From sales education to personal motivation, these seminars will give you an added boost to your business! Click on a link below to view the full description:

• Jim Carroll: Coping with Ketchup: How to Adapt to a World of Constant Change
• James Feldman: Shift Happens
• Mac Fulfer: Every Face Tells A Story
• Eric Chester: "The Aliens Have Landed - Meet Generation Why" -Understanding, Managing, and Motivating Your New Workforce
• Al Bates: Company Performance Report
• Distributor Forum: Best Practices Shared (distributors only)
• The Growing Concern About Mold
• The Porcelain Jungle

Thursday, November 10, 9:00am - 10:00am

That’s right—in case you haven’t noticed, Heinz has turned their ketchup bottle upside down, and it is causing havoc in homes around the world. It is part of a revolution in the packaging industry where the “package” has become the brand, and is indicative of a world in which innovation thrives. But havoc? Yes—Jim has noticed a fascinating tendency in which people unconsciously turn the ketchup bottle the other way ’round. No matter what people do, they can’t seem to deal with this new ketchup bottle. But it’s mostly adults—kids don’t seem to have the same problem. That’s why Jim Carroll thinks this new ketchup bottle is indicative of the challenges that many people have with change.

Jim Carroll, a futurist, trends and innovation expert, is the author of the book, "What I Learned From Frogs In Texas : Saving Your Skin Through Forward-Thinking Innovation." He is currently working on a new book, set for release in the late fall of 2005: The Masters of Business Imagination: Acheiving Agility in the High-Velocity Economy, to be published by Oblio Press.

Jim Carroll lives five years in the future. As a leading international futurist, trends and innovation expert, he dedicates his time to helping people and organizations understand how they can aggressively adopt tomorrow, today. Jim wakes people up to the trends that will affect them, and challenges them to cope with a world that continues to witness constant, relentless, dramatic change. He is recognized for his critical thinking and business-oriented view of issues relating to social, consumer and workplace trends, demographic and lifestyle issues, emerging technologies, as well as economic and business trends.

A prolific author, his works have been sold in the U.S. , Germany , India and Canada , with sales exceeding a half-million copies. As a columnist, he has written over 600 articles for a wide variety of national and international publications. As a media commentator, he has provided his insight in over 3,000 interviews on radio, television and in print, including to ABC News, CNN, the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), INC, CEO Magazine Hungary, Texas Meetings & Events, American Way Magazine, Oprah Magazine, Elle, Family Circle, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeing, Meeting News, Association LEADERSHIP, the National Post and PROFIT. He is an award winning columnist, has been listed as "One of 50 International Names to Know" by the Online Journalism Review published by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California , and was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by a major national new media organization.

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The only thing certain in life is change. It's inevitable. And how you deal with these "shifts" can change your business, your relationships and your life. Today, you must:

• Demonstrate to your teams how to feel comfortable with change.
• Create joyful "shifts" in the attitudes of your customers, employees, suppliers and family.
• Empower associates to give you their very best effort, especially during these times of change.
• Embrace the "shifts" that take place in your business and personal lives.

For as many reasons as there are people, we are continuously asked to change! Sometimes it's a corporate downsizing or new and intense competition. Perhaps it's the loss of a loved one or a personal injury or illness. Regardless, each shift can give us the opportunity to re-write the story of our lives...beginning a journey that changes us forever.

Since 1966, James Feldman has been a marketing agent for some of the biggest organizations in the world, including Toyota, Del Monte, Southern Bell, Disney, NBC, Compaq, Helene Curtis, McDonald's, Ford Motor Company, Lexus, Mary Kay, GE, Audi, Neutrogena, American Dairy, March of Dimes, Lucent, Compaq, Apple, Microsoft, and many more.

Jim was also awarded 1997 IPA Engraved Silver Bowl. The award is presented by the IPA Board of Governors to a speaker who represents the "Magic of Communication." Previous recipients include Art Linkletter, Bill Cosby, David Frost, Harry Blackstone, and Henry Kissinger.

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Our primal intuitions about people's temperaments, feelings, and intentions depend, to a great extent, on what we observe in their faces. We are all instinctive 'face readers' from birth. However, we dramatically increase our personal effectiveness when we can quickly and accurately read every face like a map.

Face reading demonstrates how reading the very structure of the face and its accompanying features reveals the thinking style of its owner. Face reading can also identify the problem-solving preferences, stress level, degree of openness, intimacy requirements and even the basic truthfulness of a person. Your face is a living record of your life and, like your personality, it is shaped by both inherited factors and your response to life experiences.

Whether selling, hiring, negotiating, speaking, or interacting, the ability to discern another's attitude and mind-set is a skill we all desperately need. Being a truly gifted communicator is not solely defined by mastery of a verbal style or well-rehearsed techniques; it also requires the ability to immediately read and acknowledge your audience. The availability of the face gives the reader an opportunity to accurately interpret and respond to every interaction.

Mac Fulfer is a popular speaker and lecturer who gives presentations on face reading for national and international conferences. He customizes his presentation to the specific needs of the organization that he is speaking to, such as improving sales, jury selection, and better hiring interviews. He has spoken to companies and organizations that include American Airlines, the Kansas State Judicial Conference, Business Week Magazine, the International Meeting Planners, the National Association of Legal Administrators and the U.S. Postal Service.

Mac Fulfer practiced law in Fort Worth , Texas for nearly 22 years, since earning his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas in 1975. Initially, Mr. Fulfer became interested in the practice of face reading for the purpose of jury selection. He quickly discovered that face reading changed his perspective, allowing him to see people more compassionately through the experiences reflected on their faces.

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Ready or not, here comes Generation Why; 68 million Americans born between 1980 and 1994. With over 40 million 16-24 year olds currently employed, the future clearly belongs to those companies and organizations that understand and can connect with Generation Why. They do not see things like you do, and they cannot be recruited, trained, managed, and motivated using the same strategies and methods.

Look on the front lines of your business. Standing between you and your profits are those talented, weird-looking, impossible-to-understand 16-to-24-year-olds. And if you’re not connecting with them, they are not connecting with your customers, and you are leaving all kinds of money on the table. In short, your front line is the key to your bottom line.

This exciting and revealing presentation will give you an in-depth look at Generation Why and help you understand what they value and how they approach the workplace. You'll then learn specific strategies for working with Generation Why, giving you a decided advantage over your competitors.

Nobody in America has a better understanding of Generation Why than Eric Chester, after all - he coined the term. For more than a decade, Eric has been working extensively with this generation and has personally addressed over 2 million Gen Why youth through his motivational programs. He's a Certified Speaking Professional and the author of the book Employing Generation Why - Understanding, Managing, and Motivating Your New Workforce. His corporate clients include Dairy Queen, Discover Card, Toys R Us, Bell South and The Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers.

Eric has appeared on Good Morning America and is frequently seen on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News providing insight, perspective, and strategies on connecting with the emerging generation.

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Friday, November 11, 10:30am - 12:00pm

By participating in the PROFIT survey, you will receive two very useful management tools that compare your results with your peers:

PROFIT IMPROVEMENT PROFILE analyzes and compares your company's profitability and financial ratios to your peers and focuses on your company's three weakest areas, tells you how to improve those areas and shows results that could be achieved if the plan is implemented.

The PROFIT TOOL KIT is a diskette sent with your data and the industry data already included. The program lets you test some "what-if" changes in your business and immediately see the results.

Participant data will be held strictly confidential by Profit Planning Group. Profit Planning Group has conducted similar surveys for more than twenty organizations and have an unblemished record of confidentiality.

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Thursday, November 10, 3:30pm - 4:30pm

Session #1:
Mold has become a vital concern for the ceramic tile industry. Learn the basics of mold, the latest technology available to prevent growth, and what you can do during installation to stop it before it becomes an expensive problem.

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