Business Pre-Conference

Wednesday, March 21, 2001

Using Listening To Impact the Bottom Line

• It’s inexpensive 

• The return on investment can be incredible

• It’s difficult to do effectively

Effective listening can increase customer satisfaction, improve employee retention, increase profits, decrease losses, and can help prevent lawsuits.  Learn from top experts how to get maximum benefits from your listening investment. 

Businesses are constantly looking for ways to improve the bottom line.  Frequently, the search turns to the latest technology or the newest fad.  This full-day conference sponsored by the International Listening Association brings experts in business, law, medicine, and listening together to create an awareness of what the problems and short-comings are and then to provide solutions from top experts in the field of listening.   

For more information, contact Sheila Bentley. To register, contact the ILA Executive Director

Speakers

Howard H. Prager
Howard Prager is a Director of Corporate Education for the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. He is responsible for the design, delivery, and academic quality of all Corporate Education programs, working closely with corporate universities and top management of major organizations. Clients include ACCO, Andersen Consulting, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Quebecor World, and Sears. He is immediate Past President of the Chicago Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development. Howard has presented at many national conferences, including the ASTD International Conferences in 1998, 1999, and 2000. 

Donna Steffey
Donna Steffey is President of Learning 2000, a training and development consulting practice. Ms. Steffey has assisted professionals in a variety of industries, providing valuable information in management skills, communications, and team building. She has direct work experience as a quality control supervisor, retail operations manager, and a successful business owner. Ms. Steffey has spoken at many conferences, including the 1999 ASTD International Conference in Atlanta and has taught programs worldwide. She can also be heard on a weekly radio program, "Smart Money Strategy," on WAIT AM. She has joined The Lake Forest Graduate School of Management adjunct faculty as a lead designer and facilitator for Quebecor World and other clients.

Jeff Weintraub, Esq. 
Mr. Weintraub is the senior partner in the law firm of Weintraub, Stock, Bennett & Grisham, P.C. He has been selected by his peers to be included in the 2001-2002 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, and is rated "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest possible attorney rating offered by that organization. The firm represents management exclusively in the area of labor and employment relations. His practice includes representing public- and private-sector employers around the country in employment-discrimination charges and lawsuits, union-election campaigns, negotiating labor contracts, wage and hour claims, arbitration hearings, and "wrongful discharge" lawsuits, in all federal and state courts, several Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He has authored several articles and is a frequent speaker at labor and employment seminars.

Charles L. Junkerman, M.D. 
Charles "Carl" Junkerman, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, is an internist who was in private practice for more than 20 years before joining the Medical College of Wisconsin as head of General Internal Medicine. He served for ten years as the Senior Vice President for Academic and Professional Affairs and Associate Dean for Medical Education at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital. He has been Chair of the Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital Ethics Committee and the State Medical Society's Commission on Ethics. He continues to serve on these committees and on the Long Term Care Ethics Committee of the Wisconsin Association of Nursing Homes. He is the author (with David Schiedermayer) of Practical Ethics For Students, Interns, and Residents: A Short Reference Manual (1994, 1998). Dr. Junkerman lectures widely on advance directives, ethics committees and consultation, difficult treatment decisions, euthanasia, and assisted suicide and is frequently called as a consultant to health care institutions on bioethical issues.

Carole Grau
Carole Grau, a skilled mediator, certified by the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University and serves on staff as a senior trainer in negotiation and mediation skills. Ms. Grau is a founding member and has served on the Board of Directors of the ILA. She conducts workshops in Listening, Presentation Skills, and Conflict Resolution.

Kathy Thompson
Kathy Thompson is an Associate Professor at Alverno College. She has been working with health care organizations to promote effective communication for more than a decade. Her workshops have focused on building better provider/patient communication and developing healthier health care team relationships. Her clients have included home hospice care nurses, hospital mid-level management teams, dentists and dental assistants, and nursing home staffs. She has recently developed a health care communication program at Alverno College where she teaches listening courses and is collaborating with her colleagues to revise the listening curriculum. Kathy is a past Executive Director of the International Listening Association.

Richard Anstruther
Richard Anstruther, a native of England, launched HighGain in May 1999 after five months of research. HighGain is his third start-up. Anstruther was formerly an executive with the Mast Organization, the largest training provider in the United Kingdom.

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