List of Meetings (details below)

 
Jun 30, 1999:
Management Forum: Yo, Corporate America! Here Comes Generation X! –Carol Rowden Kelly, ReVision
After-dinner Talk: Resources Creating an Environment for Successful Projects
May 26, 1999:
Management Forum: Cross-Cultural Communication in Your Business – Peggy Bauhaus, The Bauhaus
After-dinner Talk: Group Successfully Negotiating – From the Sandbox to Sand Hill Road – Speaker Eric Gould, batna.com
Apr 28, 1999:
Management Forum: Getting Things Done with “Difficult” People – Andrew Oravets, Effective Training Associate
After-dinner Talk: Using Simulation Models to Improve Strategic Project Performance – Professor Raymond Levitt, Stanford University
Mar 24, 1999:
Management Forum: Managing Your Time and Work More Effectively – Brian Kroft, Franklin-Cove
After-dinner Talk: Schedule Control In Product Development: Challenges ad Solutions – Bret Nobley, Intel
Feb 24, 1999:
Management Forum: How to Manage Projects Across Multiple Departments – Jerry Talley, Edgewise Consulting
After-dinner Talk: How to Thrive in a Cross Functional Environment with Severe Time Pressures – Gerry Gassman, Hewlett Packard
Jan 27, 1999:
Management Forum: Improve Product to Market Cycle Time – Craig LaFargue, Antioch Consulting Group
After-dinner Talk: How the Experts Reduce Time to Market in a High Tech Environment – Bruce Hansen, National Semiconductor
Nov 18, 1998:
Management Forum: Improving Technical Team Performance with the 4Cs, Jim Sloane, Design and Management Explorations
After-dinner Talk: Y2K – Year 2000: What is it? Does it impact you? Gerry Coppock, Solutions 2000
Oct 28, 1998:
Management Forum: How to Light a Fire Under Your Audience! – Kathryn McKellar
After-dinner Talk: Space Systems/Loral The East Asian Currency Crisis – Where Did It Go? What Took Its Place? – Robert Crow, Bechtel
Sep 30, 1998:
Management Forum: How to Manage Technical Professionals – Diana Zarnoch, Blessing/White, Inc.
After-dinner Talk: Launching New Ventures – Some Practical Guidelines for Managers – Catherine Kitcho, Entrepreneurial Business Consultant
 
 
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MEETING SUMMARIES & BIOS
 
 
 
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Jun 30, 1999

Management Forum: Yo, Corporate America! Here Comes Generation X!

Presented by Carol Rowden Kelly, ReVision ReSources

So how does an experienced manager react to this Gen-X worker? What methods can we as mangers use to build collaborative working teams that span the boundaries? Are their differences between age groups that impact their ability to deliver peak performance? We tackle this subject in our June forum. If you are not sure you should attend, ask yourself some critical questions. From your perspective, write down, for people over 40, and people under 30, a statement that describes their Key Motivators, Key Values and Major Culture Forming experiences. Bring them with you as a starting point to our forum discussion. Your significant other might even join you to get some at home insight into your most important “management” job.

As if rapidly changing information technology and global competition don’t
complicate the world of work enough, now we have the biggest generation gap ever to contend with. How does “Generation X” differ from previous generations? What do the bosses of Baby Boomer do that drives them crazy-and out the door to a competitor? Further, what are the personality differences within each generation that intensify the challenges to effective communication? This presentation will:

    • Control the way others perceive you
    • Dissolve communication barriers
    • Offer specific tools and techniques that can diminish ambiguity of some potentially tricky interpersonal situations

In this interactive session, we will apply these concepts and tools to case studies representing typical business situations to arrive at new solutions to old problems. You will leave with an insight into this challenge that will empower you in your cross generation teamwork leadership.

Carol Rowden Kelly, Ph.D. is the founder/principal of ReVision ReSources. She focuses on a single line of a company’s balance sheet – its human resource assets – because profit and /*growth are about performance and performance is about people. She has consulted in the areas of management training, leadership development, career counseling, and executive coaching since 1995. Trained as a clinical psychologist, she has also had an extensive business background in corporate finance.

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After-dinner Talk: Creating an Environment for Successful Projects

Presented by Randall L. Englund, Hewlett-Packard

Project work is fast becoming a majority of the work performed in modern organizations.

Development and launch of successful new products and services hinges on the formation of a thoroughly integrated “project based” organization. The objective is to achieve greater results from projects selected and underway in the organization. This requires that upper management understand the how to and why of developing project management as an organizational competency.

Randall L. Englund, a Project Manger at Hewlett-Packard Company, will present his ten essential components for project management-the pieces of a large puzzle-drawn from experience, that become necessary for upper managers who want to create an environment for successful projects.
Important steps include:

    • Clear goals and upper management support
    • Linking each project to organizational strategy
    • Organizing to reward project management
    • Developing a project manager selection and development process
        o Supporting core teams
        o Developing a project management information system
    • Installing a project review process to learn from project experiences
        o Supporting an ongoing project management initiative in the organization.

Examples demonstrate how these practices are accomplished in product, service, and software development at Hewlett-Packard, including an integrated model for linking projects to strategy. HP CEO Lew Platt provides impetus to begin this quest by stating “Crisp execution of projects is critical to the survival of today’s organizations.”

Randy Englund is an internal consultant on the Project Management Initiative team that provides corporate-wide leadership for the continuous improvement of project management throughout the company. Drawing from 20 years experience at HP and 10 years at General Electric, he facilitates workshops and consults with cross-organizational product developers.

Together with management consultant Dr. Robert J. Graham, he authored a book published by Jossey-Bass in August 1997 on Creating an Environment for Successful Projects: “The Quest to Manage Project Management”. Graham and Englund also presented “Speaking Truth to Power” for the Project Management Institute Seminar/Symposiums and published an article of the same title in Today’s Engineer, from IEEE, Summer 1998.

Their article on “From Experience: Linking Projects to Strategy” appears in the January 1999 issue of The Journal of Product Innovation Management. Both authors speak frequently and conduct seminars on the subject of this presentation.

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May 26, 1999

Management Forum: Cross-cultural Communication in Your Business

Presented by Peggy Bauhaus, President of the Bauhaus Group

This forum covers the answer to the questions, “what” got global; “who” did not; and so how do I manage the project when “they” won’t play my way?

Recently, A French team member was talking to me about his German manager. “My manager confronted me on my style of working. She said I wasn’t getting anything done, and she made me keep a running list of tasks during each day, and turn in the list to her with items checked off. I don’t work that way, I do many things at once, and can see a bigger picture than she does. Her bossiness and insisting on her way destroyed our working relationship.”

What are your challenges when working with people from other geographic/regional cultures? In our forum, we’ll do some nitty-gritty problem-solving and discussion with Peggy Bauhaus, a cross-cultural training and consulting firm. You will learn to apply a technique for discovering how our own cultural values enhance or impede our work with others who think differently than we do.

(Preparation for the meeting: where does the phrase “nitty-gritty” come from and how would you explain it to a limited English speaker?)

Our presenter is Peggy Bauhaus, President of The Bauhaus Group, a consulting firm that teaches people how to work well together across cultures in the international workplace. She has managed and participated in management teams for over twenty years and has trained such clients as Hewlett-Packard Company, Lam Research, and Johnson and Johnson in how to manage culture on the job to get best results with international teams. She has assisted Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Chinese, Russian and Eritrean immigrants to resettle in the US. She has taught English in Poland, taught cross-cultural management in the U.S. and Singapore, and directs and teaches in an international teacher training program for University of California Berkeley Extension.

Peggy has a BA degree from Stanford University with emphasis on political science, psychology, and sociology, English as a Second Language teaching certificate from University of California Berkeley, specialized training from the Intercultural Communication Institute, Portland, and in Project Management. She has presented papers at TESOL and Project Management Institute conferences and does continuing research with global companies to determine management’s cross-cultural communication challenges and best practices, and makes extensive use of this input in her training and consulting.

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After-dinner Talk: Successfully Negotiating – From the Sandbox to Sand Hill Road

Presented by Eric Gould Principal Consultant of batna.com

Eric Gould, one of the Valley’s most renowned Negotiation Consultants, is going to present us with some of his most powerful insights into successful negotiation. He has taught thousands of high-tech executives, attorneys, and engineers to negotiate better deals faster and more efficiently. These ideas are based on his many years of experience as a negotiator and his in depth study of negotiation techniques.

Eric has discovered invaluable new methods and ways to improve your Negotiation techniques. He’ll share with you his latest proven strategies and give you concrete suggestions that you can apply in any negotiation. It doesn’t matter whether you’re brand-new to negotiation or a seasoned expert. Eric’s teaching reaches people on many levels, so you’re sure to enhance your bargaining power no matter what your professional experience.

Eric will teach you how to:
    • Control the way others perceive you
    • Dissolve communication barriers
    • Alter others’ moods and behavior
    • Provide better leadership
    • Avoid making concessions and being taken in
    • Exceed your aspired outcome values
    • Work better deals more quickly and efficiently
    • Detect lies
    • Deal with difficult people in difficult situations
    • Be more readily accepted by people, and avoid rejection
    • Build long-term, working business relationships

This is an event that no aspiring or accomplished professional should miss.

Eric Gould is the Principal Consultant of Batna.com – the Negotiation Resource Center. His Negotiation principles are were born out of 20 years of success – and some failures – in marketing and negotiation. He has handled acquisitions, patents, product licensing, and royalty deals.

He is noted for his not only for his experience in negotiation, but also game theory, bargaining, interpersonal communication, conflict resolution, and social psychology. He has synthesized the best of all the these, combined it with his knowledge and experience of Silicon Valley business persons and the types of deals they encounter, and boiled them down to three critical negotiation success factors. These success factors are the basis of his talk.

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Apr 28, 1999

Management Forum: Getting Things Done with “Difficult” People

Presented by Andrew Oravets, Effective Training Associates

This presentation will explore new approaches to resolving conflicts at work. Attendees will have the opportunity to reflect on one of their most challenging relationships and apply Andrew’s principles and practical guidelines to create break-throughs and results where only frustration and resignation existed before. The presentation will also examine the role that our “Operating Style” and the impact our early key corporate experiences have on the way we handle conflicts. Andrew’s talk is highly interactive and is a condensed version of a day-long workshop that has been very well received by other IEEE groups.

Andrew Oravets of Effective Training Associates brings over 25 years of experience acquired in senior positions at NCR, Syntex, and Hilton Hotels to his seminars and presentations. Having led major change efforts as a corporate leader, he now is dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness of individuals and teams by providing innovative principles and practices that apply to the challenges of change and leadership.

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After-dinner Talk: Using Simulation Models to Improve Strategic Project Performance

Presented by Professor Raymond Levitt, Stanford University

This program discusses the use of Simulation Modeling tools applied to Work Processes and the organization itself to dramatically improve the performance of Strategic Projects in companies.

The Problem:
Companies in many industry sectors are striving mightily to reduce time-to-market for their new products and services, while maintaining or even enhancing product quality. To achieve the 30-60% reductions in time-to-market typically desired, many interdependent tasks must be overlapped and executed concurrently. The use of the Managers’ intuition and network-based project management tools based on CPM/PERT approaches does not reliably predict the requirements for coordination of these highly concurrent projects. The large, and generally unanticipated, increases in coordination load that they generate frequently result in workload bottlenecks leading to significant delays. Team members and vendors then work heroic amounts of overtime in an attempt to meet the originally committed delivery dates. This often results in “product quality meltdowns”.

The Solution:
To successfully execute its business strategy, an enterprise must be able to plan and execute a set of strategic projects reliably. Dr. Raymond Levitt and his team of researchers at Stanford University have developed the “Virtual Design Team” (VDT) process and organization simulation tool that models both the work process and the project team’s capacity, skill set and organizational structure. By simulating the planned work process in execution, VDT allows project managers to reliably predict schedule by highlighting the specific organizational entities that will become backlogged when the direct work plus coordination workload exceeds their capacity to process information. A management team can use VDT to “engineer” its concurrent project work process and organization to maximize their performance in terms of the project’s strategic objectives.

The VDT Model developer, Professor Raymond Levitt of Stanford University will present this material. He founded Vité Corporation in June of 1996, in order to commercialize the modeling approach and software tools. He continues at Stanford to conduct research on diagnosing and managing risks in very fast-track projects. Since 1996, Vité has worked with clients in multiple industry sectors (including semiconductors, semiconductor equipment, manufacturing facility development, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, oilfield development and aerospace) to help engineer their work processes and organizations.

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Mar 31, 1999

Management Forum: Managing Your Time and Your Work More Effectively

Presented by Brian Kroft, Trainer, Franklin-Covey

Time is a fixed asset, and we need to manage it effectively to get what we want from our life and work. In this interactive forum, we will discuss the ways to get more out of your life, while managing your time effectively and productively.

We will investigate how you can:
    • Gain an extra hour to spend with your family.
    • Create time for personal fulfillment.
    • Increase your productivity at work.
    • Assist others on your teams with these same 3 objectives

Our presenter will provide an introduction on how to move from your current practice of time planning to a more desirable one. You will learn how to stop letting things fall through the cracks because you cannot seem to organize and meet important commitments. You will learn to prioritize your life to meet those goals that are critical to you and your teammates.
The topics for discussion will be:
    • Reviewing the direction of your professional and personal life
    • Increasing your productivity while bringing a sense of accomplishment to your work at the end of the day
    • Minimizing crises through planning that delivers timely and predictable results
    • Focusing on high leverage activities
    • Ringing a healthy balance to your professional and personal life
    • Identifying and accomplishing the things that matter most
    • Reducing stress; organizing and accessing critical information quickly and in the context     of your activities
    • Defining common goals and time commitments within teams
    • Increasing employee satisfaction and reducing turnover rates.

Our presenter will be Brian Kroft with Franklin-Covey. He has been a presenter with Covey Leadership Center, where he taught “First Things First” across a wide range of industries. Prior to that he worked in customer support and as a trainer. His current work is applying the principles of “First Things First” within the proven Franklin Planning context. This methodology incorporates a set of tools ranging from the classical book planner to PC schedulers and Palm Pilot planners. As a special bonus, there will be a drawing for a door prize of a single free attendance to a one day seminar on Time Management donated by Franklin-Covey.

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After-dinner Talk: Schedule Control In Product Development: Challenges and Solutions

Presented by Bret Nobley, Project Controls Manager, Intel

The next century brings with it more and more high technology design programs. This genre of projects have a unique set of challenges and requirements. Based on the real experience of a recent microprocessor design project at Intel Corporation, learn what systems comprise a successful project control methodology.

Intel Chairman Andy Grove best described the state of the electronics industry with the title of his recent book, “Only the Paranoid Survive”. With the rapid shift of computing paradigms and explosive growth in demand, achieving great success in a market segment has proven to be a difficult task. Mainstays like IBM, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard are constantly at risk of falling behind the competition. As recent events indicate, the primary guarantors of success are innovation and time-to-market, causing project performance to be more critical than ever.

The aggressive nature of today’s business environment has led to an Emphasis on schedule control practices for the purpose of improving project performance. While casual approaches to scheduling may have sufficed in a previous era, upstarts and stalwarts agree that a formal project controls methodology is now indispensable. This presentation draws upon the recent experience of large-scale microprocessor design programs at Intel Corporation in identifying the challenges which confront schedule control. After examining issues ranging from the nature of design work to the growing size of engineering teams, the focus turns to the methodology that has been developed to meet these challenges. This will be a quality, not to be missed, presentation by an expert in scheduling from an organization where it really counts.

Bret Nobley is a Project Controls Manager for Intel’s Microprocessor Products Group. He has been instrumental in evolving Intel’s project controls methods for the past 7 years. Mr. Nobley holds a bachelors degree in Finance from the University of Arizona.

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Feb 24, 1999

Management Forum: How to Manage Projects Across Multiple Departments

Presented by Jerry Talley, Edgewise Consulting

Managing projects across multiple departments is a common and frustrating feature of the product development environment. Jerry Talley is the Managing Partner of EdgeWise Consulting, a firm specializing in company building. Jerry uses humor and role playing to illustrate his points while providing much food for thought about this common problem. His highly interactive presentation will use a short simulation to bring the dilemma right to our tables. Then we will take a step back and examine the underlying images that shape our efforts to coordinate work across functions. During the program, we will explore metaphor as a general tool for creating change in a work environment.

Jerry Talley’s firm, EdgeWise Consulting, specializes in company building. His special interest is in creating the structures and systems that support achieving company visions. This is especially problematic for companies that have strong horizontal project management demands while still holding onto vertical control structures. His practice grows out of 20 years experience in organizational assessment and interventions.

After serving 15 years on the Sociology faculty at Stanford, Jerry started his consulting firm. He has worked with over 150 firms, mostly here in Silicon Valley. His clients have included major international firms such as Intel, Amdahl, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems and the like. He also has experience with clients in finance, the military, manufacturing, public utilities, entertainment, health care, and publishing. Jerry is a frequent speaker at the Institute of Management Consultants, the South Bay Organization Development Network, and other organizational development forums.

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After-dinner Talk: How to Thrive in a Cross Functional Environment with Severe Time Pressures

Presented by Gerry Gassman, Hewlett Packard

Gerry Gassman, a 21 year veteran of project management at HP, will speak to us about working effectively within a functional organization that uses a Cross-Functional Management structure for its projects, and that is constantly experiencing “time crunches”. He will discuss how to be successful in the face of conflicting organizational agendas, incomplete Marketing criteria and the political atmospheres that are common in modern organizations.

This is a presentation from a person that works at an effective organization that has gained some control over this vexing problem. Gerry’s most important message is that you can learn to be successful by increasing your knowledge and practice of the right skills. His talk will focus on these “Right Skills”. His message will be practical and down to earth, from someone that has been doing project management for a long time. Join us to learn the some of the secrets of his, and HP’s, successes.

During most of his 21 years with Hewlett-Packard Company, Gerry Gassman has been responsible for High End Computers. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering/Industrial Design from San Jose State University in 1974. Since then he has worked for Biomation Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Company.

Along the way, he also helped start the Software Publications Company.

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Jan 27, 1999

Management Forum: Improve Product To Market Cycle Time

Presented by Craig LaFargue, Antioch Consulting Group

Teams have become a fact of life in the product development process. Specifically, product development teams that are cross-functional in nature hold the promise of not only developing innovative products but decreasing the cycle time from concept to market. Unfortunately, cross-functional teams are different from functional department teams. The time necessary to develop into a team is compressed, the potential for conflict is increased due to the diversity of membership and the boundaries that must be managed effectively can be daunting. Too much management direction can result in teams running in circles, while lack of direction may leave them wandering aimlessly. Teams must learn how to concurrently manage their processes as well as task execution.

This presentation will provide attendees with a rare blend of practical theory and application that prove out this radical approach. Emphasis will be on the developmental milestones that must be in place for a team to become and remain effective throughout its life cycle. Participants will leave with a set of points they can immediately use to improve the performance of the teams in their organization, as well as a published article on team development.

Mr. LaFargue is the managing partner for the Antioch Consulting Group which provides professional facilitation and team building services for staff & department groups, project teams, cross-functional teams and quality improvement teams within major corporations and government agencies.

ACG’s “Team Building for Product Development Teams” program has been instrumental in the success of new products from the Hospital Products Division of Abbott Laboratories. This process enables the team to develop its core values, vision, mission, roles and project milestones. The result is a self-directed team with members fully aligned with the key objectives and processes for that team. He has also worked on projects with Louisville Gas & Electric, KLA/Tencor, Johnson & Johnson and British Petroleum.

Mr. LaFargue earned a BA in Behavioral Science from San Jose State and an MA in Research Psychology from San Francisco State and has done post graduate work in small group dynamics at the National Training Labs (NTL). Visit Craig’s web site.

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After-dinner Talk: How the Experts Reduce Time to Market in a High Technology Environment

Presented by Bruce Hansen, National Semiconductor

Late product development projects significantly impact profits and increase stress for all concerned. Why do some companies win higher revenues and profits by introducing new products fast and efficiently, while others seem to always be late, use extra resources and include the wrong features? Less effective companies don’t utilize the set of well defined processes that are necessary for all of the new product development activities to shorten development cycle times. Mr. Bruce Hanson, Director of Time-To-Market Imperative and Director of Technology Management at National Semiconductor will discuss the processes that he has seen work during his many years of experience in this important and dynamic area.

The details of concept creation, planning, design, implementation, testing and market introduction must fit together as a process that can be measured and continuously improved. This presentation will give theory, examples and some methods that are part of a proven methodology for accelerating Time-to-Market.

As a Results Manager and key member of Thomas Group teams in Europe and the USA, Bruce Hansen has reduced time-to-market of many companies. He has over 30 years of Design/Development leadership in the electronics and computer industry. This experience includes that of Designer, Architect, College Teacher and Vice President plus project and program management roles. His last 3 years have been spent working at National Semiconductor.

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Nov 18, 1998

Management Forum: Improving Technical Team Performance with the 4Cs

Presented by Jim Sloane, President, Design and Management Explorations

Our Management Forum this month is titled “Improving Technical Team Performance With The 4Cs”. It is presented by Jim Sloane the President of the consulting firm of Design and Management Explorations.

To refresh your project team and elevate their performance you sometimes must revisit the fundamentals of Communication, Coordination, Closure and Control, the 4Cs of successful projects. We all know how important they are, but sometimes can’t focus on them because of the rush toward the project goals. Periodically, all professionals need to return “Back to the basics”. It puts us back on solid footing from which to spring into successful completion of our new projects.

In this highly interactive workshop, you will observe, evaluate and share solutions to project problems exposed in a project team role-play. You will share your insights with peers to provide new ways to look at, and solve, project challenges that we all face. The diversity of our personal and business cultures, provides a wealth of innovative techniques to resolve project team issues. Bring your inquisitive nature and analytical mind to this entertaining workshop, and share your experiences with us.

Jim Sloane started his own consulting company, Design and Management Explorations, three years ago, after 18 years experience in research and development engineering. He has participated in, or led, many projects, developing hardware for many companies including Olin, Pacific Technica, Aerojet and Lockheed Martin. Jim works with small to medium size companies, starting or rescuing technical projects and developing engineering processes.

He received the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute this year, and the Certified Manager certification from the Institute of Certified Professional Managers in 1989. Jim is involved with management locally, actively supporting The NorCal Chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) as board member and Program Committee Chair. He is also an active member of the local PMI Chapter, Professional and Technical Consultants Association (PATCA), International Council of Systems Engineering (INCOSE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers, (ASME) and The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME).

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After-dinner Talk: Y2K – Year 2000: What is it? Does it impact you?

Presented by Gerry Coppock, Solutions 2000

Our after dinner presentation is titled “Y2K – Year 2000: What is it? Does it impact you? Comprehensive strategies, techniques and considerations.” It is presented by Gerald Coppock, the President & CEO of Solutions2000, and an expert in the area of the Y2K problem and its impact on industry.

The presentation will provide the audience with relevant facts from an historical perspective, and will explore social, economic, legal and technical perspectives of the current Y2K crisis.
Mr. Coppock will present comprehensive strategies, techniques and considerations that managers can immediately use to define or redefine their approach and planning for the next millennium, and the consequences of the so-called “Y2K Bug”.

His presentation will focus on providing managers, Y2K project leaders and other concerned individuals with his unique perspectives, information and techniques for managing and supporting Y2K projects. Gerry takes an upbeat, congenial approach to his presentations, while maintaining a degree of pragmatism.

At conclusion the audience will be provided with Y2K Registration, Compliance and Certification information, as well as Y2K informational resources and associated contacts. This will be followed by a Question and Answer session.

Gerald Coppock is President & CEO of Solutions2000, a consulting firm specializing in providing technical resources and expertise to Information Technology, Information Systems, Engineering, Marketing and Legal organizations tasked with solving YEAR2000 issues.

Mr. Coppock brings nearly 20 years professional experience as consultant to many corporations and State and Federal government agencies. These include 3COM, Cisco, Intel, Flextronics, Ultratech Stepper, ADAC Labs, General Signal, Adaptec, EXAR, U.S. WindPower, DSC Communications, NASA/JPL, National Semiconductor, Tandem Computers, Veriflow, Department of Defense, Interior Department, Department of Energy, Bureau of Land Management, State of Alaska and the State of California.

Gerry has spoken to many organizations on Y2K issues with specific regard to the technological, social, economic, marketing and legal aspects of this malady.

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Oct 28, 1998

Management Forum: How to Light a Fire Under Your Audience!

Presented by Kathryn McKellar, Space Systems/Loral

Good presentation skills are an important part of a professional’s management skills’ arsenal and can help ensure that your audience regards you not only as a respected professional, but also as a powerful communicator. We all recognize the truth of this, and in this meeting we will help you analyze and test your presentation skills and return to work ready and confident with improved awareness and techniques.

Come join us for this dynamic and enjoyable session specifically designed to discover techniques on how to effectively convey your technical and scientific material in a more powerful, convincing manner. Kathyrn will share important tips that allow you to “sell” your idea or concept to a variety of audiences: to management, prospective clients, and to other technical/scientific professionals. After an introduction to basic presentation principles, we will engage in short roundtable discussions to discover how we would apply them in our workplace. Following the roundtables, Kathryn will explore your ideas with you in an open forum. We will learn what will work for us through the testing of our ideas against the collective experience Kathryn brings to us. The goal is to leave you with communication tools adapted to your environment.

During this informative session, you will learn how to use th “Communication Tools” that are mandatory for successful presentations. You will also learn how to let your interest in your subject show through; how to effectively use the “Power of Three,” and to understand the importance of logical sequencing in increasing audience retention.

During her 22-year career, Ms. McKellar, your presenter and discussion leader, has designed and delivered more than 100 presentations to Fortune 500 Corporations which include Exxon Research & Engineering, Warner-Lambert, Allied Signal, Inc., and Bell Atlantic. She has also trained professionals at such enterprises as AT&T Information Systems, Space Systems/Loral, Lockheed-Martin, Pitney Bowes, SEMI, the University of California, Charles Schwab, and Dean Witter. In addition, Kathryn has coached executives that include Bob Berry, (President of Space Systems/Loral), Jim Morgan (Chairman and CEO of Applied Materials), and Gordon Bell (led the development of the VAX computer). She is a corporate and political speechwriter as well as an author of numerous articles on business and technical issues.

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After-dinner Talk: The East Asian Currency Crisis – Where Did It Go? What Took Its Place?

Presented by Robert Crow, Chief Economist, Bechtel Corporation

Mr. Crow will discuss the economic problems of East Asia that have dominated the world economic picture for the past year. The values of the currencies of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines collapsed last summer, followed by South Korea last fall. However, except for Indonesia, they have been fairly stable in 1998. Nonetheless, economic decline has continued – affecting not only these countries but many others as well. One of the main ingredients of the continued economic slump in the region is that Japan has fared much worse than expected a year ago. What was a currency crisis has become a Japan crisis, with some surprising effects on the US economy.

The presentation will examine the current situation and the likely course of events as these countries struggle to regain their status in the world economy. Themes that will be developed include: the hangover effects of the currency crisis, the central role and difficult task of recovery for Japan, the pace and success of financial and economic reform in the region, the ability of China to maintain rapid growth, and the repercussions of the crisis on the rest of the world – particularly the US economy and t he engineering-construction industry.

Robert Crow, Bechtel’s Chief Economist, monitors and analyzes economic, financial and political factors for Bechtel’s senior management and operating entities. He has been with Bechtel for 15 years. Before that, he was active in conducting and managing research in energy, transportation and regional economic growth in private, government and academic positions. Dr. Crow received a BA in political science from Reed College and a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Sep 30, 1998

Management Forum: How to Manage Technical Professionals

Presented by Diana Zarnoch, Blessing/White, Inc.

Our Management Forum this month is titled “How to Manage Technical Professionals – Learn What Makes Them Tick”. This presentation features Diana Zarnoch, Certified Trainer at Blessing/White, Inc. leading us in a program to help managers learn to get work done, in a high stress technology environment, and still have fun doing it. We will interact in small groups for a lively and informative discussion concerning the organizational practices you need to stay ahead in the competitive race for keeping your top talent.

A professional facilitator of management and employee development processes, Diana has worked with such Fortune 500 companies as Intel and Hewlett Packard, and many others – helping their technical professionals successfully build upon their leadership and communication skills. Join us in this new program to share our collective management knowledge with other interesting people.

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After-dinner Talk: Launching New Ventures – Some Practical Guidelines for Managers

Presented by Catherine Kitcho

Our after Dinner Presentation is titled “Launching New Ventures – Some Practical Guidelines for Managers”. This presentation is a must for entrepreneurs, budding entrepreneurs, new product launch managers and those sharing an interest in this exciting subject area.
Developing new products and launching new ventures are exciting and sometimes challenging business endeavors. These activities are part of the routine business culture of Silicon Valley-from one-person startups to multi-billion dollar corporations. Managing teams through the various phases of idea generation and evaluation, new design and then product launch requires planning, strategy, analysis, and a great deal of patience. Catherine Kitcho will present a set of management tools that facilitate the process of taking a high tech idea and bringing it into market reality.

The foundation of these tools is the business planning process. A business plan is not so much a written document as it is a THINKING process to find the right mix of technology, marketing and finances to launch a successful product or business venture. Catherine will present a sequence of questions that need to be thought through and answered in this process, along with suggestions on constructing a business model for the product or venture. Several examples from real entrepreneurs and companies will be used to illustrate the concepts. These tools can be used by the serious entrepreneur who wants to start a company, as well as middle managers inside companies who are faced with launching new products or businesses- the techniques are the same for both situations.

Catherine Kitcho is a Silicon Valley business consultant providing services in the areas of strategic marketing and project management, with a focus on the product launch phase. Her client base includes many of the prominent high-tech companies in the valley, including Cisco Systems, Aspect Telecommunications, Oracle, Quantum, 3Com and Lockheed Martin. She has also worked with more than a dozen entrepreneurs, including her work as a volunteer for The Enterprise Network. Formerly, she was Director of New Ventures at TRW in Sunnyvale, where she focused on spinning out new high-tech ventures from the company’s core technology base. She is an instructor for the MBA Program at Golden Gate University, where she teaches New Product Decisions, and is developing a new course based on her new book “High-Tech Product Launch”. She is also the author of “Companies in Mid-life Crisis: Strategies for Change”, currently under agent contract.

 

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