SESSION DESCRIPTIONS:

Keynote: Funiversity ™: FUNtastic Leadership - Delivered by Tony Brigmon, Southwest Airlines' Former "Ambassador of Fun" "Team Dream - Dream Team Leadership"
Based on principles he helped to lead, research, and spearhead at Southwest Airlines (as their internal and external "Ambassador of Fun"), Tony teaches leaders how to create a fun, profitable work environment where employees/teams are internally energized to do their best, work with each other productively, and in a positive environment that's good for employees, leaders and customers. Fun was serious businesses at Southwest because Fun creates serious results, and that is what Tony teaches leaders.

Concurrent Session Funiversity ™: FUNtastic Ethics - Delivered by Tony Brigmon, Southwest Airlines' Former "Ambassador of Fun" "The High Road Doesn't End in Low Places"
When Southwest Airlines was in it's infancy they faced an ethical decision. Their king of the hill competitors Braniff International and Texas International had begun to engage in unethical behavior (dirty tricks) like booking bogus reservations on Southwest flights in attempt to shoot Southwest out of the air before they even got off the ground. So the decision for Southwest was "Do we reciprocate the bad or elevate the good?" They choose the latter and the rest is history. Texans rallied behind Southwest's underdog role in this fight and Braniff and Texas International not only lost the fight, they lost the war. Both went bankrupt. Neither exists today. It's true. The high road doesn't end in low places. And the low road cannot take you to or keep you in high ones. In this presentation Tony will share how to use the power of The Preview-The View-The Review to get everyone on board with an agree-upon, high road moral code of ethical behavior to ensure high road success and avoid low road consequences.

Dealing with an Active Shooter & Workplace Violence speaker, Deputy Sheriff Mike Wright
An “Active Shooter” or “Active Killer” is someone who is “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.” Over the last decade or so, the terms “active shooter / killer” have unfortunately become part of our vocabulary. This presentation draws from several resources, and is designed to provide a brief introduction to “active shooters / killers,” and preparation for such an eventuality in our schools and workplaces. This presentation will not only provide statistics, but will also touch on prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery.

Discipline & Termination: the Movie with speaker, Tim Orellano
Do you put off handling difficult discipline discussions? Have you ever “had enough” and said “your fired”. The discipline process is like a movie; with staging, actors, props, rehearsal, scripts and you are the star. This presentation will give you tips and strategies to direct an Oscar winning movie. You will learn where we go wrong, how to handle the “monkey”, how to prepare for the rehearsal and ways the discipline process and even if you are the “Terminator” you will receive a standing ovation.

Recruit, Land and Lead “A” Players with speaker, Mike Harbour
Everyone can find something of value in this session. We all lead in one capacity or another and at one time or another we are all asked to assist if not conduct an interview process. Recruiting new employees who are “A” players can be a difficult and scary task. This session will help you understand what it takes to recruit the type of players we all want and then explain how to lead these valued members of our team. It will introduce the 4 key laws of leadership, describe how they apply to your situation, how to use them to reproduce leaders within the organization and ultimately create explosive growth.

Conflict Resolution with speaker, Jason Hudnell
As Managers, you have the unique responsibility of working with people on a daily basis. That being said, you have surely been involved in a conflict or two. Where there are people there is conflict! This energetic and humorous presentation will give you some tried and true tips in dealing with conflict in many types of work and personal relationships.

YOU are Important, YOU are Needed, and YOU are Necessary! with speaker, Minnie Lenox
Our employees are our most important commodity, so we should make sure that they are treated with the respect and care that they deserve. Even those who are not performing to expectation should be counseled and given the opportunity to improve. To make sure that all employees work to their potential, employers must focus on the following items: Make them glad to be there, engage them to learn the rest of the day, motivate them to be better supervisors, managers, leads, employees and PEOPLE, help them to see they matter and are important to the organization, and remind them they should be able to do the work their employers do.  We should also appreciate them - even those with the issues.

Five Leadership Practices with speaker, Jim Corter
"Some of the Best Run Organizations use simple leadership practices that set them apart from the rest.  They tend to simplify leadership into the following Five Practices:  1) Model - 2) Inspire - 3) Challenge - 4) Enable - 4) and Encourage.  Simplifying leadership gives you the confidence that you too can become a more effective leader."

Don't Say That! How to Stay Out of Trouble with speaker, Dan Herrington
Managers and supervisors are tasked with the responsibility of guidance and routine conversations of applicants and employees. Sometimes, we say things we shouldn’t, and we get ourselves—and our companies—into trouble. Employment law attorney, Dan Herrington will discuss examples of questions, phrases and items we shouldn’t say or ask towards an employee. He welcomes your questions of things you don’t know if you can say or not!

SEMINAR PURPOSE

Born out of need and demand, the Seminar is intended to educate and motivate primarily managers and supervisors - in areas vital to being a great manager/supervisor, and dealing with employment matters. This seminar is specifically designed for all levels of managers – from the newly promoted to the senior level in sizes of organizations. In addition, individuals not yet in management can gain knowledge to become a manager. 

As in years past, the participants can choose which concurrent sessions they want or need to attend. The topics are to designed to help managers to do their jobs better and to be able to understand business, employment and human resource functions.This allows the manager to get the desired training that they need, and hopefully, allowing him/her to immediately put into place what he/she has learned at the conference. Our speakers are all knowledgeable in their topics - many are consultants, employment attorneys or specialists in their fields. Speakers are live and will not be by tele-conference, enabling you to have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with our experts. 

In 2015, 325 local managers from the West Central Arkansas area including Hot Springs, Malvern, Arkadelphia, Hot Springs Village, Benton, Bryant, Little Rock and Glenwood attended this award winning event. In 11 years, we have served over 350 companies.

Check out the article by William B. Leonard of SHRM featuring WCASHRM's Pinnacle Award winning program.   

Presenting Sponsor