Holiday Greetings
Today is the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as elsewhere in the world. It is one of humankind’s earliest known observances of the natural world – The Winter Solstice.
For many of us it is a time to begin to look forward through the many holiday celebrations that abound throughout our world, natural or otherwise. Sitting around the fire, singing songs, hymns and carols, decorating trees, lighting candles or glorifying our ancestors. All hopeful, looking forward from out of the darkness – there is no denying that nobody can hold back the dawn.
Pretty hard to comprehend just how dark a period many of us have been immersed in over the balance of 2020. Personal struggle, financial challenges, perhaps a loss of a joy and hope, or worse, the passing of a loved one. Sometimes, especially with the nature of the way information is circulated these days, it may seem that this, without question, is the very worst of times. Waking up in tears about having to remain home yet again, or if you venture out to the store, the bank, or the post office, making sure you have that mask on, and remaining vigilant about keeping your distance from strangers and neighbors alike. No shaking hands! As my wife Khrista would tell you I’m still pretty bad about sticking my hand out to a friend or stranger – it’s my nature, and it’s hard to counter balance with the new normal.
For many, this dark period has caused us to rethink not only our everyday lives but our working lives as well. Here at Idealliance we no longer gather at the office, but, of course, work from home and communicate “personally” through video conferencing (we enjoyed our holiday party last week for 90 minutes over Zoom, and it was a great time!).
For the business of Idealliance we have rethought how we make our certification and training readily available and easy to use through the Internet and live, yet remote, training. We have great people like Ron Ellis and Steve Smiley, and others, to thank vociferously for their nimble nature and ability to train over one hundred color management pros recently through remote learning. And just last week we relaunched a brand new Learning Management System which lets Idealliance members and prospective members break down our training curriculum into bite size pieces so trainees can move along, pointing toward formal certification, at their own pace.
So, our gift to you on this shortest of days and longest of nights is an introductory discount gift of 10% off our normal price for any of our on-demand professional certification courses (Use Promo code: IDEAGIFT10 at checkout) so you can jump right in and move ahead in terms of your skills, your performance and the contributions you make to your companies, your customers and our industry!
Or refer a friend and both of you can receive 33% off.
Email registrar@idealliance.org to take advantage of this offer.
I’m really excited about making this offer during the Solstice – it may be my Celtic heritage, but really, continuing education and training is a great way to keep us all moving forward, out of this darkness and into the light!
My good friend Bob Sacks www.bosacks.com always provides an uplifting message around this time by quoting a voice from the Renaissance, Fra Giovanni. You can read Bo’s message, which is much better written than mine (but doesn’t offer a discount on Idealliance training programs!) right here http://www.bosacks.com/bosacks-speaks-out
So for you all, as we begin to move together toward the light I say, “Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Ramadan Kareem and Merry Christmas!” And if you don’t celebrate at this time of year, may we all join hands no matter and keep moving together toward the expanding light!
Dick Ryan, Acting CEO, Idealliance