VOLUNTEERS FROM THROUGHOUT THE SOCIETY ATTEND THE LEADERSHIP TRAINING CONFERENCE

The second Leadership Training Conference (LTC) was held on March 2 to 4 in Houston at the Wyndham Greenspoint Hotel. More than 280 volunteers and staff members attended this three-day training event to hear more about the Society, to pick up important new skills and learn more about the resources available to aid in the day-to-day operations their units.

In keeping with the theme of the LTC, “Connecting Communities,” all of ASME’s sectors were represented including Codes & Standards, Strategic Management, Institutes and Centers. From our Knowledge and Community Sector we had 115 delegates representing 94 sections and 52 delegates representing 31 technical divisions. In all, 9 of the 10 districts making up Global Communities sent delegates and all of the groups making up Technical Communities were represented.

In addition, 12 early career engineers and 25 student leaders attended as part of a special program to expose them to the larger society and interest them in getting more involved as volunteers. Each of these delegates was selected after submitting an essay on their involvement in ASME.

The LTC opened earlier this year with a “First Time Leaders Workshop” on Friday morning. This workshop was the result of delegate comments from LTC 06 and was aimed at providing some of the basics in terms of running a section or division. 138 delegates attended 5 workshops that included topics on Leadership, Resources and Communications Tools, Team Building, Unit Operations and Unit Finance. These introductory sessions provided the First Time Leaders with a better understanding of how ASME units operate and prepared them for the more advanced sessions of the main LTC program.

The LTC main session opened with welcomes and introductory remarks from ASME President Terry Shoup (pictured), ASME President-Elect Sam Zamrik and Executive Director Virgil Carter. Saturday’s session opened with a special presentation on ASME’s Balanced Scorecard and how it can be applied to unit operations in an entrepreneurial manner. A skit put on by the LTC players that highlighted some of the dos and don’ts of unit operations followed this presentation.

Over the remainder of the LTC, delegates had a chance to participate in a series of concurrent workshops on leadership tools and applications. In all 16 topics were presented on everything from developing business plans to running a successful technical conference. Each delegate was able to select 4 topics that they were most interested in.

As with last year’s LTC, the delegates completed the formal sessions by participating in several group activities that were designed to expose these unit leaders to real-life situations. They had to analyze the scenario and then develop action plans on how to achieve the objective. Several of the developed plans were highlighted the next day in a plenary session.

The LTC closed with unit leaders having the opportunity to meet with their district or group leaders in special sessions designed to review the information gained at the LTC and to develop action plans on how to move forward with new unit programs that add member value.

Early feedback from the delegates attending the LTC was very positive. The topics presented were helpful and having the opportunity to meet and network with volunteers from across the Society and from other sectors provided the impetus for collaborative programs in the future.

LTC 07 Co-Chairs Jack Whitehead and Betty Bowersox wish to thank the more than 60 volunteers and staff members who helped organize the LTC, develop the course materials and make the presentations. And they have already started reviewing the feedback to develop and improve the LTC 08.

All of the presentations made at the LTC are available for download at: http://www.asmeconferences.org/ltc07/presentations.cfm