The Southern Gas Association and Distance Learning

I was in the natural gas industry for almost 30 years.  It is a great industry that provides a much needed service to the United States by transporting natural gas in underground pipelines to the tens of millions of consumers who depend on natural gas every single day to heat their homes, fuel factories, cook food, etc.  There are a number of regional associations that serve the natural gas industry, but I believe the Southern Gas Association (SGA) in Dallas, Texas is simply the best.  I had the pleasure of being an employee of a company who has been an active supporter of the SGA for a long time.  For many years, I served on various SGA boards and committees, but the most enjoyable for me was the SGA Corporate Telelink Network (CTN).  CTN was ahead of its time because it had the vision to embrace distance learning as a way to deliver quality programs to its member companies via satellite.  It was difficult in the early years, however, to get member companies to recognize the benefit of what CTN could offer them much less convince them they should pay extra dues to be a CTN subscriber.  Fortunately, many leading companies within SGA did catch that early vision and became subscribers and vocal supporters for CTN; they proved to be the bedrock for CTN’s existence in its infancy and adolescent years.

Now distance learning is commonplace and most progressive companies quickly recognize the advantages it offers to their employees.  It is a huge plus when hundreds of employees can watch a quality training program at their desks anytime they want to.  They no longer have to incur travel expenses or time away from work to get training or informational broadcasts.  Several companies have begun to use the CTN broadcasts for employee updates across the organization.  This enables all employees in a company that has multiple locations across the country to see a live broadcast simultaneously or watch it later as a taped broadcast on their PC or in a meeting room.  Just in time information is critical to organizations particularly those going through changes and who need to keep employees informed and up-to-date.  Since leaving the industry a couple of years ago, I’m pleased to see that CTN has continued to evolve and has recently been melded into SGA instead of being its subsidiary.

This week I had the privilege of going to Dallas and taping a one hour broadcast for the SGA that will be shown in August.  My topic was “Creating a Performance Culture Where Every Employee Can Contribute”.  This was my fourth SGA broadcast but the first one I had done that didn’t involve a panel discussion.  It was fun doing the broadcast at AMS Pictures and seeing some of my old SGA friends again.  I love going to AMS because it is such a cool place.  The studio was designed after Disneyland and when you walk in the main entrance you feel like you’re walking down a miniature version of Main Street in Disneyland.  All the offices and recording studios at AMS have different themes, many of them borrowed again from Disney.

The new leadership team at SGA is doing a great job and they too are creating a culture where every employee can (and does) contribute.  Natalie, Elaine, and Nadine keep up the good work.

Comments

[Natalie Corey]

Thanks David. You always do such a great job! It's a pleasure to work with you.