Encountering Coaches in America’s Hat
posted by Mike Shur
The International Coach Federation (ICF) held their annual global conference last week in enchanting Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
I had the great pleasure of attending this annual gathering of coaches from around the world as a guest of Psychometrics, the Canadian distributor of MBTI materials and other CPP assessments. The event itself, from an exhibitor’s perspective, is grueling. Gaetanne Pelletier and I would be at the Psychometrics booth from the start of the day’s events, at 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m., until the end of the days festivities which could go as late as 9:30 p.m. That makes for a long day. In fact, three long days, God bless the ICF organizers in their wisdom.
Of course the long days mean that I had the chance to meet many coaches and hear about their experiences and insights. Laurie Lippin and Laurie Hillis were two of these active and engaging coaches. Laurie L. was there talking about the challenge of racism and signed her book called Understanding Whiteness, Unraveling Racism. According to the ICF event leadership there were over 1,600 attendees at the 2008 event, more even than there were in Long Beach, CA for ICF 2007. Quite a turnout in exotic and beautiful, if gray and rainy, Montreal.
Whenever I travel, I consider myself lucky and am truly grateful when there is a local guide to take me beyond the realms of tourists (look, a mall!) and into the places locals go. This time my incomparable guide was Danielle Poirier, a woman of prodigious talents and inexhaustible generosity. Without her I would never have found a restaurant and night-spot simply called — le food. Nor would I have known any of the landmarks of night-time Montreal as we spun lazily around in the bar at La Tour de Ville at the top of the Delta Centre-Ville hotel. Thank you, Danielle, what a huge treat!
In the moments when the exhibit hall rang with the stillness of hundreds of coaches attending their sessions, then we exhibitors got to know one another. It was a treat to be in the Psychometrics booth right across from Bruce Schneider and iPEC Coaching , who were offering a program for coaches on “energy leadership”. Bruce was kind enough to share one of his books with me and it was great nighttime reading during my visit. I’m working on my Level 7 energy, Bruce!
There were also great tools for coaches, consultants, and anyone with an independent services business. One great resource is called The Coaches Console and helps with a whole suite of needs that every coach, consultant, and trainer has when they are running their own business, including:
- Contact management
- Newsletter distribution
- Payment processing
- On-line appointment scheduling
- Tracking and timing sessions
- Invoice preparation and receivables tracking, and
- Interactive client intakes
Kate Steinbacher was nice enough to extend the show offer to members of the ICON Success community: Save 30% on the license fee for new members, just use Registration Code: #111508. The offer is good through the end of 2008 only so visit their website if you are interested.
Another company that is working on making being a coach or consultant easier and more rewarding is Practice Pay Solutions. I spoke with James Komosinski, the founder, and Neil Alcala, managing partner, about all the ways their company is helping coaches build their practice. Coaches coach, they said, and we help them take care of running their business, from building their websites, to processing payments to setting up elearning for their clients. Their site is very well-crafted and easy to navigate with soothing fall colors.
Next year I hope we see a lot more familiar faces, or get to know some faces whose name has become familiar at least, since ICF 2009 will be held in Orlando, Florida. Come one, come all!
