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San Dee and Jeff made the whole process seem so workable that we all wanted to either leave and order the Captivate Suite of products or at least take a training class at SkillQ to learn how to do even more with it!

For those who develop training right now, questions were flying back and forth about what Captivate can do versus (or in conjunction with) other development tools that were currently being used by training professsionals.  For those who facilitate training or consult, it was an opportunity to learn more about how elearning was developed right now so we can continue to speak the “language of our training and development business.”

What a great deal at ASTD lunch and learns – where you truly have the opportunity to expand your learning.  The networking is amazing as well.

And…this and many other sessions are video taped by our own Tamika Lee of SkillQ and VP of Communications for ASTD Pensacola!  Check out this excerpt of our meeting as members and guests shared ideas with one another and really got a great overview of Adobe Captivate!

Check out our Home Page for more video and photos of our meetings.

See everyone next month!

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As workplace learning professionals we’re always searching for ways to be more creative in our thinking, in the ways we develop our materials and in our presentations. We’ve all been affected by the challenges of a difficult economy, its mid-summer and we’re ready to come up with something new.

ASTD Pensacola’s July 27^th lunch meeting brought us Karen Sieczka – author, trainer and “creativity injector” who helped us to unleash our workplace creativity.

Karen’s premise: Many employees want to use their creative skills at work but they aren’t sure how or haven’t been encouraged to do it. You can show your employees (and yourself) the way, help them be innovative, improve processes, be more productive and most importantly, bring new IDEAS to work!

Among the many ideas Karen shared with us, we loved the concept of the Idea Library – a place where you and your staff can go to look for the seeds of a new idea. Karen suggests we carve out some comfortable space for seating, a table and provide creative items such as paper, colored pencils, books, magazines – not necessarily related to your current industry. The idea here is to provide a place where the seeds of NEW ideas and improved processes could come from. Look toward industries that are opposite your thinking to provide new ways to think about things? How do others do things? How can you apply their expertise to your organization? If you want new ideas, says, Karen, look to other industries for some new ways to think about things!

Another great “takeaway” from this session – For those who truly want to develop new ideas at work be sure that you provide a “no ridicule” atmosphere where new ideas are accepted openly and your employees are free to express themselves. Teasing and negativity are sure to cut off the creativity in any organization.

Karen Sieczka’s ideas were applicable to any organization and it was a good chance to think about ways to improve the “outside the box” thinking going on in all of our workplaces.  Those who attended this session had lots to share about what was (or was not) going on in terms of creativity in their organizations and we were really thinking hard about ways to make new ideas come alive.

Thanks, ASTD Pensacola – for another great opportunity to lunch and learn! These meetings are great and I always learn something I can really use!

For more on Karen Sieczka go to her website – www.GrowingGreatIdeas.com

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