Certified Partner Corner The Bob Pike Group has certified partners for the Research-Based Creative Teaching Strategies workshop in Illinois, Iowa and Kentucky who are offering the program to teachers from outside their areas beginning in June 2008. If you are interested in attending any of these sessions, please contact the agency who is hosting them for additional information or to register.

Gone are the days of recreating the wheel every time you plan a lesson. Technology, when it’s good, is very, very good! Many students already have experienced the social media aspects of the web. They’ve uploaded their own videos to YouTube, their original musical creations to mySpace and photos to Flickr. Applying that interest and knowledge to education is a simple step. The web also has similar sites that have safeguards in place to allow teachers to use the World Wide Web to engage students’ interest, help them learn, and make it fun. Here are some sites that have incredible resources for you as a teacher and your planning, as well...

“Sam Walton was a great storyteller,” said Lee Scott, Wal-Mart CEO, said to his executives. “All you do at meetings is give statistics and show PowerPoint slides. You need to learn how to tell stories." Scott knows from his predecessor the power of storytelling. Long before Wal-Mart began selling actual “power tools”, cavemen told stories by carving pictures on stone walls. They soon realized stories were a powerful tool. They could change emotions; they could make people happy, sad, angry or frightened. How can we also use stories to influence others and bring about profound change?

Businesses: Cut Costs? Yes. Layoffs? No. “Layoffs don't seem to be the first choice for a lot of companies," said Kevin Oakes, CEO of i4cp, which recently conducted a survey of 265 companies about cost-cutting this year. "In this uncertain economic environment, it's clear companies are intent.. Nominations Sought for Pike’s Peak Award by June 1 Has your company or learning colleague produced dramatic results in the last two years? Nominate them for The Bob Pike Group’s Pike’s Peak Award. This award is given annually to recognize trainers and their companies who make a commitment to implementing participant-centered training. Nominate them!

Taking the Pain out of Training Last month, we listed what were the Top 10 Pains of training in April’s e-Zine. Becky Pluth, a training consultant for The Bob Pike Group, lists a Creative Training tip for each problem. Also listed are sessions at the 15th Annual Training and Performance Solutions Conference listed where you can get more tips and tricks.

Top 10 Pains in Training

Top 10 list of pains we've compiled over the last several years from industry professionals in the trenches. Send us pains you think should have made the list and we will supply a tip, technique, or strategy for top requested pains submitted!

Editor’s note: Kathy Dempsey was the first health care worker to have a positive HIV test after having worked with a patient with AIDS. Receiving that news in 1987 started her on a path which gave her a radically different perspective on learning and living. The following is excerpted from her book Shed or You’re Dead: 31 unConventional Strategies for Growth and Change. What I have discovered over the years is that I learn more from the mistakes I make than the successes and I learn something from everyone I meet. Many of the thoughts and ideas in this book smack right in the face of conventional wisdom…stay with me and be open to what you can learn…even from the crazy strategies!

If you’ve been in training long, you know that referrals are without question the best leads you can get. Usually, when one of your clients refers you to a colleague, they are doing it in response to an expressed need. In other words, their colleague already needs the services your company provides. Plus, their colleague’s company is often similar to their own – the same size, same culture, and requiring the same types of training products. Talk about targeted marketing! Additionally, your client is endorsing your services. Think about it. When you are planning a large purchase -- a car for example -- you may read car magazines and company brochures and talk to salespeople, but what really...

In a nicely worded memo, you’re told the company is cutting back and, as head of the training department, you need to layoff half of your staff. You close your inbox, put your head between your hands and ponder the aftereffects of such a chore. Yes, you may have one or two people you wouldn’t mind letting go. But you think of the alternatives—-in order to get the same amount of training done, you now have to “train” in subject matter experts to train others and hope their presentations can encourage some kind of retention. Worse yet, you now have to inform the SMEs of their additional duties—people who chose their jobs because it didn’t require public speaking! Here are some secrets to buoy these training cubs and ensure training transfer.