P&P February 2016

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Policy&PracticeFebruary 2016 24
NSDTA’s Annual
Conference Ascends
to Excellence
The National Staff Development
and Training Association (NSDTA)
assembled for its 2015 conference in
Denver, CO, on October 3–7. More than
280 people gathered from 34 states
and two U.S. territories. Their position
titles ranged from county director to
chief learning officer to trainer. They
came to the conference to learn the
best practices related to organizational
effectiveness, staff development, evalu-
ation, and distance learning. Most
important, they forged relationships
and connections that will be parlayed
to exponentially improve their agencies
and outcomes back at home. Michelle
Naples, Strategic Initiatives director at
the Milwaukee County Department of
Health and Human Services said, “My
organization benefits from the enthu-
siasm, knowledge, resources, contacts,
and ideas that I brought back with me.
I now have an expanded network of
people and organizations to connect
and share ideas with as we work to
improve training and organizational
effectiveness.”
Conference participants were
enthralled by the keynote speaker,
Beth Cohen, and her talk about The
Neuroscience of Learning, The Power
of Training and Development. Other
workshops included The Workforce
Development Framework as a Tool for
Growing and Retaining Competent Staff,
Organizational Climate and Casework
Practice, Evidence-Based Curriculum
Design and Development, and Excellence
in Evaluation, to name just a few of
the more than 40 sessions available to
participants. The conference closed
with a keynote presentation by Greg
Sommers, Sharing the Peak Experience,
that challenged participants to go back
to their agencies and elevate them
using all that they had learned and the
connections they had made.
association news
Agencies that sponsor their people
do so as an investment in growing their
agencies. While there is a cost, scholar-
ships are available to participants. The
Joan M. Carerra scholarship sponsored
conference registration and travel for
20 participants representing 18 states.
The Colorado Department of Human
Services provided scholarships for an
additional 40 participants.
Conference sponsors included
Accenture, Northwoods, the Butler
Institute for Families, the Child Welfare
Information Gateway, and the Colorado
Department of Human Services. Their
sponsorship showed their investment in
supporting and growing human service
agencies to improve outcomes.
Award Presentations
NSDTA recognizes outstanding indi-
viduals and organizations who have
made significant contributions to the
field. Award winners for 2015 were:
Sheila Blanton, recipient of the
Distinguished Service in Training
Award. Blanton, director of the
Professional Excellence program
at Georgia University, exempli-
fies the name of the program she
directs—professional excellence. She
continually strives to improve her
training programs by seeking out the
best ideas, latest technologies, and most
outstanding people to present them.
Blanton has been involved in educa-
tion and training for 36 years. She has
been on the forefront of using distance-
based technologies to supplement and
enhance training programs for child
welfare staff throughout the state of
Georgia. As a manager, she has inspired
allegiance and loyalty from her staff
while encouraging them to innovate
and adapt to a constant state of change.
Inspiring collegiality and sharing of
products and information, she deserves
this award for her long and very distin-
guished career in training. Her efforts
have elevated the field for us all.
Paul Needham, recipient of
the President’s Award . Needham
recently retired from his position at
the Oklahoma Department of Human
Services. In demand across the
country, he is taking his own special
brand of training skills and sharing
them with a new generation of adult
services workers. Needham is a master
at the art of training. He specializes
in preparing new trainers with his
workshop, “Essential Training for New
Trainers” and, for the technology-
impaired, trains them about how to use
technology for training. In his quiet
way, he reminds us that great trainers
are made of hard work, patience,
practice, and diligence. He keeps us
grounded in who we are and who we,
as an organization, serve.
Maine Direct Service Worker
Training Program, recipient of the
Quality Service Award . The Maine
Direct Service Worker Training
Program transformed its training
system by updating existing curricula
to new competency-based stan-
dards; improving statewide access to
training; increasing the supply and
mobility of workers across settings,
service populations, and programs;
optimizing the use of training
resources across programs; and estab-
lishing a comprehensive system of
career progression with specializa-
tion and cross-training to respond
to a range of complex and changing
medical and supportive needs. We
applaud their efforts to set the bar
higher for all training programs.
Next year’s conference will be held
on October 2–5 in New Brunswick,
NJ. If you are interested in submitting
a proposal for a workshop or would
like more information about spon-
sorship or scholarship options,
please don’t hesitate to contact
Emily Campbell, Organizational
Effectiveness director and NSDTA
liaison, at