NYNP blog post 3-2-09

The Value of Joining a Professional Training Association
Nonprofit trainers can benefit from joining ASTD or other organizations

In the nonprofit world, most of our organizations are small. Thus, training can frequently be handled by one person as just one part of their job responsibilities, or perhaps by a handful of people in a small department. This means that those of us who are professional nonprofit trainers don't have many colleagues within our organizations.

In order to exchange ideas about training, find out about resources, and learn how others handle similar challenges, it's valuable for nonprofit trainers to join a professional association such as the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

I am a member of both national ASTD and the local NY Metro ASTD chapter and find value in both, but there are plenty of other professional associations available to trainers in New York City. Since I'm most familiar with ASTD and ASTDNY, I'll share what I find valuable about membership in these.

National ASTD (www.astd.org) is a great source of information and resources, as it hosts conferences, offers professional development, offers a professional certification as a trainer, offers an online community for networking, provides a job bank, and publishes research on training topics, as well as many print & online periodicals. I've used my ASTD membership to attend an excellent workshop on developing quality e-learning, and I read the helpful periodicals that come with membership. I've also published articles in one of their periodicals, T+D Magazine.

The local NY Metro ASTD chapter (www.astdny.org) is a great source of in-person networking and events to help you stay current on developments in the training field. As an ASTDNY member, I've attended monthly Gather-and-Shar e networking events, participated in the e-learning special interest group and the training directors special interest group, and attended monthly chapter events on topics such as interactive training design, training multicultural groups, evaluating training, executive on-boarding, and more.

The February 2009 ASTDNY chapter event featured amazing demos of computer simulations for developing managers' soft skills. The sample simulations were demo-ed by Dr. Glenn Albright, Director of Applied Research, and Ralph Vacca, Chief Learning Architect, of Kognito Interactive. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about the cutting-edge work being done by a local organization that creates learning simulations and games, and every chapter event begins with time for networking - so if you feel moved to come to an event, I hope you'll say hi.

Upcoming ASTDNY events will cover a variety of topics, including how training professionals are working on challenges due to the economic crisis, what senior managers really think of training departments, and case studies of e-learning that develops soft skills.

For me, membership in a professional organization helps stimulate my thinking about how my team and I can continually improve our service to our organization's clients by taking advantage of the latest knowledge and technology in the training field. It also provides me with context and a bigger picture view of my work.

Are you a member of a professional training organization? If so, which one, and what do you find valuable about it? I hope you'll share.