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Workshop Descriptions & Presenters

9:15 – 9:45am Opening General Session

*Karen Foss, Senior Vice President Communications and Brand Management
Ameren Corporation

Karen Foss

Karen Foss was named senior vice president, Communications and Brand Management, of Ameren Corporation in April 2009. She is a member of the corporate executive leadership team and is responsible for Ameren corporate- level communications and for managing the corporate image and brand in cooperation with business segment communications teams. Corporate level external and internal communications teams report to Foss. Foss joined AmerenUE, the corporation’s Missouri utility, in February 2007 as vice president, Public Relations. Foss is a nationally recognized former newscaster who spent more than 25 years as anchor of KSDK-TV in St. Louis. The six-time Emmy award winner was in 2005 inducted into the Silver Circle by the National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences for her 25 years of journalistic excellence. Foss is equally well known for her community contributions.

Foss has also actively supported a range of organizations from The Salvation Army to Para quad—a non-profit dedicated to helping the disabled establish homes and jobs to become more independent. In 1983, Foss received the “Para quad Service Award.” She also was the first recipient of the St. Louis Ambassadors’ “Spirit of St. Louis” award in 1985. The St. Louis Suburban Journals named her “Woman of Achievement” in 1989. Also in 1989, the YWCA honored Foss with the “Special Leadership Award” for her long-standing volunteer commitment to improving the lives of the disabled and youth in St. Louis. In 1992, the St. Louis Chapter of the NAACP honored Foss when she became the first television reporter to receive the “Roy Wilkins Freedom Award.” She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, her hometown.

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Session 1: 10:05-11:05am

1A. The Art of Delegation

Sheri Seibold, Extension Specialist, 4-H Youth
University of Illinois Extension (Champaign)

One of the most critical elements in a volunteer delivery system is the delegation of appropriate responsibilities to volunteers. Volunteers are motivated when given encouragement from paid staff and delegated responsibility with authority. Volunteer managers must evaluate their own ability and willingness to delegate to volunteers. Come learn about the benefits of delegation, roadblocks to delegation, behavior change in delegation, and the ten steps to effective delegation. How well do you delegate?

1B: Volunteer Driven Fundraising

Tina Barnard, Director of Development
Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois

Volunteer Driven Fundraising will cover the Barriers, Benefits, and Strategies and Tactics to develop Volunteer Driven Fundraising.

1C: The Four P’s of a Volunteer Center—Plan, Promise, Pluses, and Problems

Amanda Guinn, Director of Americorps (Belleville)
Don Baden, Director of Americorps (St. Louis)

The purpose of this session is to share the story of the founding of the Southwest Illinois Volunteer Center (SWIVC). Included in the session will be a description of the vision behind the center, the objectives it has set, the positives it has created and the problems it has encountered. Emphasis will be given to the methods being used to attract agencies to register with the center and those methods to attract volunteers to explore the center. Suggestions from attendees will be encouraged.

1D: “Casting a Wider Net”

Cindy Stath, Director of Volunteer Services
Girls Scouts of Greater Chicago & Northwest Indiana

Do you go to the same “pool” of people to recruit volunteers? Are you burning out your current volunteers by asking them to accept more volunteer “jobs”? This workshop will help you identify new groups of people, places, and tools to look for new volunteers.

1E: Real Colors

Dana Homann, Extension Educator, 4-H Development
University of Illinois Extension (Effingham)

Real Colors interactive workshops are designed to address common-life issues such as getting along better with others, conflict prevention, improving communication with others, and much more. Workshop objectives include the ability to: Recognize own strengths and strengths of others; Build rapport quickly with peers, family, and others; Listen and speak in the language of other colors; Understand how others process information; Recognize the learning styles of others; and Modify communication style to connect with others. Workshop participants will take the Real Color Personality instrument. This workshop last for two sessions and requires an additional $7.00 for the booklet provided by the speaker.

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Session 2: 11:15am-12:15pm

2A: Changing Times: How to Deal

Suzanne Kutter-Siburt, Assistant Director, Leadership & Volunteer Services
Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville)

Constant change is in every aspect of our lives from personal to professional. We look around our offices to hear “we have to change something again” because o the economic situation or lack of follow through by staff. The Who Moved My Cheese program looks at how people react to change both positively and negatively. We explore how to move ourselves, staff, or family members to come along instead of having them have the death grip holding on to their desk. Are you Sniff, Scurry, Hew, or Haw?

2B: Power Surge—Tapping the Youth Potential

Robin Block, SADD State Coordinator
Illinois SADD (Cisne)

Engaging youth in your volunteer activities will give your organization boost of energy, but where do you find them, how do you prepare them, how do you motivate them? SADD Chapters can help you light the way to your volunteerism goals.

2C: Coaching 101

Jacqueline Gomez, Chief Operating Officer
Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois (Glen Carbon)

Coaching the newest buzz word in the Human Resource world. "What is Coaching, how does it work, and how do I apply it in my organization? Gain understanding of the basic fundamentals of Coaching, and what steps you can do to start applying them in your organization.

2D: From Granddads to iPads: Understanding Intergenerational Communications

Jason A. Huff, MBA, Interim Director of Development/Campaign Manager
St. John’s Mercy Hospital Foundation (Washington, MO)

This presentation will provide an overview of communication strategies for working with members of the four prominent generations: The Silent Generation/Traditionalists; Baby Boomers; Generation X; Generation Y/Millennials. Participants will use personal experiences to develop strategies for overcoming potential communications barriers.

2E: Real Colors (Continued)

Dana Homann, Extension Educator, 4-H Development
University of Illinois Extension (Effingham)

Real Colors interactive workshops are designed to address common-life issues such as getting along better with others, conflict prevention, improving communication with others, and much more. Workshop objectives include the ability to: Recognize own strengths and strengths of others; Build rapport quickly with peers, family, and others; Listen and speak in the language of other colors; Understand how others process information; Recognize the learning styles of others; and Modify communication style to connect with others. Workshop participants will take the Real Color Personality instrument. This workshop last for two sessions and requires an additional $7.00 for the booklet provided by the speaker.

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Session 3: 1:15-2:15pm

3A: "Moving from 'what' to 'so what'—Evaluating Volunteer Programs

Rick Skinner, Vice President, Volunteer Center
United Way of Greater St. Louis

This session will help answer your questions related to deciding how to track outputs, outcomes, and impact measurements to demonstrate the value-add that your agency’s volunteer program brings to the community. Learn from the region’s leader in volunteer management as well as from each other. Learn how to apply useful tools to help you evaluate and communicate the impact of your program.

3B: Diversity Bingo

Donna Moody, Director of Multicultural Services
Southwestern Illinois College

This workshop will explore our Food for Thought. This course is designed to provide a positive perspective of cultural diversity. The most important elements, understanding, and awareness will be addressed and examined. By understanding the concepts of cultures and diversity you will have a better grasp of strengthening your abilities to live and work in a multicultural society.

3C: Emergency and Disaster Response in Emergency Management

Diane Logsdon, President
Logsdon Consultation Services, Inc. (Rolling Meadows)
On behalf of Illinois Citizen Corps Council

This workshop will provide participants with an understanding of local emergency management structure. Incident Command Systems, planning assumptions and EMS volunteer programs, how to effectively integrate a community based volunteer program into a local emergency response.

3D: Recognizing Community Volunteerism

This Panel will be made up of area Community Persons who work directly with Volunteers Join representatives from your community and State of Illinois to learn about prestigious awards and forma of recognition that you can bring to your community! This session I great for community volunteer programs, Chamber of Commerce, Mayors, community development officials, and other city, and county volunteer leaders interested in raising the profile of volunteering and service in their city. Representatives from Governor’s Hometown Award, the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award, and the national “Cities of Service” movement will be on hand to discuss these and other programs.

3E: To Sustainability and Beyond!

Rachel Hollinshead, Community and Economic Development Educator
University of Illinois Extension (Vandalia)

This session will help participants develop strategies to continue their program beyond the initial grant funding. Many funders require information on how an organization is going to sustain the program once the funder’s support has ended. In addition, the session will address sustaining relationships with funders once a grant application has been submitted.

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2:30-3:30pm Closing General Session

*Jenn White, Leadership Development Coordinator
Methodist Medical Center, Peoria

Jen White

Jen White is currently the Leadership Development Coordinator at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria, Illinois. She is very proud to work with the finest mission-driven, values-based, community-focused healthcare system in Central Illinois. Her unique style of “info-tainment” brings delight…and new knowledge to people of all ages and disciplines.

Jen is originally from St. Louis, Missouri. She has a B.S. from Bradley University in Speech Communication, Women’s Studies and Creative Writing. Why? Because she wanted to be a stand-up comedian. After graduating from BU (having achieved 8 national titles in competitive public speaking), Jen quickly realized that stand-up comedy is really, really, hard…and doesn’t help with student loan payback. So she went to Illinois State University to coach their speech team (achieved yet another national title), fulfill a teaching assistantship, and she accidentally achieved an M.S. in Organizational Communication while she was there. Now she is a student once again - with the lofty goal of achieving her SPHR certification summer 2010.

Jen has worked for nearly 20 years as a leadership consultant with organizations ranging from Caterpillar to Heartland Bank & Trust, the Peoria Civic Center to Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America.

She has a wonderful family - a fun-loving, hard-working husband of 9 years and a 7-year old son who’s very proud to be a 1st grader doing 3rd grade math.

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