WELCOME!  The 2016 ATD Houston Chapter Fall Conference is here.  On September 22nd, we will spend the day together talking, laughing and caring.   We have worked diligently for the past year to share an incredible experience with you.  One that will let you learn, grow and transform your organization.  The theme is “Resiliency – Take Charge”.  With such changing times, we all need to be resilient.  Our teams and organizations need to be resilient and we are offering the learning and the tools to help you become just that.  The excellent speakers, applications from the break-out sessions and the opportunity to meet and network with many professionals who face the same challenges and successes will provide an outstanding experience for you.

We are excited to introduce our Keynote Speaker, Sandy Asch.  She will be sharing her success in creating a resilient organization at the San Diego Zoo.  If you want to attract the best employees through integrity and respect,  enhance wellbeing and happiness for superior performance,  nurture enhanced engagement with the organization's mission, take control of time and energy,  encourage courageous conversations to forge trust and loyalty, raise talented new leaders to take the mission forward and leave feeling renewed and energized then you won’t want to miss Sandy and her wisdom.  We also have a most talented line up of breakout session speakers and wonderful vendors and exhibitors who are going to be supporting you and the conference.

Hours of design, planning and preparation have gone into this conference.  I want to thank each volunteer, leader, speaker and vendor who have invested themselves to meet the needs of each ATD Houston member and guest.   Without our members and volunteers, events like this would not be possible.  Thank you to the University of Houston for their cooperation and sponsorship.  We hope you enjoy your day and will consider membership in ATD Houston if you are not already a member.  Make a difference for you and others.

We are well on our way in 2016 and ATD Houston is counting on each of its members to make a difference.  A difference for themselves, for all talent development professionals, and for the greater community.  Be engaged. Become involved.  Attend the excellent programs, professional development opportunities,  Community Training Networks CTNs), Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and outstanding conferences.  Volunteer to support ATD Houston and our community partners.   Membership is key to making a difference.  Be a Power Member- connect to ATD Houston and ATD International.

We look forward to seeing you, sharing with you, supporting you and making a positive difference for you!  Come join us and be part of the excitement of ATD Houston.

After attending last night's general meeting on Bring Your On Device (BYOB) with Larry Straining, I have a renewed appreciation for leveraging technology in the learning environment.  Larry shared with us many ideas on simple ways to use QR codes.  We learned that you can use QR codes for providing instructions, providing quizzes, delivering surveys, making assignments and many more creative ideas.  During the session, Larry also introduced us to other online tools to support learning through the use of technology.  

I did have a few surprises during the session.  I was really amazed at how many people indicated that they do not have a Twitter account.  I thought everyone had a Twitter account.  Though I have challenges with using Twitter at work, I have used it quite a bit during the past couple of years at conferences and meetings in what is called the "back channel".  Our meeting tweets can be found at #ATDHouston.  I'm not the most advanced technology person, but I do appreciate a tool that delivers ideas and information from a variety of sources.  I have even participated in a Twitter chat group on Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. CST called #lrnchat.  I encourage you to try it out.

If you missed last evening's general meeting, be sure to make one of the upcoming Community Training Network (CTN) meetings around the city of Houston.  You will learn a lot and meet some fantastic people.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

David Bell

President 2015

ATD Houston Chapter

Personal Twitter: @davidbell02

Chapter Twitter: @ATDHouston

Do you ever get so busy with life that you don't take the time to look up?  Believe it or not, we have made it to June.  Hopefully, you have weathered the storms and the flooding in the Houston area during the month of May.   As I look out my office window today, I saw the beautiful sunshine.  It reminds me of all of the beautiful things that are happening with the ATD Houston chapter.

First, have you attended any of the ATD Houston events this year.  There is definitely something for everyone including the Tech Conference in April, the general meetings or one of the webinars focusing on tools for talent development.  We have also had a least four CTN meetings each month in different parts of Houston or maybe you connected with the Young Professionals or the Career Transition group.  If you haven't had the opportunity to attend one of these many splendid events, you are missing out on excellent information related to talent development and connecting with other professionals in the community.

Secondly, many of us in the Houston area took a trip to Orlando, FL to join in  the fun at the ATD International Conference & EXPO.  There were many excellent speakers during the course of the conference.  My favorite speaker was Sugata Mitra.  I also enjoyed meeting many of the companies who were showcasing their offerings at the EXPO.  

During the month of  June, we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary as an ATD chapter.  Come join us at our general meeting on June 9th to celebrate 50 years of great members and great memories.  Also, we will share some of the things we learned from the ATD International Conference & EXPO.

Here's to looking up!

David Bell

President

ATD Houston Chapter

The ATD Houston Chapter is looking forward to an exciting year in 2015!  First of all, we will be celebrating our 50 year anniversary as a chapter in the coming year.  We also plan to host the Technology Expo in April and the Fall Conference in September.  

We will continue to come together with our general chapter meetings and through our Community Training Network (CTN) meetings throughout the year.  

We also hope to reach more of our members with events through the use of virtual technology so that you will have access to expertise and information without having to travel across town.

I would like to share three objectives for our chapter in 2015.

1. We want to create a great experience for our members and guests at all of our meetings and events
2. We want to improve member engagement and retention.  We encourage everyone to get involve to make our chapter better for our members and guests whether it is by volunteering for a specific event or by serving as a part of our newly established leadership team for 2015.
3. We want to make a meaningful contribution to our community.  We can do this by sharing our time and talents in service to others in the Houston community.

If you want to identify ways to get more involved in the chapter, plan to attend the upcoming ATD Houston Membership and Volunteer Showcase at Saint Arnold’s Brewery at 6:00 p.m. on January 13^th.  If you want to provide us feedback, please feel free to send us an e-mail at feedback@tdhouston.org.

So here is to a great year in 2015!

David Bell
ATD Houston Chapter
President 2015

“The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.”

John C Maxwell.

For more information about leadership opportunities within the ATD Houston Chapter, send an e-mail expressing your interest and a current resume to leadership@tdhouston.org.