Employee Learning Week is an awareness campaign highlighting the important connection between learning and achieving organizational results. It's an opportunity to demonstrate your organization's commitment to workforce development.

Employee Learning Week typically takes place the first week of December. But, employee learning is a year round event. Employee Learning Week events can happen anywhere! Hold events in your office or plan a special off-site program.

Training is more important now than ever before. The growing skills gap and increased need to compete in today's economy require organizations to develop a knowledgeable and highly skilled workforce.

Click here for additional details about Employee Learning Week.

 

ATD-LA Attends ALC 2017

Ben Sieke and Grant Skakun of ATD-LA attended ATD's ALC 2017 Chapter Leaders Conference in Washington D.C. from October 12-14.

This conference was exclusively for chapter leaders. It featured keynote speakers who focused on aspects of leadership and peer-led sessions that focused on sharing best practices for chapter administration, communication, and member engagement. The conference was attended by more than 300 current and incoming chapter board members from across the country.

ALC was all about connecting with peers and gathering tools and resources to effectively lead an ATD chapter.

Pictured: Grant Skakun (ATD Los Angeles), Daniel Hage (ATD Golden Gate), Ben Sieke (ATD Los Angeles), Wendy Corbett (National Advisors for Chapters), Stephen Smith (National Advisors for Chapters), Jeffery Hansler (ATD Orange County), Don McGray (ATD Orange County)

ATD-LA is participating in a program with ATD to make ATD-LA membership available through the online ATD Store. This program will create a one-stop-shop for Power Membership (ATD-LA and ATD membership at the same time). This will also allow customers to align ATD-LA and ATD membership end dates. 

If you do not have an existing single sign-on (SSO) account with ATD, ATD will create a username for you and email it to you. You may use this username to log in to td.org where you can purchase products, register for webinars, and more. 

If you receive an SSO from ATD, please note that you will only use that SSO to log in to td.org. Your current username and password for atdla.org will not change.  

That's it! There is no action required on your part. Thank you for helping make our participation in this pilot successful. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Denise at office@atdla.org or 562/908-3020.

A Message from the Chapter President

2017 - 1st Quarter

As the first quarter of our 71^st year draws to a close, I am excited to share this update with our members and our community! Our incredible Board of Directors, our valuable volunteers, and our diligent and hardworking office team have been working together to get 2017 off to a strong start.

If you have been reading our newsletters and regularly visiting atdla.org, you are already aware of what we have been working on. I am going to take this opportunity to call out a few items in particular that I believe are demonstrative of the successes that we have already had so far this year, and that we will continue to see throughout 2017.

First, ATD-LA’s program offerings continue to grow in quality and scope. Our commitments to delivering value to our members and to advancing the talent development community in greater Los Angeles mean that we continue to strive to offer you the very best programs possible. Some programming highlights from this year include:

• The successful relaunch of our Train the Trainer program, which was a yearlong collaboration between incoming and outgoing board members and volunteers, took place this quarter. We expect this program to be a regular offering going forward.
• A revitalization and expansion of our webinar program. These virtual sessions allow attendees from Southern California and beyond to attend high-quality programs without having to brave LA traffic! Browse our Webinars page to see a list of offerings scheduled through the rest of the year – all of which are free to ATD-LA members.
• For the third consecutive year, ATD-LA will be hosting a local, two-day DiSC certification program. Stay tuned for more information, but I can offer two details today: it will take place in August, and our members will (as usual) receive a significant registration discount.
• The inaugural Talent Summit LA on April 19, which we are offering in partnership with other local professional development groups as a way to bring our community even closer together. More details about this event – which may have as many as 200 attendees – can be found by clicking here. Register now to secure your seat at the networking event of the year!
• Our Mentoring Program is set to kick off shortly! This is a longtime chapter offering that has been key in the careers and development of many of our members. For the current program, we had solicited applications last year and earlier in Q1 2017 and our Director of Membership is in the process of finalizing our mentor-mentee matches.
• Always a key to serving our entire community, our Communities of Practice (SIGs and GIGs) remain vibrant and are positioned to grow. We believe this year is one of great opportunity for these groups, which cater to specific geographic areas and areas of practice within talent development. Click here for more information on when and where these communities meet.

Second - but no less important – the chapter remains strong and stable, and we are building infrastructure to support the chapter and our members into the future. Our ability to serve you on a long-term basis is reliant on sustainable policies, processes, and technology that align with a chapter strategic plan. The 2^nd quarter update will include more details on this work, but I will share that this includes revisiting how we onboard and develop volunteers, an expanded use of Google applications, a redesign of key parts of our website, and a complete transformation of our social media presence led by our Director of Technology.  Very exciting!

Finally, as this quarter’s end represents the completion of the first quarter of my presidency, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable legacy of my predecessor, Past President Anthony Lewis. As a volunteer organization (volunteerism details here), ATD-LA relies on a group of selfless, hardworking members that want to give back to the organization and to our professional community. Please join me in thanking Anthony, as well as our other volunteers, past and present, for their contribution to the state of the chapter and our regional talent development community.

As your Chapter President, I welcome your thoughts, comments, questions, and suggestions. You may reach me at president@atdla.org – or, better yet, come find me at an upcoming event. Thank you for allowing me to serve you!

Yours,

Ben Sieke
2017 Chapter President

December 22, 2016 - The Los Angeles Chapter of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), formerly ASTD, was recognized for its submission to the ATD “Sharing Our Success” (SOS) program. The national SOS program identifies best practices among local ATD chapters and uses them as models for other chapters.

The chapter created a “Volunteer Only” tab in Wild Apricot with subsections titled by each topic. The chapter implemented a system to designate who receives access to each section, and uploaded documents and historical information to each tab. This system compiles all resources and tools in one location and reduces email congestion and duplication of documents. At each meeting, the chapter shows documents from the volunteer tab instead of recreating PowerPoints.

• See a description of Los Angeles Chapter’s project on the Chapter Leader Community SOS webpage: Click Here
• See ATD-Los Angeles recognized at the ATD Chapter Leaders Conference (ALC) in Washington, DC: Event Details

Refresh your chapter profile! Got a new professional picture? If you moved, landed a new job, want to update your password or it’s been a hot minute since you’ve updated your account profile, now is the time to update your contact information.

Here’s how:

1.    Go to www.atdla.org

2.    Log in with your username and password

3.    Select your name located at the upper right of screen

4.    Select one area at a time: Profile, Privacy, Email Subscriptions, Photo

5.    Click on Edit Profile

6.    Edit or modify the contents by clicking fields

7.    Select the Save button the bottom

Make sure you have an active email address entered, this is one of the ways we contact our membership and ensure annual voting news is sent to you.

Stuck? Please contact the office if you need further assistance. You can fill in this form: http://www.atdla.org/page-1014526

Thank you.

ATD-LA Office and Board of Directors

The Chapter of the Month is national recognition for ATD local chapters that have demonstrated strength, growth, and innovation in managing their chapter.

Jeffrey Gehris, chair of ATD’s Chapter Recognition Committee, which awards the Chapter of the Month honor, said, ”This prestigious award recognizes the Los Angeles Chapter for demonstrating innovative and unique approaches in providing great value to their members and professionals in the community, including professional development, networking, and leading information about trends in the talent development industry. The Los Angeles Chapter is a leading example for serving members and other ATD chapter leaders with opportunities to learn and grow from each other. We are pleased to recognize the chapter with ATD’s Chapter of the Month award.”

Congratulatory letter from Tony Bingham.pdf

September 19, 2016 – The Los Angeles Chapter of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), formerly ASTD, was recognized for its submission to the ATD “Sharing Our Success” (SOS) program. The national SOS program identifies best practices among local ATD chapters and uses them as models for other chapters.

The chapter developed a process to fill the role of manager for different committees working under a chapter officer with executive voting powers. All chapter volunteers were interviewed by a minimum of two chapter officers, including the president. Interviews were conducted by phone to assess skills and motivational fit. Selected candidates were then invited to the in-person board meeting to meet the rest of the board. For succession planning purposes, a manager can be promoted to director and a director to a vice president as the volunteer serves more terms on the board. This incentive educates and trains newer volunteers in a progressive manner, and recognizes those that continue their service on the board. The program has resulted in a targeted selection of volunteers that are ready to take on the responsibilities of their roles and better prepared to be successors.

Jeffrey Gehris, Chair of ATD’s Chapter Recognition Committee said, "This recognition honors the Los Angeles Chapter’s best practice that demonstrates its commitment to managing a successful organization as well as advancing the talent development profession at the local level. We are excited to honor the chapter with ATD's SOS recognition."

Our chapter is celebrating our 70th Anniversary and would like to thank all of our current and past members for another successful year together.

We've come a long way since our founding and appreciate all of the hard work of the Board of Directors over the years, as well as our volunteers. 

To commemorate this milestone, Tony Bingham has written us a letter. See attached. Los Angeles 70th Anniversary Letter.pdf

ATD Los Angeles South Bay Training Professionals Breakfast Meetings Special Interest Group (SIG) was established March 2004. We are recognizing its 12th successful year!

This is one of seven SIGs that are hosted by ATD-LA. All talent development professionals, members and non-members are invited to attend: org. development, leadership instructors, coaches, students and those that support the employee education functions.

Key leaders include: Anthony Markovich, Sue Gabriele, Vince Budrovich, Jeff Fajans, Hugh Leonard, Joan Arias, Mark Pavlakovich and others. These dedicated leaders volunteer their time to make monthly meetings a reality.

Face-to-face meetings are held on the first Friday of every month (except Jan & July) from 7:30am – 9:00am.

Currently, the majority of the meetings are held at the wonderful Toyota Museum in Torrance. We are very grateful for the on-going hospitality of Susan Sanborn, Curator, and her team at the museum has provided.

Participation is informal, which is very effective for morning coffee and breakfast conversations. Recent meetings have utilized the innovative GEMS RoundTable format that was created by Sue Gabriele.

Active ATD-LA members can attend this SIG meetings for free. Plus, this SIG has a special longstanding partnership ISPI-LA (International Society for Performance Improvement, Los Angeles) and offers free registration to its active members too. This is an average savings $10 each month.

If you are interested in attending this SIG, please register today and join us: http://www.atdla.org/page-1007497

If you are interested in speaking or presenting at this SIG, please let us know by filling in this form: http://www.atdla.org/Speaker-Interest-Form

Thank all of you who have supported ATD-LA SIGs.

Links

ATD-LA Membership, join or renew: http://www.atdla.org/page-962961

ATD-LA SIG event calendar: http://www.atdla.org/page-1007497