Hello Chapter Members! You are welcome to attend our monthly Central Iowa Chapter ATD Board Meetings, where we focus on chapter operations, governance, and strategic planning. Meetings are held on the third Monday of each month.

If you would like to observe a meeting, please sign up to receive the Google Meet link. 

Questions? Let us know! Email us at president@atdiowa.org.

Topic: ATD Central Iowa Book Club: Hidden Potential

Time: 8:00 AM - 9:00am

When: Thursday mornings on January 29, February 12, February 26, March 12, March 26, and April 9

PLEASE REGISTER BY Wednesday, January 21st.

Description: Ready for some personal development? Whether you’re curious about joining a book club, looking for a great reason to read Hidden Potential, or both—this is your chance! Register now to be part of the conversation!

Adam Grant’s Hidden Potential explores how individuals can unlock growth by focusing on character skills, learning strategies, and resilience rather than innate talent. The book offers practical insights on fostering a growth mindset, creating environments that encourage continuous improvement, and developing leadership grounded in adaptability and perseverance. Throughout the book study, we'll discuss how we can apply these strategies to support others in unlocking their full potential.

Each session will feature a rotating facilitator. Danielle Farrell (Farm Bureau Financial Services, danielle.farrell@fbfs.com) will be hosting this book club and leading the discussion for the first session on January 29. Participants will have the opportunity to lead discussions in subsequent sessions. Please reach out to Danielle with any questions. 

Register now to join us on a journey of personal growth and meaningful change! Don’t miss this chance to explore new perspectives and enhance your leadership skills—together, we’ll learn and grow.

By registering, you are committing to actively participating in the book club, including leading a discussion on selected pages during future sessions. This accountability is key to fostering meaningful conversations and maintaining the success of the group.

PLEASE REGISTER BY Wednesday, January 21st.

Link for first book club session: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87974286838?pwd=YjhJVTlzY2RZc0ZnTG1iTVkyOUluUT09

Cost: FREE

The book club isn't for you? Please choose to attend an upcoming Leadership SIG, Tech SIG, Non-Profit SIG, or Education event!

The book club was set up based upon feedback from the ATD Leadership SIG. The purpose of the Leadership SIG is to explore new possibilities, share best practices, and build relationships in order to develop your leadership ability and develop leadership capacity in others.  

The Leadership SIG meets the third Friday of each month from 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Meetings are held virtually via a Zoom meeting link (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87974286838?pwd=YjhJVTlzY2RZc0ZnTG1iTVkyOUluUT09). The SIG is hosted by Aaron Barber (Sammons Financial Group, abarber@sfgmembers.com) and Tony Giudicessi (ITA Group, tgiudicessi@ITAGroup.com). If you have any questions, comments or ideas for the SIG, please connect with one of them.

From Their Brain to Your Blueprint: Using Technology to Unlock SME Knowledge

Getting content out of a subject matter expert and into a usable design framework is one of the most challenging (and most universal) pain points in learning development. In this session, we'll explore how technology can transform the SME collaboration process from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage. Topics will include:

• Structuring SME interviews and knowledge-capture conversations for better design outcomes
• Tools and techniques for transcription, synthesis, and knowledge mapping
• Practical workflows for turning raw expert input into organized, design-ready content

Skill level: Beginner to intermediate.

Facilitator Bio: Lauren Fischels is a Strategic Talent Management Partner at Ruan, a national leader in logistics and transportation, where she specializes in enterprise training, leadership development, and content creation. With a multidisciplinary background spanning client technology consulting, managed IT service leadership, and organizational learning, Lauren brings a people-first, business-minded lens to talent development. She is passionate about designing programs that elevate both individual capability and organizational performance, and serves as Co-Director of Technology for the ATD Central Iowa Chapter.

The Technology/E-learning Special Interest Group (SIG) brings the talent development community together for collaborative discussions and workshops to explore e-learning and technology in training. Tech SIG events are hosted by Shelby Fourez (Athene, sfourez@athene.com) and Lauren Fischels (Ruan, lfischel@ruan.com).

Cost: FREE

In today’s fast-changing world of work, HR professionals are constantly balancing evolving business needs, shifting workforce expectations, and the demand for meaningful employee experiences. Whether you’re shaping the overall people strategy, competing for talent, designing rewards programs, or building development opportunities – customization is key. With our workplaces in a constant state of change, organizations that personalize programs to the uniqueness and strengths of their people outperform those with generic strategies.

During this session, we’ll discuss practical ways to ensure personality assessments don’t become flavor of the month exercises but are instead embedded into the core of your HR ecosystem including culture, values, hiring, onboarding, learning and development, performance management, and even the daily cadence of meetings and company artifacts. 

Learning Objectives

1. Discuss how organizations that customize programs around employee strengths and uniqueness outperform those with standardized approaches.
2. Discover how to use talent and personality insights to personalize programs including hiring, onboarding, learning and development.
3. Understand clear actions to weave personalization into your organization’s daily practices and long-term people programs.

Meet The Speaker

Traci is the founder of Follow Your Strengths® and one of the first Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches in the Midwest. She partners with organizations to develop leaders, strengthen teams, and create great places to work—serving clients like Raytheon, ACT, Target, and John Deere. Through Follow Your Strengths, she has helped over 5,000 people across 80 organizations discover and apply their CliftonStrengths®. She is also certified to deliver Mic Drop workFORCE, helping women build confidence and clarity at work. A breast cancer survivor, Traci brings both expertise and heart to her work. She is a Gallup Licensed Partner, SHRM-SCP, and author of Surviving Cancer with Your Strengths.

Topic: Influence Without Authority: Building Trust that Delivers featuring Kyle Price

Time: 8:30 to 10 AM

Description: Why do some people seem to get an automatic "yes" while others struggle to be heard? It isn't magic; it's a mindset. Join us for an interactive Leadership SIG session with special guest, Kyle Price from Dale Carnegie, that will dive into our ability to influence others. We’ll celebrate your natural strengths while shining a light on the common pitfalls—those "blind spots" that accidentally create friction. You'll walk away with a clearer perspective for building genuine trust and achieving better results for yourself and your team.

The purpose of the Leadership SIG is to explore new possibilities, share best practices, and build relationships in order to develop your leadership ability and develop leadership capacity in others.  

The Leadership SIG meets the third Friday of each month from 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Meetings are held virtually, The link that will be sent prior to this session for those who register. The SIG is hosted by Aaron Barber (Sammons Financial Group, abarber@sfgmembers.com ) and Tony Giudicessi (ITA Group, tgiudicessi@ITAGroup.com).  If you have any questions, comments or ideas for the SIG, please connect with one of them.

Cost: TBD

Go beyond the boundaries of experience to include research for more evidence-based decision-making. Learn how to acquire, appraise, and apply research as evidence to make better decisions for your organization’s talent development. This session is an introduction to the 6 A’s of evidence-based practice with a focus on scientific literature as a source of evidence. Attendees will learn how to: search for open-access research; dissect an article to get the most important information with minimal effort; and appraise the relevance, appropriateness, and quality of the research.  

At the end of this session, learners will be able to:

1. Identify the 6 A’s of evidence-based practice – Ask, Acquire, Appraise, Aggregate, Apply, and Assess.
2. Identify four sources of evidence, especially scientific literature
3. Search for open-access research relevant to a stated problem or question.
4. Appraise the relevance, appropriateness, and quality of the research.

Meet the Speaker: 

Robert G. Olinger is an assistant teaching professor of management at the University of Kansas in the School of Business. His teaching focuses on HR, organizational behavior, and strategic management. Prior to his academic career, Robert served 21years in the Iowa National Guard leading teams and managing organizations to reach award-winning performance locally, regionally, and nationally. Robert earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Grand View University and is working on his dissertation to earn a PhD from Drake University.

In this practical virtual session, Jordon Taylor, the "Corporate Training Companion," unveils a robust framework for validating trainer readiness and ensuring consistent, high-quality learning experiences. We will move beyond theory and dive into two essential tools: the Certification Guidelines and the Training Lesson Plan.

Attendees will explore a systematic process for the tracking of trainer capability, ensuring that no critical skill gap is overlooked. You will also learn how to implement a four-step preparation model, covering participant learning, trainer preparation, delivery strategies, and lesson breakdowns. This model empowers facilitators to deliver with confidence. Whether you are building new internal faculty or upskilling subject matter experts, this session provides the actionable blueprint you need to internally certify your trainers for success.

Meet the Presenter: Jordan Taylor 

Jordon Taylor helps new and experienced learning professionals build real skill in modern corporate training, drawing from his own experience as a trainer, consultant, and learning leader. He designs practical, engaging Train-the-Learning-Professional experiences that build strong instructional habits, confident facilitation, and effective learning systems. Blending expertise in corporate training, performance consulting, and instructional design with a magician’s timing and a musician’s creativity, Jordon makes learning stick. He has designed and led 100+ programs across industries, built company-wide train-the-trainer curriculum, coached dozens of facilitators, and created scalable virtual onboarding and continuing education with 90%+ satisfaction. Whether you’re new to training or leading learning at scale, Jordon helps you use modern tools like AI, Google Workspace, and Office 365 to create learning experiences people actually remember.

ATD Central Iowa's newest event is back, and this time KinetIQ Live! is tackling workplace assessments head-on.

What's the difference between feel-good new-age pseudoscience and meaningful, validated insights?

How do talent development and HR practitioners sift through thousands of psychometrics to find one that actually works for their organization?

And why the heck is DiSC spelled like that?

All of these questions and more will be answered as eight expert practitioners dig into what works, what doesn't, and why it matters in a fun, fast-paced, action-oriented format.

This isn't a night of sales pitches. It's a night of healthy skepticism, science-informed practice, and meaningful action.

Individual GA and Reserved Group seating available. Ticket includes heavy apps and two drink tickets.

Questions? Email preselect@atdiowa.org.

Great leaders aren’t born—they’re developed, through self-awareness, intentional coaching, meaningful conversations, and hard work. In this engaging, hands-on workshop, participants learn how to lead from within while using a coach approach to positively influence others.

Drawing on concepts from Leading the Team Within, (Ann Wright) and the OSCAR Coaching Model (Andrew Gilbert and Karen Whittleworth) this session equips leaders to transform everyday conversations into opportunities for clarity, growth, and connection. Participants will examine how self-leadership, purpose, and confidence directly influence communication, decision-making, and team performance. Guided by Ann, they will also explore how traits often viewed as negative, can be reframed into leadership strengths—enabling more confident decisions for themselves and the teams they lead.

Through reflection, discussion, and hands-on application, attendees will build confidence, sharpen communication, and strengthen connections that drive meaningful impact. Participants will practice coaching and be coached, strengthening their ability to ask curiosity-driven questions with clarity and impact.

Walk away with practical tools and one clear action you can apply immediately to lead and influence more effectively—one conversation at a time. Whether you’re leading team members, collaborating across departments, or striving to grow personally, this session equips you to lead from within and make a lasting difference.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Actively listen and ask powerful, curiosity-driven questions that build trust and connection by utilizing a coach approach-one conversation at a time
• Apply the OSCAR Coaching Model to lead and influence others through everyday conversations
• Increase self-awareness and confidence by reframing perceived weaknesses into leadership strengths
• Lead and positively impact others by strengthening communication and relationships to foster collaboration, engagement, and team performance

Fatigue is contagious. Talent developers feel it first. In a world where hybrid work, rapid change, and emotional overload are the new normal, leaders are burning out while trying to keep everyone else motivated.

This session explores how emotional intelligence and body language shape the transfer of energy across teams and learning environments. Using neuroscience, behavioral research, and real-world examples, Dr. Claire Muselman teaches how to identify compassion fatigue, reset emotional energy, and communicate with confidence and authenticity.

Through interactive exercises and practical takeaways, participants will learn how to use their tone, posture, and nonverbal cues to create belonging, trust, and engagement. They’ll leave with a deeper understanding of how presence and self-awareness influence facilitation, leadership, and culture. When we intentionally manage our energy, we elevate our impact and the entire learning experience. Attendees will leave recharged, refocused, and ready to spark connection, confidence, and curiosity in every room they enter.

After the session, the learners will be able to:

1. Recognize the signs of compassion fatigue in themselves and others.

2. Apply emotional-intelligence strategies to build empathy, boundaries, and resilience.

3. Use body language, tone, and micro-expressions to strengthen presence and connection.

4. Design micro-moments of belonging and energy renewal within training and leadership settings.

5. Facilitate with renewed confidence and authenticity to elevate learner engagement.

Meet The Speaker: 

Dr. Claire Muselman is the Chief Operating Officer of WorkersCompensation.com and a Professor of Practice at Drake University specializing in Leadership, Human Resources, and Organizational Behavior. She is also Co-Director of the Master of Science in Leadership program and a nationally recognized keynote speaker. With more than 250 published articles on leadership, emotional intelligence, and neuroscience, Dr. Claire blends academic insight with real-world application to help leaders communicate with clarity, compassion, and confidence. Her signature style, bright, dynamic energy, brings science to life through practical, human-centered strategies that elevate energy and impact. Known for her work with Captive Resources, CLM, and executive education programs, she empowers organizations to build cultures of empathy, accountability, and connection. Whether teaching in the classroom or speaking on stage, Dr. Claire’s mission is to make leadership feel both brilliant and deeply human.

This workshop is designed for Learning & Development professionals who facilitate experiential or participatory learning and want to more effectively engage groups that arrive hesitant, skeptical, or resistant. Crossed arms, eye rolls, and quiet withdrawal are often less about unwillingness and more about unclear expectations, perceived exposure, or unexamined assumptions about what participation is supposed to look like. Drawing from challenge-course facilitation and real-world team-building programs, Janie shares examples and stories from the field that illustrate how choice operates in practice—and how intentionally designed invitations can support comfort, engagement, and readiness. The session explores the concept of “comfort zones” and offers practical approaches for designing experiences that invite participation without pressure or manipulation.

At the end of this session, learners will be able to:

1. Identify and understand facilitation techniques that foster choice, inclusion, and curiosity-driven participation by reflecting on

how language, activity structure, and environment shape natural engagement and willingness to step outside comfort zones.

2. Leverage Experiential Activities for Learning: Participants will experience and practice playful, interactive activities that promote

connection, and inclusion, and together explore how to translate these methods into professional development settings.

Meet the Speaker: