There has been a lot of press recently about the role of training in supporting the recovery as business tries to work its way out of the economic downturn. The smart money has always been on organizations that value training and look to maintain highly skilled and talented workers regardless of the economic landscape.

The Bob Pike Group is teaming up with Training magazine to present a two-day Creative Training Techniques certificate program at Training 2010 in San Diego. Bob Pike, our chairman and CEO, will personally be sharing how to design and deliver training that focuses on participants and delivers content in ways they learn, retain, and apply content the best. What will you get? Read on for information and discount code.

Here is more information on upcoming public workshops.

One out of every seven participants at our annual conference submitted at least one of their favorite creative training tips. That's a boon for you! Here are three of the quick tips (and feel free to send us one of yours at CTTEditor@BobPikeGroup.com

Jackie Freiberg, New York Times best-selling author of Nuts!, was the keynote speaker for The Bob Pike Group's annual conference two weeks ago. Her motivational talk was on creating a brand for yourself: what do you want to be known for? The eZine had a chance to sit down with Jackie and talk about choosing to be your best.

At work, men and women use strategies in communicating with each other that the opposite sex may view negatively. Often, misunderstandings can be avoided when coworkers look beyond personalities and consider the different ways men and women communicate. Let's look at a few examples from both sides.

U.S. banks risk losing top talent if they don't start developing that talent, according to a survey released by the American Bankers Association and the Corporate Executive Board. "The study raises the question: what is being done to prepare the next generation of bank leaders?" said Doug Adamson, executive vice president of ABA's Professional Development Group, which sponsored the study. "High-performing employees have told us that in order for them to stay and be more productive, they need to be recognized as top performers and have well-defined development plans in place," he said. The survey demonstrates that banks' dependence on internal talent makes ongoing development critical to prepare employees to take on higher roles.

Doug McCallum, one of our senior training consultants, recently was awarded the Peak Performer Award by The Bob Pike Group at the company's annual conference in Minneapolis. McCallum has been with the company for more than 30 years and is a proponent for training that gets his participants involved, not zombified by lecture. "Participant-centered training focuses on the learner and makes learning active by bringing the content to life," said Becky Pike Pluth, vice president of training and development at The Bob Pike Group. "Doug has always engaged his participants and has had great success making learning memorable and enjoyable."

Today, the Pike's Peak Awards were presented to four organizations which have demonstrated wholehearted implementation of participant-centered techniques in their training. The recipients were:

Listed below are our upcoming workshop dates and locations, including our annual conference. For information, click on the workshop title.