence. This is definitely not your normal leadership program.

Presenter: Richard Flint, CSP, chairman of the board, Richard Flint Seminars, Newport News, Va.

Successful organizations expend considerable time and money branding the company, and their products or services. But what if the product is you? How much time and energy have you expended to position yourself within the HR organization or for your next career move? You will identify your leadership role within the organization and your industry; learn how to obtain visibility for this role and establish your own brand promise.

Presenter: Marva L. Goldsmith, AICP CIP, president & chief image officer, Marva Goldsmith & Associates, Inc., College Park, Md.

Research has shown that companies providing wellness programs receive an average Return on Investment (ROI) of $3.48 to 1 due to reduced health care costs, and $5.82 to 1 due to reduced absenteeism. As an outgrowth of this, many corporations are providing wellness programs or are planning to do so. This session will describe a best practice approach organizations can use to implement successful wellness programs.

Presenter: Don R. Powell, Ph.D., president and CEO, American Institute for Preventive Medicine, Farmington Hills, Mich.

 

Attract and retain top talent through your recruiting Web site and employee portal using the design concepts from the world’s top tourism sites. These sites offer rich, interactive and personalized experiences—the same keys that will boost the effectiveness of your online HR presence. Mr. Rotella will share strategic elements to enhance your Web site.

Presenter: Joe Rotella, chief technical officer, Delphia Consulting, LLC, Columbus, Ohio

Did you ever hear that happy employees are more productive employees? Do your employees love coming to work every day? Do they have fun? Is your organization listed as one of the best places to work? During this session, we will share best practices and realistic solutions from companies that know how to create positive work environments. Come prepared to share your best ideas.

Presenter: Regina M. Clark, CSP, president, Left Brain Leverage, Goshen, N.Y.

Violence in the Workplace
Workplace Application: You will develop and implement a violence-in-the-workplace program in your organization by using the tools and information presented during this session.

This presentation will examine workplace violence statistics and provide tools to assist you in implementing a workplace violence policy and plan, along with tips for identifying signs of trouble. You will also receive information on:

• Program, policy and prevention ideas
• Open communication and sensitivity training for employees
• Prescreening and selection tips that lower the risk of negligent hiring
• Risk and threat assessment information
• EAPs and what they provide
• Handling terminations to reduce the threat of violence

Presenter: Kathleen McComber, SPHR, senior director, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Ark.

This highly interactive session will provide a practical overview of behaviors and communications to be avoided. Mr. Segal will discuss alternative approaches for dealing with the perennial problem of workplace dating. He also will address the affirmative obligations with which supervisors should be entrusted. Special attention will be paid to how you should extend your sexual harassment prevention systems to cover racial, ethnic and other forms of unlawful harassment.

Presenter: Jonathan A. Segal, Esq., partner, WolfBlock, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Forget about what you thought you knew about the ADA. Proposed legislative changes will not only affect your responsibilities in HR, they will impact how you interpret and administer the new changes. Learn about the congressional “ADA Amendments Act of 2008” and the new proposed Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) by the DOJ on “service animals” to be published in the Federal Register. Understanding the changes and avoiding future liabilities is more important than ever.

Presenter: Glenn McIntyre, executive director, McIntyre & Associates, Camarillo, Calif.

Examining Cultural Differences: Intercultural Skills for Global Leaders
Repeated Tuesday at 2:15 p.m.
Workplace Application: This session will help prepare you for the challenges of global leadership by examining and discussing differences across cultures and the impact those differences have on organizations and employees.

This session is designed to provide you with an understanding of how culture impacts organizations and the people who comprise them. You will learn effective practices for communicating across cultures and managing multicultural teams. By increasing your awareness and understanding of cultural differences in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, you will learn how to successfully lead across cultures.

Presenter: Heather R. Keller, Ph.D., owner, Successfully Communicating, Glendale, Ariz.

UPDATED! MEGA SESSION

Hope in the Workplace: Kicking Financial Stress Out of Your Office*
Workplace Application: In this session, Dave Ramsey shares five principles that will change the lives of your team members.

The talking heads on the news keep screaming, “The sky is falling!” Retirement accounts are on a rollercoaster ride, health care is skyrocketing, and 401(k) loans are getting out of control.  Layoffs dominate the headlines and more people than ever are worried about their financial futures. Add that to the average American family’s credit card balance, car debt, student loans, and fluctuating home values, and your team members are left with no energy, no encouragement, and no hope. Isn’t it time to kick financial stress out of your office? Join Dave Ramsey, a personal money management expert and the best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover, and learn how debt, saving, giving, budgeting and living within their means impact their attitudes at home— and at work.

Presenter: Dave Ramsey, host, “The Dave Ramsey Show”, Nashville, Tenn.

Skills for the HR Professional When Working with a Passive Leader
Workplace Application: Attend this session and learn how to work with a passive leader.

The signs of passive leadership are easy to detect: indecisiveness, blaming, inconsistent strategic direction, outsourcing disciplinary action, etc. In this session, you will learn: (1) How to identify the characteristics of co-dependency in a leader; (2) How to use specific, assertive verbal skills to represent yourself with the passive leader; (3) How to introduce “opposable mind” techniques so the passive leader can appropriately control a room; (4) How to address the leader’s passivity in the context of creating a “learning organization;” (5) How to lead the passive leader; (6) How to celebrate the growth of a mature organization; and (7) How to make passivity, at all levels, passé.

Presenter: Cal LeMon, president, Executive Enrichment, Inc., Springfield, Mo.

Creating Persuasive Visuals for Your Presentations
Workplace Application: This session will show you a five-step process for creating persuasive visual slides that allow you to present in a conversational manner.

Too many HR presentations look like the text of a manual was copied onto the slides. How can you create persuasive visuals when you aren’t a graphic designer? This session will show you a five-step process for creating persuasive visual slides that allow you to present in a conversational manner.

Presenter: Dave Paradi, MBA, president, ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Creating a Great Place to Work®: Lessons from the 2009 ‘50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work for in America’
Workplace Application: Attend this session and you will understand the essential ingredients and framework for building a great place to work.

This session includes both individual and group learning experiences designed to create a great workplace, and spotlights the ways in which other companies have achieved this status. The presenter will provide examples of workplace practices at “best companies to work for,” examine the business case for building and sustaining a great workplace, and suggest everyday strategies for building a strong foundation of trust between managers and employees.

Presenter: Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc., San Francisco, Calif.

What Every HR Leader Should Know About Strategic Planning
Workplace Application: In this workshop, you will learn about strategy: what it is, how to build it, and the pitfalls to avoid.

For HR leaders to gain the ear of senior executives, we must be able to speak and understand strategy. In this highly interactive and engaging session, Mr. Wilkinson delivers to you The Drivers Model—a roadmap for building strategy that demonstrates the critical difference between mission versus vision, goals versus objectives, values versus guiding principles, and critical success factors versus strategies.

Presenter: Michael Wilkinson, managing director, Leadership Strategies, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.
 
 

The presenter will provide an explanation of best practices and market trends with respect to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) employees. He will provide an analysis of the issues employers should consider in employing and retaining LGBT employees and the case for employing a diverse workforce. 

Presenter: Todd A. Solomon, partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Chicago, Ill. 

Get More from Your Compensation Survey
Workplace Application: This session will provide you with practical applications on how to use compensation survey data to improve decision-making.

This workshop will make survey data analysis less daunting by providing simple, sound techniques on how to most effectively analyze and act on survey results. You also will take home tips on how to use your survey memberships both to network and to develop new policies and practices.

Presenter: Rebecca Manoli, senior account manager, Pearl Meyer & Partners, Southborough, Mass.

 

Going global? Many of you are faced with new issues arising from your company’s overseas growth. In this highly interactive session, learn the 10 key issues that you must understand and address. HR’s support of international expansion is a critical part of business success… do you know what you must do? Come hear the 2009 update, which includes specific points on China and India.

Presenter: Lance J. Richards, SPHR, GPHR, senior director, International HR, Kelly Services, Troy, Mich.

 

How To Deal with Annoying People
Workplace Application: This presentation will help you improve personal and professional relationships.

In this humorous presentation, Ms. Alyn shares some fantastic insights on why we get along with certain people and butt heads with others. Then she shares practical ways to get along with anyone. Every person in the world can closely identify with the information in this session. Topics include the basis of all conflict, finding your social style, the strengths and weaknesses of each style, how to adapt to get along with anyone and how to build more effective relationships.

Presenter: Kimberly Alyn, best-selling author, professional speaker, founder, Kimberly Alyn Inc., San Luis Obispo, Calif.

UPDATED! Managing Conflict Resolution During Economically Driven Organizational Change
Repeated Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.
Workplace Application:  This session provides you with the tools needed to take a primary leadership role in the evolution of corporate reorganizations and change management due to economic downturns and the uncertainty they bring.

The current economy is placing significant pressure on all organizations to “right-size”, increasing the demand for executives who can lead change and minimize the conflicts they create.  We will discuss the required competencies such as ethics, integrity, honesty and trust, needed to effectively manage organizational change, resolve conflicts and take advantage of the opportunities created by today’s economic climate.  Lead your company by developing effective strategies to manage change and the conflicts created by sweeping organizational changes.  

Presenter:  Jack F. Smalley, SPHR, director of Human Resources, Learning and Development, Express Employment Professionals, Oklahoma City, Ok.

The Top 10 Etiquette Tips for Building Business Relationships*
Workplace Application: This session will provide you with information to enable you to guide your employees to assess image, actions and words to create positive outcomes for both the employees and your company.

The Emily Post Institute’s number-one recommendation for building relationships is…drum roll…to be on time: at the start of the day; at meetings; at networking events. What are the other nine business etiquette behaviors that promote personal and professional success? Peter Post will reveal the actions and behaviors that every employee should do without thinking and discuss how you can support those employees in building and maintaining work-related relationships.

Presenter: Peter L. Post, director, The Emily Post Institute, Burlington, Vt.

Your workforce is comprised of four generations (Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y). HR leaders must build a business case, and create solutions that are going to increase and maintain the engagement level of all four generations. What works for one generation may not work for another; people practices need to be integrated and tailored to your organization.

Presenter: Adwoa K. Buahene, managing partner, n-gen People Performance Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 

MEGA SESSION

FISH!® Catch the Energy, Release the Potential
Workplace Application: This session, surrounding the FISH® philosophy, will ignite your core being, offering a fresh perspective.

John Christensen addresses important issues surrounding today’s work environments, with lessons to help you live and work with purpose. He will cover the four practices of the FISH® philosophy, using real-life examples of how people have improved their workplace and lives through these ancient pieces of wisdom. This interactive presentation involves you in looking at how each of us can make a difference in our life at work, home and our community.

Presenter: John Christensen, CEO/creator of FISH® philosophy, ChartHouse Learning, Burnsville, Minn.

UPDATED! The Time for Retention is NOW
Workplace Application: This session will help you expand responsibility for retention from the HR department to your entire organization.

Despite mass layoffs and high unemployment, good employees still leave. Voluntary quits are down just 13% and there is evidence that only high-performers leave.  Today’s focus should be on survivors. Quits hurt more when the staff is lean and managers hold back on firing poor performers. “Reducing through attrition” means employees decide who stays instead of us. And your best workers score you on how you treat others. Join us for a discussion on data, real issues, and a new retention model that works.

Presenter: Richard P. Finnegan, president, Finnegan Mackenzie, The Retention Firm, Longwood, Fla.

MEGA SESSION

24-7-365: When Aren’t You HR? Managing Liability Through Supervisors, Managers and Executives
Workplace Application: This session will give you the essential and practical workplace tools to teach your supervisors, managers and executives what they need to know to avoid employment-related liability in 2009.

This highly interactive, skill-building session will help you sleep at night knowing your supervisors, managers and executives have these critical workplace tools for managing the law. From hiring through firing, it’s what they don’t know that creates irreversible liability for themselves, HR and the organization. This session reveals the top 50 best practices that every manager, supervisor and executive should know to avoid personal and organizational liability in 2009.

Presenter: Mindy H. Chapman, Esq., MSW, president, Mindy Chapman & Associates, LLC, Chicago, Ill.

FMLA: More Case Studies from the Real World
Workplace Application: This session will provide advanced discussion on strategies to control the uncontrollable regarding the FMLA.

You know the FMLA basics, but what happens when more than 35% of your hourly workforce qualifies for intermittent FML? What strategies can you use to limit the time missed, and still be compliant with the law? Second and third options, handbooks, and attendance policies are just the beginning. Strategies for controlling the uncontrollable and maintaining sanity at the same time will be shared.

Presenter: Barbara Dahlen, SPHR, personnel officer II, St. Louis, Mo.

Contractor Compliance 101: An Introduction to Federal Contractor Compliance
Workplace Application: This session will help you fall in line with federal contractor affirmative action requirements by providing interpretations of regulations and guidelines for compliance.

In this informative session, federal contractor compliance requirements will be examined as you receive a digestible and practical overview of affirmative action planning, veteran and individuals with disabilities requirements, and applicant tracking regulations. This session is ideal for HR professionals new to the field of Affirmative Action Planning or in need of a refresher.

Presenter: Michele Whitehead, PHR, manager of HR services, Berkshire Associates, Inc., Columbia, Md.

Leading Virtual Global Teams
Workplace Application: This session will help you identify the skills required of global leaders and apply strategies to leadership of virtual, global teams.

In what ways is global leadership different from domestic leadership? What specific skills are required when leading virtual teams across geographies, time zones, and organizational lines? How can leaders of global teams build trust, communicate effectively and drive performance? In this session, we will explore industry best practices and build concrete strategies to answer these and other questions.

Presenter: Karen Cvitkovich, managing director, global talent development, Aperian Global, Boston, Mass.

Creating Executive Presence: Thinking on Your Feet
Workplace Application: This session will enable you to think on your feet, build credibility, respond to difficult questions with authority, and use gestures, space and movement to increase personal presence.

How do you handle someone who upstages you during a presentation or a meeting? How do you respond to someone citing statistics with which you’re unfamiliar? How do you react when your client or boss changes the course of your presentation or budget discussion in midstream? Adding “the finishing touches” will help you be yourself in front of an audience or executive team.

Presenter: Dianna Booher, CSP, CPAE, president, Booher Consultants, Inc., Grapevine, Texas

Presenter: Nancy Glube, human resources executive, Human Resources Consortium, Alpharetta, Ga.

Choose: Seven Decisions that Give You and Your Organization the Edge*
Workplace Application: This session shares seven choices you can make and implement to position yourself and your organization as heroes with those you serve.

This session shares seven choices that will set you apart in the hearts and minds of those you serve. Most important, you will walk away with ideas you can use immediately to turn intention into action and give you and your organization the edge in a competitive world.

Presenter: Randy G. Pennington, CSP, president, Pennington Performance Group, Addison, Texas

HR Budgeting Boot Camp: Overcoming the Prejudice of Being an Overhead Department
Repeated Tuesday at 2:15 p.m.
Workplace Application: This session will provide the what, where and how of creating a comprehensive, bulletproof budget.

To be an effective HR executive in today’s corporate climate requires a thorough understanding of the financial health of a company and how the HR budget fits into this framework. This session will take the fear out of numbers by providing an easy-to-follow formula on how to read financial statements. The four areas that make up the HR budget, followed by 10 tips for selling the budget to the CEO and CFO, will be reviewed.

Presenter: Valerie M. Grubb, president, Val Grubb & Associates, Ltd., New York, N.Y.

 

UPDATED! The Trust Factor
Workplace Application: In this session you will uncover the key ingredients to creating a culture and discipline of high trust within your organization.

In today’s environment of layoffs, corporate scandals and turbulent markets the definition of trust and loyalty is rapidly changing. Confidence in our relationships with others is decreasing and employees are no longer as willing to offer trust and work hard at building winning relationships. Has your company been affected by any of these factors?  Do your employees expect bad things to happen and get caught up in all of the distractions and noise surrounding business today?  What do you plan to do to help build relationships of trust and open communication?  If you are interested in building lasting relationships based on trust and your organization would benefit from both the giving and receiving of trust, this presentation is for you. We will focus on simple techniques that will help you evaluate your current situation and provide tools for creating a strong “Trust Factor!”

Presenter: Richard Fagerlin, president, Peak Solutions, Fort Collins, Colo.

When the Good Go Bad: Ethics in Today’s Business Environment
Workplace Application: This session will provide a framework for the development of an active, living values system.

You need to initiate and actively participate in the development of a philosophy which addresses the organization’s values, as well as programs, policies, processes and procedures to support that philosophy. This means you play a critical role in defining values and articulating appropriate behavior.  

Presenter: Mary-Jane Sinclair, SPHR, President, Sinclair Consulting, Inc., Morristown, N.J.

Studies show that habitual behaviors, occurring long before point of care, drive 50-70% of health care costs. With most health care benefit plans, members have no incentives to be healthy or change unhealthy habits. Kyle Rolfing will discuss how changing the financing of health care to better align with healthy choices in a fair and equitable manner can drive long-term health benefit savings.

Presenter: Kyle Rolfing, CEO, RedBrick Health, Minneapolis, Minn.