2005 LearnShare Press Releases

Sharing brings together some of the senior-most learning and development executives from around the country.

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced that the Company will expand the schedule of its popular training and development conferences for senior training officers to three events in 2006. The first conference of 2006 will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from March 1-2 at the Tuscany Suites & Casino hotel.

Sharing@LearnShare provides best practices and lessons learned from industry leading organizations in an event consisting of highly experienced keynote speakers, focused breakout sessions on current topics and trends, benchmarking tours and a variety of networking opportunities where participants can meet expert presenters, LearnShare members and sought-after learning executives.

In 2005, LearnShare held two Sharing@LearnShare conferences with an unprecedented number of high-level attendees and an impressive roster of keynote speakers and presenters from companies such as UPS, Home Depot, Deere & Co., IBM and Cingular Wireless.

For more information on attending or sponsoring a Sharing@LearnShare event, please contact Matt Franks at 419-327-4160 ext. 4162 or email conferences@learnshare.com.

LearnPak Delivers Fortune 500 Features Including Discounted Pay-Per-Use Content

LearnShare, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced the launch of LearnPak, an affordable, feature-rich learning management system designed to meet the needs of small and mid-size companies. LearnShare's LearnPak combines many of the features and functionality of the LearnShare LMS, designed by and for its large company membership, stocked with off-the-shelf discounted content from recognized providers on a pay-per-use basis.

"This revolutionary offering changes everything. This announcement levels the playing field, giving smaller organizations access to what the big companies are using to distribute and track training and development," said Lois Webster, CEO of LearnShare. "Because of our consortium model, we are able to deliver this specialized product at an affordable price."

LearnPak is an off-the-shelf, standardized LMS that serves as an enterprise’s online learning environment that manages, delivers and tracks online learning for employees, stakeholders and customers. It also has the ability to monitor and quantify the overall cost and impact of education and training. In addition to all of its advanced features, LearnPak is rich with content from some of the most recognized content providers in the industry, including Thompson NETg, Global Knowledge and DDI.

LearnPak clients will have access to the LearnShare Learning Maps that have been developed by LearnShare for members. Each map includes online learning resources (courses) that develop the competencies needed to maximize performance in job roles or skills areas. LearnShare will continue to develop skill and competency maps and share them with all members and LearnPak clients.

• Customer Service
• Sales and Marketing
• Ethics
• Compliance
• HR People / Excellence Map
• Leadership

What makes this particularly attractive to small to mid-size entities is that the courses are offered on a pay-per-use basis at the LearnShare consortium rate. The fully stocked LearnShare LearnPak LMS is being launched at a low introductory rate of $500 for initial start-up costs, with subsequent yearly pricing dependent on number of employees.

Licensing cost per number of registered users:

"There is not a better solution on the market today for small- to mid-size companies to offer and manage their training," continued Ms. Webster, "as an extension of our comprehensive LMS, being used today by Fortune 500 companies, LearnPak is a turn-key, comprehensive and proven solution that is chock full of the most sought-after content in companies today." For more information on LearnPak, please contact Randy Consolo at 419-327-4160 ext. 4165.

Intimate On-Site Tours Give Corporate Training Executives a Peek at Best Practices from Industry Leaders

On Friday, October 14, 2005, LearnShare will be offering behind the scenes, on-site benchmarking tours at UPS, Cingular Wireless and Rollins/Orkin as part of its Sharing@LearnShare conference in Atlanta. During the final day of the Sharing@LearnShare conference, three tours will take place with 30 participants each. Visitors will have the opportunity to tour a learning facility and discuss the training and development structure, strategy and best practices from these industry leaders.

"This is a rare opportunity," said Lois Webster, CEO of LearnShare. "It is not often that leading organizations such as these open their doors to other executives to learn and share the best practices in the delivery of training and development. It will be the capstone to the Sharing@LearnShare conference, which has already been recognized as one of the leading conferences in the field of training and development."

LearnShare, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field hosts Sharing@LearnShare in Atlanta from October 12-14. Sharing@LearnShare provides best practices and lessons learned from industry leading organizations in a concise, cost-effective event consisting of highly experienced keynote speakers, focused breakout sessions on current topics and trends, networking lunch and cocktail reception with many opportunities to meet conference presenters, LearnShare members and participating learning executives.

Other highlights of the conference include:

• An intimate Fireside Chat with world-renowned author and speaker Dr. John Maxwell
• Keynote speakers from Home Depot, UPS and Cingular Wireless
• A CLO panel discussion with top national and international learning leaders
• Best practice sharing sessions and more!

The October conference in Atlanta will be hosted at the Emory Conference Center at Emory University. LearnShare is expecting over 300 attendees, and is proud to announce it has enrolled keynote speakers from Cingular, Home Depot and UPS. Conference fees are: $139 for LearnShare members, $399 for non-LearnShare members.

To obtain more information about attending or sponsoring a Sharing@LearnShare event, contact Matt Franks at 419-327-4160 ext. 4162 or email conferences@learnshare.com.

Must Attend Event Brings Together Top Learning Officers Including Reps From Home Depot, Cingular, UPS

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced more details of its Sharing@ LearnShare event in Atlanta on October 12 - 14, 2005. The conference continues to add compelling content to the conference, including a Fireside Chat with Dr. John Maxwell, Founder of Maximum Impact and recognized leadership guru, and keynote speaker Leslie Joyce, VP of Learning and CLO at Home Depot.

The Fireside Chat with Dr. John Maxwell, world-renowned entrepreneur, author and speaker, will take place on the evening of Thursday, October 13, in an intimate setting where participants can discuss leadership and other industry topics. The chance to spend time with Maxwell, who specializes in leadership and personal excellence, is an exceptional professional opportunity.

Joining other senior learning officers at the speakers’ podium, Ms. Joyce will be addressing "Using Learning to Drive Business Performance." Joyce is responsible for all aspects of designing, developing, and delivering learning to all 325,000 associates across the Home Depot enterprise. Her areas of expertise include leadership development, customer service, product knowledge and Six Sigma.

Sharing@LearnShare provides best practices and lessons learned from industry leading organizations in a concise, cost-effective one and a half day event consisting of highly experienced keynote speakers, focused breakout sessions on current topics and trends, networking lunch and cocktail reception with many opportunities to meet conference presenters, LearnShare members and participating learning executives.

The October conference in Atlanta will be hosted at the Emory Conference Center at Emory University. LearnShare is expecting over 400 attendees, and is proud to announce it has enrolled keynote speakers from Cingular, Home Depot and UPS. Conference fees are: $139 for LearnShare members, $399 for non-LearnShare members.

To obtain more information about attending or sponsoring a Sharing@LearnShare event, please contact Matt Franks at 419-327-4160 ext. 4162 or email conferences@learnshare.com.

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced its upcoming webinar entitled "Innovations in Learning" featuring top Learning Executives from Pitney Bowes and Capital One. The event, which will be held on September 13, 2005 at 1 p.m. ET, is being co-produced by Centra Software, a leading provider of software and services for online learning and training.

Moderator Lois Webster, CEO of LearnShare, will be joined by Dave Basarab, Director, Employee Development at Pitney Bowes Global Mailstream Solutions and Ted Forbes, Chief Learning Officer at Capital One University, who will deliver a best practice session presenting practical case studies on their training delivery methodology.

Dave Basarab, who was recently awarded the Chief Learning Officer of the Year Best Practice Award for 2005,will be addressing High Impact Learning Maps and teach how the tool provides significant increase in productivity, learner intentionality and a line of sight to performance results.

Ted Forbes, who drives core learning, customized programs, blended solutions and learning innovations for Capital One, will be addressing the use of iPod technology for training and learning, where associates have access to a blended, multi-channel learning to receive management training, professional development and relevant company information.

Mr. Forbes will also be appearing at the upcoming Sharing@LearnShare conference in Atlanta, Georgia on October 13 - 14, 2005, where he will be joined by hundreds of senior training and development professionals in exploring best practices in training.

About Centra
Online learning and training solutions from Centra create workforce efficiencies and enable organizations to share and exchange business-critical information with geographically distributed customers, partners, prospects and employees. Centra enables groups to work faster and more effectively by automating critical learning and training initiatives online through virtual classrooms, online meetings and Web conferences. From enterprise-application training and support to workforce development and more, Centra’s software and services help organizations deliver critical information and skills to support their most challenging business initiatives. Currently available in nine languages, Centra solutions can be deployed as on-site software or through its ASP service. Organizations across every major industry and market sector choose Centra, including Wyndham International, Weyerhaeuser, Underwriters Laboratories, BMW and Stanford University. Headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, Centra serves a worldwide customer base throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit www.centra.com.

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced the speakers’ lineup and topics of its Sharing@LearnShare conferences. This year LearnShare is hosting two conferences scheduled for September 8-9 in Toledo and October 13-14 in Atlanta.

Sharing@LearnShare are annual conferences that bring together the senior-most training and development professionals from the world’s largest corporations to share best practices and practical know-how. In an intimate atmosphere, over the course of one and a half days, attendees participate in keynote addresses, focused breakout sessions on current topics and trends, networking lunch and cocktail reception with many opportunities to share with conference presenters, LearnShare members and participating learning executives.

Keynote speakers for Toledo include

• Yum! Brands, Inc., Stephen Krempl, Vice President, Yum! University Customer Mania - A Cultural Revolution at YUM!
• Deere & Company, Rick McAnally, Director, Global Diversity & Talent Mgmt - Building Talent: Managing the Career Development Partnership
• IBM Learning, Frank Persico, Director, Learning Partnerships - The Value of Learning Leadership, Management and Governance to Deliver Business Results

Keynote speakers for Atlanta include

• Cingular Wireless, Rob Lauber, Executive Director, Learning Services - Topic Not Yet Announced
• UPS, Rick Carter, Corporate HR, Employee Performance & Development - Weaving the Pieces of Learning Management Together
• Rollins/Orkin, David Lamb, Vice President, Training and Development - The Performance Puzzle (Putting the Right Pieces in Place)

In addition to the keynote addresses, a variety of other prominent speakers will address a mix of hot topics in the field of training and development, including: outsourcing, rapid e-development, e-learning, distance learning, executive coaching, leadership development, nurturing a culture of high performance, succession planning, learning analytics, alternatives to traditional ROI models, and more!

Another exciting addition to the conference is that Rex Davenport, editor of T+D Magazine, will be hosting a CLO round-table to discuss the state of industry and issues facing CLOs today.

Sharing@LearnShare is being supported by Visum, Lionbridge, ACT, Partners in Leadership and Knowledge Factor.

To obtain more information about attending or sponsoring a Sharing@LearnShare event, please contact Matt Franks at 419-327-4160 ext. 4162 or email conferences@learnshare.com.

Executives gather at Comcast to discuss how to become a learning organization.

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced the details surrounding the summer LearnShare Leadership Summit. The Summit, entitled How to Become a Learning Organization, will be held June 28-29 in Philadelphia. Comcast will be hosting the two-day event at its headquarters.

LearnShare Summits exist for CLOs, learning & development corporate managers and thought leaders to share their understanding of varied topics. This year they will be addressing effective learning organizations and the ways they are created. Summits are generally open to LearnShare members and select guests only. For the first time, LearnShare has opened the invitation for a short period to top industry professionals interested in attending.

The Summit will cover, among a variety of other items, the definition of a learning organization, identifying the practices that distinguish learning organizations and the shifts from training to learning in an organization.

To obtain more information about attending a Summit event, please contact Matt Franks at 419-327-4160 ext. 4162 or email conferences@learnshare.com

New educational resources available for onsite health centers.

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 1000 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced that Cleveland-based Whole Health Management has joined the consortium.

Whole Health Management is a provider of on-site health care services for corporations such as Sprint, Capital One, Nissan North America and Freddie Mac, as well as multiple federal agencies. As a LearnShare member, Whole Health will have access to LearnShare’s proprietary Learning Management System, which was designed by and for its prestigious membership base. It will also be tapping LearnShare’s vast library of training and development content, as well as the collegial best practice sharing that occurs among the senior professionals representing the LearnShare member companies.

"Whole Health Management is delighted to become LearnShare’s newest member. The opportunity to share best practices and develop a robust, customized learning management system for our geographically dispersed associates will give us a competitive advantage."Patti Purcell, Director of Education at Whole Health

About Whole Health
Whole Health is a Cleveland-based organization that provides urgent, preventive and primary care services, integrated occupational health services, physical therapy, employee assistance counseling, wellness and fitness programs. Whole Health has more than 500 associates working at onsite health and fitness centers for 28 client organizations at 64 sites. Whole Health’s on-site health and fitness centers are designed to optimize employee health and productivity. To learn more about the wide variety of resources that Whole Health offers please visit http://www.wholehealthnet.com.

Top Professionals From Cingular, Rollins/Orkin, UPS, John Deere and YUM! Brands Named Keynote Speakers

LearnShare, LLC, the consortium of Fortune 500 companies organized to research, design, purchase, package and share best practices in the training and development field, today announced the details of its Sharing@ LearnShare events. This year LearnShare is hosting two conferences, scheduled September 8-9 in Toledo and October 13-14 in Atlanta.

Sharing@LearnShare provides best practices and lessons learned from industry leading organizations in a concise, cost-effective 1½ day event consisting of highly experienced keynote speakers, focused breakout sessions on current topics and trends, networking lunch and cocktail reception with many opportunities to meet conference presenters, LearnShare members and participating learning executives.

The September conference will be held at the conference facilities of the Owens-Illinois Corporate Headquarters in Toledo, Ohio. With keynote speakers from YUM! Brands and John Deere, LearnShare anticipates an audience of approximately 300 learning executives, training and organization development managers, project managers, designers and training professionals. Conference fees are: Early Bird Special $89; regular price $199 for LearnShare members, $295 for non-members.

The October conference in Atlanta will be hosted at the Emory Conference Center at Emory University. LearnShare is expecting over 400 attendees, and is proud to announce it has enrolled keynote speakers from Cingular, Rollins/Orkin and UPS. Conference fees are: $239 for LearnShare members (Early Bird special $139), $499 for non-LearnShare members (Early Bird special $399).

To obtain more information about attending a Summit event, please contact Matt Franks at 419-327-4160 ext. 4162 or email conferences@learnshare.com