World Class Assistant™ Seminars by Joan Burge

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Detailed Overview/Outline

General Overview:
An intensive 3-day workshop where Joan Burge, nationally acclaimed expert, author and master trainer to assistants, will personally teach you the proper skills, attitudes and strategies to be successful in today's business environment. Workshop limited to 20 attendees to ensure maximum learning and interaction with Joan in a small group environment! Training for executive assistants, administrative assistants and secretaries. Fee includes three nights at the Suncoast Hotel, networking reception with Joan Burge, lunch and beverage breaks and one-on-one coaching.

This program is for you if you

• * Have already accomplished and achieved much in your career but know there is more you can contribute and more areas in which you can grow.
• * Want a breakthrough experience.
• * Like to be around other high-achieving administrative professionals.
• * Want to learn from one of the best in the field—someone who sat in your position for 20 years and knows what it takes to be taken seriously in the profession.
• * Know you get what you put into an experience and are willing to put in the work, not just be spoon-fed information!

Program Overview

Becoming a Strategic Business Partner with Management

You have heard it a hundred times: You don’t work “for” someone, you work “with” someone! That is the way it should be. Do you truly feel like you are a business partner with your executive? Are you included in the decision-making process? Do you attend your executive’s staff meetings and not just to take notes? Does your executive take you seriously? While you have attended programs on how to become more valuable to your executive, this session focuses on how to be a strategic business partner.

In this important segment, you will learn to

• * “Feel the pulse” of your department and assess next steps.
• * Contribute to team objectives.
• * Align your professional goals with organizational and departmental goals.
• * Get engaged in the scope of your business partner’s work.
• * Maintain information flow to your business partner.

Strategically Direct the Flow of Information

Information overload is not your imagination! Supposedly, e-mail was going to reduce paperwork. Our lives were supposed to get simpler. That simply is not true. Executives today receive up to 300 e-mails a day. They expect their assistants to help with this flow of information. Add to that snail mail, faxes, overnight packages, internal correspondence and reports, community and professional correspondence and periodicals. You are in a unique and wonderful position to help direct and control the flow of information!

In this session, you will learn to

• * Standardize processes for increased efficiency.
• * Build structure out of chaos.
• * Assess needs and opportunities for optimum task execution.
• * Communicate accurate, timely and relevant information.

Communication Strategies That Work

Establishing rapport is critical to attaining successful business and personal relationships. While everyone must competently use today’s information technology tools, too many of us are ignoring the proven importance and effectiveness of interpersonal communication skills. We must understand the impact of the various mediums available to us. As important as knowing which tools to use is knowing how various generations like to be communicated to and how to voice your opinions tactfully.

In this session of the program, you will learn to

• * Select the right medium for maximum impact.
• * Bridge the age gap by understanding generational differences.
• * Tactfully voice your opinions.
• * Communicate to influence or persuade people.

Stop Thinking Like a “Secretary”

Do secretaries actually think differently than administrative assistants? Do secretaries actually think differently than business professionals? Yes! Even if you are a progressive administrative professional, you probably still embrace perceptions about your role that are holding you back from being even more successful. While management values the role of administrative professionals, there are still obstacles to overcoming the old stereotypes.

In this session of the program, you will learn to

• * Tear down any stereotypical attitudes or perceptions that are standing in the way of you being taken seriously.
• * Set appropriate boundaries without offending others.
• * Gauge your effectiveness in the workplace.
• * Emulate the good qualities of business professionals.

Be a Tomorrow-Focused Professional

It is so easy to be focused on the day-to-day activities. Just remember, your future will quickly become your today. It is not good enough to just accomplish today’s tasks. To truly become a World Class Assistant™, you must learn to look to the future. What is coming up on your executive’s calendar? What new projects will need to be implemented to keep your organization competitive? How do you become more valuable to your executive by seeing not just the next step but also the next three steps?

In this session of the program, you will learn to

• * Look to the future; develop front-brain thinking; become a visionary.
• * Seek opportunities and propose solutions.
• * Identify and perfect approaches that guarantee future success.
• * Ask the right questions to help you forecast future events, projects, and tasks.
• * Project yourself forward.

Poise, Polish and Professionalism

Articles in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Human Resource Executive, and even local newspapers like the Las Vegas Review-Journal point to the pendulum swinging back to a professional attitude and image in the workplace. You are a reflection of your organization and yourself. You are your own calling card. What does your card say about you? Does it say, “I dressed how I felt when I rolled out of bed this morning” or does it say, “I gave thought to who I was going to see today and how I want to be perceived”? World Class Assistants™ do care about being poised, polished and professional. They realize that this is the “icing on the cake” of being their professional best.

In this segment, you will learn

• * The power of professionalism.
• * How to sell yourself first! It’s called “personal packaging.”
• * Refine your overall professional image as a leader, including: appearance, correspondence, verbal skills, interpersonal relationships.

World Class Experience

In this unique, comprehensive program, you will participate in insight-generating activities with new, innovative materials, coupled with practical proven techniques. Your experience will begin with pre-workshop assignments to prepare you for this 3-day intensive program.

Through a series of assessments, individual and group exercises, discussions, and mini-lectures, you will assimilate key learning points. Each session includes applications, so you can take the learning and apply it to real situations right away.

Each day will be highly interactive and fun, and utilize your intelligence and work experience. Joan uses proven techniques to motivate adult learners to listen, participate and try new behaviors. We limit the program to 20 high-achieving assistants so you can get the attention and support you need to move forward quickly.

To help reinforce everything you’ve learned and keep your motivation high, you’ll also receive a 30-day personal follow-up with Joan Burge.

We know of no other program like this—designed for high-achieving administrative office professionals, melding professional development in a small group setting delivered in a world-class environment, with monthly follow-up, led by one of North America’s experts on administrative excellence and workplace effectiveness!

World Class Materials

• * Comprehensive workshop materials personally developed by Joan Burge based on her 37 years of research and experience with administrative office professionals.
• * Real World Communication Strategies That Work. A power-packed collection of insights & strategies from professionals who make a difference in America each and every day! Featuring Joan Burge and eleven other dynamic experts. Imagine sitting down in a roundtable forum with 12 successful men and women and being able to glean from them the communication principles that propelled them in life. These dynamic leaders provide proven techniques that will revolutionize your life.
• * A clear, concise development plan that Joan will help you write.

Agenda

Wednesday

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Coffee and Networking

8:30 – 10:15 a.m. Introductions, Program Overview, Ground Rules, Expectations

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break

10:30 – 12:00 p.m. Becoming a Strategic Business Partner w/Management

12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Group Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Become a Strategic Business Partner w/Management (Finish)

Strategically Direct the Flow of Information (Start)

2:30 – 2:45 p.m. Break

2:45 – 4:00 p.m. Strategically Direct the Flow of Information (Finish)

Debrief

Thursday

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Coffee and Networking

8:30 – 8:45 a.m. Day’s Overview

8:45 – 10:15 a.m. Communication Strategies That Work (Start)

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break

10:30 – 12:00 p.m. Communication Strategies That Work (Continue)

12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Group Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Communication Strategies That Work (Finish)

2:30 – 2:45 p.m. Break

2:45 – 4:00 p.m. Stop Thinking Like a Secretary

Debrief

4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Networking Reception with Joan Burge

Friday

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Coffee and Networking

8:30 – 8:45 a.m. Day’s Overview

8:45 – 10:15 a.m. Be a Tomorrow-Focused Professional

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break

10:30 – 12:00 p.m. Poise, Polish and Professionalism

12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Group Lunch

Debrief, Develop Personal Action Plans, Presentation of Certificates

Fee includes

• * 30-day follow-up with Joan Burge, Founder and CEO of Office Dynamics, Ltd.
• * Networking reception with Joan Burge
• * Lunch and beverage breaks
• * Materials as listed above
• * One-on-one coaching throughout the seminar.

Who Should Attend:
Senior administrative assistants and executive assistants who support high-level executives, as well as success-minded assistants at every level who want to advance their careers.

Continuing Education Credits (CEUs)

A CEU Certificate suitable for framing will be presented to you upon satisfactory completion of this course. Office Dynamics, Ltd., will award 1.9 CEUs to each participant.

Cancellation Policy:
Should you be unable to attend for any reason, a full refund, less $250 non-refundable deposit, will be issued if we receive notice in writing 30 days prior to your registered start date. After that time, all registrations and no-shows are subject to full workshop fee. A company may substitute one attendee for another. Refund for credit cards will only be given as a credit, not a check reimbursement. Should the workshop need to be rescheduled due to acts of nature or national disasters, the workshop will be rescheduled, not cancelled. Date change: Because this is a limited-seating program, if you request a date change, a $300 fee will be assessed. Date changes are only valid within the same calendar year.

Joan Burge
Joan Burge is the founder and CEO of Office Dynamics, Ltd., an international leader in the development and presentation of sophisticated professional educational programs and information for administrative office professionals. Joan has more than 37 years of experience in the administrative business arena, training, entrepreneurship, and innovation. As a national speaker, corporate trainer and author, Joan equips administrative and support staff professionals to move beyond task work to higher-level functions to meet the ever-changing and increasing demands of today’s workplace.

Joan has personally mentored thousands of administrative professionals, helping them with issues such as setting themselves apart when interviewing, gaining a competitive edge, dealing with a verbally abusive boss, setting and achieving goals, managing internal office relationships, motivating non-team players, and creating a professional image.

Joan is the creator and host of Office Dynamics’ Forum for Administrative Excellence™, now in its 14h year. She teams with Corporate Host Sites like The Boeing Company, Kraft Foods, and Motorola who fully support Joan’s work in helping administrative professionals be the best they can be. Office Dynamics is the sponsor of the national Rising Stars™ Award which is presented annually to an administrative team that best reflects the qualities of a stellar team. She has also worked with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in helping them build better relationships with their assistants, teaching executives how to utilize their assistant’s talents most effectively and how to support their assistant’s professional development and career goals.

Joan is best known for her Star Achievement Series, a 12-part interpersonal skill training curriculum designed to bring out “Star Performance” in administrative and office support professionals. Her nationally acclaimed programs have resulted in significant productivity increases for major organizations, government agencies and educational institutions; clients include The Boeing Company, Caterpillar Inc., Humana Inc., Intel, LensCrafters, The Marriott Corporation, Michigan State University, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Rockwell Collins, and US Airways. Joan has authored numerous training programs, 12 workbooks, 3 books, audio learning programs, and regularly contributes to professional and trade publications. She is the editor of the Monday Motivators™ e-zine, a weekly motivational column to help business professionals jumpstart their week. She is a member of the National Speakers Association, The Southern Nevada Human Resource Association, the National Association for Female Executives, and The American Society for Training and Development. Office Dynamics is proud to be a Silver Sponsor of the International Association of Administrative Professionals.

Instructor(s):
Joan Burge

Instructor Background:
Joan Burge, Founder and CEO of Office Dynamics, Ltd., presents a dynamic, intensive 3-day workshop that will teach you the proper skills, attitudes, and strategies to be successful in today’s business environment.

Having worked her way up from receptionist to working for Fortune 500 companies and finally launching her own business in 1990, Joan knows exactly what it takes to excel in the administrative field and the workplace. She will share with you her secrets to success and challenge you to become the best you can in this exciting profession.

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