professional associations

What organizations have helped you as a trainer? That is, how have you
advanced your training skills, as distinguished from your technical
skills?

Here's some that I've been involved with, sometimes as a member,
sometimes as a program guest.

Please comment on your experience with any of these organizations and
to share others you know about.

Thanks,
Michael Wolf

* Toastmasters

  Although I've been training programmers at Fortune 500 companies for
  10 years, it never ceases to amaze me how public speaking in a
  different context gets me tense, so Toastmasters gives me practice
  in different contexts, and using different styles. Kinda like
  exercises fitness training, I can isolate certain aspects of my
  presentation style - language, gestures, vocal inflection, story
  telling...

* NSA -- National Speakers Association

  These folks are all speakers, but nobody gets paid to speak, they
  get paid to be an expert.  This organization focuses on the business
  building aspects of any speaking business (humor, keynotes, finance
  seminars, coaching, soft skills training, motivational speakers).
  The marketing, sales, list generation, promotional aspects are very
  similar despite the differences in message.

* ASTD -- American Society for Training and Development

  Mostly soft skills folks (conflict resolution, diversity, HR,
  benefits), they help me with creative ideas that I can adopt to my
  style and content. There are also experts in training management
  (the folks that spec the content that I deliver), e-learning (fact
  and fiction). Folks from organizational development and operations
  research give me insights into some of the bigger currents that
  affect my specific technologies.

* The Bob Pike Group
  formerly CTTI (Creative Training Techniques International, Inc.)

  Many marketing, sales ideas on business building. Also a great
  chance to see a world class trainer "do his thing". I don't get an
  opportunity to watch a peer or professional in action since I'm
  usually the only trainer on site or in a classroom. Watching crowd
  control, pacing, interaction styles was immensely instructive.
  Seeing the "back of the room" sales opportunities was also
  instructive. There's more money to be made in the back of a big room
  than by being at the front of a big room -- books, videos, job aids,
  private consulting, CD's, posters... Also indicated the need to
  always be in the name collecting business so that regular updates
  can keep an existing customer warm, preventing you from having to do
  lots of cold calling.

* Mercer County Community College

  They had (still may have) a "teaching certificate". I took a course
  that honed my platform skills by giving me video feedback. I also
  took a course "acting skills for trainers" that helped with the
  performance/entertainment aspects of one-to-many personal
  connections.


-- 
Michael R. Wolf
    All mammals learn by playing!
        [email protected]