We hope you've enjoyed the education and networking opportunities in Phoenix this year. Futurist, author, and consultant Ian Morrison gives our final keynote this morning at the 10 a.m.-noon Closing Ceremony Brunch (West Ballroom 301AB). Morrison will speak about the future of health care and the business environment.

Actor, author, director, and producer Henry Winkler started Monday’s conference with a passionate keynote speech about turning negatives into positives – something human resource professionals face on a daily basis. Winkler battled through school with dyslexia, received little support from his parents, yet eventually graduated from the Yale School of Drama, spent 10 years on the popular sitcom, "Happy Days," and has written 17 children’s books.

"When a negative thought comes into your mind," Winkler said, "just say, ‘Sorry, I don’t have time for you now.’ Don’t put a period at the end of a negative thought because then it will grow into a paragraph." Winkler talked about the fan mail he received during the successful "Happy Days" run – some 50,000 letters a week. One fan’s gift still hangs on a wall in Winkler’s home – a metal cutting that says, "If you will it, it is not a dream."

"It’s not just a great phrase, it’s the way this universe works," Winkler said. "I tell that to every child I meet. If you have it in your mind, and you keep it in your mind, there is no reason you can’t live your dream. I was told that I was lazy, I was told that I was stupid. You don’t know what potential you have inside yourself until you just try putting one foot in front of the other, and you wind up where you never thought you would be in your life."

In the session, "What Do You Think? Are You a Genius?" Nancy Riesz of Success Catalyst challenged attendees to open up their minds to new ways of thinking in a lively, interactive presentation.

Riesz once had a boss who required her to have three solutions to problems and decide which solution was best and why it was best before she called him for counsel. The lesson learned was that she eventually stopped calling him and enriched her problem-solving skills. "A lot of times I find people are putting Band-Aids on symptoms and not treating the real problem," Riesz said.

Riesz also offered valuable tips for to-do list development. "Think of it as a list of things you need to get done today rather than a to-do list," she said. She suggested determining outcomes and results that you need to accomplish; think about why they matter so you don’t procrastinate; tackle the most difficult issues first; and use colored pens – the colors stimulate your right brain to spark creative and conceptual thinking and problem solving.

What’s on tap for today?

8:15-9:45 a.m. Learning Sessions
• The Evolving Retirement Plan World: A Time of Continuous Change
• Choice: An Alternative to Layoffs
• Employee Engagement Transforms Health System from Good to Excellent
• Sharing the Workplace with Physicians
• Transforming the Health Care Workforce of the Future
• Best-in-Class Action Planning: Translate Your Staff Survey Results Into Sustained Employee Engagement
• Interventions to Reduce Readmissions for Home Health & Skilled Nursing Facilities
• Culture of Health Panel – Transformative Models of Wellness in Health Care Institutions

ASHHRA spoke to members and exhibitors to get their feedback on conference educational sessions and the exhibit hall experience. Snippets from those conversations follow:

"I’m leaving the show with a lot of take-away assignments, so it’s been very good from the perspective of going back and knowing where I need to put my priorities. I have a lot of homework."
Sue Edminster
Vice President, Human Resources
Affinity Medical Group
Appleton, Wisconsin

"We’ve found that the ASHHRA target is a perfect target audience for our product lines. Most of the members of ASHHRA are in the decision-making process for the identification process at their facilities, and it’s been a great relationship so far. We’re looking forward to next year in Denver, and hopefully we have a lot to take away from this show."
Doug Maccaferri
Regional Sales Manager, Northern Region
IDenticard
Billerica, Massachusetts

"Every session I’ve been to, I’ve learned something, and I think that’s important. It doesn’t have to be an entirely super presentation if you’ve learned something, and I have."
Carol Bank
Vice President, Human Resources
Divine Savior Healthcare
Portage, Wisconsin

"The show is going great. We’re reconnecting with old friends and current clients, and we’ve talked to a lot of new people. We have had great success here at the conference."
David Litteken
Vice President, Healthcare Group
BI Worldwide
Minneapolis, Minnesota

"When most of the human resource professionals come by, they’re not sure who we are, so we’re usually asking the questions. ‘Are you using the job board?’ ‘How are you recruiting?’ We’re having success. We do wish we had more floor time, but the exhibitor reception last night was nice. We’ll be back. We’ve already picked out our booth for next year."
Steve Stockbauer
Marketing Manager
AllHealthcareJobs.com
Urbandale, Iowa

Many attendees received fabulous awards from exhibitor prize drawings.

Also on Monday, the following individuals won the MetLife scholarships for this year’s conference:
Region 1: Ken Proctor; Region 2: Jennifer DeVault; Region 3: Tamiko Scian; Region 4: Elizabeth Parsons; Region 5: Tracy Brown; Region 7: Michelle Chaix; Region 8: Casey Buckingham; Region 9: Kristy Kelly.