Quest for Excellence Conference

The Quest for Excellence® XX -- Hotel Update
The Official Conference of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Brought to you by the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

Celebrating 20 Years of Excellence

April 22-25, 2008
Hilton Washington
Washington, DC

JUST ANNOUNCED
Baldrige Award Ceremony Added to The Quest for Excellence Conference!
This year the Annual Award Ceremony honoring the Baldrige recipients will take place at the conference. All Quest attendees are invited to the Award Ceremony at no additional cost. The Awards will be presented by the Secretary of Commerce at the Hilton Washington immediately following the President’s recognition of the 2007 Award Recipients at a private event at the White House.

Quest for Excellence XX Brochure
PDF Version - Quest for Excellence XX Brochure with Updated Schedule
PDF Version - Updated Schedule Only
Word Version - 10-page Detailed Conference Agenda

Hotel Update
The Washington Hilton is nearly sold out. We also have a small block of rooms at the Churchill Hotel, held under the name "Quest for Excellence;" call the Churchill at 202-797-2000. You may also search for another hotel by using this list of other nearby hotels.

Registration - Open

Join us for the premier showcase of the 2007 Baldrige Award recipients, celebrate our 20th Anniversary, and learn how to:

improve your organization's performance results
increase organizational innovation to gain and sustain competitive advantages
create an environment that fosters social responsibility and ethical behavior
increase organizational sustainability

Learn about the tools used by business, education, health care, and nonprofit leaders to evaluate and focus their efforts on performance results, leadership effectiveness, customer and employee satisfaction, and process management. The 2007 Baldrige Award recipients will share their performance practices, their journeys to performance excellence, and their lessons learned.

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Please Join Us

Baldrige 20th Anniversary Gala
Brought to you by the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

April 22, 2008
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Hilton Washington • International Ballroom • Washington, DC

Featuring Remarks by:
Michael Luker
President, Sunny Fresh Foods

Dr. Stephen Mittelstet
President, Richland College

Sr. Mary Jean Ryan, FSM
President & CEO, SSM Health Care

Cocktails • Dinner • Live Music
Pre-Registration Recommended
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Registration Fees
Registration Opening in Early January.
Registration fee includes the Monday evening banquet, breakfast Monday-Wednesday and lunch Monday-Tuesday. An additional fee applies to the pre-conference workshops.

Registration Type	Advance (by March 25, 2008)	Regular
All Events Package
Includes Complete QE XX and 20th Anniversary Gala	$1200	$1350

Complete QE XX Conference
Individual	$1100	$1250
Faculty Discount	$775	$925
Group (10 or more, $100 discount)	$1000 per registrant	$1150 per registrant

20th Anniversary Gala
Individual	$150	$160
Table of 10	$1300	$1400

Gala & QE XX Wednesday Only
Gala & QE XX Wednesday Only	$550	$650

Pre-Conference Workshop
Pre-Conference Workshop with QE XX registration Sold Out	$100	$100
Pre-Conference Workshop Only Sold Out	$150	$150

Note: The faculty discounts cannot be combined with the group discounts.

Group and Faculty Discounts
Groups of 10 or more receive a $100 discount per registrant off the advance or regular registration fee as appropriate. Registrations must not be individually called in but made as a group for the discount to be honored. The full conference fee will be charged if cancellations reduce the group to fewer than 10 employees. Substitutions may be made at any time. Full-time academic employees of a college, university, school district, secondary school, or elementary school are eligible for discounted fees. The faculty discount cannot be combined with the group discount.

Payment Information
All registration forms must be accompanied by full payment (U.S. Currency only). Phone or fax registrations must include the expiration date and number of a major credit card (VISA/MC/AMEX/DISCOVER) that will be charged. If you wish to guarantee payment with a purchase order, Experient must receive the hard copy of the purchase order with your registration form. Make checks payable to Quest for Excellence XX-ASTD. You will receive confirmation of your registration by email, fax, or mail.

Cancellation and Substitution Policy
Registrants whose requests for cancellation are received on or before March 25, 2008 will receive a full refund. Requests received between March 25, 2008 and April 15, 2008 will incur a $200 processing fee. No requests for reimbursement for cancellations will be accepted after April 15, 2008. Substitutions may be made at any time.

Four Ways To Register
Registration Opening Soon

1.	Register online.
2.	Call Experient at 866-229-2386 and use your MC, VISA, AMEX, or DISCOVER card.
3.	Print the registration form from the brochure pdf, complete it, and fax your complete registration form with credit card payment to Experient at 301-694-5124.
4.	Print the registration form from the brochure pdf, complete it, enclose payment, and mail to: The Quest for Excellence XX c/o Experient (ATD073) PO Box 3370 Frederick, MD 21705-3379

General Information
Date and Location
The Hilton Washington is located at 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC. It is easily accessible by taxicab and shuttle from Ronald Reagan National Airport, Dulles International Airport, and Baltimore-Washington International Airport. From Reagan National Airport it is also accessible from Metro at the Dupont Circle metro stop.

Accommodations
Hotel Update
The Washington Hilton is nearly sold out. We also have a small block of rooms at the Churchill Hotel, held under the name "Quest for Excellence;" call the Churchill at 202-797-2000. You may also search for another hotel by using this list of other nearby hotels.

Rooms have been reserved at the Hilton Washington at the special conference rate of $224 standard single or double or $264 towers single or double. The tax rate is 14.5%. To receive this special rate reserve by March 26, 2008 and mention The Quest for Excellence XX. Make reservations by calling the Hilton at 1-888-324-4586. Reservations can also be made online at www.washington.hilton.com. As you enter in your date and accommodation types, under Special Accounts, input the Group/Convention code of "QFE".

Pre-conference workshops Sold Out
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 • 1:00-4:00 pm
The concurrent workshops aim to address the needs of leaders with different levels of exposure to the Baldrige Program and the Criteria. Pre-registration is required. Each workshop is available with or without a QE XX conference registration. Choose the workshop that best matches your experience level.

Workshop 1
Getting Acquainted with Baldrige Sold Out

	•	Designed for those who have had little or no exposure to the Baldrige Criteria
	•	Participants will learn the history and structure of the Baldrige Program, the benefits of self-assessment and feedback, the structure of the Criteria, how to focus improvement and communication efforts, how to use the Criteria and the Award recipient application summaries to enhance learning from the QE sessions

Workshop 2
Intermediate Baldrige – Moving from Interest to Action Sold Out

	•	Designed for those who have begun to use the Criteria or self-assessment tools and are ready to learn more – not for experienced Criteria users
	•	Participants will learn the benefits of conducting a self-assessment using the Organizational Profile, an approach for managing an initial organizational self-assessment, and the value of using the Criteria to more fully articulate an organization’s attributes, challenges, and needs.

Sponsor
Baldrige National Quality Program
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Co-sponsors
American Society for Quality (ASQ)
American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)

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BNQP Website comments:
nqp@nist.gov

Date created: 11/1/2001
Last updated: 4/17/2008