As a Project Manager, Business Analyst or Team Leader, you undoubtedly feel frustrated and impatient after a team meeting and no one appears to even understand the nature of the project. By realizing that this problem might be in fact managerial, you are now on the right track to building a better virtual team. Learning how to communicate with virtual teams will result in a dramatic increase in productivity.

1. Creating an Effective and Impactful Virtual Team THE VIRTUAL TEAM BUILDERS WORKSHOP SERIES BLOG: http://virtualteambuilders.wordpress.com/ WEB: www.virtualteambuilders.com Twitter: virtual teams

2. Meet Me in Cyberspace: Conducting Effective Virtual Meetings Virtual meetings are essential for the remote team to survive. However, the challenges of virtual conferencing constantly arise: delayed starts, loss of control for the organizer, multi-tasking by members, and disengaged participants. Virtual meetings must have a solid agenda and should be organized in order to be effective. By creating a more efficient and organized framework for virtual meetings, your company will reduce the costs associated with low productivity, overlooked deadline, and poor morale. Cost: $97.00 Date: March 9, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Meet%20Me%20in%20Cyberspace.html

3. Meet Me in Cyberspace: Conducting Effective Virtual Meetings At the end of the session participants will be able to: 1. Create solutions to the challenges of facilitating an effective virtual meeting2. Identify the best practices needed to effectively facilitate a virtual team meeting3. Develop 4 techniques to improve interactivity and involvement on a teleconference VIRTUAL TEAM BUILDERS Workshop Series will Teach you "how“ .....and paves the way to becoming a "Certified Virtual Team Professional" Cost: 97.00 Date: March 9, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Meet%20Me%20in%20Cyberspace.html

4. The Communication Connection: Getting it Right Virtual teams must learn to work together as if they were in the same room. The inability for virtual teams to “connect” can be detrimental to the team and can jeopardize the success of the project. Therefore, it is imperative for the team and its leaders to be proactive in developing strategies so that virtual teams are enabled with the right tools to excel in the absence of a face to face environment. This is best outlined using a behavioral assessment process. Using a behavioral assessment process approach to improve virtual team communication allows individuals to “read” behavioral cues in a virtual environment. Understanding and responding to these behavioral cues can assist virtual teams in improving and opening up communication, as well as enhance overall group dynamics thereby increasing productivity levels. Cost: $97.00 Date: March 16, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/The%20Communication%20Connection.html

5. The Communication Connection: Getting it Right In this 2.5 hour session you and your team will learn to increase awareness of the relationship between individual behavior styles and the team performance. This is critically important in a virtual team where creating an atmosphere of trust can be difficult to achieve. At the end of the session participants will be able to: 1. Determine the goals of the DiSC behavioral profile2. Identify the characteristics of each behavioral style3. Describe the strengths and challenges each style brings to the team4. Share strategies for communicating more effectively with individual team members5. Identify three key questions you can use to recognize people’s styles6. Develop strategies for adapting your behavior to others on your team Cost: $97.00 Date: March 16, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/The%20Communication%20Connection.html

6. Making Norms the Norm: The Team Operating Agreement In a virtual team setting it is critical to have guidelines for how your team is going to work together. These guidelines are called a “Team Operating Agreement”. A Team Operating Agreement defines the set of behavioural norms that the team commits and agrees to abide by. It guides the team’s actions and interactions. Geographic, ethnic, personality and cultural differences can impact the effectiveness of how individuals and teams act, interact and operate. Creating a Team Operating Agreement will minimize the potential for conflict, increase open communication which builds a collegial team. It will also build the skills to increase awareness of differences and how to be effective with others you do not see. It will enhance tolerance levels of the entire team while they become a more in-tune cohesive business family. Cost: $97.00 Date: March 23, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Making%20Norms%20the%20Norm.html

7. Making Norms the Norm: The Team Operating Agreement Managers and team members who are geographically dispersed and who wish to develop “Rules of Engagement” to work more effectively and efficiently will benefit from this 2 hour seminar. At the end of the session participants will be able to: 1. Describe the role that expectations play and how to manage them2. Analyze how a TOA can help build a cohesive virtual team3. Define the components of a Team Operating Agreement4. List an eight step process to creating a Team Operating Agreement5. Develop the guidelines by which your team will operate Cost: $97.00 Date: March 23, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Making%20Norms%20the%20Norm.html

8. Leading a Virtual Team: Same Game Different Rules Whether communicating with a colleague in the next office or across the world, virtual working is the norm of the twenty-first century. Virtual communication networks have made virtual teams possible, while globalization has made them a necessity. Leading virtual teams presents new challenges to leaders. Virtual team leaders must find ways to successfully manage people who are separated by distance, time zones, and cultural differences. This 2 hour session offers a framework for successfully leading virt and Team Representatives have about virtual teams: How to work toward overcoming common virtual communication challenges, time zone issues, lack of non-verbal cues and intonation, technology limitations or failures and multi-tasking distractions. Cost: $97.00 Date: March 30, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Leading%20a%20Virtual%20Team.html

9. Leading a Virtual Team: Same Game Different Rules This session focuses on how to maximize your virtual team management skills and build the capabilities necessary to create a team environment which fosters continuity, growth and learning. At the end of the session participants will be able to:1. Identify the leadership skills necessary to succeed as a virtual team leader and member2. Clarify how to implement these leadership skills3. Define why trust is important to a successful team and how to get it VIRTUAL TEAM BUILDERS Workshop Series will Teach you "how“ .....and paves the way to becoming a "Certified Virtual Team Professional" Cost: $97.00 Date: March 30, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Leading%20a%20Virtual%20Team.html

10. Bridging the Distance: Team Energizers Like in any team, trust is a crucial element for successful virtual teams. Yet since technology facilitates most communication between members, building trust and getting people to work together towards a common goal is one of the most challenging tasks faced by corporate Leaders and Managers. Building relationships at a distance is significantly more difficult to than in face-to-face teams. This 2 hour session will enable corporate Leaders and Managers to build a strong team foundation using virtual team energizers. Cost: $97.00 Date: April 6, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Bridging%20the%20Distance.html

11. Bridging the Distance: Team Energizers At the end of the session participants will be able to: 1. Discover virtual team communication techniques 2. Experience 5 team energizers 3. Discuss how team energizers can help build collaboration VIRTUAL TEAM BUILDERS Workshop Series will Teach you "how“ .....and paves the way to becoming a "Certified Virtual Team Professional" Cost: $97.00 Date: April 6, 2010 Time: 7:00 AM EST 1:00 PM EST Register at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4583887/Bridging%20the%20Distance.html

12. YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Claire Sookman Claire is a pioneer in virtual team building, specializing in helping teams that are geographically dispersed reduce their costs and reach their maximum potential through training, coaching, consulting and designing. She brings over a decade’s worth of corporate training experience, working with 4,500+ Managers in the past three years alone. Some of her clients include: AT&T, Weyerhaeuser, CIBC, Siemens, Bell Canada, USDA Forest Services, Bayer and Boeing. Visit them at www.virtualteambuilders.com Order All Five Workshops and receive a 10% discount. Meet Me in Cyberspace: Conducting Effective Virtual Meetings (March 9) The Communication Connection: Getting it Right (March 16) Making Norms the Norm: The Team Operating Agreement (March 23) Leading a Virtual Team: Same Game Different Rules (March 30) Bridging the Distance: Team Energizers (April 6) Register at: http://virtualteambuilders.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/creating-an-effective-and-impactful-virtual-team/

13. BLOG: http://virtualteambuilders.wordpress.com/ WEB: www.virtualteambuilders.com Twitter: virtual teams