The “5 Questions with…” series is meant to promote upcoming sessions at AAHA’s Nashville conference that are sure to be popular and relevant topics. Learn a little more about the sessions that will be available for you and your team members to attend. AAHA Nashville 2017 takes place from March 30 – April 2. You can register on our website.

Karlene Belyea, an experienced presenter who has been in the field of association management for more than 28 years and is CEO of the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association, will be facilitating for the first time at AAHA’s Nashville conference in March 2017.

Her sessions are Veterinary Technicians Soft Skills Workshops. On Friday, March 31, Belyea will be presenting “Communication Techniques to Help You ‘Shine’ at Work” from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. and “Finding Personal and Professional Happiness” from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. 

Could you give me a brief background on your expertise on this topic? 

I’m a certified Everything DiSC trainer and work with groups on ways to improve communications and happiness both personally and professionally. I present sessions on behavioral styles, generational differences, engaging millennials, body language, leadership and influence, work/life integration, finding happiness, and brain training/neuroscience. My mission is to help people understand and appreciate the differences in people through humorous yet meaningful interactive presentations. 

What is a key takeaway you hope people will get from your educational sessions?

I hope people leave with the ability to have greater influence, better communication skills, and more confidence through utilizing the strategies provided. I want them to be able to more effectively manage situations and have a new skill set for finding more happiness personally and professionally. 

What are you looking forward to about the educational experience?

AAHA is an incredible association and I’m very excited to be part of the conference. I look forward to helping people understand that communication and work/life integration don’t have to be so hard!  I love to watch people “get it,” and I enjoy making people laugh.

What is the future of communication skills and finding fulfillment through your work and where would you like to see it go? 

I believe in the future all businesses will work harder to create happier work environments where people have good communication and work/life integration. The younger generations will insist on this, so we need to be working on it now.

What’s a question you wish more people asked about your topic? 

“Why are you passionate about helping people improve communications and work/life integration?”

My answer to that would be that life really doesn’t have to be so hard. Different behavioral styles and generations were brought up different ways but we all just really want to enjoy life at work and at home. There are a couple quotes I like to remind people of: 

“I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou

“On particularly rough days when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far, is 100% and that’s pretty good.” —Unknown

The bottom line for me is that I just want to help people.