Education

NAPM-ISW (Boise) plans to host the Pacific Northwest Purchasing Conference on November 1 - 3, 2007. The conference will be held in the SUB at Boise State University. The plan includes a reception on Thursday evening, November 1st, conference sessions on Friday, November 2nd and half day sessions on Saturday, November 3rd. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on Friday and Saturday as well as a dinner on Friday the 2nd. The conference will include a trade show and at least 30 exhibitors are expected. Boise would appreciate any help you can provide on recommending exhibitors; booth space will cost $250 and include a half page ad in the conference program. As speakers and exhibitors are confirmed we'll provide an update. We expect to have a block of rooms reserved at a hotel within walking distance of BSU. Read more......

For more information watch the Idaho SW web site or contact Norm Beckert, Conference Chair, at: norm.beckert@att.net

Personal Development

Negotiating Techniques Exercise

An exercise to help understand various negotiating techniques:

In an NCMA audio seminar on June 13, Mark Scholz presented a slide showing various negotiating techniques used in competitive negotiations. He used “competitive” to define negotiations where one party seeks to negotiate to the detriment of the other and “techniques” to describe what we have sometimes called negotiating “tactics” or “strategies”. Mark made the point that many people become comfortable with one technique and tend to use it a more, and sometimes more than they should. Read more....

Excerpt from an article on resumes.

... When many people think "resume" they think of a dry, boring list of all the jobs they've held. They mistakenly think that you can't talk about a skill or ability unless it is presented along with the school or employer who helped you develop it. With the wimpy objective statement and generalized approach, the resume "wanders" and fails to give the reader an inkling that the subject is indeed a valuable human being. It gets so dull, in fact, that some people try to spice it up with information on what they do in their personal time "I enjoy spoon collecting, double couponing, and square dance calling." And finally, what better way to let the reader know you're done boring him/her to death than to end with "Excellent References on Request?"... - Tracy Laswell Williams

Tracy Laswell Williams is an accredited resume writer and career consultant who works with a diverse client base nationwide. She built her company CAREERMagic five years ago on the premise that “great minds think differently.” Visit the company website at www.career-magic.com , or write to her directly at tracy@career-magic.com . © 1999 Tracy Laswell Williams. All rights reserved.

After reviewing many resume's I agree. Adding the names of your children and pet crocodile or most other personal information doesn't do any good unless it specifically affects the job you are applying for. Maybe a nanny or crocodile trainer [about the same job in my book].

ISM News

Leadership Workshops; Maximize Your ROI

Affiliate leaders and volunteers from around the country are converging on the ISM summer leadership workshops. For us old-timers, the workshops are a fun place to network with old friends and ISM staff. But for many new volunteers, this will be their first exposure the ISM organization at large. In some cases this will be the first time that they have interacted with leaders outside of their own affiliate. Apprehension is understandable. To help affiliates and first-timers have a more enjoyable and effective experience, I have published some suggestions for getting the most from the ISM leadership workshops. Read about it here.....

2007 Leadership Training Workshop Registration Packets can be accessed from http://www.ism.ws/MembersOnly/content.cfm?ItemNumber=15674 Representatives from your affiliate may attend any of the three workshops. Please feel welcome to send as many affiliate representatives as necessary to a Leadership Training Workshop. ISM will award $300 per attendee for up to five (5) workshop attendees from each affiliate.

Each of the Leadership Training Committees has planned a Spirit Award event. Please see complete details on page 2 of each of the registration packets. 2007 Spirit Awards will be presented at lunch on Saturday.

Las Vegas Leadership Training Workshop

July 6-7, 2007 ISM Las Vegas Leadership Training Workshop. The workshop will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, July 6th to allow for Friday morning travel. If you plan on being in Las Vegas on Friday morning, the Leadership Training Committee has scheduled seven pre-workshop sessions. Please see the workshop registration packet at http://www.ism.ws/MembersOnly/content.cfm?ItemNumber=15674 , for details.

A secret place to look for program speakers……

Are you trying to find program speakers? Try this secret location: Editorial boards and directors identified on industry magazine mastheads.

Example:
Inside Supply Management identifies a number of key industry people as members of the Editorial Review Board. I wouldn't hesitate to send anyone of them a request to be a program speaker or to assist in identifying an appropriate speaker. In the case of this particular editorial board I would expect them all to be aware of issues important to our members. At the least you could suggest a creative program topic related to the current issues that the publication has determined important, why and what they are doing about gathering information.

Of course you still have to be concerned with typical speaker problems - can this person present a good program and/or what will it cost? However, after a few weeks of corresponding, you can usually tell who has done it before. As a bonus; some of the higher-level people already travel a lot and can add you to their agenda inexpensively. Many of them like to speak to groups, just to stay in touch. Also the speaker's title in your program announcement might draw some senior people to the program.

Here is an example of an invitation:

Subject: Program Invitation

Good morning,

I am contacting you because you are an esteemed member of the Editorial Board of the ISM publication Inside Supply Management. My name is Michael Taylor and I am the program director for the ISM affiliate in the Columbia Basin area of eastern Washington. We are planning member educational programs for the 2007-2008 season and would like to explore the option of including you as a program presenter. As a member of the editorial board you are constantly in touch with the dynamic and changing world of Supply Management issues ….. [stroke…. stroke... stroke]. Thus your perspective, opinion and insight is important and valuable to our less fortunate members stuck here in the middle of nowhere [more stroking]. I didn't even know that people like you existed! [this might be a little over the top in some cases]

Our programs typically are about an hour long and are held in conjunction with dinner once a month, September through June. I really hope you would be interested in participating. It would be a great way for you to stay in direct touch with your professional and well-qualified audience. Please contact me so we can discuss details of availability, possible program topics and logistics. As a non-profit educational organization, we are, of course, destitute and using food stamps to pay for most of our meals, so don't expect any fee. But I am optimistic that a person in your position can pull some strings and we can work out something that will be mutually agreeable and beneficial.

Call me or email me at…………..

Software Tips

Outlook Tip

FYI - I sent this reminder to our organization about using Outlook as a reminder for upcoming events.

It's a good strategy to use the software tool for more than just your own personal appointments and tasks. Use the reminder and notification function to augment your memory and use drag and drop to keep electronic copies of transient messages without having to set up a separate folder and then later clean up out-of-date information.

This trick also is handy for tracking team members who will be out of the office on your own calendar. Just remember to set the appointment so it still shows your time as free.

It's kind of like sticking a driver's license renewal notice on the fridge where you will remember it and still be able to find it instead of burying it in the to-do pile on your desk.

P.S. I know some of you don't use Outlook - as an option, I suggest you print all reminders in 42 point text onto legal size purple paper and tape them to the ceiling (safely).

Biometric USB Drives?

Some of the people in our organization have started receiving new biometric USB drives. They are just different enough that I decided to write a few instructions for using USB drives. Read more...... . NOTE: This is a non-technical description for non-technical people; there are a lot of IT web sites which can do a much better job if you really want technical advice.

Bend and Stretch

A user complained this morning about using a USB thumb drive on an older computer at home. On older PCs, USB ports were often located in the back of the PC. The solution is simple; you can purchase inexpensive USB "extension cords" and extend the USB port from the back of the machine to your desktop.

Here is an example of a 4-port hub that allows you to plug in up to 4 USB items.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1618840&CatId=48

Warning Notes:

1) If you have a newer PC which uses the USB 2 standard, you will want the more expensive hubs just for that.

2) Now that some people are using Windows VISTA on their home machines, check the compatibility of any USB device with windows VISTA before depending on it - they are not all compatible with Windows VISTA.

Look a gift horse in the mouth

While we are on the subject of USB drives, remember the warnings I gave a few months ago about finding a lost USB drive . Since many PCs auto-start a USB drive when it is plugged in, USB drives can be a very nasty source of viral infections. Unless you really really really know what you are doing – don’t pick up and play just any old USB drive you find lying around. It’s not like picking up and eating candy dropped on the ground– there is no 2-second rule.

Hotlinks

Computer security public awareness video winners. Short explanations of common computer security issues. Well worth sharing with family and friends who might need a little help understanding how identify theft can occur for example. http://www.researchchannel.org/securityvideo2007/

Library of Congress resource for understanding copyright laws
http://www.copyright.gov/

Is this you?

Can’t read the fine print disclaimers on a web site? Instead of adjusting monitor resolution – try the on-screen MAGNIFIER. It’s located in the Windows ACCESSORIES > ACCESSIBILITY menu. Basically the program places a magnifying glass on the screen that can be moved around or set to show a magnified view of wherever you point the mouse. Move the magnifying glass wherever you want, resize it or even dock it to the side of the screen. Both Windows XP and Windows Vista have this helpful tool

Provide Feedback and suggestions for future newsletters at any time. I'll try and use what I can.

I really do appreciate those of you who take the time to write and comment on this newsletter!

TTFN,

Read more articles in the Purchasing Toolbox at http://www.mltweb.com/prof/tools.htm and in the BuyTrain news article archive at http://www.mltweb.com/tools/buytrain/index.htm Return to MLTweb

	MLTWEB is assembled and maintained by Michael L. Taylor, C.P.M.
	Materials and articles prepared by Mike may be shared for purchasing education provided that this source is cited and no fee is charged. The rights for any other use are withheld.
	Copyright; Michael L. Taylor, C.P.M.
	Last Updated: 10/06/2006