EBL, Inc.® Founder, Steven Gustafson presented two workshops at the regional AEE Heartland Conference. The conference drew over 250 in attendance. Keynote presenter was Karl Rohnke, founder of Project Adventure.

The workshops presented by Mr. Gustafson related to small business operation, entrepreneurial ventures, and Internet marking strategies.

"Thank you for sharing your time and expertise at the AEE conference. Your time was appreciated."
Workshop Attendee

EBL, Inc.® Founder, and WEA Certified Leader since 1988, Steven Gustafson presented two workshops at the annual WEA International Conference,held at Southern Illinois University for the second year in a row. The conference drew over 150 in attendance. Attendees traveled great distances to attend the conference;from North Dakota, New York, Florida, and Copenhagen! Keynote speaker for the 2000 conference was author, mountaineer, sailor, psychotherapist, journalist, and attorney, Lene Gammelgaard. Ms. Gammelgaard is widely known for her work "Climbing High: A woman's account of surviving the Everest tragedy". Additionally, she was a survivor of the 1996 Everest Tragedy and a member of Scott Fisher's Mountain Madness team.

The workshops presented by Mr. Gustafson were well received by participants. The workshops focused on small business operation, entrepreneurial ventures, and Internet marking strategies.

NBC, WREX 13 Television
Rockford, IL, January 24, 2000

Experience Based Learning, Inc.® and Experience Based Adventures where featured during the morning talk show with anchor reporter Paula Perez. EBL, Inc.® President Steven Gustafson spoke to the advantages of experiential learning models over traditional classroom based models. Mr. Gustafson stated that a three fold increase in the retention a workshop information may be realized by including exercises that address the three primary styles of audio, tactile, and visual learning.

Rockford Registar Star - Business Section
Rockford, IL November 10, 1999

Press Release: Article on the partnership between Experience Based Learning Inc.®, KW Powell & Associates, and Experience Based Adventures at the CEO! National Conference in Chicago, IL, October 22 - 24, 1999. More than 800 students and 100 businesses attended. The conference is a networking opportunity for young entrepreneurs. More information, see below.

Teen Leadership Summit
- November 6, 1999

Experience Based Learning, Inc.® and Experience Based Adventures, Inc. team up to deliver leadership and team building exercises for over 50 Rockford, IL youth, grades 7th - 12 th. As part of Rockford’s Promise, this local program sprang from a national volunteer effort developed in 1997. That year Gen. Colin Powell, President Clinton and former presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush convened in Philadelphia and challenged citizens to initiate volunteer efforts in their communities by the year 2000. Rockford area youth learned leadership skills, cooperation skills, and community service. After a morning of team building exercises, youth traveled to the local Salvation Army center to gift wrap over 350 collection drums for the annual holiday food drives.

This was a joint program to include Rockford Mayor Charles Box, Rockford United Way, WIFR Channel 23, Rockford College, Experience Based Learning, Experience Based Adventures, Rockford Products, ComEd, Clarcor, Alpine Kiwanis, Rockford Register Star, and Dominos Pizza.

Rockford Register Star, November 7, 1999

"I was so impressed with how everyone came together," Gustafson said. "Here you have students from all over Rockford - different races, different genders, different religions. There was no name calling, no put downs."

Weeks ago, EBL, Inc.® trained over 25 Rockford College Adolescent Psychology students on the exercises. In turn, the Rockford College students became the small group leaders during the Teen Leadership Summit.

Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization National Conference
- October 23, 1999

Experience Based Learning, Inc.® President and Founder Steven Gustafson presented a workshop on small business entrepreneurship and technology; focusing on Internet marketing strategies. The workshop presentation was well received with over 800 students representing national universities such as:

• University of Illinois-Chicago
• DePaul University
• Ball State University
• Purdue University
• Cornell University
• Indiana University
• Boise State University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• and 18 other national universities!

Also in attendance was Bob Galvin, Former CEO to Motorola, John Hughes - Coleman Foundation, William Porter - Founder E-TRADE Group, Inc., Rhonda Kallman - Founder Boston Beer Co., and many others. The conference was held at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, and is an annual event.

Experience Based Adventures
- July 27, 1999

Experience Based Learning, Inc.® formally creates a new, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization named Experience Based Adventures, Inc.. This new organization will focus programs to youth, 7th through 12th grades and university programs. The primary content will include team building, job skills in communication, conflict resolution, diversity, and problem solving. The goal is to educate youth on effective behaviors of team work prior to the entrance into the employment market.

Minding Your Business - Talk America National Radio
- May 29, 1999

EBL, Inc.® was featured on this national talk radio show hosted out of San Francisco, CA. Owner, Steven Gustafson, spoke to issue on time management, stress release, and team building. Mr. Gustafson received telephone calls from across the nation. Look to hear him again as he has been invited to return on future shows.

A tip from the show:

A mother telephoned the show as was seeking ways to increase her family time with her two daughters. However, being single, working full time, and have a long commute to work, she was puzzled on how to receive more time with her daughters and hear what was happening with them at school. Mr. Gustafson suggested that she purchase a few mini-tape recorders and provide one to each daughter. Each daughter would speak into the mini-tape recorder throughout the day and give the tape to their mother in the morning before she left for work and that long car ride.

The mother would then be able to listen to her daughters concerns on the way to work. On the ride home from work, the mother would be able to respond to her daughters tapes from the morning in her own mini-tape recorder. That night, the mother would provide her tape to the daughters. This exchange would be ongoing.

Rockford, IL WROK 1440 AM Talk Radio
- May 18, 19 & 20, 1999

EBL was interviewed on a local broadcast talk radio show in Rockford, IL. With a broadcast range of over 50 miles, WROK 1440 AM Talk Radio has a listening audiance of over 500,000 people. EBL, Inc.® was interviewed on a different theme each day.

• May 18 - Corporate programs, Team Building, and program delivery in the US.
• May 19 - Adventure / Training programs for youth; team building, adventure trips, family camps.
• May 20 - Formation of new not-for-profit organization, Experience Based Adventures, Inc. to delivery team building, problem solving, job skills, and other information to area youth to prepare them for the workplace.

Best quote from the interviews:

"Great companies just don't have training programs, rather, companies with training programs become great companies!"
- Steven Gustafson, EBL, Inc.® President

Rockford Registar Star - Life Styles: Recreation & Fitness
Rockford, IL newspaper - April 9, 1998

EBL, Inc.® was featured in a full color, front page article about adventure education and team building. Pictures were included to show rock climbing programs, high ropes challenge courses, and rappelling programs. EBL provides programs across the US and adventure programs in many beautiful locations.

This article was picked up off the news wire and EBL received telephone calls as far away as Florida!

Mr. Gustafson, owner of Experience Based Learning, Inc.® was published and won the CTT Bright Ideas Award in this issue. He spoke of using trees and nature as a multi-purpose introduction and assessment tools for groups.