The Bob Pike Group is hiring a person to supervise two other sales persons, but spend approximately 80 percent of time in developing his/her own sales portfolio. The company seeks a person with solid sales experience and training in a well respected company that is grounded in selling best practices and disciplines. Selling is largely through referrals and leads and is based primarily on phone contacts and phone meetings. Little travel is involved accept to a small number of conferences and tradeshows.

Organizations, including libraries, across the country are being impacted by the economy. Staff is being laid off. Doors are being locked as businesses close or non-profits reduce hours. As we face this new reality, how does this impact our roles as trainers, teachers, and learners? What can we do to not only support our organizations but secure training's place within our organizations? Here are 10 ideas for you to consider.

What would you like to accomplish in your role this year if money is no object, and there are no limitations? Just dream a little. Would you hire additional training staff to help with the backlog of tasks? Would you update your presentation technologies to really grab your audience and help the trainer stay interested in the same ol' material by using new gadgets? Would you revamp some of the new-hire onboarding sessions so they aren't so dreaded, dry and intense? Why not dream big? Think "What if…?" and then think "Why not?" Why couldn't it happen?

Need to brush up on basic skills or just want more information from Bob Pike and his team of experts? We will be offering the live interactive 59-minute webinars Thursdays in June and July for as low as $59. Morning start times are 9:59AM central time and afternoon start times are 2:59PM central time.

For those of us who train for a living, each year brings new challenges. For example, we might have new programs to deliver or new audiences to work with, but, what if, due to the economy and other budgetary constraints there is nothing "new" to deliver? What do we do then? In my mind, the next step is what I would call continuous improvement. No matter how long you've been training, it's important to continue to improve upon the skills you have. You know the old saying, "You can't teach an old dog a new trick;" well, I disagree! I think you can continue to learn and improve upon the basic skills and competencies you have. With that said, here are a few "Tips and Tricks" to re-visit as you gear up for 2010.

The Bob Pike Group has a plethora of workshop opportunities which can be confusing! Which one has the information you need most? Here is a quick assessment tool you can look at to see if any of our programs can help you with difficulties in your own training sessions.

What new trends are most likely to disrupt the training world this year? Elliott Masie has his predictions along with some tips on how to use them to your advantage!

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.

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."