NHRMA | Agenda / Pre-Conference Workshop Descriptions

Pre-registration and advance payment is required for Pre-Conference Workshops. See the Registration form in the back of this brochure for fees.
Continental Breakfast is included with the Pre-Conference Workshops.

Performance Management Solutions: Tools for Turning Them Around; Hard Data for Soft Skills
Track: Personal Credibility

There are two kinds of job success: what you do, and how you do it. It’s easy to measure quality, quantity, time and costs. It’s very difficult to measure conduct – the behaviors and attitudes employees display as they do the job. Through information sharing, self-reflection and small group interaction participants will be able to:

Pamela Bezona spent 10 years with public service in secondary education and 24 years in the private sector with Costco Wholesale. She ended her second career as the Employee Development Manager designing and delivering operationally sound training programs. She is currently the president and founder of Performance eSource, a web-based company that helps “people managing people” coach at the speed of business. PeS offers software as a solution for hiring based on success behaviors, managing ineffective employees and mentoring for optimal performances.

Improving Your Communication Skills Inside and Outside the Organization
Track: Personal Credibility

Deborah Jeffries, PHR, CPC, Vice President/Consultant/Trainer, HR Answers, Inc., Tualatin, OR

During this lively and interactive session you will learn your primary communication style while exploring tips and techniques to better communicate with others, get them more involved and master your effectiveness. The program will explore:

The program includes exercises and activities that will give you the opportunity to practice and explore new ways of communicating with others.

Deborah Jeffries has 20 years experience in HR, focusing on employment, employee relations and training. Her past experience includes HR, training, education and marketing in the retail, restaurant and manufacturing environments. As a consultant and trainer, Deborah focuses on the employment process, orientation, performance, coaching, counseling, recognition and retention, employee separation, harassment, diversity, supervision, leadership and improved communication. She holds a BS in Psychology and a teaching certificate from Willamette University.

Running with the Big Dogs: How to Make Human Resources a Strategic Player
Track: Business Knowledge

In a short period of time, Margaret will show you how to gain a highly respected place in the inner circle of your organization. This is not a philosophical discussion about why Human Resources should be a strategic player, but rather a how-to road map for making it happen, even in organizations where no one believes HR should be a player. Participants will learn 15 ways to tell whether HR is respected in your organization, as well as discover 15 things human resources professionals must do to become “Big Dogs” in their own organizations. All of this is interspersed with funny, and not so funny, real-life stories and examples from Margaret’s own career and the careers of other HR “Big Dogs” who are now movers and shakers in their own organizations.

Margaret earned a BS degree from the University of Alabama and a JD degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. She has worked as an attorney specializing in employment law, as well as being Vice President of HR for three large companies. She also worked as Sr. Vice President, Human Resources Consulting for a national consulting firm before starting her own firm, The HR Edge, Inc., a national management consulting and training company. Margaret is often quoted as a business expert in newspapers across the country and appears regularly on local ABC, CBS and Fox television affiliates. She has been rated one of the top five speakers at the last three SHRM Conferences.

Compensation Trends 2008!
Track: HR Delivery

This is a rare opportunity to attend a pre-conference workshop in the Pacific NW that always sells out at the SHRM National Conferences! This session offers a practical overview of the trends regarding developing job descriptions, market comparison techniques, incentive pay, employee feedback regarding Total Compensation and how to plan for the future! Sharon’s style is to provide practical information and also many materials to take back to your organization for your 2008 compensation planning!

Additionally this session will cover:

Sharon is a founding member of the Lake Washington Chapter and has received three leadership awards from the Chapter. She is a graduate of Washington State University and started her own HR Consulting firm at age 29. As a consultant, Sharon has created over 500 salary plans and has done work for the private, non-profit and government sectors. Sharon has been a national faculty member for SHRM for the past 12 years and is the primary presenter for the compensation related classes for SHRM. She is currently working on a book on the topic of Pay for Performance that will be published by SHRM before the end of 2007!

Working Smart: Managing Workloads and Priorities Using Microsoft Outlook™
Track: HR Technology

Todd Schmick, Western Regional Manager, Priority Management Training, Sonoma, CA

This essential management skills training has been designed to provide participants with the knowledge, skills and competencies to effectively use technology such as Outlook or Blackberry as one’s organizational system. Todd will introduce Priority Management’s Productivity Formula which is Task + Process+ Tools = Results. This workshop gives participants the ability to break down the challenges of becoming productive in today’s demanding and multi-tasking environment. He’ll also share how to improve organizational performance by developing soft skills using software. Participants will leave with key activities around eight distinct processes for the modern worker.

Todd Schmick is the Western Regional Manager for Priority Management Inc, which is a global training and development company based in Vancouver BC. They have worldwide reach with over 100 offices worldwide and offer 25 years of training experience to a wide range of industries. Priority focuses on soft skills training in the areas of Time and Workload Management, Sales Training, Management Skills, Project Management and Customer Service. Their programs are developed to help individuals and organizations achieve their goals and dreams by giving them the tools to enable increased productivity and focus. Todd has been with Priority Management for 15 years. He and his team work regularly with organizations such as T-Mobile, Fireman’s Fund Insurance, Autodesk, Cisco Systems, Marriott Hotels, and others. Todd holds a BA in Social Science from Washington State University.

Design for Sustainability: Senior Leadership's Role in Shifting Hearts, Heads and Hands
Track: Strategic Contribution

John Boyle, Ph.D., Partner and West Coast Practice Leader, The Clarion Group, Redmond, WA

The team at the top of an organization or strategic business unit has always been beset with pressures, but today’s increasing expectations for intimate oversight and broad transparency while continuing to grow the business has substantially raised the bar. Visible Horizon™ is a unique model and collaborative advisory approach, supported by assessment tools and proven management frameworks that provide a unique perspective on the void that only the team at the top can fill. Providing a “birds-eye view” of the organizational landscape, Visible Horizon™ enables executives to recognize the mandate that is uniquely theirs and to connect their own leadership as a critical piece of realizing organizational performance. The outcome is a leadership team that brings a competitive distinction to their business by stepping into their role in a fundamentally different way.

John Boyle is an expert in the areas of business strategy, management infrastructure and creating alignment on executive teams. During a career spanning 20 years as an executive and consultant, he served on management teams of several Fortune 20 companies in the technology, communications, software and consumer products industries. John has a BA in Psychology from Virginia Wesleyan College, and an MA in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University; his Ph.D. work is in Quantitative Analysis at Fordham University.

Public Sector Employment Law Workshop
Track: Legal

Kimberly K. Geariety, SPHR, Attorney, Geariety Law Office PLLC, Mt. Vernon, WA

The legal landscape and human resources requirements for public entities are different from private companies and organizations. In this comprehensive workshop, Kimberly will outline the distinctive legal requirements and human resources considerations for public sector agencies. The workshop will be divided into four sections.

Kimberly K. Geariety, Attorney, SPHR has over 25 years of experience in human resources and labor relations. She initially began her career as a union business agent, and then moved into the management side of labor relations and human resources for the state of Alaska. After obtaining her Masters of Public Administration she gained 12 years of combined labor and management experience, but then earned her law degree from Willamette University College of Law. For 10 years she was in private practice, and then in May of 2003 started her own legal practice to specialize in the non-litigation aspects of employment and labor law. Ms. Geariety provides interactive and practical seminars on a variety of employment and labor law topics as well as human resources best practices; conducts workplace investigations into employee misconduct and allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; provides workplace investigation training; and offers labor relations services including unfair labor practice advice and advocacy, negotiations, arbitrations, and contract administration, as well as “union-free” consultation and training.

HR from Afar: Managing HR When You’re Not There…
Track: Global

Lance Richards, Senior Director, International Human Resources, Kelly Services, Detroit, MI

More and more companies are having corporate HR provide direction to multiple countries, all with local national populations. It may be existing businesses, M&A, or even a Greenfield, but this isn’t Expatriate Management—it’s HR from Afar! Are you sitting in your headquarters and dealing with the challenges of local national employees in other countries? With a dedicated focus on local national HR issues, this lively session is designed for HR practitioners who are managing the HR function for employees of their non-headquarters business entities.

One of SHRM’s top-rated presenters, Lance will illustrate situations, describe solutions and share lessons from his experience navigating the often-complicated relationship between employers and their local national employees. In this highly interactive session, six specific areas will be addressed, all with a very clear focus on the issues surrounding local national employment. These include pre-deal due diligence; launching an offshore business; attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing local nationals; maintaining and operating a local HR function; and “fire-fighting” tricky or treacherous issues.

Lance Richards is Senior Director, International Human Resources for Kelly Services, responsible for all HR activities supporting operations in 29 countries which employ over 4000 people. Before joining Kelly, Lance managed global HR for a variety of telecommunications firms and consulted on international HR management. Educated at the University of Georgia, he holds a BSc degree, and has over 20 years of HR experience, over fourteen of those years in the IHR field. An internationally sought-after speaker, Lance has presented at dozens of HR Conferences ranging from Singapore to New York, and from Cairo to Shanghai. From 2001 to 2006, he was a scheduled editorial columnist on global HR topics for the UK’s most widely read HR publication, Personnel Today. He has served as a Visiting Professor of HRM at the Sasin Graduate Business School in Bangkok.