Pre- Conference Sessions

Sunday, October 10, 2010

beginning at 8:00 am

 

Offered Sunday, October 10, 2010 beginning with a continental breakfast at 8:00am. Each preconference session will be an additional $110 charge. These sessions will cover a topic of interest and there will be time to explore that topic in more depth than a session of one hour would allow. Deadline for registration for the preconference is September 17. If there are not enough registrations for the pre-conference session it could be cancelled. So be sure to register for the pre-conference of your choice by September 17, 2010.

Session 1: Strategic Sales for Colleges - Trenton Hightower, presenting.

Trenton will work with the group to explore getting "buy in" from customers, instructors, partners, suppliers, and the college community. The process of big win and little win is the negotiation power needed with all the people and systems between you and your goal. Negotiation is the tool everyone needs to master and use each day. Learn the four steps of the contract process.

Trenton Hightower is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development with Virginia Community College System. He spent seven years as the Associate Vice President of Customized Training at Frederick Community College, and six years as the Manager for Training and Workforce Development at Finger Lakes Community College. Mr. Hightower's leadership and partnering skills were instrumental in taking two community colleges from deficit to profit. He has been the speaker on the topic of "sales” to many organizations and a contributing author to the League of Innovation in Community Colleges, Community College Times, and Community College Week. Trenton has also written a regular column on best training practices for a local business weekly and served on the Board of Directors for NCCET. Hs is the author of Field Trip 101 an approach to team-building which borrows from the same philosophy that makes getting out of the classroom fun and valuable for teachers and students. Trenton holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Public Relations, and a Master’s in Administration of Higher Education.

 

Session 2: Building an Entreperneurial Contract Training Department - Dr. Laura Weidner, presenting. A panel of current leaders in contract training will be included at the end of the pre-conference.

 

Laura will discuss what it takes to change from a twentieth centrury continuing education contract training department to a high performance twenty-first century entrepreneurial arm of your college. Topics will include what's broken, changing thinking, internal and external perceptions, organizational structure, staffing and other aspects of helping your unit become highly successful in the world of business solutions.

Laura Ellen Weidner, Ph.D., is the dean of workforce development at Anne Arundel Community College and has directed the college’s workforce development, contract training and outreach to business and industry since February 2006. She also has served as a consultant to and in the Executive Director role for the Global Corporate College, a network of colleges providing training solutions for national and international business. In 2009, Dr. Weidner worked with Dr. Terry O’Banion researching "The Nature of Innovation in the Community College” for the League for Innovation in the Community College resulting in several reports and articles. One of her more notable achievements was her leadership in developing and managing the nationally recognized workforce development program, School at Work. That program has helped more than 4,500 people in low-paying jobs at 320 hospitals in 39 states advance in the health professions by taking classes at their work site. It has won several awards including the National Council of Instructional Administrators Workforce Development Award, the National Council for Continuing Education and Training’s Distance Learning Award, and the Innovation of the Year Award through the League for Innovation in the Community college.

 

 

 

 

 

Session 3: Using Environmental Scanning and Forecasting to Improve Strategic Planning - Joel Lapin, presenting.

Joel will discuss the use of Environmental Scanning and Forecasting and its essential role in the process of strategic planning. Topics will include: defining trends in external environmental changes, application of trends to successful strategic plans, and how to successfully organize and opterate a scanning and strategic planning activity.

 

Joel D. Lapin is a professor of Sociology at The Community College of Baltimore County (Maryland), Catonsville Campus, and Vice President and lead consultant in external environmental scanninga nd forecasting for the Clements Group which specialiozes in advancement and fundraising for communtiy colleges. He has worked with numerous colleges in their strategic planning activities.

Click here for a preview of Downtown Miami.

Visit the Intercontinental Downtown Miami for a preview.

 

Make your hotel reservations on-line. Click here. Or call the hotel directly at 1-800-593-5434. Deadline for hotel reservations is September 13, 2010. Don't wait -- make your reservations today to ensure that you get the NCCET rate of $159 per night (single or double).  Group code "NCE"

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