Master Workshops

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience leading experts in action, up close and personal! Our Master Workshops provide professional development opportunities for interculturalists of all levels of experience. You will have direct access to respected leaders and highly experienced professionals in the field. The workshops offer an intensive learning experience, centered around compelling innovative topics. They also connect you with SIETARians and others who share your passion right from the start.

FULL-DAY MASTER WORKSHOP (SIETAR member $160; Non-member $200)

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, April 1, 2009

D1: Shaking the Interculturalists’ Paradigm: Considering Consciousness & Cultural Evolution
Douglas Stuart

It’s time to break out of our traditional models and practices and respond in new ways to the complexities of intercultural work in today’s world. How must we change to grow our field and thrive with the times? This workshop centers on the fresh approaches and important conversations that interculturalists must initiate with each other and our constituents. Beginning with an examination of the World Values Survey, we will explore how its findings of predictable developmental cultural change relate to intercultural studies and practice. Next we will examine cross-disciplinary evidence for cultural evolution in the areas of whole systems theory, developmental psychology, social/cultural anthropology, ecology, and human consciousness. We will conclude by formulating effective ways to integrate this innovative cross-disciplinary perspective in our day-to-day intercultural work.

This workshop is designed for seasoned interculturalists as well as newcomers to the field. This stimulating conversation will engage people at various levels of experience and draw on a variety of disciplines.

Douglas Stuart, Ph.D., Director of Intercultural Training, IOR Global Services, specializes in cultural assessment instruments & applications to global talent management. Stuart is an eperienced speaker and workshop facilitator. He has been a popular facilitator and presenter at many conferences and other professional events, including workshops on assessment instruments at SIETAR conferences.

HALF-DAY MASTER WORKSHOPS (SIETAR member $80; Non-member $100)

Morning Workshops: 8:00 am – 12:00 noon, April 1, 2009

AM1: Strategies for Developing Your Intercultural Business or Consultancy
Noel Kreicker and Don Rutherford

What are your professional ambitions and how do you define success? Join us for a dynamic exchange of inside information, innovative strategies and practical support for developing, growing, or sustaining an intercultural business or consultancy. Topics include: Defining and Cultivating Key Opportunities; Converting Intercultural Work into Business Language that Sells; How to be Taken Seriously & Establishing Credibility; Financial Facts, Can I Make a Living; Ways to Work Smarter & Cost Savings Tips; Sales Techniques & Positioning Strategies; Proposals & Pricing; Insights into Successes and Failures. Noel and Don share their experiences through a lively, open dialogue where all questions are answered and a positive support network is established. Our aim is to leave you with a wealth of information about intercultural business operations along with concrete methods for attaining your goals.

Don Rutherford has lived on four continents on six sojourns for a total of eight years. He has an Honours degree in Sociology (Race & Ethnic Relations). Since co-founding the company Culture Connect in 1997, Don has assisted hundreds of clients to work more successfully across cultures. Recently Don co-authored a book entitled Recruiting, Retaining, and Promoting Culturally Different Employees. Don is a Canadian currently residing in Calgary. http://www.culture-connect.com

Noel Kreicker, Founder and President of IOR Global Services, oversees business operations in Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, and London, England. For more than twenty-five years, IOR has provided specialized intercultural business solutions for companies around the world and delivers a broad range of global performance programs and expatriate support services in locations on every continent. http://www.iorworld.com

AM 2: Recycle, Revamp, Recreate: Retooling Your Trainer Toolkit
Barbara Kappler Mikk and Basma Ibrahim DeVries

Looking for something new? Seeking a spark for your creativity? Join us for this environmentally friendly and fiscally responsible workshop where we’ll recycle and revamp everyday items and popular training tools. The workshop is highly interactive and engages participants in several intercultural communication activities that are creative, practical, and grounded in theory. This trainer tools workshop is designed for professionals who want to add to their repertoires for using, adapting, and debriefing activities for various training needs. Barbara and Basma will also reveal their fun creative processes as a training team and encourage participants to find ways to merge their spontaneous creativity and training approaches.

Our past SIETAR-USA tools workshops have focused on metaphors of construction tools, kitchen tools, art tools, garden tools, and office tools. This year, come prepared to learn, share, and participate in a team challenge as we explore the adaptable ways to use tools to inspire a creative learning environment, address multicultural team issues, and facilitate intercultural competence development.

Barbara Kappler Mikk, Ph.D., is Assistant Director at International Student and Scholar Services at the University of Minnesota, where she is responsible for intercultural training programs. She has been involved in intercultural training since 1989, focusing on experiential education and active learning approaches. She is also adjunct faculty with the College of Education at the U of MN. She is a co-author of the Maximizing Study Abroad Series for students, program professionals, and language instructors.

Basma Ibrahim DeVries, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Concordia University-St. Paul, MN. In addition to teaching and advising, she facilitates campus-wide intercultural/diversity sessions and is involved in integrating service-learning into the curriculum. Basma also provides intercultural and diversity training and consultation to corporate, educational, and community clients and enjoys leading student service and travel courses to Egypt, Mexico, and Russia. Basma is co-author of Cultural Detective: EGYPT and has served on the Board of Directors for SIETAR-USA.

Barbara and Basma (along with Dianne Hofner Saphiere) co-authored Communication Highwire: Leveraging the Power of Diverse Communication Styles (Intercultural Press, 2005) and co-founded SIETAR-Minnesota. As a training team, Barbara and Basma have worked with corporate and non-profit clients and find ways to laugh and inspire one another every time they work together.

AM 3: Basic Concepts of Intercultural Coaching
T. Glen Sebera

All levels with limited coaching experience

As working across borders becomes a required skill for today’s executives, the need for effective intercultural coaches is greater than ever. This half-day workshop introduces interculturalists without any coaching experience to the practical tools needed to create and deliver successful coaching programs for their clients. Participants will learn about the competencies required for each of following stages of coaching:

Establishing relationship with clients from different cultures
Conducting successful intake interviews to ascertain the client’s worldview
Developing and delivering a complete coaching program incorporating the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), a framework developed by Dr. Milton Bennett to explain the reactions of people to cultural difference
Conducting follow-up coaching sessions with clients over a specific time period

In addition to teaching participants to address clients’ concerns within a specific work environment, this workshop considers how to incorporate developmentally appropriate activities into their coaching programs. Participants will have the opportunity to coach others and receive feedback during the workshop.

T. Glen Sebera, M.A., has been coaching global executives and building global teams with the Renaissance Consulting Group since 1997. He is dedicated to helping others understand their experiences living and working in intercultural environments. Mr. Sebera’s clients include individuals and groups from Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Electronic Arts, Agilent Technologies, Verigy, Cisco Systems, Wells Fargo, McKinsey, Yahoo! and many other organizations. In addition to coaching business executives, Mr. Sebera helps trainers, large-scale facilitators and other coaches develop their capacity to work effectively across cultures. Over the past decade, he has developed and delivered successful training and coaching programs for individuals and teams in Asia, Europe and North America.

Afternoon Workshops: 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, April 1, 2009

PM 1: Online Teaching and Training Using Open Source Tools
Rob S. Pusch

Moving training and course content into an online format can be a daunting task, especially when you do not have access to a learning management system (LMS)such as Blackboard or WebCT. It can be difficult to determine what open source LMS applications are available and then evaluate what is necessary to administer your own LMS. In this workshop we will explore Moodle, an open source learning management system, that can empower you to deliver courses and training content online at no cost. Strategies you can use in online courses and training and how Moodle can be used to support these strategies will be discussed.

This workshop is appropriate for anyone who is contemplating online learning possibilities or looking for a way to provide intercultural programs online.

Rob Pusch, Ph.D., Rob is an instructional designer for Syracuse University Project Advance. At Project Advance, he directs the design, development, and implementation of online courses and course materials, including managing SUPA’s learning management system, MOODLE. He also teaches in the Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation program at Syracuse University.

PM 2: Cultivating Intercultural Competence
Janet M. Bennett

Our life’s work is building bridges among differences, softening barriers to living life with cultural others, and probing the mysteries of unknown places and peoples. We do so not only to teach more wisely, train more effectively, and manage more appropriately, but also sometimes for the sheer pleasure of experiencing differences.

The core tool of our trade is intercultural competence, that illusive set of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that is so currently essential on our global stage.

This workshop will focus on intercultural competence through:

Exploring—and clarifying—that illusive set of skills, knowledge and attitudes, based on recent research
Highlighting the function of intercultural competence in both domestic and global contexts
Using Culture Maps to assess our own and others’ cultural positions
Examining the role of intercultural competence in teaching and learning
Discussing practical applications for our work

Janet Bennett, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Intercultural Communication Institute, will be facilitating the session. Her work focuses on intercultural competence in both domestic and global contexts, in education, human services, healthcare, nonprofits, NGOs, and corporations. She recently published “Cultivating Intercultural Competence: A Process Perspective” in the Sage Handbook of Intercultural Competence edited by Darla Deardorff

PM 3: Bridging the Marketing Gap
Candice A. Hughes and Ann Marie Lei

As an intercultural communication consultant, coach, or facilitator, do you struggle to attract all the clients you need to make a difference in the world? Are you frustrated because you KNOW that you have solutions in the form of training programs, information, research and facilitation methods if only potential clients knew what you had to offer? Do you wish that you could simply focus on what you do best, and let the marketing of your expertise simply “happen,” through word of mouth and referrals from your satisfied customers? Do you cringe when someone asks for your brochure or website address?

Well, you’re not alone. Even if we knew how to market ourselves effectively, most of us would rather focus our time and energy doing the work that we love. The truth is that we rarely understand the underlying principles of effective marketing, so we waste time trying a little of this and a little of that, resulting in very little long-term impact.

In this workshop you will be introduced to the principles of successful marketing and have the opportunity to apply them to your own marketing plans. Topics covered will include: understanding the “game” of marketing, developing an expansive marketing mindset, creating your unique marketing message, and identifying the most effective marketing strategies to reach the audiences who can benefit most from what you offer. You will have the opportunity to craft a compelling marketing message, outline specific marketing strategies, and receive feedback and support from your colleagues.

Candice A.Hughes, Ph.D., President, Bridging Cultures Inc., is a school psychologist, licensed professional counselor, adjunct professor, and intercultural trainer who has lived and worked internationally. Candice has learned the value of having a clear professional mission statement, a concise “elevator” speech about her work, widespread yet focused professional networking, and timely interviews by reporters for publications with a wide circulation. Candice currently is in her second term as a board member of SIETAR-USA and is responsible for marketing and public relations for the organization.

Ann Marie Lei, MA, is an independent consultant and teacher, with an extensive background in marketing communications and intercultural relations. Formerly in international advertising and marketing communication roles at Nike, Inc. she continues to study and apply marketing principles to her consulting business. Ann Marie has helped lead the rebranding and annual conference marketing efforts of SIETAR-USA. She participated in the Robert Middleton’s Action Plan Marketing Coaches Certification Program with the intention of bringing his marketing principles to her colleagues in the intercultural field to help raise the visibility, credibility, profitability and impact of individual practices and, ultimately, of the field itself.

Candice and Ann Marie both passionately believe that the world needs to know about the valuable knowledge and skills of SIETAR members that could help with the challenging issues of our times. This can only happen if members learn to proactively market themselves in timely and effective ways!