Viva Las Vegas.

Viva Las Vegas. Maybe it was the fabulous General Session speakers. Maybe it wasthe certification workshops. Maybe it was the packed exhibit hall.Better yet, maybe it was a combination of all of these factors and morethat made the 2004 ACTE ACTE Association for Career and Technical Education (formerly American Vocational Association)ACTE Association of Corporate Travel ExecutivesACTE Approvals Committee for Terminal EquipmentACTE Anodal Closure Tetanus Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo aresounding re��sound?v. re��sound��ed, re��sound��ing, re��soundsv.intr.1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children.2. success. Nearly 6,000 attendees enjoyed the networking, learning andexploration that took place Dec. 9-12 in Las Vegas Las Vegas(läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. . From hands-onworkshops to informative sessions to relaxing social events, CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) The difference between the way two materials expand when heat is applied. This is very critical when chips are mounted to printed circuit boards, because the silicon chip expands at a different rate than the plastic board. educators from across the country and around the world gathered to shareideas and learn new ones during the premiere event designed specificallyfor all CTE educators. This issue of Techniques shares a bit of what occurred in LasVegas. Enjoy this recap re��cap?1?tr.v. re��capped, re��cap��ping, re��caps1. To replace a cap or caplike covering on: recapped the bottle.2. and remember, next year's Convention isless than a year away. Plan on heading to New Orleans New Orleans(ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded , Dec. 8-11, 2005,to participate in this exciting and informative educational experience. The Wave of Change If you don't constantly assess what you are doing and how youare doing it, you run the risk of extermination exterminationmass killing of animals or other pests. Implies complete destruction of the species or other group. , according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. author andchange expert Robert Kriegel. Kriegel, who opened ACTE's AnnualConvention in Las Vegas last December, shared his insights into changeand how career and technical educators might respond. "The business world is changing dramatically and it willcontinue to change," said Kriegel, who wrote If it Ain't Broke... Break It, a book that implores its readers to look for ways tochange. "Companies that continue to play by yesterday's ruleswill find themselves extinct, just like the dinosaurs <onlyinclude> This list of dinosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the superorder Dinosauria, excluding class Aves (birds, both living and those known only from fossils) and purely vernacular terms. ," he added. Kriegel shared many examples of how the business community ischanging and how some older companies are having difficulty with thischange. "Today, we have local grocery stores selling tires, toolsand flowers," he said. "Harley-Davidson is making clothes ...for dogs." "The pace of change in the business community isbewildering be��wil��der?tr.v. be��wil��dered, be��wil��der��ing, be��wil��ders1. To confuse or befuddle, especially with numerous conflicting situations, objects, or statements. See Synonyms at puzzle.2. ," said Kriegel. But not all companies are adjustingwell. Take, for instance, Sears. Kriegel explained that in the past, allhomes had three books: the Bible, a dictionary and the Sears catalog catalog,descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. ."When's the last time you looked at a Sears catalog?"Kriegel asked the audience. Laughter was the only response. "Companies can't play by yesterday's rules if theywant to survive," said Kriegel. The same case can be made for career and technical education."The students of today learn differently and you need to be up todate," Kriegel told the audience. "To get your studentsrelevant, you can't use yesterday's thinking. lf you do, youwon't succeed." "The students of today need to learn new skills fortoday's workplace and for tomorrow's," said Kriegel."And you are the ones to provide it." Kriegel did acknowledge that educators today are dealing with lessfunding, fewer colleagues and more students. However, these factors makeit essential that career and technical educators look for bold andinnovative teaching methods and strategies. Kriegel warned the audience that change doesn't mean workingharder and faster. "When we do this, we are unable to keep outahead and find those new ideas "New Ideas" is the debut single by Scottish New Wave/Indie Rock act The Dykeenies. It was first released as a Double A-side with "Will It Happen Tonight?" on July 17, 2006. The band also recorded a video for the track. ," he said. In fact, it's peoplewho work harder and faster who suffer from "The Gottas.""It's these people who gotta got��ta?InformalContraction of got to: I gotta go home.do this and gotta do that,"said Kriegel. This type of work leads to increased stress. It also leads to more mistakes. To illustrate this point, Kriegelheld up a white sheet of paper and asked the audience to quickly respondthree times to the question, "What color is this?""White, white, white" came the response. Kriegel then quicklyasked, "What do cows drink?" "Milk" came the answer."How many of you know cows that drink milk?" asked Kriegel.But his point was well taken. When we are working so hard and so fast,we are more prone to mistakes. The biggest problem with working harder and faster is that we nevercome up with new ideas or new ways to handle situations. "How manyof you get your best ideas at work?" Kriegel asked. Since nobodyraised a hand, it was clear what Kriegel was trying to explain. "We need to step back and take a new look at what we aredoing," he said. "What are the skills needed tomorrow? How canyou prepare your students to learn those skills?" Kriegel then left the audience with the following challenges: * Change your old way of thinking. Write down all the assumptionsyou have about your job and mark all those that are limiting and allthose that provide opportunity. Work to erase limitations and exploitopportunity. * Never solve a problem at the level it exists. lf someone isunhappy with a product think beyond the product itself and look at theprocess. * Look outside education for new ideas. You never know where youwill get your next great idea. * Keep changing. You can't change something once and call itgood. Keep searching for opportunity. * Don't douse douse?1also dowse ?v. doused also dowsed, dous��ing also dows��ing, dous��es also dows��esv.tr.1. To plunge into liquid; immerse. See Synonyms at dip.2. innovation. Don't spend time telling peoplewhy something won't work. lf you do that, you kill the idea, youkill motivation, and you kill individual spirit. "You have to keep stoking the fire of change and innovation,not soaking it," he said. "lf you live like that, you will domore than you ever thought you could." Kriegel's book, If it Ain't Broke ... Break It, isavailable in the ACTE bookstore. To learn more about this title, visitwww.acteonline.org/ store/ or call 800-826-9972. Keep Smiling--You'll Live Longer Research indicates that optimists live longer and happier livesthan pessimists. And if General Session speaker Amanda Gore'soptimism is any indication, she will live forever. Gore shared her sunnyoutlook with attendees as the Second General Session speaker atACTE's Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo. "We need to get our hearts connected to our families,"said Gore, who then spent her entire talk guiding the attendees througha number of "connecting" exercises. She had everyone holdhands, look at their neighbor and say, "Thank you for helping melive longer." Gore explained that we need to get out of our heads and into ourhearts because that's where wisdom resides. She said that we alsoneed to connect our hearts to other hearts. "The principle ofgetting connected is crucial because if we are not connected, wecan't do what we do," she said. One of the biggest obstacles to making connections are those Goreterms "psychic vampires," people who just suck the energy outof you. Gore also refers to these individuals as "Wallys." Toillustrate, Gore donned a pair of droopy droop?v. drooped, droop��ing, droopsv.intr.1. To bend or hang downward: "His mouth drooped sadly, pulled down, no doubt, by the plump weight of his jowls"rabbit ears. "These peopleare always saying things like, 'what's going to happentoday?' or 'nothing ever goes good in my life.' Youcan't have a great relationship with anyone if you are an energysapper sapperMilitary engineer. The name is derived from the French word sappe (“trench”), which became connected with military engineering in the 17th century, when attackers dug covered trenches to approach the walls of a besieged fort and also undermined the walls ," said Gore. She then implored everyone to become "Sparkys," upbeatindividuals with a positive attitude. "Your mission is to put thesparkle See SPARQL. back in all the people you meet," she said. Gore then had everyone turn to their neighbor and say, with ahearty heart��y?adj. heart��i��er, heart��i��est1. Expressed warmly, exuberantly, and unrestrainedly: a hearty welcome.2. wave and a smile, "Hi--what's the best thingthat's happened to you today?" Having a positive and upbeat attitude will help you achieve thenumber one thing people want out of life: Love. "In order to love,you need to lighten up Lighten upSelling some part of a stock or bond position in a portfolio to realize capital gains or to losses or increase cash assets.lighten up," said Gore. "You have to learn to letgo." Over the years, we all get bogged down with negative things thathappen to us. Gore had the attendees imagine all those negative thingswere potatoes that you had to carry around in a sack. After about sixweeks, that sack would be full of liquid, and it would smell. "Nobody would want to be around you," said Gore."So, you have to drop those potatoes and move on." But as you move on, you must remember to recognize and acknowledgethose people in your life. As an exercise, she had everyone turn to hisor her neighbor and with both thumbs up, say "Yes" and"Excellent." She also encouraged people to become "Taa-daaists," thosewho celebrate any kind of victory. "After about eight, itisn't cool to scream "taa-daa" when we accomplish atask," she said. "We have to be willing to celebrate the greatthings that happen to us." Another way to celebrate would be to become a CFF--Chief Fun Fairy.As Gore says, most companies have a CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. and CFO See Chief Financial Officer. when what they reallyneed is a CFF See Compensatory Financing Facility. . To illustrate, Gore pulled out a sparkly spark��ly?adj. spark��li��er, spark��li��est1. a. Giving off tiny flashes of light; glittery: a dress with sparkly sequins.b. magic wand a wand used by a magician in performing feats of magic.See also: Magic thatplayed a tune when she waved it toward anyone. "This will help putthat sparkle back into people," she noted. Gore wrapped up her talk by sharing the three things that will helpkeep your heart healthy. They are: A strong sense of purpose and faith;a feeling of happiness and joy; and a strong sense of belonging. "That's why this association is so great," she said."It gives you all a sense of belonging." "We have to get rid of our anger, drop our potatoes, and wehave to give love," said Gore. "Doing that will help you boostyour vitality and bust your stress." With a smile and a wave of her wand A handheld optical reader used to read typewritten fonts, printed fonts, OCR fonts and bar codes. The wand is waved over each line of characters or codes in a single pass. , Gore exited the stage as theattendees sang, in unison, "Always look on the bright side oflife," from "Monty (programming, abuse) monty - /mon'tee/ Any program with a ludicrously complex user interface that performs a trivial task. An example would be a menu-driven, button clicking, pulldown, pop-up windows program for listing directories. Python's Life of Brian." Gore's book, You Can Be Happy, is available in the ACTEbookstore. To learn more about this title, visitwww.acteonline.org/store/ or call 800-826-9972. The Future "I am here to give you some insight into what'scoming," said futurist Roger Herman as he began his Closing GeneralSession talk at ACTE's Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo. Before stepping into the future, however, Herman reminded attendeesof the past. "Ten or 15 years ago, we were in a recession andpeople lost their jobs," he said. "These people never expectedthis to happen." Then along came the children of those who lost their jobs.According to Herman, they vowed never to trust employers and to takecare of themselves. How were they going to do that? "They vowed tobe agile and do whatever needed to be done to ensure the employersdidn't control them," said Herman. That was in the late 1990s when people could pick and choose thejobs they wanted. It was this jumping, Herman contends, that led tosignificant turbulence. "These people weren't around longenough. They were always looking for Looking forIn the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. their next job and preparingthemselves for the future," he said. Today, the economy is starting to pick up, and Herman believes"there will be substantial job growth that we haven't seen inthis country." The difference now is that executives will be shy and careful abouthow they use resources and who, or what, they bring in. "They willwant to bring in people who have the knowledge, skills and attitude tomove the company forward," said Herman. Surveys indicate that 30-40 percent of employees plan to changejobs in the next six to eight months, and that 70-80 percent expect tobe working elsewhere in the next 12 months. According to Herman, thiswill create a potential shortage of 10,033,000 skilled workers in theU.S. by 2010. "We can't solve that problem by sending jobsoverseas," he said. "We have to solve it right now." The only problem is that, despite employers' willingness tospend big bucks, they can't find people who have the skills to getthe jobs done. Herman challenged the attendees to learn what skills theircommunity employers are looking for. "Go out and visit them. Sitdown in their offices and ask 'What do you need in workers in thenext five, 10 years?' Then make sure what you are doing iscongruent con��gru��ent?adj.1. Corresponding; congruous.2. Mathematicsa. Coinciding exactly when superimposed: congruent triangles.b. with their needs." That's where career and technical education comes in."You folks make the difference, and employers are recognizingthat," said Herman. "We need to look at our programs and wherewe have been. But more importantly, we need to look at what'scoming." Herman stressed the importance of working with the businesscommunity. "While employers can give us financial support, wereally need access to their employees. We need workers and managers tocome into our classrooms to talk to students and tell them about thereal world." In addition to working more closely with business, Herman said thatcareer and technical education programs need to look at future trendssuch as worker longevity. "We face serious challenges," said Herman. Since peopleare living and working longer, the role of career and technicaleducation will increase. "As these folks get older and look to dosomething else in retirement, many of them will need retraining re��train?tr. & intr.v. re��trained, re��train��ing, re��trainsTo train or undergo training again.re��train andreskilling," he added. "It's important to keep our fingeron the pulse of what's happening in our communities." Herman reminded attendees that their role in the future is going tobe one of leadership. "Employees are going to be looking to you.Are you prepared for that leadership? You have made a difference, butyour work is just beginning." Herman's book, Impending im��pend?intr.v. im��pend��ed, im��pend��ing, im��pends1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending.2. Crisis, is available in the ACTEbookstore. To learn more about this title, visitwww.acteonline.org/store/ or call 800-826-9972. Get Session Handouts Handouts from more than 20 sessions from ACTE's AnnualConvention are now available at the Association's Web site(www.acteonline.org). Look for the link in the "What'sNew" section.