Join Leadership Oakland on February 20th, 2008 for the third installment of their fortified Breakfast of Champions speaker series. Judy Ravin, President, Accent Reduction Institute, will be presenting “Understanding Foreign Accents: Eliminating Language Barriers in a Global Workforce”

As we do more and more business with individuals that speak English as a second language, our ability to understand and be understood is more important than ever.  How do we decode foreign accents to avoid breakdowns in our communication?

The Accent Reduction Institute (ARI) helps corporations eliminate language barriers among their multinational workforce. ARI provides seminars to help English speakers understand foreign accents and commonly mispronounced sounds and words. In so doing, employees capitalize on better communication, team building, and productive employee relationships.

Judy Ravin, President of the Accent Reduction Institute, is the internationally acclaimed founder of the Ravin Method™ of rapid accent reduction and author of the best selling ‘Lose Your Accent in 28 Days” book and CD-ROM.  Recently featured on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Ravin has also been featured on CNN.com, Yahoo Finance, NPR, Computerworld magazine, CBS Radio and in international newspapers including the New York Times. Learn more about the Accent Reduction Institute: www.lessaccent.com

Throughout the year, Leadership Oakland holds breakfast meetings featuring experts on a variety of topics.  These breakfast seminars are open to the public and offer the opportunity to hear the latest updates on issues and topics impacting our region and/or assist them as they develop personal, professional and public leadership skills. Highlights of the program include:

• Top quality presenters
• Excellent full, hot breakfast
• Early morning so you will still have plenty of time in the office
• Networking built into each session
• Opportunity to meet and connect with other LO Alums
• Introduce LO to your friends and colleagues

The third Breakfast event will be held Wednesday, February 20th, 2008, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m., at the Michigan State Management Education Center, 811, W. Square Lake Rd., Troy, 48098. The cost is $30 LO alumni members and $34 for non members and guests and includes a complete breakfast. The public is welcome. Pre-registration required. To register, contact Wendy at 248. 952.6880.