Baldrige Conference Brings Industry Leaders to Birmingham

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The 2011 Baldrige Regional Conference offers attendees the opportunity to learn from, and engage with, Presidential Award-winning organizations.The conference will be held at Ross Bridge Golf Resort in Birmingham Sept 27.

The conference is sponsored by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, in conjunction with the Alabama Productivity Center at The University of Alabama, the Alliance for Performance Excellence, and the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

The conference features more than 14 current and former Baldrige Award recipients presenting on their best practices in areas such as leadership, patient safety and engaging the Gen Y workforce.

The conference will begin with the senior executives of the 2010 Baldrige Award recipients discussing their leadership practices in an in-depth plenary session. Concurrent management sessions featuring current and former recipients will then highlight the recipients’ practices in the different criteria categories, as well as in areas such as innovation, linking customer feedback to business results and applying the Baldrige concept of intelligent risk.

Also appearing on the program will be DCH Health System of Tuscaloosa.The heath-care system’s  representation will give a firsthand account of its response to the deadly April 27 tornado that left a mile-wide path of destruction through Tuscaloosa County.

A preconference workshop will be held the day before the conference for those unfamiliar with the Baldrige program.

To view the complete Conference-at-a-Glance schedule and other conference information, or to register, visit the regional conference web page. For questions about the conference, contact the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program at 301/975-2036 or by email at baldrige@nist.gov.

The Baldrige Program, a public-private partnership, was founded in order to improve the competitiveness and performance of U.S. organizations.The program seeks to do this through identifying and recognizing role-model businesses, establishing criteria for evaluating improvement efforts, and helping organizations disseminate and share best practices.

Presidential awards are bestowed annually upon organizations that best exemplify the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.