ISA’S 2017 ANNUAL BUSINESS RETREAT BREAKING THROUGH · ISA’S 2017 ANNUAL BUSINESS RETREAT BREAKING ... How can leaders drive change by movement as ... Do you remember the last

ISA’S 2017 ANNUAL BUSINESS RETREAT

BREAKING THROUGH

Innovate for Impact

MARCH 26-29, 2017 • JW MARRIOTT’S CAMELBACK INN • SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

BREAKING THROUGHInnovate for Impact

On March 26-29, 2017, ISA members comprised of the best and the brightest in the training, learning and performance industry will gather at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, AZ, to pursue new perspectives on navigating disruptive change and take away practical ideas for executing on their strategies.

Navigating disruptive change while executing on strategic plans? It’s a thrilling challenge—one that can be full of blind spots. Tap into ISA’s trustworthy network and clear your line of sight. You don’t have to go it alone!

Get ready to: • Learn how to design innovation strategies that create meaningful impact. • Challenge your perspectives on how you can get more thoughtful and get more done. • Explore execution, differentiation and growth strategies for breaking through to new levels of success. • Pick up new ideas and best practices on product and service development. • Discover Patrick Lencioni’s latest thinking on leadership and organizational success. • Clarify your strategic next steps so that you can turn ideas into results. • Relax and enjoy your powerful network of ISA colleagues.

Thank you for your trust and confidence in us as your 2017 Planning Team. We look forward to seeing you in Scottsdale on March 26-29, 2017!

Steve AndersonThe Ariel Group

Mary McGlynnPowerSpeaking, Inc.

David HoytThe John Maxwell

Company

David MR CoveySMCOV, LLC

Dave McKeownPredictable Success

Colin HunterPotential Squared

International

Mike EsterdayIntegrity Solutions

Tricia NaddaffManagement

Research Group

Marla LeporeAmplify, LLC

Howard FarfelThe Ken Blanchard

Companies

Pam SchmidtISA, Executive

Director

Who Should Attend?CEOs, partners and senior leaders across the business are welcome and will benefit greatly by attending the retreat.

Leverage Your LeadershipBring your leadership team and reinforce your business strategy. The exponential power of their participation will deliver even greater value for your business.

The Great GrazeSome of the best conversations are the informal ones. You’ll have the opportunity to forge these informal connections all throughout ISA’s Annual Business Retreat—and especially during the Great Graze. There’s no better setting for embracing and enjoying the energy and inspiration of ISA than underneath the desert sky, surrounded by good food and great company.

The Winning Circle – Celebrating ISA’s 2017 Award RecipientsISA members are all about learning, and there’s a lot we can learn from each other’s successes. Each year, we recognize a select few, honoring and celebrating their stories. Join us on Tuesday evening, March 28, for the presentation of these prestigious awards recognizing the Business of the Year, Thought Leadership, Outstanding Contribution and The Spirit of ISA.

The CaféOpen all day, the ISA Café is there when you need it! Pick up a cup of a coffee, take a break to reflect or spend some time with a colleague for a one-on-one conversation. This is your place to relax, regroup, recharge and refuel.

1www.isaconnection.org | 703.730.2838

NEW!

Collaborative Solutions Roll up your sleeves and work through a key challenge that you and your ISA peers are grappling with. We’re taking our theme to heart with this innovative new session that’s sure to help you break through and deliver impact. Prior to the Retreat, you’ll be invited to select from one of three challenges that will be addressed during these concurrent sessions. Onsite, a professional facilitator will lead your group through problem-solving activities and strategies to help you formulate a workable solution for your firm.

ISA’s CEOs/Presidents/Owners MeetingInvitation OnlySunday, March 26, 10:00 a.m.(Lunch included—be sure to RSVP.)

It’s not easy walking in your shoes! That’s why ISA’s CEOs/Presidents/Owners get together to tackle the tough stuff. In this invitation-only session, ISA President Joe Trueblood will facilitate a discussion of topical challenges unique to leading the business. You’ll also explore strategies and best practices for recognizing, evaluating and taking advantage of new opportunities.

ISA’s 2017 Financial Benchmarking SessionA Review of 2017 Participant DataInvitation OnlySunday, March 26, 12:30 p.m.(Lunch included—be sure to RSVP.)

You’ve participated in the ISA financial survey for years, and you’ve picked up lots of data. But all that data is only helpful when you can make meaning of it for your business. Here’s your chance to dig into the data and identify the steps that will result in significant business changes. This session will show you how small percentage points outside the norms could be the difference between good and great profitability. Bring your results and an open mind!

Get Ready to Break Through!At 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 26, we will launch into three-and-a-half days of connection, community, benchmarking, innovative thinking and strategy building.

A Special Welcome To ISA’s NewcomersSunday, March 26, 6:00 p.m.If this is your first time attending ISA’s Annual Business Retreat, be sure to join us for this welcome reception designed especially for you. You’ll meet some long-time ISA members who will help you discover the full value of ISA, both while you’re at the retreat and throughout the year.

2 www.isaconnection.org | 703.730.2838

Innovation for Impact Bryan Walker, IDEO Sunday, March 26, 3:45 p.m.

What can we learn from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists? How are technology, a new generation of employees and a shifting marketplace redefining the workplace experience? How can we bring the “human” back to human resources? How can leaders drive change by movement as opposed to mandates? These are a few of the questions that Bryan, a Partner and Managing Director at celebrated innovation and design firm IDEO, is tackling every day in his work. With a focus on human-centered design thinking, Bryan helps leaders transform their organizational culture and business in pursuit of innovation, adaptability and impact. He has worked with companies across industries to help them bring the tenets of human-centered design to their organizations. He’ll be sharing insights from his explorations into the future of work and the ways in which design can effect and support massive change within complex human systems. You’ll take away practical insights you can apply in your organizations to turn innovative ideas into real-world impact.

Activity Is Not Productivity: Raising Execution Through Reclaiming WhiteSpace Juliet Funt, WhiteSpace At Work Monday, March 27, 9:30 a.m.

Every executive and team has only a select handful of true priorities. And they’ll do anything to move them forward quickly and triumphantly. But when talented workers are lost in unnecessary emails, meetings, reporting and other low-value tasks, they crawl toward these pivotal objectives. Distraction, interruption and unnecessary complexity further addle their creative spark. And they have no time to think.

Imagine instead a workplace where a majority of time is spent on tasks of true importance. Where thoughtful time is a priority and where norms and habits protect employees from touching work that drains them. This is a WhiteSpace culture, one where strategic pauses allow time for strategy and insight—and its creation may be more possible than you think.

In this high-energy session, we’ll learn the basics of bringing positive changes such as these to you and your organization by examining the critical difference between activity and true productivity, between cramming in more tasks and selectively choosing to dive into the right ones with thoughtfulness.


KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

The 4 Disciplines of Execution Chris McChesney, FranklinCovey Tuesday, March 28, 3:30 p.m.

Do you remember the last major initiative you watched die in your organization? Did it go down with a loud crash? Or was it slowly and quietly suffocated by other competing priorities? By the time it finally disappeared, it’s likely no one even noticed. What happened? The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) is a simple, repeatable and proven formula for executing on your most important strategic priorities, even in the midst of the day-to-day whirlwind. In this session, you’ll learn the 4 Disciplines and how to follow them to produce breakthrough results, even when executing the strategy requires a significant change in behavior from your teams. Chris McChesney, who is the Global Practice Leader of Execution for FranklinCovey, is one of the primary developers of 4DX and co-author of the book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution.

Five Things Your Website Should Include Donald Miller, StoryBrand Monday, March 27, 11:30 a.m.

Do your customers understand your central message? As a rule, people should be able to go to your website and understand what you offer within five seconds. If it takes them longer than five seconds, you’re losing sales. In this session, you’ll learn why most websites don’t create sales and explore practical steps for making sure your website is working hard to support your business growth goals. Based on his experiences helping more than 1,000 businesses, nonprofits and personal brands clarify their messages in his StoryBrand Marketing Workshops, Donald will reveal the five changes you can make to your website to increase sales, create fans of your business and stop losing to the competition. You’ll leave this interactive session with a clear plan and specific action steps for getting immediate impact.

Predictable Success: Breaking the Growth Deadlock Les McKeown and David McKeown, Predictable Success Monday, March 27, 11:30 a.m.

Is success in business a transient, hard-to-define combination of hard work, judgment and good luck? Or do all successful organizations follow similar patterns that, once understood, are predictable and repeatable? In this working session, learn specific, inspired advice and a proven strategy for how to drive your organization forward. As a leading adviser on accelerating business growth, Predictable Success focuses on helping CEOs uncover breakthrough growth strategies. Discover how to build the skills to motivate, engage and align your team in order to take your company to the stage called Predictable Success—where it is producing scalable, profitable growth.


GENERAL / MEGA SESSIONS

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS (CON’T)

It Was a Very Good Year!ISA Business of the Year Award RecipientMonday, March 27, 2:00 p.m.

ISA’s Business of the Year Award honors the ISA member firm that demonstrates what all ISA firms aspire to in our industry—financial success, quality products and services, marketplace recognition, and a culture that fosters employee development and satisfaction. The 2017 Business of the Year recipient will share their story, focusing on what they did to achieve their success and how it played out over time. Join the session and hear a live, real-world case study of success in our industry.

Enjoying the Value of Free TimeMonday, March 27, 3:00 p.m.

We know that the best conversations and connections often happen before, between and after scheduled sessions. To help make more of these connections possible, we’ve built free time into the schedule. You decide how you’ll spend it: Join a new friend and go for a hike or a bike ride. Reconnect with an old friend and discuss your newest brainstorm. Start a conversation with some ISAers about a new idea. Schedule a tennis game or nine holes of golf. Head off to the spa or just take a break. It’s your choice! A menu of things to do will be provided on site for your consideration. You’ve worked hard to get here. Catch your breath and refuel for Tuesday’s program.

ISA’s Thought Leader Patrick Lencioni, The Table Group Tuesday, March 28, 9:00 a.m.

The ISA Thought Leadership Award recognizes those (individually or in partnership) whose body of work has significantly influenced people and organizations in the practice of work-related learning and performance.

Join this session and enjoy the opportunity to learn from a legendary thinker and author who has profoundly influenced the world of leadership and business. ISA’s 2017 Thought Leader Patrick Lencioni, author of such seminal management and leadership books as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Five Temptations of the CEO and his latest bestseller, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, will draw on his extensive experience to reveal what he’s learned about what it takes to lead effectively and achieve long-term, sustainable success.


GENERAL / MEGA SESSIONS (CON’T)

Collaborative Solutions: Topic-Based SessionsTuesday, March 28, 10:15 a.m.

You’ve identified your big challenge. Now it’s time to get down to business. In this facilitator-led session, you’ll join fellow ISA members who are dealing with the same topical challenge, giving you diverse perspectives on the issue and a structured path to work your way through it so you can uncover appropriate, realistic and feasible solutions. You’ll take away new insights, an action plan for moving forward, and the collective intelligence and ongoing support of your ISA peers.

Immediately following the Collaborative Solutions session, “Like Size Company” breakout discussions will be conducted as lunch table discussions. Take this 90 minute opportunity to participate in facilitated table breakouts by company size.

Create Predictable, Scalable Sales RevenueAaron Ross and Ken Sterling, BigSpeakTuesday, March 28, 1:30 p.m.

Aaron and his team are helping companies triple their new sales growth with a refreshing approach to outbound sales. In this session, you’ll learn about three fatal sales mistakes sales leaders make, how to build an outbound sales machine that can triple your pipeline, why your top sales people shouldn’t prospect, how to hire and grow the best kinds of salespeople, and what it takes to create sales growth that scales. You’ll walk away with specific ideas and actions you can begin implementing the next day to begin increasing sales.

Developing High-Impact Offerings: Lessons in Successful Product/Service

DevelopmentA Facilitated Panel DiscussionMary McGlynn, PowerSpeaking, Inc. & Tricia Naddaff, Management Research GroupTuesday, March 28, 1:30 p.m.

This facilitated panel discussion will take a practical look at the ways ISA member firms are developing new offerings and keeping existing offerings fresh and relevant. Panelists representing member firms of various sizes will discuss specific recent examples of product/service development success, including the lessons they learned along the way. We’ll explore such issues as keeping core offerings fresh, customizing without destroying ROI, effective strategies for guiding the new product development process, the leader’s role in helping (or hindering) innovation, and having the courage to “kill those darlings” that you love but the market simply doesn’t. Bring your own success stories and questions! You’ll have the opportunity to chime in through audience participation and table discussions.



Business Strategy – Keeping Your Eye on the Prize Stephen Graves, Coaching by Cornerstone Wednesday, March 29, 9:00 a.m.

Most senior executives spend 80% of their time doing what someone else could do and only 20% doing the things that only they can do. The most successful leaders, however, flip that equation. You’ll wrap up your time at the 2017 Retreat with a hands-on workshop that will help you weave together the threads you’ve gathered during these power-packed days and make sure you’re spending the bulk of your time where it really counts.

Longtime CEO coach and author Stephen Graves has been the go-to guide for hundreds of CEOs over the last three decades. According to Steve, a CEO has five primary tasks, one of which is directional clarity. Your job is to guide where the organization is going and not going, at what speed…at what risk.

During this interactive session, he’ll show you how to turn new insights and ideas into practical impact when you return to the business of your business. You’ll discover eight irreversible trend changes forcing a reboot in our approach to strategy, learn why one strategic insight can power an organization for a season of growth, and master an agile method to guide your organization forward with confidence.



Hotel Accommodations:

Don’t put it off! To receive the ISA room block rate of $399/night, you must make your hotel reservations at JW Marriott’s Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, AZ, by March 1, 2017. But keep in mind, the ISA room block typically sells out well before this date. To reserve your room, call l.800.24CAMEL (800.242.2635), or go online at http://bit.ly/CAMEL2017. Be sure to tell them you are with ISA’s meeting to ensure you receive the special rate.

JW Marriott’s Camelback Inn Resort & Spa is perched on 125 acres of immaculately manicured grounds in the scenic Sonoran Desert. Spacious and well-appointed private casitas and suites boast pillowtop bedding, large flat-screen TVs and sleek bathrooms with luxury products. Guests can take advantage of a full-service spa, exceptional onsite dining and a heated outdoor pool. Golf enthusiasts will enjoy the resort’s Camelback Golf Club, which showcases 36 championship holes. For more information, visit www.camelbackinn.com.


Invitation OnlyISA CEOs/Presidents/

Owners Meeting10:00 - 11:30 am

Peace Pipe

Kickoff State of the Association

9:00 am

KeynoteActivity Is Not Productivity

Juliet Funt

9:30 - 11:00 amSunshine

Kickoff 8:45 am

Thought Leader Patrick Lencioni

9:00 - 10:00 amSunshine

Deep Dive

Business Strategy-Keeping your eye on the Prize

Stephen Graves

Break / ISA Café 11:00 - 11:30 am

Break / ISA Café 10:00 - 10:15 am

Invitation OnlyLUNCH for

CEOs/Presidents/Owners&

Mega Session IFive Things Your Website

Should IncludeDonald Miller

11:30 am - 1:00 pmPeace Pipe

Collaborative Solutions - Topic Based Sessions

10:15 am - 11:45 pm

9:00 am - NoonSunshine

Financial Study Participants11:30 am - 12:30 pmSonoran Terrace

Mega Session IIPredictable Success:

Breaking the Growth DeadlockLes & David McKeown

11:30 am - 1:00 pmCholla

Meeting Rooms:Topic #1 - Sunshine

Topic #2 - Peace PipeTopic #3 - Cholla

Lunch Lunch & Like Size Company

Invitation Only2017 ISA FinancialBenchmark Study

1:00 - 2:00 pmPeace Pipe Patio

Table Discussions11:45 am - 1:15 pmPeace Pipe Patio

12:30 pm - 2:30 pmPeace Pipe

Business of the YearTBD

2:00 - 3:00 pmSunshine

Mega Session IIICreating Predictable,

Scalable Sales RevenueAaron Ross & Ken Sterling

1:30 - 3:00 pmCholla

Break / ISA Café 3:00 - 3:30 pm

3:00-5:00 pm

Welcome Reception1st Time Attendees

6:00 - 7:00 pmTown Hall

Free Evening

Celebrating ISA's 2017 Awards Reception - 6:00 - 6:30 pm

Peace Pipe Patio

Great Graze7:00 - 9:00 pm

Sonoran Terrace

Awards - 6:30-7:00 pmDinner/Dancing - 7:00-10:00 pm

Peace Pipe

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCEWednesday

3/29/2017Sunday

3/26/2017

Kickoff3:00 pm

Sunshine

KeynoteInnovation for Impact

Bryan Walker


FREE TIME

Tuesday3/28/2017

Breakfast Buffet7:30 - 8:45 am

Peace Pipe Patio

Breakfast Buffet7:15 - 8:30 am

Peace Pipe Patio

Continental Breakfast7:45 - 9:00 am

Peace Pipe Patio

Mega Session IVDeveloping High Impact

OfferingsMcGlynn/Naddaff - Panel

1:30 - 3:00 pmPeace Pipe

KeynoteThe 4 Disciplines

of ExecutionChris McChesney


Monday3/27/2017

Documents

ISA’S 2017 ANNUAL BUSINESS RETREAT BREAKING THROUGH · ISA’S 2017 ANNUAL BUSINESS RETREAT BREAKING ... How can leaders drive change by movement as ... Do you remember the last