Government Perspectives

Here is a sample of Government/Publicy Policy related sessions at this year's conference. For the most current information, or to review complete descriptions, speaker profiles, and create your own schedule of sessions , please use the Online Program Guide/Schedule Builder feature.

Sunday, June 1st

SU306 - Building a Partnership with the Public Workforce System
C. Michael Ferraro, Training Solutions, Inc.
3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. - Room 9
Federal and state governments provide billions of dollars annually for job training and related services through the public workforce investment system. So why aren’t you taking advantage? Savvy WLP professionals can access a broad range of grants, tax credits, and other government resources to build a skilled workforce and maintain a competitive edge. The speaker will explain how to locate and develop these opportunities for your organization, and how to influence state and local funding priorities.

Monday, June 2nd

An Unprepared Workforce: Calculating the Cost to Business
Mike Czarnowsky, ASTD, Mary Wright, The Conference Board, Elyse Rosenblum, J.D., and Steven Williams, Ph.D., SPHR
10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. - Government Networking Room, Sails Pavilion
ASTD has partnered with the Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) for an important new survey on the costs to businesses when new entrants to the workforce arrive unprepared. The speakers will discuss top-line results from the survey and preview the final report coming in fall 2008.

Ensuring the Transfer of Vital Skills
J.P. Orlando, M.Ed., Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network and Scott Brown, North Carolina Justice Academy
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 a.m. - Government Networking Room, Sails Pavilion
Session description: We’ve all heard of “just-in-time” training, but what about “just-in-case” training? For some professionals, sometimes the most important skills are the ones they may never use. Join our speakers for a fascinating look at skills transfer in the medical and law enforcement arena, and how to ensure the skills are there when they’re needed.

Employee Retention Strategies for Government Professionals: Learning and Development’s Vital Role in Keeping Great Talent
Craig Taylor, Senior Vice President, Marketing, AMA & Talent Keepers
1:45 p.m – 2:30 p.m. - Government Networking Room, Sails Pavilion
Learning and development professionals can play a key role in employee retention, contributing greatly to one of the biggest organizational problems facing agencies today. Workplace learning organizations have the talent and access to employees that, when planned and executed well, can be a valuable asset in the battle to keep great talent. Retention strategies go well beyond traditional development and performance improvement and here’s your chance to learn how.

A Conversation with Warren Master
Warren Master, Editor-in-Chief and Chairman, Board of Directors, The Public Manager
3:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. - Government Networking Room, Sails Pavilion
The challenges facing today’s public sector managers and executives are complex, interrelated, and far-reaching. And learning how practitioners at all levels of government and the public nonprofit world are responding to these issues is critical to those in the professional development community. Join TPM’s editor-in-chief, Warren Master, as he highlights a wide range of topics to be covered in the upcoming conference, “Transforming Bureaucratic Cultures: Challenges and Solutions for Public Management Practitioners.” Major challenge areas to be addressed include: performance, accountability, human capital, technology, communication and governance.

Community of Practice Roundtable: Public Sector
Anthony Hill, Veterans Benefits Academy
4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. - Concurrent session M305, Room 6F
Join the speaker for a series of topics relevant to public sector employees representing Federal, state, and local government.

Tuesday, June 3rd

Power Steps: 10 Principles for Leadership Success
Percy Thomas, Sc.D., M.Ed., National Fair Housing Training Academy
11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Government Networking Room, Sails Pavilion
Session description: Discover 10 essential principles for leading yourself and others. Learn the Power Steps: 10 Principles of the Leadership Success model. You will learn how each principle relates to success in your personal and professional life. Participants will practice developing a vision and mission statement to become an effective leader.

Common Nexus: The Intersection of Public Policy and the Learning Profession
Jeanette Harrison, Ph.D., American Express
12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. - Government Networking Room, Sails Pavilion
In a knowledge and service based economy, continuously improving the skill and competency levels of the workforce are essential. Public policy offers one tool to developing the workforce of tomorrow. Join ASTD Public Policy Council chairperson Jeanette Harrison for a discussion of how learning professionals can benefit from, and even influence, government decisions on workforce development and education.

Evaluate Your Public Sector Training Programs
Ray Rivera, ASTD
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Government Networking Room, Sails Pavilion
The WLP Scorecard is an online real-time benchmarking and performance measurement tool that can be used by both learning and non-learning professionals. Government sector professionals are invited to learn how to benchmark learning investment against leading corporations and public organizations, and report your results in business terms.

Wednesday, June 4th

A Federal Family Portrait: Boomers Pass the Torch to Gen X/Y
Andrew P. Krzmarzick, The Graduate School, USDA
8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. - Concurrent session W105, Room 9
As the Boomers exit from the full-time, Federal workforce over the next decade, every agency is exploring ways to pass the torch to the next generation of Federal employees. Gens X and Y are striving to demonstrate their readiness for increasing responsibility and eventual leadership. This session creates a forum to ask and answer: What are the organizational dynamics of this shift? What are the key challenges? How is government addressing the transition? Highly interactive, this session is an opportunity to explore a phenomenon that will continue to have a profound effect on our Federal workforce for the foreseeable future.