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~Archives~
Wednesday, September 5, 2007

~Credits~

Learning Spanish Like Crazy
One of the most incredible skills that anyone can wish to acquire is the ability to speak a foreign language. As an aid to communication both at home and abroad it can help us understand a foreign culture much better and to forge friendships and business relationships worldwide.
One of the most useful foreign languages to learn if you live in the United States is Spanish. Spanish is the third most widespread language on the planet after English and Chinese and many people come in to contact with Spanish on a daily basis – don't forget the United State's vicinity to Mexico, Latin American and the Caribbean.
Learning Spanish is going to take time and effort, but if you structure your study correctly you can ensure that you minimize the time to speak the language well. We all hate to learn grammar rules, but they can help structure the language inside our heads. What is most important though is to practice speaking Spanish to a native speaker either in a Spanish speaking country or at least in a close simulation of the same experience.
To learn Spanish well in this environment requires one-to-one practice and is therefore not well suited to the classroom environment. Naturally spoken Spanish – not the same as grammatically correct – is the key, which means standard words, constructions, pronunciation and speed.
Although you will find this difficult at first, you will also be amazed at how quickly you begin to pick up Spanish. Your brain will adjust, and you will start to take what seems like impossibly quickfire Spanish on board and begin understanding.
While learning Spanish in a Spanish language country is absolutely ideal, it is not possible for everyone. While finding a Spanish speaker who will teach you one-to-one is also a possibility it is also expensive. What you can do instead is find a language course that simulates this one-to-one interaction. Although an audio course can't correct you like a Spanish speaker, you will at least hear naturally spoken Spanish and begin to make your best efforts at producing similar results.
Learning Spanish Like Crazy takes this approach to language learning. Available on both CD or as a download it helps you learn to speak conversational Spanish rapidly and effectively.
Buena suerte! Good luck in your efforts to learn Spanish!


Training Courses
Continuing professional development has grown to form an important part of staff development and employee retention. For many potential recruits and employees, the presence of a recognised and effective staff training programme has become a key factor in attracting and retaining employees to an organisation. A major decision when designing training courses is obviously the content, however you neglect venue selection at your peril.
Deciding where to hold your training courses requires a great deal of care and thought, not least as the investment in the training programme tends to be high in both direct expense and the opportunity costs/benefits that arise from implementing a training programme. The venue setting will directly impact on the success of the training courses held, and you should make every effort to select venues that can provide a private and quiet atmosphere for participants to allow them to concentrate fully on obtaining the maximum benefit to be derived from the training being delivered. Many training programmes require a degree of isolation to minimise the disruption caused by outside parties such as other venue guests or environmental factors such as traffic noise. It should come as no surprise that a large number of training course providers that are not held in-house select rural or semi-rural locations for delivery of course content rather than city locations.
If you are holding a short one day training course, the ability to travel to and from the venue needs to be very carefully considered. Participants that are required to complete a long journey before the training course commences are unlikely to be in the best frame of mind to gain the most out of the course content. Choosing a venue that participants can travel to and from in a day while maintaining their concentration for the training course itself will help reduce the expense of overnight accommodation and maximise the benefit to be derived from the training. For those participants that are travelling by rail or air, consider what shuttle transport services can be provided to collect participants from the station and deliver them to the venue and return them at the close of the training course.
If you are holding lengthier training courses whether lasting a few days to residential professional training courses lasting several weeks, you must seriously consider the accommodation and catering that will be delivered to participants: the same advices applies to those organisations planning conferences, meetings, team building events, product launches, PR events and the like. If participants will be staying away from home for several days then every effort to ensure that they remain fresh, alert and committed to deriving the benefits of training will pay dividends in the opportunity benefit to be gained from employee training. It is a false economy to spend large sums of money on the delivery of a training programme that is not supported by ensuring participants are properly fed and accommodated. The venue should also be able to provide either in-house or close-by social diversions that allow participants to recharge their batteries and preferably not just using a hotel bar to do so.
It is a feature of many training courses that there is an element of team building and cross-fertilisation of ideas and working practices. Consider how the venue will be able to accommodate small groups of participants breaking off from the main training regime while engaged on team projects and exercises. Think about whether your training course will require participants to leave the venue premises and work outside either to practice sales skills on the general public for instance, or problem-solving team exercises. The point is not to just think of the premises themselves but also the surrounding environs and their suitability to assisting in delivering the training course objectives.
It is also a feature of modern working life that staff cannot readily leave work behind entirely to concentrate upon training and work commitments will impede upon training while it is being delivered, even if only a short one day training course. The venue should be able to provide participants with the ability to maintain contact with office colleagues and their clients, particularly for sales staff. Ensure that Internet access is available together with fax, telephone and photocopying services as a minimum so that participants may address work issues during breaks
In conclusion, when you are implementing a training programme for your staff consider the investment you are making in delivering a training programme and protect that investment by giving proper consideration to the venue. Aside from the objectives of the training courses in terms of educational and professional development, you must consider it your objective to maintain the participants ability to focus and maintain attention in order to let them maximise the benefit to be gained from the training programme. To skimp on the care necessary in the selection of the venue is to run the serious risk of undermining the investment made in the training course itself.

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Free Venue Finding Service UK & Worldwide
visit http://www.jigsawconferences.co.uk
+ 44 (0)8700 490000 FREE call back service
Free Hotel Accommodation Booking Service UK & Worldwide
visit http://www.jigsawconferences.com
+ 44 (0)8707 520433 FREE call back service


Are You Living Your Passion?
As I interviewed thousands of people over a 20 year period at the Executive Recruiting Firm I owned in Phoenix AZ, I discovered that the majority of people are NOT living their passion. Instead they are showing up for a "job," collecting a pay check, counting the days until the weekend or counting the months until their next one week vacation. Let me share a couple examples of a few clients that learned how to design a lifestyle and a career so they could "have it all" and start living THEIR Passion.
Consider Mary:
She just turned 40 has three children ages 3, 8 and 12 and works part time out of her home as an executive recruiter earning approximately 30K a year. Mary wanted and needed to take her business and her income to another level but wondered if she had to get an office to do so or hire an assistant. That was not necessarily what she wanted to do. Her real passion was teaching, communicating and helping others.
Mary had her "Aha" moment during our first consultation when she realized that she had the knowledge and tools to share with other Moms who wanted to stay at home, work part time, while contributing to the family finances.
She started designing an internet based company to sell the "how to" formula that has worked for her for the past 13 years. This was using her creativity, her natural ability to organize, and her teaching skills. She discovered she did not need to go out of her home to make money. She called her new business www.youcanstayathomeandmakemoney.com
I think it is important to brainstorm with others until you find your "aha" moment about how you can start living your passion. You owe it to yourself to find out what is right for YOU to do with the rest of your life. To discover your passion and purpose.
Another client Ted (38)?? had been building an insurance agency for the past 15 years. When his wife asked for a divorce his world changed. He started asking himself "what do I want to do now, I never did love the insurance business." However Ted also had what I consider the golden handcuffs ?.How do you walk away from something that affords you a great lifestyle like Ted had?
You Don't!
You keep that business going and growing as it always has even if you have to hire some part time or temporary employees to get you through the transition, but then start looking at what YOU really want to do?
Ted worked through the process of getting to know what HE really wanted in life. What he realized was he needed to be outdoors, and work in the soil, of course his insurance sales position never allowed him to do that. He started one little step at a time just by adding outdoor activities to his every day life while his cash cow continued to work for him.
Giving himself permission to be outdoors and working in the earth, Ted is now developing a part time landscaping company that he works in on the weekends.
I am sure the end of this story for Ted we will find him happier and more fulfilled than he has ever been in life because he found what makes him happy at the core of his being.

The days of working in a career for 50 years (as my Dad did) receiving a gold watch and retiring until it is time to die are gone forever.
One question I get asked all the time is:
How does a person know if they are on the right track with their career and if they are possibly living their passion?
Allow me to ask you 4 simple questions to know if you are on the right path.
1. When you tell others what you do for a living are you proud of what you do?
2. When you are at work does time fly by until it is time to go home?
3. Do you feel creative and productive when you are at work?
4. Do you generally look forward to going to work each day?
These are just 4 out of hundreds of questions to ask yourself so you can begin living your passion. One of the keys to future success with anyone's career is finding out what you really want and who you really are. It all begins with simple questions and answers about You, Your needs, your desires.
ARE YOU LIVING YOUR PASSION?

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Patricia Noel Drain CPC,CIPC, Author of WHAT SHOULD I BE WHEN I GROW UP NOW THAT I?M 40-50-60?
Professional Keynote Speaker of ARE YOU LIVING YOUR PASSION
http://www.whatshouldibewhenigrowup.com
patricia@patriciadrain.com, 480-275-2255 Headquarters