FALL '08 MEETING What a GREAT DAY!!!!!!! The Chicago CLMA Fall Education Meeting was held on Wednesday October 8, 2008 at the Northern Illinois University Outreach Center in Naperville. The event brought over 80 laboratorians and 30 vendor exhibitors together for a day of education, networking and fun. Our keynote speaker, Ron Pickett, looked into the world of Power and Influence, the good, the bad and the ugly, and left everyone with personal assessment skills to keep positive and moving forward. Mr. Pickett also shared his knowledge and excitement in two breakout sessions; Becoming a Top Manager and Leading Change. Mr. Pickett is a Management and Organization Development Consultant with over 25 years of experience. His areas of specialization include leader development, organizational politics, and physician-patient communication. He has written a column for CLMA for the past 12 years. As an advisor to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, Mr. Pickett developed a series of initiatives to improve interpersonal communication and upgrade the leadership and management capabilities of the naval forces. Mr. Pickett has received a bachelor’s degree in engineering science and master’s degree in Counseling and Leadership and Human Resource Development. His research interests include power in organizations, managing professionals and enhancing the effectiveness of teams in a very entertaining and humorous format. As always, it was a pleasure to learn from Ron. To learn more about power and influence in management please review Ron's articles below. Power and Influence Part 1. Power and Influence Part 2. The session speakers included Nancy Yeransian, MT (ASCP)SC helping laboratorians identify the most common cited laboratory deficiencies and help them develop strategies to avoid these accreditation deficiencies and Denise K. Driscoll, MS, MT(ASCP)SBB helped describe the latest program changes in the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program. These sessions provided opportunities to learn everything from “Power and Influence, Becoming a Top Manager and Leading Change to recent changes and updated information to accreditation of laboratories. Industry Partners provided additional information about new products and services. Robert Therrien, national CLMA spokesperson, presented information regarding PAC (Political Action Committee) the CLMA goals for ThinkLab ’09. Helen Sullivan won the “Member Bring a Non-Member” raffle. Helen will receive a one-year free membership to CLMA. Lynn Dusing will receive a gift card for inviting her to the event. Many attendees won raffle prizes generously donated by the vendors. Interested in joining us at CLMA? Simply click here to find out more about what CLMA can offer you. Re-live the day by viewing the pictures below. This event was graciously sponsored by: