Conference Description | Program Schedule | Presenter Biographies |  Location |  Registration

Conference Description

Businesses, educators and public service organizations share a common problem: how do you bring in new, younger customers and clients? Connecting and communicating with teens and twenty-somethings is critical to maintaining viable stores, clinics, and programs. It's vital to know how the "Millennial Generation" thinks, where they go, what they buy, and how they think about personal and professional relationships.

To help answer those questions, The Operation Us project at Forest Institute is hosting "Connect & Communicate: The 7th Annual Fall Conference." At this one-day, jam-packed event, you'll learn strategies for successfully connecting with Millennial regarding your business, program or practice, and learn more about the importance of health relationships and families to our schools, our communities and our local economy.

Join us on September 24, 2010, and our guest presenters will help you to:

1. Understand what makes teens and twenty-somethings tick.
2. Explain how promoting healthy relationships improves the bottom line.
3. Identify the basics of building a strong community collaborative.
4. Understand the significance of commitment to relationships that last.

Progam Schedule - 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM

8:30 AM - Welcome and Opening Remarks

8:45 AM - Insights and Ideas for Connecting with Millennials by Michael Wood, TRU

For more than a quarter century, TRU has been the preeminent market research and consulting firm focused on youth - advising global brand giants like Coke and Pepsi, Nike and Adidas, and MTV and MySpace. More than 150 leading companies and organizations depend on TRU to discern and explain the emerging attitudes, values, and preferences of young consumers.

Drawing from this unique vantage point, TRU's Michael Wood will unveil several key themes to help you better understand this key group of consumers, where they're headed and how you can make a connection. Key highlights from The TRU Study will also be shared.

These findings are guaranteed to inform, immerse, and inspire! This TRU presentation gives a rich, revealing look at today's teens and twenty-somethings.

Read More about Michael.

10:00 AM - Top 4 ways Poor Relationship Skills are Killing Your Bottom Line and Your Business by Jack Myrick

Poor relationship skills will flow through your entire organization like cancer. However, because they are not a line item on the P&L, business leaders often fail to understand their complete negative impact and costs. Training people in relationship skills will provide a top line and bottom line benefit as well as offer companies a competitive edge in a very competitive environment.

Read more about Jack.

11:15 AM - Workshop Breakouts

• Q & A with Michael Wood

• Q & A with Jack Myrick

• "Why Partner with me? Strategies, ideas and proven methods for serving people in your community" with Julie Baumgardner

• "A Trip for Life" with Paul Hagan.

Paul Hagan wrote the recently released book "A Trip for Life" designed to significantly enhance the relationship between parents/grandparents/mentors and young people. This fun filled approach is completely fresh and unique. The adults and young people will grow in character, personal responsibility, confidence and deeper in relationship through this experience.

Read more about Paul.

• Sexting: Sex & Texting in 2010 with Kristina Brown and Tara Downie.

Sexting (combination of sex and texting) is sending sexually explicit messages or photos via cell phone. This communication tool has both negative and positive consequences for individuals and relationships. This workshop will discuss the implications of sexting focusing on teenagers and adults offering guidelines around texting.

Read more about Kristina. Read more about Tara.

12:15 PM - Lunch and Networking Opportunity

12:45 PM -Building a Strong Community Collaborative by Julie Baumgardner

The foundation of a community is its families. Education, economic development, crime, and health care all hinge on the state of our families. This workshop will focus on how business leaders, agency directors, government officials, educators, parents and other concerned community citizens can intentionally work together to collaboratively create and sustain a strong, healthy and vibrant community.

Read more about Julie.

2:00 PM - Sliding vs. Deciding: The New Romantic Relationship Paragidm by Scott Stanley

From hooking up, to living together or bearing children out of wedlock, the landscape of how relationships form has undergone dramatic change. Life-altering relationship transitions now happen before commitment develops. Dr. Stanley will cover themes such as the nature of commitment, the dynamics of cohabitation, and the implications of the emerging hook-up culture.

Read more about Scott.

Location

South Central Springfield, Missouri
(Exact Location Provided Upon Completed Registration)

Registration

Registration Must Be Paid In Advance - otherwise we won't order lunch for you.

• $25 registration for the general public
• $15 registration for members of the Armed Forces (Please call for more info)
• $25 for 5 continuing education credits
• Registration ends 5:00 PM on Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Call 417-823-3469 or register online!

Presenter Biographies

Plenary Presenters

Julie Baumgardner, President and Executive Director, First Things First.

Julie Baumgardner is the President and Executive Director of First Things First, an award-winning grassroots organization dedicated to strengthening families in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The success of the FTF initiative has sparked interest in duplicating the FTF model in cities across the country. Mrs. Baumgardner, along with the First Things First team have provided technical assistance to hundreds of communities nationwide in their community initiative model.

Mrs. Baumgardner has worked in the fields of marketing and counseling for more than 20 years. Prior to joining First Things First, she was the regional marketing manager for a group of hospitals. She has also worked as a social worker and program director for the child & adolescent program at Valley Psychiatric Hospital.

As a passionate advocate for healthy marriage and family, Mrs. Baumgardner frequently speaks on these issues both locally and nationally. In addition to her weekly column on family issues in the Chattanooga Times-Free, she also hosts a weekly talk show on public television discussing topics relevant to marriage and family. She was invited by President and Mrs. Bush to speak at the White House Conference on Helping America's Youth, and currently serves on the steering committee for the Marriage Co-Mission.

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Jack Myrick, Project Manager, Oklahoma Marriage Initiative; President, Myrick Enterprises

Jack Myrick serves as a Project Manager for the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative. He is a Master PREP© Trainer and works with communities and groups to provide relationship training in a variety of venues. Mr. Myrick has facilitated hundreds of workshops in numerous settings including the business/corporate arena, couple's retreats, Department of Human Services employees, and churches.

Considered an expert in the field of corporate relationships, Jack has authored two books, The Shipbuilder and The Merchant; business parables created to help individuals improve their work relationships as well as achieve a greater harmony between work and home. Additionally, he is the inspiration and co-developer of the popular PREP© workplace workshop "Winning the Workplace Challenge."

Jack is the president of Myrick Enterprises a restaurant development group consisting of 10 Sonic Drive-In franchise stores in the Atlanta area. He has been happily married to Linda Myrick for 28 years and uses the examples of life's challenges to illustrate why people can benefit from skills learned through PREP©.

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Scott Stanley, Ph.D., Co-director, The Center for Marital and Family Studies, University of Denver; Vice-President, PREP, Inc.

Scott Stanley, Ph.D., is a research professor and co director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver. He has published widely in terms of journal articles and book chapters, with research interests including commitment theory, communication, conflict, confidence, risk factors for divorce, the prevention of marital distress, and cohabitation. Along with Dr. Howard Markman and colleagues, he has been involved in the research, development, and refinement of the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) for over 30 years.

Drs. Stanley and Markman are currently engaged in a long term study of the effectiveness of PREP disseminated in the community, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). They are also conducting a large, randomized trial of a variant of PREP in the U. S. Army, also funded by NICHD. Finally, Dr. Stanley and colleagues Galena Rhoades and Howard Markman are conducting a large sample, longitudinal study of cohabitation and other dynamics in couple development, funded by NICHD.

Dr. Stanley has co authored or authored various books, including Fighting for Your Marriage, 12 Hours to a Great Marriage, and The Power of Commitment, and co-authored curricula such as Within My Reach, Within Our Reach, and On My Shoulders.

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Michael Wood, Vice President, Director of Syndicated Research, TRU

Michael is a sought-after public speaker and teen expert. At TRU, he directs the company's syndicated division, where he is responsible for the twice-a-year TRU Study-the key tracking and segmentation study relied on by more than 150 of the world's leading youth-oriented brands.

Michael presents to and consults with many of TRU's syndicated clients, including: Abercrombie & Fitch, Coca-cola, Disney, ESPN, Gap, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, MTV, Neutrogena, Nike, Nordstrom, Pepsi, Seventeen, and Target.

Michael has been widely quoted on teen-marketing issues, appearing in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Time, Business Week, Newsweek, Forbes, Fortune, Advertising Age and on CBS, CNN, CNBC, NPR, and countless more publications and electronic media.

Before arriving at TRU, Michael worked in market research at Levi Strauss & Company in Brussels. Joining TRU in 1997 marked a return for Michael to the world of youth marketing.

Michael previously was employed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. Michael has a Masters degree in International Marketing from Boston University and a BS degree in Marketing from the University of Alabama.

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Breakout Session Presenters

Kristina S. Brown, Ph.D., LMFT, Assistant Professor, The School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute.

Kristina S. Brown, Ph.D., LMFT, is an Assistant Professor at The School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute in the Marriage and Family Therapy program. She is also a licensed marriage and family therapist with a small private practice at the Robert J. Murney Clinic. She has been working with individuals including children, adolescents, and teenagers as well as couples and families for over twelve years.

Dr. Brown has presented both locally and nationally at the Missouri Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Annual Conferences, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and Collaborative Family Healthcare Conferences. Internationally, she has presented at the World Congress on Endometriosis held in Melbourne, Australia.

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Tara Downie, Psy.D., Assistant Professor, The School of Professional Pscyhology at Forest Institute.

Tara Downie, Psy.D., is an Assistant Professor at The School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialty in Child Psychology. Dr. Downie has worked in a variety of mental health settings including child inpatient, community mental health centers, and private practice. She specializes in child psychopathology, parent-child attachment, and parent and child adjustment to stressful events, play therapy, and religiosity/spirituality. Dr. Downie enjoys focusing on her teaching responsibilities, the supervision of students, and assisting with student research projects. Her passion for working with children is additionally fulfilled by volunteering with her church on mission trips at home and abroad.

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Paul Hagan, Founder, Couples In Action.

Paul Hagan founded "Couples in Action" in 1994. He organized and promoted a marriage enrichment program developed by Dr. Tom Wagner, PhD starting in 2004. Currently, he is a director of a Family Camp held at Pere Marquette State Park in Illinois. Paul lives with his wife and four children in Lake St. Louis, Missouri. He serves on a local School Board, enjoys coaching basketball and baseball.

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