Chicago Base Podcasts

St. Paul, MN (PRWEB) April 22, 2008 -- Energetic Women, a service of Midwest ENERGY Association (MEA), is proud to announce the first annual Energetic Women Conference in Chicago June 24-26, 2008. "Our very first conference will convene this coming June and this is the year we define ourselves as a group, we test the waters to see where we can best add value, and we explore all the ways we can fulfill our mission. Our mission is all about adding value - recognizing that beyond just supporting female leaders in our companies these women must produce results." says Kris Nichols of Nicor Gas and Chair of Energetic Women. The Energetic Women Conference focuses on developing leadership skills, owning success, increasing your role and taking action in energy leadership. Xcel Energy will present a real life case study about Women's Interest Network (WIN), an employee network group dedicated to issues of interest to women such as professional development and work-life balance. Also: Hear from Dr. Alice H. Eagly of Northwestern University how to successfully traverse the labyrinth of leadership. Learn to project a winning image through actions, appearance, business protocol, and non-verbal messages from Kaizen Consultant Cathleen Hight. Know how to achieve and enjoy your success with Dean Hyers & Pete Machalek of SagePresence. Define your personal brand with Lauri Flaquer of Saltar Solutions. Learn from Dr. Travis Sample of Shenandoah University why women today, when given an opportunity, excel. Hear from a panel of women in energy leadership including Kris Nichols, Vice President, Engineering for Nicor Gas, Cyndi Lesher, President for Northern States Power an Xcel Energy Company, and Caryn Riggs, Vice President & Director Enterprise Asset Management for Duke Energy. Earnie Lehman of Midwest Energy, Inc. and Chair of MEA's Board of Directors believes "the Energetic Women group helps women build careers in engineering and utility operations, the two utility job areas where they are most under-represented." Lehman is "looking forward to being a part of the first Energetic Women conference in Chicago June 24-26." Energetic Women is a new group whose mission is to increase the pool of promotable women in Energy Operations and Engineering. They encourage leadership growth and development, through mentorship and supportive programs. Midwest ENERGY Association (MEA) is in its second century of service to the Gas, Electric, and Liquids energy industry. Its problem solving roundtables, learning conferences, on-line learning and web communications services are relied on by over 750 member organizations and customer companies in all 50 states. MEA is headquartered in Minneapolis. ###

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 17, 2008 -- FPC's recruiters nationwide have already been seeing the early effects of the massive baby boomer retirement wave expected in the next 5 years, when 76 million are expected to leave the workforce according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS.) Ron Herzog, CEO & President of FPC said, "USA Today online had an article noting that the first boomer had recently received the first social security payment and put it in these dramatic terms - 10,000 people retiring each day. The mass retirement wouldn't be so bad if there were enough people coming into the workforce to enter those jobs left vacant due to the retirements - and those vacancies being discussed do not even include the additional jobs added due to the projected long-term economic growth." Unfortunately, the BLS projects that the pool of workers following the boomers is smaller, aggravating the situation even more. "Human Resources departments and Hiring Managers nationwide will be challenged to find enough qualified people to fill those positions once the retirements start. FPC recruiters have seen that some HR professionals have already been pro-actively addressing this issue." Bill Martin, FPC's highest producing owner in 2007 and President of FPC of Greensboro, added, "Our clients haven't been able to find enough qualified grads to fill this pipeline so they've partnered with us to find people to back-fill the pipeline with 2-3 years of experience. Just about 20% of our recent placements have been these baby-boomer replacement positions and we expect that number to increase." Why is this so urgent? "The urgency is there because people of retirement age are typically in management or technically complex positions. This is particularly the case in technical manufacturing positions, where the learning curves are often steep." Said Mr. Martin. Mr. Herzog added, "Companies need new employees in those jobs now in order for them to develop the skills needed by the time the boomers retire over the next five years. The urgency is real." Who is Being Hit the Worst? "Many of our clients are manufacturing companies, which are expected to be among those hard hit due to their disproportionate number of employees older than 45 in management." noted Mr. Herzog. What Can Companies Do Now to Prepare? Mr. Martin responded, "Unless those jobs being vacated are filled pro-actively, those employees left behind will have to pick up the extra responsibility - leading to a number of other employee-relations issues. That means hiring professionals with 2-3 years of experience now, what we call "high-potentials". In our case, with people with Lean Transformation experience. Many HR departments have the framework for succession planning in place, so one thing that may help to determine how and when to strategize with their hiring sources is to take a look around the company - what is the demographic make-up of your team? When does your retirement bubble burst? And then start pro-actively... To read the press release in full goto http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/2/prweb703163.htm

London, UK (PRWEB) February 6, 2008 -- The Creator of Viral Spiral Marketing, Tim Brocklehurst, is bringing 'Action Learning' to his Internet Marketing students. His series of Freedom Classes, conducted in locations worldwide, will use a combination of learning and action so participants leave the class with their own business, up and running, on the Internet. The Internet Marketing industry is a tough nut to crack. Thousands of would-be Internet entrepreneurs join it every day like gold miners of the wild west. All are seeking the promised treasure of big incomes from working just a few hours each day at home. And just like the gold rush, hundreds fall by the wayside, disillusioned by hours of work and no pay. Yet there are thousands too, who with just a few hours each week, and a computer in the kitchen, are turning over a good income. Many earn enough to support their families without fear of recession and job cuts. Yet others get spectacular results, not only replacing their missed salary, but also upgrading their lifestyle. So what is it that enables some to make it and some not? Tim Brocklehurst thinks he has the answer, "Too many people are struggling because they don't use viral marketing well enough," he says. "If you're the only one promoting your products online, then you might as well be offline!" Viral Marketing is the term first coined by analysts looking at the Hotmail phenomenon in 1997. In just 515 days, Hotmail grew from zero to 8.5 Million subscribers when it was sold to Microsoft in December that year. The reason was a single line of text running along the base of every email sent, "Powered by Hotmail. For your free web-based email account, click here." It cost Hotmail nothing to do this, yet it grew the business exponentially. Since then, numerous other means of achieving viral growth have been identified and experimented with. Many of them are at work for users of Brocklehurst's own software, My Viral Spiral. Brocklehurst's formula for creating an automatic business using viral growth has been well received by users of his software. "I managed to bring in over 1,200 new subscribers in 5 DAYS with My Viral Spiral, and get the money I invested in the program back in no time," says Heri Rosyadi. And Bob Jenkins, an established Internet Marketer says, "MyViralSpiral works on so many levels, and it's become a major tool in the growth of my business." But not everyone has been able to do it, even with the Viral Spiral software behind them. Brocklehurst reasons, "When it comes to learning, some people need more than just ebooks, teleseminars and videos. Remote learning is the most common way for people to gather Internet Marketing skills, and yet it is the least effective." Brocklehurst believes that 'Action Learning' is the way forward for the current generation of budding Internet Marketers. He is a product of Action Learning himself, with an MBA from The University of Brighton. "I'm using it for The Freedom Class, because I found it helpful when I was studying and working at the same time. It doesn't just theorize about how to do something, it makes you practice it too. For business and technical learning, it's perfect!" According to Wikipedia, Action Learning "...is particularly suitable for adults, as it enables... To read the press release in full goto http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/2/prweb678123.htm

San Francisco, Calif. (PRWEB) January 4, 2008 -- Flexperience is thrilled to announce their 2007 awardees for the “Top 25 Women Redefining Success.” This award honors women on a leadership path that is considered by many to be “non-traditional.” Corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals at all levels – these women are leading the way in a new era by making flexible career strategies work for themselves and for others. “Our award celebrates amazing women who have forged new ways of enjoying an interesting career and an enriching personal life. We were inspired to show working women everywhere that it is indeed possible to create your own path,” said Sally Thornton, Flexperience president and co-founder. “We are thrilled to highlight twenty-five trailblazers every year and create a new ‘list of powerful women.’ We hope their stories are a breath of fresh air and stand out from all the other successful women you read about because they represent a new way to view power and success.” Today, women are increasingly interested in blending parenthood with a career. The careers they seek today, however, are not the traditional full-time, office-bound roles. Earlier this year the Pew Research Center released a survey that found sixty percent of working mothers preferred part-time work, up from 48 percent ten years ago. But many women – and men – find following the traditional corporate ladder to be difficult in reaching both their personal and professional goals. In support of this growing trend, Flexperience™ (www.FlexperienceStaffing.com), a Bay-Area based boutique firm, is one solution to providing professionals flexible contract work with their clients that include leading Bay-Area employers such as Genentech and Levi’s. Additionally, Flexperience supports its community of professionals with inspiring events that bring mothers together to discuss how to blend all aspects of their professional and personal lives in new and creative ways. “In the future talent market, where new work models are emerging and top talent is in even greater demand, the ability for anyone to define success integrating the personal and the professional priorities while delivering high quality results in a sustainable manner will be critical. This is a universal priority, crossing gender, age, cultural and family status boundaries,” said award recipient, Noni Allwood, Senior Director at Cisco Systems. The Top 25 Women Redefining Success for 2007 include executives from such organizations as Cisco Systems, ABC7’s View From the Bay, Levi Strauss & Co, SanDisk Corporation, SAP, and UC Berkeley who found ways to change their workload and responsibilities at different times in their careers when they wanted flexibility to be with their children. There are also awardees who took time off from their corporate jobs and found the inspiration to start their own businesses, including “mompreneur” Ingrid Carney who provides flexible work schedules for her staff by allowing them all to work a four-day work week, and Paige Rodgers, co-founder of an eco-friendly company of kids products, who said, “What I hope this award does is inspire other women seeking... To read the press release in full goto http://www.prweb.com/releases/Flexperience/women-redefining-success/prweb600341.htm

Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) December 12, 2007 -- Business leadership and accountability will take center stage for attendees of the World of Concrete 2008 trade show and conference in Las Vegas, Nevada as nationally-known business and life coach Clay Nelson presents two programs on January 21st, 2008 designed to help business owners and management implement the tools necessary for sustaining business growth. Getting Back to Leadership Basics In today's challenging times, companies can't afford to have their leaders, those responsible for sustaining the company's direction, motivation, and profitability, be anything but the leaders they are paid to be. This program will help leaders get centered and in touch with who they are as leaders, what their jobs as leaders really are, and how they, as leaders, can grow their team members into powerful leaders and build a team that has great success. "As a leader, it's your job to build a powerful team of unstoppable people, who are capable of carrying out the vision you create for the company," Nelson explains. "If you're constantly in a reactionary mode, putting out fires and barking orders, you're just creating a culture of followers. A company of followers will never grow--to grow your company, you need to grow your team!" Accountability = Success Accountability = Success shows the power accountability has to create fun, excitement, and take the guess work out of what is expected from whom and by when! • Discover the tools needed to set and track goals • Learn how to ask for help and communicate effectively • Make accountability a part of the company's toolbox for success "Accountability is an invaluable tool for all aspects of running a business," Nelson says, "from having a great home life, to running a productive office, to maintaining an efficient environment at the jobsite and all points in between. Management needs to know how to ask for help so they don't wear themselves out trying to do everything themselves, and the team needs to know how to communicate what they need so that everyone is clear on what needs to be done to complete projects on time, on budget, and to keep the customer happy." Mr. Nelson spent 14 years as a contractor and has been coaching clients in the construction and remodeling industry for the past two decades. He has been a featured speaker at several national construction events and conferences this year, including the Northwest Builders Show and NAHB Custom Builder Symposium, and is scheduled to present at the 2008 International Builders Show this February in Orlando, FL. Nelson's presentations and workshops on business and life balance concepts give conference attendees the insights, encouragement, and straightforward tools they need to get the most out of their conference experience and keep the momentum going once they've returned to the jobsite. Clay Nelson Life Balance was founded out of Nelson's own life philosophy: To teach what one... To read the press release in full goto http://www.prweb.com/releases/businessleadership/coaching/prweb575763.htm