hosted by Summit Executive Centre (Downtown Chicago) 205 N Michigan Ave South Tower - 10th Floor Chicago, IL 60601 http://www.summitchicago.com Special Notice for January 24, 2005 Conference You may now register on-line with a Credit Card on a secure server at Acteva.com [You may register one or more participants online with one transaction] Conference participants will receive the following complimentary items: A copy of Michael Angelo Caruso's book: "5 Cool Ideas for a New You in 2005" An evaluation copy CD of the "Mindsights - Facilitated Thinking Environment A 2-page Forté Communication Style report. Before the coming to the Conference, visit www.jordan-webb.net/forteinstitute to take Forté Surveys 1 & 2. You will receive (via e-mail) a summary report of your lifetime communication style strengths and an extremely accurate reading of your personal and interpersonal preferences, and your level of self-motivation. You will have the opportunity to purchase your entire report if you so choose. Nightingale-Conant is donating a number of their instructional and motivational audio and video tapes and CDs to MFN to be given away as door prizes at the end of the conference. We request that all prize winners take an N-C catalog and to write a letter to N-C, expressing their thanks for N-C's support of the Midwest Facilitation Network. Visit their website at: http://www.nightingale.com MG Rush Systems has donated to MFN, a complimentary seat in one of its 2005 FAST Facilitator Training Workshops - a $2,500 value! This door prize will be awarded to one participant at the end of the Conference, and as usual, winner must be present to claim the prize. Visit their website at: http://www.mgrush.com Click Here to View/Print/Download an Adobe Acrobat PDF Document of this Announcement

Credit Card, Check and Purchase Order Payments Accepted

Register On-Line w/Credit Card on a Secure Server at Acteva.com [You may register one or more participants online with one transaction]

Send an E-mail Message with Registration Information

Phone Registration: (773)-463-2288

Fax Registration: (773)-463-1830

View/Print/Download HTML Registration Form {for Fax, Phone or Snail Mail Registration}

View/Print/Download PDF Registration Form {for E-mail, Fax or Snail Mail Registration}

View/Print/Download RTF Registration Form {for E-mail, Fax or Snail Mail Registration}

Click Here to View/Print/Download Conference Announcement (Acrobat PDF)

SPONSOR For This Conference	This Facilities for the 36th Midwest Facilitation Conference are provided by the Summit Executive Centre, 205 N Michigan Ave, South Tower - 10th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601, http://www.summitchicago.com
SPONSOR: Nightingale Conant	Since 1993, Nightingale-Conant (Niles, Illinois) has been a most significant contributing sponsor to MFN providing the vast majority of door prizes. Nightingale-Conant is the largest producer and distributor of instructional and motivational audio and video tapes for Personal and Business Development, Wealth Building, Sales, Mind Technology, Health & Wellness and Spiritual Growth. Nightingale-Conant also provides Coaching Services and has a full-service Speakers' Bureau. Please visit their website at: http://www.nightingale.com
SPONSOR: University Associates	Since 1993, University Associates, has been another significant sponsor and supporter of MFN activities, providing products and a number of high-value door prizes, such as tuition-free seats in their workshops. Please visit their website at: http://www.universityassociates.com
SPONSOR: MG Rush Systems	As of 2005, the MFN welcomes MG Rush Systems as a new sponsor. The firm has donated one complimentary seat in a 2005 FAST Facilitator Training Workshop - a $2,500 value. This door prize will be awarded at the end of the Conference and the winner must be present to claim the prize. http://www.mgrush.com
Conference Fees	$110.00 per participant on or before January 18th (Early Registration Discount) $125.00 per participant after January 18th $135.00 per participant at the door (no guarantee of availability) Fee includes Conference, Materials, Continental Breakfast & Lunch.  Fee Does NOT include Lodging (see suggestions below). Cancellations after January 18th or no shows may be assessed a cancellation fee
6 Ways to Register	Click Here to go to Registration Information Page Online: http://www.midwest-facilitators.net/registeronline [You may register one or more participants online with one transaction] Phone: (773)-463-2288 - During the recording press the "2" key. Please announce 'MFN Conference Registration', your company name, and the name, phone # and payment information of each registrant. Fax: (773)-463-9322 - Fax completed registration form with payment information for each registrant. E-Mail: register@midwest-facilitators.net - E-mail completed registration form with payment information and subject: 'MFN Conference Registration'. Snail-mail: Mail completed registration form with payment information to: MFN c/o Jordan-Webb, 2656 W Montrose Ave,  Suite 110, Chicago, IL 60618. On-Site: Registration and payment ($135.00) on-site is subject to availability. No guarantee without pre-registration.
On-Line Information	Chicago, IL Information Websites: Weather Information - http://www.weather.com/weather/local/60601 City of Chicago - http://www.cityofchicago.org  or  http://www.ci.chi.il.us City Search for Chicago - http://www.chicago.citysearch.com  World Web Travel Guide - http://www.chicago.worldweb.com Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau - http://www.choosechicago.com All About Chicago - http://www.allabout-chicago.com AreaGuides.Net - http://chicago.areaguides.net Chicago Tribune - http://www.chicagotribune.com Chicago Sun-Times - http://www.suntimes.com Chicago Reader - http://www.chireader.com Navy Pier - http://www.navypier.com Wendella Boat Rides - http://www.wendellaboats.com Mercury Boat Cruises - http://centerstage.net/other/mercury-boat-cruises.html Daily Herald - http://www.dailyherald.com Chicago Public Library - http://cpl.lib.uic.edu Fun Places to Go With Kids - http://www.FunPlacesToGoWithKids.com Ken Schessler's America/Chicago Tours - http://members.aol.com/KSchessler/wizzk.html Palmer's Walking Guide - http://www.palmersguide.com/chicago Sears Tower - http://www.searstower.com Museum of Science & Industry - http://www.msichicago.org Field Museum of Natural History - http://www.fmnh.org Shedd Aquarium - http://www.sheddnet.org Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum - http://www.adlerplanetarium.org Art Institute of Chicago - http://www.artic.edu Museum of Contemporary Art - http://www.mcachicago.org Chicago Historical Society - http://www.chicagohs.org Chicago Children's Museum - http://www.chichildrensmuseum.org Morton Arboretum - http://www.mortonarb.org Chicago Botanic Garden - http://www.chicago-botanic.org Chicago Architecture - http://www.yelodog.com Chicago's Greektown - http://www.chicagosgreektown.com Chicago's Chinatown - http://www.chicagochinatown.net Musicals - http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Performing_Arts/Theater/Musicals/Shows/Chicago Theater - http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/Illinois/Cities/Chicago/Entertainment_and_Arts/Theater Chicago White Sox - http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cws/homepage/cws_homepage.jsp Chicago Cubs - http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/chc/homepage/chc_homepage.jsp
Meals	Continental breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack are included in the Conference fee.  Participants with special dietary needs contact David De Witt: david.dewitt@dsc-logistics.com
Dress Code	Business Casual.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Your most frustrating problems at work are exacerbated by ineffective communication. Reduce your stress by learning these proven techniques for dealing with different types of people and challenging situations. Discover how to use Personality Style Analysis for immediate results. We will cover special techniques for achieving comfort and confidence. Learn the simple secret about dealing with difficult people that will improve your life instantly. Also included is a powerful segment on how to tame the critters in Michael's famous animal chart: the Bull (bully, intimidator), the Fox (sniper, gossip), the Pig (time waster) and the most challenging animal of all, the Rat (negative, pessimist). This program will convince you that confrontation is actually healthy. It's a session you will never forget.

Michael Angelo Caruso (Edison House, LLC - Royal Oak, MI) http://www.edisonhouse.com (back to agenda)

Michael Angelo Caruso delivers over 200 presentations each year on the subject of personal power. Michael has educated and entertained audiences all over the world, drawing on over ten years of experience in the telecommunications industry and another decade as a professional musician. He is the founder and director of the Edison House, a Detroit-based consulting firm specializing in corporate and personal improvement. Edison House clients include Nortel Networks, Citgo, Bank One, National Institutes of Health, Rayovac, Hallmark and the United States Navy. Michael is a member of Optimist International, Rotary International and a Faculty Member at Rockhurst University. For more information visit: http://www.edisonhouse.com
 

If we could learn to think about problems differently, what would we be able to create or change in our life? Most of us think along the same mental tracks we always have used and come up with almost the same ideas we always thought. Everyone has the ability to think differently and thus create new mental tracks to explore.

Sometimes our inability to think new thoughts is grounded in how we feel at the moment. We hear comments like, "it'll never work", "we've done that before", "things are getting really bad around here", and "nothing ever changes." It can get discouraging, as a facilitator, to hear comments like this and then try to get the group looking forward into possibilities. We'll spend the first part of the session experiencing a different way of looking at a situation (even if it's a bad one!) and discover the energy that can emerge in the group merely by changing the focus of the conversations.

Next, we'll practice several different techniques to get our minds unwrapped and into new ways of thinking. Remember, everyone can do this! Sometimes all it takes is to follow the basic rules of brainstorming, which we will review. Then we'll play with different ways of recording and generating ideas. In the last part of the session, we'll try out remote, collaborative idea generation and discover the nuances of online facilitation.

Come to this session and discover ways to help you and your team break out of their limitations and expand their thinking process. This is a hands-on and brain-turned-on session where you'll have a chance to try out different ways of thinking. You'll come away with tangible techniques that you can try out at your next meeting. Best of all, you'll discover that regardless of what one's thinking style is or how apparently uncreative someone may appear, we all have the ability to think differently than we normally do. Everyone in the group has a unique contribution to make to the process, and it can be fun and exciting.

Odette Samuelson (Pace Suburban Bus Service - Arlington Heights, IL) (back to agenda)

Odette Samuelson has over fifteen years of experience in organization development, adult education, facilitation and quality assurance. She holds a M.ED. in Human Resource Development and is the Manager of Organization Development at Pace Suburban Bus Service. She is also certified as an Achieve Global facilitator. Odette manages training at Pace for non-bargained-for employees as well as the challenging role of initiating planned corporate change. Corporate change is interesting to manage but the opportunity to help employees reach their personal goals is truly fulfilling. With Odette's counseling and guidance, some 30 Pace employees recently completed their fast track Associate's Degree and are now considering options for additional education.  

The Forté Communication System is a simple, powerful, pragmatic and cost-effective system for cultivating and promoting good communication between individuals and within teams. Unlike other instruments that measure aspects of "personality type", the Forté is designed to assess current, changing and perceived "communication styles" and to help individuals and teams minimize the chances for misunderstandings and conflicts. In this session, you will experience how the Forté System can be used to improve interpersonal and team communication. This session will provide additional insight to those who have taken the Forté Communications Survey for this session. The Forté System was developed by C. D. "Hoop" Morgan in 1979. Since then, it has been refined and re-normed several times and was one of the first such diagnostics to be completely available on-line. The Forté is easy to administer, taking no more than 10 minutes. The Forté may be used to develop top-performer profiles and to screen potential candidates for job positions. It can also be used to build model profiles and in coaching for improved performance. While people are generally aware that they have communication strengths that govern their everyday behavior or communication style, they are not aware that these traits are well defined and produce specific and unique profile patterns. In most profiles, a primary communication style will be evident and depending upon the intensity of its strength and will control that individual's attitude, action and responses 50% to 70% of the time. Communication style characteristics reflect how one thinks, understands, relates and comes across to others; thus, there is tremendous value in knowing one's communication style characteristics and the characteristics of others. The Forté brings together a respondent's communication strengths (traits) and provides a highly accurate understanding of personal and interpersonal preferences. An adapting profile identifies how the respondent has been adjusting to an unlimited number of others/environments for the past 30 days and further captures the respondent's current decision-making style, current stamina and current goals index. A perceiver profile tells the respondent how they are "most likely" coming across to others. Unique to Forté System is: the ability to show interactions between individuals that give them specific action plans for improving communications and help pinpoint areas of potential conflict, and the ability to create comparative profiles for teams.

You may take the Forté Communications Surveys 1 & 2 prior to this session by visiting: www.jordan-webb.net/forteinstitute. You will receive a free 2-page Forté Communication Style report (via email) of your lifetime communication style strengths and an extremely accurate reading of your personal and interpersonal preferences, and your level of self-motivation. You will have the opportunity to purchase your entire report if you so choose.

Learning Points:

• Understanding your Forté profile
• Building teams and teamwork with Forté
• Using the Forté in Teams
• Using the Forté for conflict management
• Understanding the characteristics of the four primary categories
• Dominance/Non-Dominance - The Control Category
• Extroversion/Introversion - The People Category
• Patience/Impatience - The Pace Category
• Conformity/Non-Conformity - The Systems Category

Christopher Hunter (CLHunter Consulting - Palatine, IL) (A Forté Provider) http://www.clhunter.com (back to agenda)

Christopher Hunter is currently president of CLHunter Consulting, Inc. He has demonstrated the ability to drive business results by balancing innovative strategy with practical execution over his 15 years of human resources experience across manufacturing, service and government sectors. His passion is driving change by facilitating personal insight. His proven track record in organizations such as Sverdrup Corporation, Mobil Oil Corporation, Ameritech and RR Donnelley has earned him awards including Sverdrup's Sustained Superior Performance Award, Mobil's Pegasus Spot Award and Ameritech's Presidents Award. At RR Donnelley, Chris was responsible for creating company-wide leadership strategies and designing leadership development frameworks. He worked directly with the CEO and senior leaders to forge leadership strategies to source, align, develop and reward leaders. His pragmatic approach translated into concrete classroom and non-classroom development opportunities for 2,500 leaders. Chris was awarded the President's Award at RR Donnelley for his work. Chris has a Masters of Business Administration with an emphasis on Organizational Development from the University of West Florida. For more information visit: http://www.clhunter.com

Kim Ramsey (The Executive Edge- Carol Stream, IL) (A Forté Provider) http://www.theexecutiveedge.net (back to agenda)

Kim Ramsey is the founder of The Executive Edge®, Inc. Kim has more than 19 years of directly relevant experience within Human Resources/Organizational Development. The Executive Edge®, Inc. has partnered extensively with Fortune 500 companies in driving large-scale organizational change and developing their talent to propel the business forward. The firm has engaged proven, business leaders who fully understand the importance of tying individual and team performance to impactful business results. They stand ready to partner with you to deliver against your performance objectives. Kim and her team have been recognized for best practices especially in the area of development and retention of high potential talent by numerous professional organizations. For more information visit: http://www.theexecutiveedge.net

 

 

Traditional ways of thinking are slow and ineffective compared with today's pace of rapid and accelerating change. What is needed is the development of Facilitated Thinking Environments (FTEs). As pretentious as it may sound, FTEs are likely to evolve to improve knowledge-worker thinking productivity in much the same way that the invention of the assembly line improved manual-worker labor productivity.

FTE's function by emulating how skilled educators, facilitators and consultants provide intellectual guidance. A first of its kind FTE, called MindSights, will be demonstrated to show how it helps harness the creative talent and improves personal, team and enterprise thinking performance in a systematic way for the betterment of workers, the organization and its customers.

Paul Collins has been an independent consultant since 1981 and since 1989, he has focused on facilitating collaborative work groups and helping in helping organizations adopt and sustain competencies using group decision support applications in the meeting room and on the internet. Paul's facilitation style would be described as empowering and leading without directing, helping participants quickly overcome technophobia, and making work sessions highly productive and fun. Some of Paul's client experience includes the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), GATX Corporation, Mc Donald's Corporation, Motorola, BP Amoco Corporation, U.S. Cellular Corporation, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. EPA. Paul is active in a number of professional organizations, including the Midwest Facilitation Network (MFN), where he is a co-founder, director and webmaster. Paul is also a member of the Midwest Society of Professional Consultants (Program Committee Chair), the National Black MBA Association (Lifetime Member), the International Association of Facilitators and the American Management Association. Paul is a member of the Board of Advisors for Loyola University's Center for Information Management and Technology (CIMT). He has also lectured for Graduate Programs at the University of Chicago, Loyola University, De Paul University and for the University of Wisconsin's Executive Education Program. Paul is also a teacher of ethnic folk dance, a caller of traditional American square and contra dance, a dance/music festival producer, designs websites as a hobby, and does public speaking. For more information visit: http://www.jordan-webb.net, http://www.ethnicdance.net, http://www.dcff.net

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Internal and external consultants increasingly are struggling with traditional communication and marketing methods becoming decreasingly effective in a message-cluttered environment and tuned-out clients. Word-of-Mouth is widely-regarded to be the most powerful and influential way to communicate your message and value to clients to create action. Yet, very few organizations actively understand, manage, listen for, capture, and nurture Word-of-Mouth. They simply don't know, hear and act on what clients think and tell others about their value delivery in any organized way - even though this may be the main reason for their success.

Word-of-Mouth is the foundation for all Person-to-Person Marketing including: Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Viral Marketing, Guerrilla Marketing and Buzz Marketing and plays in huge role in creating customer activism. Person-to-Person Marketing is what stands directly between what you say and what your clients actually do, as they make the majority of their contracting decisions based on Word-of-Mouth from trusted experts and peers. And the best way to nurture Word-of-Mouth is through a Best-Practice Innovation Framework that integrates Customer Insight, Innovation and Activism.

By directly understanding and nurturing Word-of-Mouth, client engagements and sales can routinely be increased by a factor of 2-10 times as Word-of-Mouth dramatically speeds up client decision processes while decreasing cycle time, creating powerful Customer Activists who recruit new clients for you. 2005 may be the Year of Word-of-Mouth and organizations who ignore, or simply believe that they cannot manage Word-of-Mouth may never recover from competition that uses this secret weapon to lock up the market.

This enlightening presentation will show you what Word-of-Mouth really is and how you can leverage its' powerful potential through Innovation by better understanding and influencing what people tell other people about your "brand". You will gain baseline knowledge of the key concepts and components of Best Practice Word-of-Mouth and Innovation to dynamically grow your business: Personal Examples, Definitions, Characteristics, Motivations, Kinds, Needs, Advantages, Principles, Case Studies, Decision Process and Speed, Process, Techniques, Adopter Types, Messages, Levels, Classes, Sources, Situations, Methods, Campaigns and Success Pillars. You will also learn how organizations have successfully leveraged Word-of-Mouth to amplify their Buzz and results.

Tim Sullivan is the Principal Customer Value Creator with ASPIRE - Total Customer DevelopmentT, a Leader in Customer Understanding, Value and Results Strategy & Delivery. Career Highlights include: 16 Years of Customer Development Management Experience - Responsible for Research, Marketing, Consulting, Sales, Business Development, Customer Service, Product Development and Training. Researcher, Facilitator and Consultant focused on Customer Insight, Innovation and Activism: Person-to-Person Marketing, Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Viral Marketing, Guerrilla Marketing and Buzz Marketing. Facilitator and Knowledge Leader for companies including Marsh, Sears, Chicago Tribune, Motorola, GN ReSound, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, Pactiv, Discover Financial, Levy Home Entertainment, Fellowes, PPM America. Creator of the world's first and leading Total Customer DevelopmentT and Customer InnovActivismT Methodologies. Creator and Facilitator of the world's first Marketing Innovation WorkshopT, Word-of-Mouth Marketing WorkshopT, (Customer Relationship Management) CRM Innovation WorkshopT and Power Marketing WorkshopT. Co-Founder of one of the world's first exclusive Sales & Marketing Automation and Customer Relationship Management Total Solution Firms. Applied Member of the Viral+Buzz Marketing Association, Founding Advisor to the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association and its Measurement Council. For more information visit: http://www.aspireto.com

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