Notes from Kathy Rixham, edp on Vision 2005 events

Overview

Background

Eight officers of the Mid Atlantic Region - Wilma Grant, Kathy Rixham, edp, Sandy Wright, edp, Bob "Bubba" Wert, Casey Clarke, Diana Hillman, edp, Barry Lietuvnikas, edp, and Michael Botos, edp - attended the Xplor International Vision Conference.

This conference was new this year and combines the old Leadership Conference with a new conference of Personal and Professional development. The leadership portion is a place where the officers - old and new - have the opportunity to learn what's new at Headquarters, what officers from other regions and chapters are doing, and what opportunities are available to better serve our membership. The Professional Development guides each person in their career - moving forward and identifying things to watch out for.

Friday the meetings kicked off. Here are my notes on the discussions and sessions attended. True to form, this was an informative three days, and with plenty of networking opportunities.

Wilma Grant and Michael Botos both gave presentations at the conference. Wilma spoke on "Leadership and Change... Why Me" and Michael spoke on "Web Site Design".

Mouse ears were a popular photo prop:
    
  
  

Thursday

Thursday evening, the Mid Atlantic Region held a board meeting, catching up on a lot of issues that have happened over the last few weeks. Mainly the lack of membership and the danger of the Mid Atlantic becoming a chapter of North East. None of us wants that to happen. We are going to work with HQ on sending out a mailing to non-members, and following it up with phone calls. We also have been asked to make phone calls inviting folks to the Global Conference in February. As of November 2, we have 162 members and we need to pick this up by March.

Friday, November 11

Professional Development Program #1 - David Goldsmith

1. Mr. Goldsmith gave out some terrific handouts, which I have in my office. We will be able to download his presentation from his web site. He will send the information to HQ, and they will send it out to those of us who attended.
2. The next set of growth - management has to think faster. We don't have tools to do that, so we have to 'rethink' what we are currently doing.
3. Recommended reading: "The World is Flat"
4. Awareness - find new knowledge; understand world values; watch competition.
5. Strategy - mental exercise by which a challenge is theoretically extrapolated until a desired outcome is found. Mental exercise.

6. Great strategy - works all the time for the desired application.
7. State your challenge in one sentence.
8. Does your challenge:
• Ask the right question? Make sure the question is understood.
• Convert the challenge into a 'should' statement. Positive opposite. SPECIFIC ultimate end
• What would it take to guarantee or insure?
• 'Why' doesn't matter because it is past tense
9. Meetings should focus on solutions, not on the past
10. Spend more time on the challenge statement - stop introducing solutions in the beginning. Need to define the true challenge
11. We are often not on target. Use the Challenge Statement Test
12. Cost of not thinking strategically is significant
13. Cost of wrong strategy is disastrous
14. Projects are building blocks of business
15. Project - activities that include multiple tasks
16. "Two" is the magic number of projects one person should be working on. (Not very practical in today's world - we have to do more with a lot less.)
17. You cannot work on more projects by working more hours (try telling that to your management team.)
18. People will follow you if you take them where they want to go
19. In order to control our lives, we have to do our jobs better.
20. A leader creates vision and develops systems and structure to get there
21. A leader empowers their employees through tools and systems
22. The best leaders collect information widely, listen to everybody, and then decide by themselves
23. Find out challenges facing folks, and then give them a solution
24. Be a part of the long term solution
25. Suggested reading: "Tested Advertising Methods" by Cables; "Scientific Advertising" by Hopkins
26. Use C++ to automate employee processes
27. Getting to the point where robotics are integrating to us
28. Someone will always HATE your decisions. Learn to live with it.

Networking

At the conclusion of David's Friday presentations, we had a little time to relax. We then gathered back to start the real reason for attending Xplor meetings - NETWORKING. We had hors d'oeuvres and got to meet the new folks, and talk with some old friends.

Saturday, November 12

Professional Development Program #2 - David Goldsmith

1. Mr. Goldsmith continued with his invigorating discussion from Friday. This time leaning more toward the 'leaders' of Xplor.
2. What value do we deliver?
3. What did you implement since the last conference?
.
4. What value can we give? And this has to be for all - not just for Government. It will be hard to do, but we have to find a way.
5. Hold the hands of the new folks - introduce them to others. Encourage good networking.
6. It's all about strategy
7. Recognize members or companies for outstanding accomplishments
8. Give each attendee's company logo placement on signage
9. Get some success stories - write some letters to members. Especially those who have been regular attendees.
10. What is the value for someone to be on the Mid Atlantic Board? What committees do we need?
11. Thank our sponsors and supporters and attendees constantly on all communication.
12. Minimize time and maximize rewards
13. List all sponsors - even ones not used for that particular meeting.
14. Audio/video recordings on line; telecasts if we could get them free.

Leadership Program Opening - Cheryl Simerson, edp and Jeanne Mowlds, edp

This was the beginning for Xplor Board Members to get down and dirty. After some general announcements, the message went out: "We have to start getting the younger folks involved".

Networking Know How and the New Xplor VP of Networking - Paul Abdool, edp

1. Increase your social capital - resources accumulated by individual or business and used, or are available for use, for the production of wealth, ideas, knowledge, contacts, etc.
2. "Who you know" is as important as what you know. This concept is proven every time I get a new project, involving something I don't personally know. My Xplor affiliation has given me a huge list of folks who do know a lot of things, and have a variety of interests. I pull on that mental list of folks that I know all the time.
3. You want people to remember who you are, what you know, and how to reach you
4. LALA - Look (read crowd); Access (spot to get started); Listen (opportunity to get in); Approach (join in)
5. Memory Hook - something in your introduction that so vividly describes what you do
6. Get two business cards - one to pass on to someone else
7. Use their name twice before you leave the conversation - it will help you to remember who they are.

Effective Recruitment & Retention of Membership and Volunteers! - Rob Williams

1. Place more emphasis on rethinking the market
2. Touching people once or twice a year is not enough to retain members
3. Recycling firms may want to be made aware of Xplor. Midland Chapter contacted them and they were interested in becoming more involved.
4. Recruit - local involvement; attend and exhibit at local conferences and tradeshows; partner with other document related associations; reach beyond the mainstream; recruit at your meetings
5. Have frequent networking sessions; supplement the first year fee; target the right individual; list the top five benefits of Xplor membership; immediate new member retention
6. Do not use email - CALL THEM! At the very least, send them snail mail letters.
7. http://touchpointsplus.com/

Can Leadership Make a Difference? - James Shand, edp

1. James sent me his presentation electronically. If anyone wants it, just say the word.
2. The real value of Leadership is Service.
3. Leadership is often confused with the attainment of power
4. Managers are people who do things right, while leaders do things the right way
5. Popularity is NOT leadership
6. Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off
7. You don't know what you can get away with until you try
8. Fit no stereotypes. Don't chose the latest management fads
9. Perpetual optimism
10. Have fun in your command - don't always run at a breakneck pace
11. Xplor can no longer be run as a club. It MUST be run as a business
12. James mentioned Flat Stanley. OK, I cannot describe this, but I can give you the web link: http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/
13. Now, THIS looks real interesting: http://www.blanchardlearning.com/templates/group.asp?group=643 and http://www.blanchardlearning.com/templates/product.asp?product=15447

Networking

That finished the sessions for Saturday. We were taken to Epcot and let loose until about 9:00. At that time we gathered for nibbles and drinks, and sat back to watch the firework display. I met up with two other buddies from Moore Canada, and wandered around talking with everyone. It was terrific.

Sunday, November 13

Leadership Across a Global Organization - Neil Merchant, edp

1. New skills, practices, behaviors are necessary to succeed
2. Suggested reading - "The Earth is Flat" by Friedman
3. What is the project? Who is the team? What steps are needed to complete the project?
4. Create an organization chart - WITH PHOTOS
5. Review what didn't get covered on the agenda, and outline in detail what needs to be discussed. Then send it out
6. Respond to voice mails and emails within 24 hours
7. Welcome creative conflict - not the usual fights that break out
8. If you agree to do something - DO IT! If you can't accomplish it, let the others know quickly.

Meeting Planning 101: The Five W's of Meetings - Franklin Campbell, edp and Scott Kelly, edp

1. Handout is available
2. Northeast region charged $75 in advance for all (members and non-members), then charged $95 at the door
3. England does not refund money paid up front if the attendee doesn't show up
4. Should Mid Atlantic raise the registration fee? Forget the extra non-member fee? Add a lot more - maybe double - for walk-ins?
5. The region needs to get the money up front
6. Speaker list is on the Hub. We should make use of it
7. Send flyer to Mary, as well as evaluations
8. What would YOU like to see?
9. May want to budget for keynote speakers
10. Contracts should be evaluated by Mary Dreyer

New Xplor Font and Branding Guide - Michael Turton, Ph.D, edp

1. They are still working on the new font - this was just an overview
2. Typefaces we have used have varied and changed. The purpose of the font is to make it uniform
3. Need font appropriate for Electronic Documents Systems Association, and for the 21st century
4. Student designed font on EDSF scholarship
5. Xplor is the name - both serif and sans, one office and one book
6. Quark Xpress and InDesign - only where numerals and ligatures are available
7. Xplor logo - digitally re-worked; now available as a keystroke in Xplor Wild; each region and chapter has its own version. It has been cleaned up
8. Office - desktop publishing and screen environments; Book - offset environments
9. Has not yet been decided how it will be implemented for email or for web
10. Specifications are now being worked on
11. Xplor needs to be more professional in the way it communicates - thus the reason for the standard font
12. RED - RGB 100% - cut out blue and green. Full red under RGB
13. Is there a form we would like standardized? If so, let headquarters know
14. Part of the toolkit the leadership has been promised, but has yet to receive
15. There is a set of forms and templates out there, but we - at least I - haven't seen them yet.

Other handouts available from the sessions I could not attend:

Web Site Design - Michael Botos, edp

• Presentation info [with link to PowerPoint presentation] [http://rc.xplor.org/help/index.cfm?pageID=1069]
• Web Design - Resource addendum [http://www.botos.com/web_design.html]

White Papers available from the EDSF

[http://www.edsf.org/white_papers.cfm]

1. Document Communications Industry Trends: 2005 Survey Results
2. Ramifications of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology for the Printing Industry
3. The Global Impact of JDF on the Graphic Communications Industry
4. Criticality of Printed Information in the Financial Services Industry: 2005 Survey Results

Conclusion

With that, Vision 2005 was a wrap. A lot of great ideas have come up, and while most seem to be pertaining only to Management, or my role in Xplor, the thoughts and suggestions should come in handy in my work life as well.