ISPI SoCal upcoming events

Performance Thinking® Logic: Performance Improvement for the Rest of Us (Tuesday, October 06, 2026)

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ISPI SoCal Presents: First Tuesday Webinars

Performance Thinking® Logic: Performance Improvement for the Rest of Us

Dr. Carl Binder

Human Performance Improvement is often communicated through complex models and technical jargon that can make it harder to engage executive and management stakeholders and those who report to them. While practitioners strive to partner with their clients, overly technical language and models can create the impression that consultants "parachute in, work their magic, and leave behind the solution" – hardly a recipe for lasting impact or return on investment. We need precision and clarity, but without the jargon.

Session Description

Over more than five decades of consulting with organizations of every size across many industries and non-corporate organizations, Carl and his collaborators found that simplicity and plain English accelerate understanding, collaboration, and sustainment. Beginning with user-tested relabeling of Thomas F. Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model to eliminate category errors for clients, which one client renamed the Six Boxes® Model in 1991, they continued refining the language and logic used to describe human performance and the factors that influence it.

By the early 2000s, this work had evolved into two simple models – the Performance Chain and the Six Boxes® Model – that laid a strong foundation for consulting and teaching. As clients repeatedly said that this approach was "teaching us a different way to think about performance," Carl renamed his consulting firm The Performance Thinking Network and the methodology itself, Performance Thinking® Logic.

This session provides an overview of Performance Thinking® models and logic, illustrates the wide range of applications they support, and previews the practical, plain-English book that Carl is preparing to publish under the same title as this presentation.

About the Speaker

Dr. Carl Binder is CEO of The Performance Thinking Network, and President of The Fluency Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to disseminating information about behavioral fluency research and application. He studied behavior science at Harvard with B.F. Skinner in the 1970s, and has taught and applied that science ever since, in education, sales and customer service enablement, leadership and management development, and organizational performance improvement. His four consulting firms, each with specific areas of application, have been laboratories for discovery and innovation. He currently teaches clients to apply the simple, plain English, accomplishment-based Performance Thinking® approach in projects, and to develop leaders and managers. Carl is a recipient of ISPI’s Thomas Gilbert and Lifetime Member awards. Find his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcarlbinder, and learn more about his work at his company’s YouTube channel www.PerformanceThinking.tv and at www.Fluency.org . Contact him at carlbinder@performancethinking.com

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AI@Work: Increase Learning by 7x! …And Accelerate Design with First Principles AI Tools! (Thursday, October 08, 2026)

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ISPI SoCal Presents: AI@Work Seminar
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM PST

Increase Learning by 7x! … And Accelerate Design with First Principles AI Tools!

with Dr. Timothy Stafford and Dr. Max Cropper

Merrill's First Principles of Instruction help achieve world-class instruction.

How effective are Merrill's First Principles? Ted Frick has provided evidence that First Principles provide 7x learning.

In addition, First Principles AI Tools make it possible to accelerate the course design process by up to 40%.

In this session, we will demonstrate and give participants access to the free First Principles AI Evaluation Tool.

About the Speakers

Dr. Timothy Stafford is a futurist, instructional designer, and thought leader specializing in online learning, instructional design, and AI ethics. He currently serves as Director of Graduate Online Academic Affairs and Program Director for the MS in Instructional Design & Technology at St. Thomas University. As the creator of the First Principles AI Course Lab, he integrates AI-driven tools to guide instructional designers in building engaging, outcome-driven courses.

Dr. Max H. Cropper, CEO of 5-Star Performance Solutions, is an award-winning instructional design consultant. He has taught many workshops and presentations on Merrill's First Principles. He has studied, researched, implemented, and taught best practice instructional design, evaluation, performance improvement, and leadership for more than 40 years. Some clients include the EPA, the US Department of Defense, Morgan Stanley, and the US Department of Transportation.Accessibility

Live captions available. All registrants will receive the session recording and resources.

AI@Work: AI for Learning Evaluation: What's Working, What's Risky (Thursday, November 12, 2026)

Fri, 13 Nov 2026 01:00:00 GMT

ISPI SoCal Presents: AI@Work Seminar
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM PST

AI for Learning Evaluation: What's Working, What's Risky

Will Thalheimer, Ph.D.

68% of L&D professionals say their teams can't do the learning evaluation they want to do. Only 19% rate their learner surveys as providing "very good" data. Our evaluation practices have a problem — and now AI is entering the picture. The GROWLE 2026 research finds 45% of organizations are already using AI for evaluation, but a real worry has emerged: are we adopting AI before our underlying practices are mature enough to use it well? Could AI make our evaluation problems worse rather than better?

About the Speaker

Will Thalheimer, PhD, MBA, Consultant, Speaker, Researcher at Work-Learning Research. Will is a world-renowned thought leader focused on research-based practices for learning, work performance, presentations, and evaluation—and an advocate for learning professionals. Through Work-Learning Research (WorkLearning.com), Will empowers organizations to build maximally effective learning-and-performance solutions and strategies. Will wrote the award-winning book Performance-Focused Learner Surveys (second edition) and The CEO’s Guide to Training, eLearning & Work: Empowering Learning for a Competitive Advantage. Will created LTEM, the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model, and conducts popular workshops like the LTEM Boot Camp. He co-created The Learning Development Accelerator and the eLearning Manifesto.

Accessibility

Live captions available. All registrants will receive the session recording and resources.