Blog Post: I Don't Believe We've Been Formally Introduced...

I was involved in a conversation with a fellow trainer who was sharing how her company was posting a job opening in the ASTD Job Board.  I replied: "Make sure you use the ASTD-Orange County Job Board." and dutifully pitched the benefits of marketing job openings with a local professional network, namely:

• employers get connected with a tight network of local professionals (cause it's all about the network, right?)
• these potential employees are people dedicated to their career and craft (because it's also about what they know)
• it's (often) free (because it's also about the bottom line)

It caught me by surprise when my friend said: "I will definitely use them in the future. I had no idea there was a difference!"

I thought about this.  Was our message not getting out?  Do people hear ASTD-OC and think it's the same as ASTD National? And it occurred to me that perhaps we, as a local chapter within ASTD National, don't do that good a job of getting our own message out, instead relying upon the reputation of the national organization to promote ourselves. And that's poor message management. Because that's only a facet of who we are.

Allow us to introduce ourselves:

What ASTD National is:
...because it does start with them.

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) is a national organization dedicated to the professional development of those in the training and organizational development fields.

What ASTD-Orange County is:
...because this post is about us.

A chapter serving Orange County and the surrounding areas of Southern California by providing a robust environment in which they can learn, network, and develop their careers. Our membership consists of a diverse network of professionals in the workplace learning and development field. They are experts in:

• Organizational Development
• eLearning
• Leadership Development
• Coaching
• Team Development
• and more.

This Is How We Do It

By creating opportunities to learn in small, local venues prompt discussions between ASTD-Orange County members and industry experts. You'll often see us post about lauded:

• Learning Events
• Low Cost Workshops
• Total Trainer or Delivery Skills programs
• Special Interest Group Meetings

By providing both structured and unstructured networking opportunities ASTD-Orange County meetings such as

• Learning Events,
• Special Interest Groups, and
• Mix and Mingles.

Yes, we've listed the first two bullet points twice. We like to multi-task in our meetings.

The Key Difference

The key difference between the two is that ASTD National focuses on one's professional development through its publications, seminars, and other applied research.

ASTD-Orange County takes that knowledge (some ASTD-Orange County members, including all its Board members are members of ASTD National), and applies it to a robust professional network that can only exist in a community of peers.

That's ASTD-Orange County.  A local network of multi-tasking workplace learning and performance peers dedicated to their improvment, and the improvement of those within their network.

I really only scratched the surface of what we do. You can learn more at our website!

OH! And speaking of networks...

Yes, we're on:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Stop on by and say hello!

Anthony Harmetz
President, ASTD-Orange County
Your Learning Partner