  |
||
 |
     |
|
About Us
|
2010 Education Menu
Variable Speed Drives and Power Quality This training is designed for rural utilities and will address the installation, proper use and troubleshooting of variable-speed drives (VSDs) for large motors. Participants will gain a better understanding of how variable-speed drives work, the needed protective components for the installation, and how to prevent power quality problems for other customers on the utility’s lines. This training is co-sponsored by the N.D. REC Engineering & Operations Association in conjunction with its annual conference, March 24 and 25. Key Topics
Instructor: Greg Stark presently serves as a lecturer at Texas A&M University in the Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department, teaching courses on electrical energy systems, electronic controls, and management of agricultural processing systems. He also serves as program consultant to the Rural Electricity Resource Council in Wilmington, Ohio, on electrical energy use and management, power quality, motor selection, stray voltage and VSDs. Previously, Stark served as executive director of the Texas Agri-Business Electric Council. He also was a research engineer at the University of Nebraska, assisting rural electric cooperatives in Kansas and Nebraska. Primary activities included forecasting electrical demand levels, implementation of demand-side management programs, and power quality problems including stray voltage in livestock facilities. Stark received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and has authored or co-authored more than 40 technical publications, papers and conference proceedings.
Operating Large Horsepower Motors from Single-Phase Lines New technologies are available that allow electric utilities to power larger motor-driven equipment from single-phase lines. The advantages of a new “digital phase converter” will be addressed, along with other technology options and comparisons of each. This training is co-sponsored by the N.D. Engineering & Operations Association in conjunction with its annual conference, March 24 and 25. Key Topics
Instructor: Greg Stark
E-Mail Stress: Managing the Mess Is your e-mail inbox overflowing? Are you wasting too much time with e-mail? If so, join us for this three-hour workshop and receive strategies, tips and ideas for reducing e-mail volume, improving quality, organizing e-mail and coaching others about the same issues. Key Topics
Instructor: Cindy Solberg is a software specialist with extensive hands-on, real-world software knowledge. She is certified by Microsoft as a Microsoft Office Specialist. Solberg was recently named a winner in Microsoft’s “Create a Spark” PowerPoint design contest. In addition to training “by the book,” Solberg offers practical tips and tricks from her own extensive hands-on skill set and more than 13 years of training experience.
Give ‘em the Pickle! Take customer service to the next level in your cooperative, with a unique approach to fostering customer loyalty. This three-hour program is based on the best-selling book, “Give ‘em the Pickle!” by Bob Farrell. Explore how to connect with people, brighten their day and make a difference with your members. “Pickles” are those special or extra things you do to make people happy. It’s a handwritten thank-you note with every order shipped. It’s walking the customer to the item they’re looking for, rather than pointing, or maybe it’s simply calling them by name. The trick is figuring out what your customers want and then making sure they get it. That’s the message behind “Give ’em the Pickle!” Highly entertaining and motivational, this customer-service training will inspire you to do the most important thing you can do for your cooperative: Take care of the members. Key Topics
Instructor: Kristi Pfliger-Keller is a high-energy speaker and trainer dedicated to empowering audiences of all backgrounds. By combining an off-beat sense of humor with her “been-there-done-that” work examples, she shares practical tools for change in an entertaining way. A graduate of Northern State University, Pfliger-Keller holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and public relations. In addition, she is a certified family development specialist. Her diverse background includes gigs as a nonprofit executive, small business owner, and mother extraordinaire. She is a recognized trainer in the areas of team building, effective management, leadership and long-term care. Pfliger-Keller lives west of Mandan with her husband, young son and a menagerie of wayward animals.
Dealing with Customer Interest in On-Site Renewable Power Ready or not, customers want to generate their own electricity. This half-day seminar will address why utilities are getting questions about residential-size wind and solar; the different interests of customers; the power supplier’s role; and a step-by-step method to educating customers who ask about residential-size wind or solar systems. Using many visuals and case studies, primarily from Midwestern states, participants will learn how to explain the limitations and economics of on-site generation in a straightforward and non-biased manner. Key Topics
Instructor: Richard Hiatt is president and executive manager of the Rural Electricity Resource Council (RERC), an educational association formed by electric power suppliers in the early 1950s. RERC now works with approximately 165 electric cooperatives and companies in 20 states, helping them to serve rural and agricultural customers. Hiatt received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Colorado State University. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky, and is a Registered Professional Engineer. Prior to joining RERC in 1985, he worked for the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives in their member services department.
Communication and Conflict Resolution Every work environment experiences many kinds of conflict. Conflict is natural. As long as people are different, they will have varying opinions, approaches and perspectives. It’s how people handle conflict that matters. Conflict can be used as an opportunity to solve problems and change things for the better, or it can be misused to destroy projects and people. This two-day workshop will give participants information and hands-on experience to look at conflict differently, handle it better, and achieve positive outcomes. The workshop will employ the use of lecture, discussion and role plays in an accepting and fast-paced environment. Participants will also be asked to take part in simulated conflicts to practice resolving conflict. The workshop will not only promote skills for handling conflict, but also team building to make the workplace as productive and supportive as possible. Key Topics
Instructor: Rebecca Monley holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a licensed psychologist and certified mediator. She specializes in the fields of communication and conflict resolution, success orientations and strategies, and family and adolescent therapy. Monley brings expertise and years of experience as a clinician, supervisor and manager, and adult educator to her training programs. She is the senior management associate with Corporate Human Services, based in Bismarck.
Communicating for Your Co-op in Challenging Times Rate increases. Global warming. New headquarters. Territorial squabbles. Mergers and consolidations. New power plants and transmission lines. Environmental concerns. These days cooperatives have a lot to communicate. Every co-op employee is on the front line of that communications challenge every day when they talk to members, family, friends and neighbors. Those daily conversations may do more to shape community perception of the co-op than paid media or marketing plans. This workshop is a hands-on session without long lectures. It begins with an update on current issues facing the electric utility industry. Then that knowledge will be put to work by asking every participant to practice sharpening their communication skills out loud. By the end of the workshop, participants will come away with an improved understanding of the importance of each employee being an effective communicator for their cooperative. Key Topics
Instructors: Jody Severson and Bryan Singletary are two of the co-op world’s most experienced instructors and troubleshooters. Jody Severson has 25 years of experience as a communications and political troubleshooter for electric cooperatives across the United States, in addition to being an instructor and conference speaker for NRECA. He teaches NRECA’s board governance course on communication policy and planning; the marketing and communication coursework for the Management Internship Program; and helped author NRECA’s Communication Planning Toolkit. He has assisted distribution cooperatives, generation and transmission cooperatives and statewide associations with polling on controversial issues, as well as worked with a number of them on rate-increase issues. Instructor: Bryan Singletary, Practical Energies.
The Fiduciary Duty of Director and Employee Officers, Electric cooperative directors have a fiduciary duty to the membership that elected them. Members of the management team, the co-op attorney and auditor have a fiduciary duty as well. This comprehensive course focuses on the fiduciary duties, responsibilities and expectations of board officers, operating officers and agents of an electric cooperative board. Key Topics
Instructor: Robert Patton is the senior principal for education programs at NRECA. His job is to provide advice, counsel and consultation on the development, delivery and staffing of educational programs delivered through NRECA regional and annual meetings, conferences, training programs, symposia and other educational venues. Patton serves as one of the association’s principal contacts on public policy, member relations and management strategies involving sensitive competitive industry and member-relations issues that may endanger the viability of the electric cooperative business and governance model. He joined NRECA in 1995 after working 25 years in management positions with the statewide electric cooperative associations in Illinois and Ohio. As director of membership services in Illinois and as a manager of the Ohio statewide association, Patton worked extensively with cooperative boards in assessing training needs and facilitated strategic planning with boards and management. His experience in both states included serving as a registered professional lobbyist before state legislators and regulators.
|
|
 |
||
Copyright © North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives
All rights reserved :: Terms and conditions