At the end, I got a "blinding flash of the obvious" and shared my new-found model with the others. I also drew a picture for Barbara Markoff, the new Manager of Community Development in Milwaukee.

Picture a bull's-eye target with several concentric rings. This represents a community. A community depends on some common interests. These interests could be politics, religious beliefs, a school, a family, quality, energy sources, the Q-BoK, etc. The closer to the center, the more specific the common interests and the easier it is for the community to form. As the rings get smaller, the professionalism generally increases.

There are three arrows going into the target and one arrow coming out.

1. A community requires repeated interaction to exist. This interaction used to be face-to-face. Now it can also include virtual interactions. But the interactions must repeat.
2. A community requires a safe and comfortable environment. Members of the community must feel welcome and enjoy themselves.
3. A community must ask members to contribute and recognize that contribution. Most people learned from childhood not to volunteer for anything, but will contribute to the success of the group if asked. Recognition can be private, public, and both.
4. Going out of the community is outreach to others. This is the only way to prevent stagnation. Through reaching out, others will join and add diversity to the community's population. Diversity will promote innovation and all those other wonderful things.

This model, developed from the generative conversations of the cafe, seemed to be well accepted.

Dennis Arter 

I am now home, sitting in my kitchen and internally reminicing over the past week+ spent imbedded in ASQ activities, activities that included:

• Wed, 4/30: Attending my first Office of the President (OOPs) meeting, while I was only there for a short period as compared with the full day meeting that was held, I none-the-less was a welcome visitor and a voice at the meeting.  The mystique and mystery of this meeting has been removed from my mind.  I've learned that is involves planning for ASQs future, preparation for managing the upcoming BoD meeting and an opportunity to address unexpected issues that may arise during the BoD meeting so that the President may be prepared to address these issues...nothing mysterious, no back-door politics, nothing!
• Thu 5/1 & Fri 5/2: Attending and participating in the last face to face BoD meeting of FY 07-08.
• Dinners with friends and fellow member leaders between business meetings.
• Sat, 5/3
• SAC / DAC joint meeting.  As incoming SAC Chair I was a very active participant and partnered with incoming DAC chair Steve Wilson.
• The Ideas to Action Gathering focused on building community.  I will be providing ASQ with more on this from an observer / participants prospective.
• Moderating and presenting at the Leadership Institute.  I presented 2 sessions on the Quality Management Process (QMP) which is a merger of the SMP and DMP (Section and Division Management Processes).
• SMP / DMP Awards ceremony.  As previously discussed, this year we presented 171 awards, including many individual awards typically presented during the reception that follows the ceremony.  These individual awards were presented at this time because at the reception, most attendees are not really paying attention and we felt that these individuals deserved attention for the efforts they've put forth over the past year(s) for ASQ.  I will take a liberty here as the writer and share of photo of me receiving a couple of awards from SAC Chair Brenda Fisk.
• Leadership Reception on Sat evening which was a sit down dinner this year (as opposed to hors devours and stand-up tables.  As previously reported, it was a real Texas BBQ, okay, hotel caterer style of course!
• Sun 5/4
• Again we started with a SAC / DAC joint breakfast meeting
• SAC meeting
• Then I went to the ball game - Astros vs. Brewers
• ASQ Annual Business Meeting
• Conference Opening Ceremony
• Mon 5/5 - Wed 5/7
• Conference sessions
• Exhibit hall
• Business meetings including the QMP meeting in which I passed the baton on to our incoming SAC Vice Chair and QMP committee Chair Belinda Chavez...Best of Skill (not luck) to you Belinda!
• More conference sessions
• Other receiptions and social events including hospitatilty suites
• I attended the Organization / Sustaining Members luncheon as a guess of my friend, former colleague and past Quality mentor, John Stine, Director of Corporate Quality Assurance for L3 Communications.
• President's receiption prior to the annual Banquet
• The Annual Banquet
• And some more conference session

Late morning on Wed was spent saying fare-thee-well to many people before I headed off to 'work'.  I did take a lunch break first (before work) to spend a few more minutes with my fellow blogger and very special friend Aimee Siegler.  We had another delicious meal at Josephine's...my third in one week. 

I also had a chance to catch up with another dear friend over dinner, Cynthia Nazario.  For those of you who don't know her, she is a warm, caring individual who is so dedicated to the work she does for ASQ as a Community Development Adminstrator (these are the ASQ staff folks that guide and assist member leaders).  We barely saw each other during the conference so I was glad to have this one-on-one time.  We truly did our best to talk about life outside of ASQ, however, as we realized it is so imbedded in both of us, we kept sliding back into how we can resolve this problem or improve that process, etc.  In the end though, I really feel we did catch up on what's going one with each other!

I did not leave Houston until late Thu night as I was conducting Internal Audits for one of my clients while I was in town.  Before I left the hotel on Thu morning I ran into Michelle Mason, ASQ Managing Director.  After a brief chat on just about everything under the sun, Michelle gave me a parting gift of chocholates and we said our final so-long, until next time we talk...

So, onto the glad part...I am home, thrilled to be here and cannot wait to really see my family.  They were asleep when I arrived at 1:30 am today (Fri, May 9).  Even so, I got warm hugs from Danielle (my 13 year old daughter), Alex (my 11 year old son) and Sharon (my wife, life-long partner and bestest friend ever!).  When they all left for work / school this morning I was somewhat comatose so I'll have to wait a few more hours for the real home-coming hugs and kisses.

See All Y'all next year in Minneapolis or sooner!

Signing off

David Levy, WCQI blogger, etc. etc. etc.

After the session, I said goodbye to some old friends as well as new friends, and then headed to my company's facility in Angleton, TX to prepare for an audit there on Thursday and Friday. It is hard to return to the real world after spending so much time with my ASQ "family." I am already looking forward to next year's conference in Minneapolis... Don't worry - I won't start counting days until we get closer!

I stayed in the room to learn about Kaizen Events for the Office from Karen Martin and Mike OSterling, co-authors of Kaizen Events Planner.  The session was very informative as it showed me that the Kaizen Event, which is traditionally applied to a manufacturing enviromnent does easily traslate into the office.

I also attended 5S's in Construction presented by Dennis Sowards.  Two facts shared by Dennis were:

1. Lean Works in other industries
2. Lean also works in Construction

Some examples from the session included photos of work sites that have piles of old equipment retained from project to project 'just in case we need it'...this is waste! and a quick exercise was performed with regard to Sorting...he had us take out our wallets and find all the waste that we carry every day such as expired credit cards, coupons for fast food restuarante that have expired, etc.

Next I attended the Organization Member luncheon as a guest of friend and colleague John Stine from L-3 Communications.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time and my meal.  I connected with some others I've not seen yet this year such as Lloyd Barker from Alcoa and Joe DeFeo from The Juran Institute.  

The afternoon session I attended was a two parter...Mind the Gap: Communication between the Generations.  This session addressed that, for the first time in US history, there are 4 generations in the workforce.  The generations are segmented as:

• Traditionalists - the older generations - those born prior to 1945
• Baby Boomers - those born between 1945 and 1964 (I still believe its up to 1961 which puts be on the trailing edge of the Boom)
• Gen X - those born between 1965 and 1980
• Millenials, also known as Gen Y or Babyboomettes - those born between 1981 and 1999

We learned that Generations are defined by 5 categories:

• People - notable figures, both positive and negative
• Places
• Things
• Events
• Personalities

Each generation was examined and the 5 above categories were filled in for each generation.

The second half of the session was a World Cafe the expolred two questions:

1. How do you think your generation defines success and failure both at work and in life?
2. What are the biggest issues you have experienced while working and communicating with members of other generations?  How can these be lessened or resolved?

Results if the cafe will be shared on the Customer Supplier Division's Blog - I'll add the link when I get the info!!!!

I also sat in on the kick off meeting for the development of a new Network for ASQ - a Consultants Network.  Unfortunately, I needed to leave early so I don't have an extensive report at this time.

The rest of the day was socialization...beginning with The President's Reception, the cocktail hour prior to the grand Banquet.  What always impresses me about this single event is that while I am in a room with many of the greatest minds in the Quality field and past, present and future leaders of this great organization we call ASQ, we spend our time socializing...there is no "do you know what's wrong with ASQ" or "do you know what I would do if I were back on the BoD" or "when I was on the BoD, everyone...".  This is catch-up time.  How's the family?  How's business?  What have you been up to?  Great to see you again!  And most significant, "It is my great pleasure to meet you!"

After about 1 1/2 hours we wandered up to the Grand Ball Room in the Hilton Americas for a the annual banquet.  I sat at a table with some friends, some people I've never met before and several staff members.  We had a great table, and a wonderful time was had by all.  Good meal, great discussion, lots of laughs.  The jokes were flying, and those of you that know me know that telling a story, a joke, is essential to my good health and my enjoyment of an event...I thoroughly enjoyed this event.

The night went into the wee hours of the morning connecting with other conference attendees both in receptions, hospitality suites and the hotel lobby lounge.  All in all a great day and a wonderful night!

The other session I was particularly interested in was Applying Lean Six Sigma to Environmental Management. Some of what I do in my job relates to environmental management, so I was very interested to see what Steve Babb would present.

I also spent quite a bit of time wandering the exhibit hall, and connected with Cathy Krier from Medtronic in the career area. While I am not looking for a job, Cathy and I had a great conversation about women's technical organizations, and it was also nice to connect with someone from my area who knows many of the same people that I do in her company.

The evening kicked off with the President's Reception, and it was nice to see many of the past presidents there, as well as spending some time with friends. This was followed by the banquet, and an inspiring speech by the incoming chair Roberto Saco.

It is hard to believe that our time in Houston is coming to an end already!

We were asked to include occupational health and safety auditing in our supplement a few years ago. The USA committees have been meeting over the last year and we now have a revised USA supplement approved and being printed. Gary thinks the new edition will be available for purchase in June or July at the latest.

The USA supplement will continue to have the full text of the approved (2002 edition) ISO 19011 standard, along with the additional guidance. The number will be ISO/ANSI/ASQ 19011S:2008. (wheew!)

This will be the first (known) auditing standard to integrate quality, environment, and safety management systems. It will, of course, be used for the revision of the baseline ISO 19011 standard, which just started the review cycle.

Dennis Arter

The morning started with the usual welcoming and recognition of the many conference team members. After that, we learned about the "No Touch Order" system being used at Bayer Material Science company. Greg Babe, the CEO, took us on a journey from the disaster of first installing SAP. They realized the processes and data and work flows weren't as smooth as they first thought. Greg told us of their recovery efforts and the goal of no human messin' with the customer orders, raw material deliveries, production orders, and final shipment orders. Everything needed to work together in harmony. While they still have a ways to go, Greg told us about the 25% achievement at the Baytown, Texas, manufacturing plant, just down the road from here. As a result, customer satisfaction has greatly increased, productivity is way up, and employees are less grumpy. Seems like a really good thing.

After our Keynote address by Greg Babe, the exhibit hall opened and the conference participants flooded in. Lots of exhibitors, lots of ASQ Divisions, lots of books and flyers and ASQ staff members, all networking and exchanging business cards. It's really great to see all your friends in such a lively environment.

The first of the technical sessions started mid-morning and lasted until about 5 p.m. It is a good thing this convention center is so big, as there were certainly lots of paper sessions going on.

The day ended with receptions by the various committee and program groups. This is also the evening when many of the ASQ Divisions open up their hospitality suites. The rooms are crowded with members, member leaders, ASQ staff, and a few guests thrown in for good measure. All are talking and sharing. It's like a super family reunion.

I got back to my hotel room about 11 p.m. and crashed!

Dennis Arter

One thing that I saw in the Networking Session is that the groups really did not want to stop talking. I was glad that we could create this opportunity - next year I hope that we can find a way to create more time.

After the last after 5, the evening's fun began, with a visit to the FD&C and Biomedical Division dinner. The meal was certainly chosen to reflect Cinco de Mayo, while the entertainment was pure magic... literally. After dinner we were treated to a magic show.

Finally, after some time in the service quality division suite, it was time to call it an evening - quite a whirlwind day! Thanks for the pictures Paul!

Keynot speaker Gregory Baby from Bayer Materials Science prvovided us with a stimulating overview of a major improvement process that, through his leadership, has lead to an enterprise-wide improvement for Bayer.  Their NTO (No Touch Order) team addressed three key areas within the organization - Systems, Processes and Behavior.  Per Babe, "Everyone is part of someone elses supply chain" and without involving people and their behavior you cannot improve a process or system. 

At the Women in Quality (WIQ) Networking Session (yes, I am a member of the WIQ) both women and men had an open discussion on four topics:

1. Mentoring
2. Work / Life Balance
3. Reaching out to young women involved with quality and technical careers
4. How do you (the WIQ members) want to network?

I participated int he Work / Life balance discussion and captured a few key items including:

• Balancing home life between partners and with the whole family has to be established in orde to allow for a real work / home balance.
• Your organization's and / or immediate boss' leadership / management style truly has a direct effect on the balance. An autocratic time manager will never allow an individual to reach a true balance while a task oriented leaders will allow you to achieve a true balance.
• Working from home greatly improves a true balance
• It was suggested that if each person develops a time budget they will identify 'spare time' available during each and every week that they can better allocate to achieve a good balance...start with 168 hours in your week and then determine how you use this time on average during the week.  When you are done removing your regular activities (yes, even sleep time) you will find that you do truly have some spare time that can be reapplied where  you want to apply it, even to ME time!!!!

I also spent much of the day networking with old friends and meeting new people.  I had a wonderful time with the people I met during the conference day and in the social network opportunities throughout the evening.  Some examples include:

• Michael McDermott and I had a very interesting discussion on the Service Quality Body of Knowledge which is being developed by ASQs Service Quality Division.  A key point of this discussion was what constitutes Service.  We both agreed that Service exists in all business sectors, yes, even inside a Manufacturing plant!
• I had lunch with a fabulous group of member leaders frome the Greater Fort Worth section including Jack Marlett, Peter Stamps, Dolores Harris, Bob Mitchell, Reba Barker and Teri Savage.  We discussed a whole bunch of issues going within ASQ and what their section is continuing to do to truly serve their members.
• Tim Koester, Region 6 Director, introduced me to a Member Leader from his home section of Seattle.  Caroline Babcock lives in the Seattle area but spends much of her work time in the New York Metro area and was interested in connecting with someone from my home section - the Tappan Zee Section, since she is in Westchester county most weeks.  This lead to some fun for me.  When Caroline handed me her business card (I also handed her mine) I spend a moment studying the card, then looked up and asked her a couple of questions about the location of her office in Westchester.  The look on her face during these questions was priceless as she had no idea where I was headed.  In the end I asked her if she ever drove about half a mile past the parking lot entry to her office's business park and she said yes.  I told her the next street she would come to on the right would be Cross Road then I said, "now look at my card".  She then noticed that my address (work and home) was on Cross Road in the same town.  This new friend works around the corner from where I live!  She is now, truly connected with an alternate section on the opposite side of the country from where she lives!
• I hooked up with two old friends during the FD&C / Biomed Division joint reception.  Phil Reger, Paul Blixt and I have been taking a 'fun photo' together for about 8 years...who can tell which head belongs to whom?
• I was thrilled to run into my friends from the Monterrey Mexico student branch.  And even more excited that some of these young professionals have remained ASQ members even as they have moved from Student to members of the working world.  Andres has move from Mexico to Raliegh, NC and is applying his tools of Quality to improve the manufacturing of plastic eating utensiles.  Mónica Martínez Castilo is working with Mexico's largest convenient store coumpany also guiding them in the use of Quality Tools and techniques as they grow.  By the way, that's Will LaFollette along with Monica and me.

Over the next several hours I visited the Electronics and Communication Division, Energy and Environment Division, the Customer-Supplier Division, and the Society Examing Committee. It was quite a whirlwind, and it was nice to at least briefly have a view of the planning going on in the divisions. Having done business planning for my local section, I know that it is a challenging process.

Finally, I reached my last meeting of the afternoon, the Women in Quality Network Advisory Committee meeting. There are many things that we would like to accomplish over the next year. I am looking forward to seeing how things develop. We had a visitor with us from the Anita Borg Institute, Deanna Kosaraju. We are working with Deanna to get a proposal for bringing one of their programs to ASQ in 2009. She also contributed a lot to the meeting based on her experience at a non-profit supporting women.

The evening kicked off with the Annual Meeting, followed by the opening reception in the exhibit hall. It was a great way to get around the exhibit hall and check out the vendors as well as network and see old friends.

Finally, after spending some time at the certification board reception and seeing Elizabeth Burns pass the leadership torch to Daniella Piccioti, I made it an early night, to be ready to face another busy day on Monday.

Aimee Siegler

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be!  And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be.  Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810.  And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico. So, why Cinco de Mayo?  And why should Americans savor this day as well?  Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

Currently ASQ has about 5 Sections plus very active Student section(s) in Mexico and that Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States) is one of ASQs Global Transformation target markets.

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Region 6 Director Tim Koester

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Region 7 Director Holly Duckworth

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Region 9 Director Dick McKeever

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Region 10 Director Darlene Deane
 

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Region 11 Director Diane Byrd

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Region 12 Kam Gupta

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Community Development Administrator Leta Thrasher

 Brenda Fisk recognizes Community Development Administrator Cynthia Nazario

After the SAC meeting concluded I finally found a few minutes to register for the conference.  With that behind me it was time to play.  Much like Aimee reported a couple of days ago, a group of us headed over to Minute Maid Stadium to catch a Houston Astros - Milwaukee Brewers baseball game.

 Joining me at the statium included (front row) Herb & Lori Goldstein from Tappan Zee Section; (back row left to right) Carey Mayo from Rochester Section, Lynnette Hale a Houston resident and frind of Carey, Athena Visel from Rochester Section, Richard Soltys and Linda Sroka both from Tappan Zee Section.

The heat got to Herb part way through the game so he took a nap. 

This was a tough game for us to take sides...with 8 ASQers enjoying the game together and 7 being from New York we had to choose between our host city's Houston Astros and ASQs hometown team - the Milwaukee Brewers.  After 12 innings Houston finally beat the Brewers.  Regardless, we all had a great time networking, getting to know some new friends, hanging with old friends and meeting up with a Rugby team from Great Britian.  I had a great time and hope the rest of the group also enjoyed the afternoon.  I did leave at the top of the 11th inning in order to get back to the hotel to change for the ASQ Annual Business meeting and WCQI opening ceremony. 

The rest of the day was much more relaxing than the past 4 days have been.  Once again I got to meet up with old friends and make some new ASQ friends building my personal network.  I was thrilled to see regular WCQI attendees like Birgit Otto from Germany, Eric Hayler from South Carolina,  Grace Duffy from Florida, and Robert Dembkoski from Connecticut among others as well ask get to know others like Richard Simon from Philadelphia who works around the corner from me in NYC (in the Empire State Building).

For those of you that cannot be here, consider joining us next year in Minneapolis, MN...the network of friends and colleagues you'll build at this fabulous, dynamic event cannot be fully described.  Come join us, live it and find out for yourself!

Kimball have been working with ASQ for 14 years (since 1994).  They began with a special thanks to ASQs BoD, ASQ Executive Director and Strategic Officer Paul Borawski, ASQ Managing Director Michelle Mason, John Ryan from ASQ staff and ASQ Director at Large Kay Kendall. 

Bill let us know that he has no idea who will be the Democratic candidate or the next President of the United States of America.  He followed this statement by reminding the attendees that Sellery Associates and ASQs position within DC is non-partisan, non-political.  Our position is to impact and enhance ASQs mission and enhance our position as a known, respected presence. 

Our past successes were listed, which include:

• Baldrige Expansion into Healthcare, Education and Non-profit sectors.  We were also reminded that Baldrige is 20 years old at this time.
• Education - no child left behind
• Healthcare -
• Prescription drug errors
• Patient safety and quality improvement act
• 21st Century Health Care Caucus Form with Baldrige recipients

The recent success of a Baldrige grassroots effort to encourage President Bush to present this years award through hundreds of letters / emails from ASQ members not only lead to the President presenting the award but doing so in the White House Oval Office.  This was the first time in 5 years that President Bush did not delegate this responsibility to Vice President Chaney. 

Next they went on to discuss a recently developed ASQ council known as the Public Policy Advisory Council (P-PAC) which is a liaison committee between ASQ, Sellery and Associates and Washington DC.  P-PAC, chaired by Kay Kendall

• Alerts the ASQ BoD of what's happening in DC
• Establishes ASQs position on issues
• Ensures effective strategic alignment.

I learned today that the SAC Chair is a member of P-PAC so, according to Brenda Fisk, SAC Chair, I get to join this council beginning July 1, 2008 as the SAC representative. 

Finally, Bill and Amy let us know what's going on right now including:

• Health care - Office of Human Research Protection checklist issue - is it a quality tool or research?
• Upcoming Baldrige Congressional hearing to recognize the awards 20th anniversary
• Federal perfromance Improvement Council which requires every Government Agency to appoint a Chief Quality Officer
• Sustainability / Social Responsibility
• Education - always looking for opportunities and ideas
• Food safety
• Import safety
• Nanotechnology
• Manufactured housing - improvements in the quality of mobile homes is needed as those build as a result of the Katrina recovery, which were coming off the production line every 15 minutes were substandard quality
• International issues.

Bill Sellery ended the presentation with a simple statistic to satisfy all the Quality Geeks in the room - the current Political Environment is leading to a tough economic environment:

• 81% of the US population is on the wrong track
• the other 19% are at gas stations!!!!

Thanks for the chuckle Bill!