Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) is widely recognized for his best-selling self-help books including: How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. What started as a night job teaching adults at the YMCA turned into a national phenomenon as Dale Carnegie dedicated his life to teaching others the power of self-improvement.

For animal and meat science students from across the country, the opportunity was available to take part in these legendary training sessions at the American Meat Science Association Student Leadership Conference held on Feb. 23-25, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nev. Five South Dakota State University participants competed in a meat product development contest during the event with chocolate, peanut butter, cinnamon bacon rolls. I know…intense. I had the opportunity to try these bacon rolls, and I can assure you that they were delicious (calorie count aside). Pictured here is SDSU team member, Jarrod Bumsted, with his bacon rolls.

Anyway, the conference offered three days of Dale Carnegie Training, and I wish that I could have been there as they learned about effective public speaking, conflict management, leadership, teammwork and effective decision making. I have read Carnegie’s books, and I have found them incredibly inspirational and moving. Have you read his books or gone through his training courses before?