102 LMS, LRS, LXP, and More: Exploring the Learning Platforms Landscape
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
St. Croix A
For decades, there was only one dominant learning platform that most training departments used: the learning management system (LMS). However, in recent years the learning platforms landscape has expanded. Not only have LMSs evolved over time, but additional platforms—such as LRSs, LXPs, and more—are also growing in functionality and popularity for learning and performance. This makes an organization’s decision on learning platforms much more complex, as it’s no longer a discussion of which platform, but which suite of platforms will meet an organization’s needs.
This session will explore how the growing array of platforms compete, coexist, and work to serve the diverse needs of today’s workforce. We will examine technology-driven performance ecosystems and how workers leverage multiple systems. We will make sense of current systems, explore what’s coming next, and examine how different platforms complement and compete with one another.
In this session, you will learn:
- The differences between the types of learning platforms
- Key questions to ask when seeking a new learning platform
- About the core functionality learning platforms add to an organization
- About the new functionality the learning platforms are introducing to L&D
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
David Kelly
Chairman
The Learning Guild
David Kelly is the Chairman of the Learning Guild. David has been a learning and performance consultant and training director for over 20 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance. David is an active member of the learning community, and can frequently be found speaking at industry events. He has previously contributed to organizations including ATD, eLearn Magazine, LINGOs, and more.
104 How to Effectively Write an eLearning RFP
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
Montego C
Too often when you’re rushed or don’t have time, you may put your next project out to bid without including the critical information to help your outside resources provide an accurate estimate for what is actually needed. This may lead to misunderstandings, changes in scope, and higher costs.
In this session, you will gain a framework and explore what critical information your outside partners need in order to understand and provide accurate estimates. You will learn how to phrase the challenge, what information is needed, and how to use a starter template to ensure a jump-start on your next project.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify what is needed
- How to analyze your audience and define the need
- What to ask your audience
- What to ask your stakeholders
- How to format and provide a document to your teams to create accurate estimates
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Nick Floro
Learning Architect/Imagineer
Sealworks Interactive Studios
Nick Floro, a co-founder and learning architect at Sealworks Interactive Studios, has over 25 years of experience developing learning solutions, applications, and web platforms. Nick is passionate about how design and technology can enhance learning and loves to share his knowledge and experience to teach, inspire, and motivate. As a learning architect, Nick gets to sketch, imagine, and prototype for each challenge. He has worked with start-ups to Fortune 500 companies to help them understand the technology and develop innovative solutions to support their audiences. Nick has won numerous awards from Apple and organizations for productions and services.
105 The New Role Your Company Needs: Digital Adoption Manager
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
Andros AB
Technology is advancing faster than humans can keep pace. Organizations are investing in hundreds of technologies to transform their business, leaving employees overwhelmed and unengaged. Despite heavy investment in training solutions to bridge the gap, the cost to produce these materials is high, speed to market is low, and the impact is suboptimal. Learning practitioners passionate about effective digital adoption can seize this challenge to elevate into a new role.
This session will explore the concept of a new role in the learning practitioner and digital transformation space: the digital adoption manager. You will learn about the importance of supporting this shift through effective change management. You’ll learn how this change takes more than training to support product adoption and generate substantial business outcomes like saved time, reduced costs, and better agility. You’ll learn how individuals who understand the magnitude of digital adoption for the business have an incredible opportunity to move forward as leaders and innovators within their organizations to tackle this challenge.
In this session, you will learn:
- The business implications of digital transformation—from the financial impact to the human impact—and why an effective digital adoption strategy can be the difference between success and failure
- The roles and responsibilities of a digital adoption strategist, what skill sets are needed, and how you can get started today
- How to calculate the ROI of a digital adoption strategy within an organization
- Strategies on how to communicate the need, champion the digital adoption initiative, and secure stakeholders and support within your company
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Brittany Rolfe
VP Customer Engagement
WalkMe
Brittany Rolfe, vice president of customer engagement at WalkMe, is a thought leader in the digital transformation and product adoption space. In her role, she connects with hundreds of executives to understand their digital transformation goals, identify the challenges in achieving them, and the trend towards digital adoption strategy to overcome them. She is actively helping CXOs define the digital adoption strategist role and recruit top talent. Her previous experience working in customer success, as well as enablement and training, gives her perspective on the different strategies for enterprise organizations and their associated benefits and risks.
Patty Viajar
Senior Integrated Experience Designer
Edmentum
Patty Viajar is the senior integrated experience designer at Edmentum. Patty has over 15 years’ experience in the learning and performance field and has led global training and eLearning initiatives. At Edmentum, Patty has fused her passions for learning and technology by implementing an in-product support strategy to enhance Edmentum’s customer experience. Through a partnership with WalkMe, she has woven an instructional design approach into the microlearning resources that aid educators and students in meeting their instructional and learning goals. Patty holds a PhD in education, specializing in training and performance.
111 Transforming Employee Orientation to an Onboarding Journey Experience
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
Montego B
Imagine you’re a new hire. From applying for your job to your first day it feels like you’ve interacted with 100 people. Learning and development is preparing to host an orientation, and so is your new team, both groups delivering different messages and experiences. At Booz Allen, L&D was delivering orientation, not onboarding, and the business was experiencing an unacceptable level of attrition. A new approach was needed.
In this case-study session, you will learn how Booz Allen leadership’s step to reexamine its employee value proposition and give ownership of the firm’s Workday Onboarding process to L&D lead to the change from a weekly orientation to a cohesive year-long onboarding experience beginning at offer letter acceptance. You’ll explore how technology, marketing, and communications strategies can be used to create the right engagement points from offer through the end of first year. You’ll learn how to connect content across a year and deliver consistent messages about the organizations’ employee value proposition.
In this session, you will learn:
- How learning and development can influence other business processes
- How defining a purpose for Workday Onboarding enables a streamlined pre-onboarding experience
- Ways in which applying branding strategies can energize your instructional design
- How virtual reality and videos can be used to engage new hires and tell the organizational story
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Workday, videos, virtual reality, Degreed.
Alexa Krezel
Program Manager
Fannie Mae
Alexa Krezel is a project management professional focused on guiding teams through digital transformation. She has spent more than 20 years aligned to the learning and development industry, bringing her instructional design and change management skills to further the business. Alexa has a master’s degree in instructional design from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Tina Ayres
Global Onboarding Program Manager and Sr. Learning Strategist
Booz Allen Hamilton
Tina Ayres, the global onboarding program manager and senior learning strategist at Booz Allen Hamilton, leads onboarding for nearly 7,000 new hires annually. She has 14 years of management consulting, talent development, and operations management experience. With a specialization in developing blended learning frameworks, she most recently completely reimagined the Booz Allen new hire learner experience. In her early career at Booz Allen, she served as a sourcing team lead, where she led numerous talent acquisition and development projects in the areas of analytics, consulting, engineering, and science to meet the surging demand for new management consulting capabilities. Tina holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology from James Madison University and a Kirkpatrick Certificate in evaluation methodology.
SELR102 Creating a Learning Strategy for Maximum Impact
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: eLearning Rockstars Stage
You’re charged with a high-stakes, high-visibility learning challenge. Perhaps you need to prepare an entire hospital staff to work effectively on day one of a move to a new hospital building, or you need to get a salesforce ready to sell a new product line. How do you do it? There’s no quick fix, no single method that will get full impact. You need to create an integrated learning strategy.
In this session, you’ll get a framework for creating an integrated, multifaceted learning strategy. You’ll see how to design and build a systematic set of learning experiences using technology appropriately, guided by sound learning science principles. You’ll see examples of role-based learning paths that employ eLearning, microlearning, on-the-job learning, coaching, video, workshops, simulations, performance support, and fun reinforcement activities. You’ll learn how to apply learning experience design principles including design thinking, active learning, spaced practice, scenarios, and on-demand content. Finally, you’ll see how to implement an iterative, collaborative design and development process that involves all stakeholders to achieve maximum impact.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to apply learning science–based design strategies for learning multiple complex skills
- How to build integrated learning paths
- How to adapt your organization’s learning ecosystem to support complex learning
- How to apply learning experience design principles and processes to create effective and engaging learning
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
LMS, xAPI, content management system, learning experience manager.
Marty Rosenheck
Chief Learning Strategist
Cognitive Advisors
Marty Rosenheck, PhD, CEO and chief learning strategist at Cognitive Advisors, provides talent development, learning experience design, and learning technology ecosystem consulting. He is a thought leader and sought-after consultant, speaker, and writer on the application of cognitive science research to learning and performance. Marty has over 30 years of experience. He has created award-winning learning experiences, designed learning ecosystems, developed cognitive apprenticeship programs, built performance support systems, conducted needs assessments, specified learning paths, constructed virtual learning environments, and developed formal, informal, and social learning strategies for dozens of nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
SEMT102 Solving the Sales Training Puzzle with Modern Learning
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Emerging Tech Stage
Salespeople are learning organizations’ problem children: often remote and on the go, “too busy” for training, and quick to dismiss anything that doesn’t immediately help them. Yet constant product and sales tool releases, nonstop market evolution, and rapid competitive moves mean sales teams stand to benefit from effective learning more than any other function! And moving the needle on sales effectiveness yields enormous ROI.
In this hands-on session, you will see and experience how modern learning techniques enable trainers to engage sales teams and boost their effectiveness. Learn how the five principles of modern learning—including bite-sized content, learning reinforcement, support for informal learning, and more—successfully meet the needs of the challenging sales training environment. If you download the Allego app, you can try several examples yourself to gain deeper understanding.
In this session, you will learn:
- How bite-sized content works in the sales domain
- Why sales teams love reinforcement learning
- How to enable informal learning among sales teams
- When personalized learning does and doesn’t apply to sales training
- Why ease of content creation, not just content access, is the key to engaging sales teams
Audience:
Novice to advanced managers and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
The Allego platform.
Jake Miller
Product Marketing Manager
Allego
Jake Miller, a product marketing manager at Allego, is responsible for shaping the story of Allego customers and products, which has helped secure Allego’s spot as America’s fifth fastest-growing software company on the Inc. 500. Jake is passionate about sales performance and incorporates his experience as a top producer in the high-ticket retail space into his approach for running the product marketing function at Allego. Jake received his MBA from Babson College. Prior to entering the business world, he was a professional jazz drummer and received a bachelor’s degree in drum set performance from Berklee College of Music.
SMNX102 Supercharge Your Training Environment
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
Learners are only as good as the environments they operate within. Their access to learning, the level of support from managers and executives, and the quality of the training they receive all impact performance and results.
If you want to supercharge learner performance, you need to move beyond the traditional “did they do it or not” mindset and consider all the conditions that impact results. Do employees have time to sharpen their saws? Culturally, is training seen as a part of the business? Is content easy to access? Is the content any good? What works best to engage learners? In this workshop, you’ll explore all of the above and gain a list of best practices you can use immediately to assess the state of your learning environment.
In this session, you will learn:
- Best practices for assessing the state of your learning environment
- How to get your learners engaged and excited
- Strategies for developing content based on the ways people learn
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Mike Martin
Head of Customer Onboarding and Enablement
SAP Litmos
With over 25 years in human performance and learning, leadership, and customer experience, Mike Martin has made it his mission to help employees, companies, and customers be better and accomplish more than they ever thought possible. From facilitating team-building programs to looking after thousands of SAP Litmos customers through onboarding to renewal and beyond, Mike has worn many hats in this space. Mike is an accomplished speaker, facilitator, and leader with a master's degree in instructional design and technology. He heads the customer experience and learning team at Litmos covering onboarding, customer enablement, customer success, sales help desk, and account managers.
STRS102 5 Activities that Maximize Impact for Instructor-Led Training
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
Instructor-led training is where over 50 percent of employee development happens. But it’s difficult to achieve employees’ buy-in if their direct managers aren’t sold on its importance. It can also be hard to capture and measure employee engagement in the session—especially when there are hundreds of instructors running sessions. It’s even more difficult to ensure behavioral changes stick long after the session ends. This session will introduce five practical tactics you can incorporate today—fast activities that increase manager buy-in before training, maximize engagement and learning during training, and magically transform into employee-created job aids after training.
In this session, you’ll be speed-walked through five tried-and-true activities any CLO, instructor, or instructional designer can deploy to an entire team of instructors. You’ll learn exactly how to incorporate them before, during, and after instructor-led training. Specifically, you will learn how to create and deploy a strategic survey that increases manager buy-in before training; a strategic survey that sets employee expectations before training; a “silent discussion” or Q&A technique to use during training; an advice wall employees create during training; and a way to instantly transform training activities into employee-created job aids. You will walk through the why and how of each training activity, so that at the end of the session, you can immediately add them to your toolbox.
In this session, you will learn:
- Practical ways to gauge manager expectations for ILT and increase manager buy-in
- How to create anticipation in employees, to make ILT feel like a privileged event
- How to increase participation and honest feedback during ILT
- How to foster camaraderie and knowledge-sharing in ILT
- How to extend the positive impact of ILT beyond the session
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft PowerPoint and Poll Everywhere.
Matthew Du Pont
Enterprise Account Executive
Poll Everywhere
Matthew Du Pont, an enterprise account executive at Poll Everywhere, cares about helping presenters keep everyone’s attention. He has led many trainings and webinars for three main audiences: learning and development teams, while working at Poll Everywhere; job seekers, while coaching executives on career searches; and high school girls, as a Girls Who Code instructor. Matt is an experienced and entertaining speaker. He won Yale’s Henry James TenEyck award for public speaking, as well as BAHfest West, a competition to defend incorrect, funny scientific theories.
204 Strategies for Improving LMS Adoption
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Wednesday, October 24
Antigua B
Many organizations struggle through the LMS RFP process, suffer low user adoption rates, and are at a loss for how to correct the situation or how to have prevented it. What if there was a way to simplify the RFP and demo process and increase user adoption? To align your LMS with your organization’s culture and learning environment, and to ultimately learn to love and understand your LMS?
In this session, you will learn how to overcome two significant flaws in the LMS world that are actively working against successful implementation and user adoption. The first flaw addressed: LMS setup and maintenance is simple. Find out how to recruit a learning technology analyst to keep your LMS on track. The second flaw addressed: Build it, and they will come. An LMS needs to be aligned with your organization’s culture and learning environment. You will learn how to build and use user personas and use cases to quickly and correctly create a features checklist and solicit focused product demos.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to build user personas based on employee demographics and training data
- How to build LMS use cases for the user personas
- How to use the user personas and use cases to identify LMS needs, facilitate effective demos, and aid change management processes
- How to identify what you need in a learning tech team member and then develop or recruit them
Audience:
Managers and learning systems practitioners.
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning management systems.
Tracie Cantu
Chief Learning Consultant
Your CLO
Tracie Cantu is founder and chief learning consultant at Your CLO, a dedicated consulting firm that delivers targeted solutions across three areas: learning organization design, learning technology, and learning operations. Tracie has spent the majority of her career at the intersection of employee performance, business operations, and technology, where she has served as a trusted advisor and peer to business leaders, directly contributing to the achievement of business outcomes. She has 20 years experience in talent development and human resources across a variety of industries, including aviation, government, retail, finance, start-ups, and big tech.
205 The Rush to eLearning: How Not to Screw it Up
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Wednesday, October 24
Antigua A
First it was a curiosity. The curiosity grew into a fad, and then into a genuine trend. Now it’s a necessity. eLearning long ago left the experimental or pilot stage and is now a mainstream method of training and education. Everyone is doing it. But are they doing it well?
In this session, you will explore the pitfalls and key indicators of success or failure that will help you think differently about how your organization approaches eLearning. The rush to eLearning is littered with the bones of mistakes and judgment errors, and of eLearning projects built on high hopes but not much else. Combine this with a field that is rapidly changing, and it’s clear that getting it all right can be very challenging. Join this session and learn what to do (and what not to do) when you’re getting started—and, perhaps more importantly, how not to screw it all up after you and your organization get going.
In this session, you will learn:
- The most common mistakes organizations make with eLearning
- How to avoid the pitfalls that befell many others
- Specific tips that will help get your eLearning projects off on the right foot
- How to adapt your approach to an ever-changing field
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
Marc Rosenberg
President
Marc Rosenberg and Associates
Dr. Marc Rosenberg is a global expert and speaker in training, organizational learning, eLearning, knowledge management, and performance improvement. He has written two best-selling books, E-Learning, and Beyond E-Learning. His 100 monthly columns, “Marc My Words,” appeared in The eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions magazine from 2010 through 2018 and are still available online. Marc is past president and honorary life member of the International Society for Performance Improvement, is an eLearning Guild “Guild Master,” has spoken at the White House, debated eLearning’s future at Oxford University, keynoted conferences around the world, authored over 200 columns, articles, white papers, and book chapters, and is frequently quoted in major trade publications. Learn more at www.marcrosenberg.com.
213 2018 Trends: What the Research Says About Learning Styles, Learning Platforms, and Blended Learning
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Wednesday, October 24
Montego A
In this session, The eLearning Guild’s director of research, Jane Bozarth, along with writers of recent research, reviews the Guild’s most recent reports on learning styles, learning platforms, and blended learning. We’ll look at what’s happening—or not happening—industry-wide, with an emphasis on what works, such as what factors support success and what content lends itself best to particular approaches.
This review of research is designed to familiarize you with what’s happening in the field and to help you find ways to be successful with approaches you’re considering, or that you’re already using and would like to enhance. You’ll leave with practical, evidence-based advice to help you engage in conversations and apply new ideas back at work.
In this session, you will learn:
- What practical insights you can gain from current research into learning styles, learning platforms, and blended learning
- State-of-the-industry practices in these areas
- Benefits and barriers facing practitioners
- Solutions to common challenges
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
Jennifer Hofmann Dye
Founder and President
InSync Training
Jennifer Hofmann Dye is founder and president of InSync Training. She specializes in the design and delivery of engaging, innovative, and effective modern blended learning. Jennifer has written and contributed to a number of well-received and highly-regarded books including The Synchronous Trainer's Survival Guide: Facilitating Successful Live Online Courses, Meetings, and Events and Live and Online!: Tips, Techniques, and Ready to Use Activities for the Virtual Classroom. Her latest book, Blended Learning (ATD, 2018), introduces a new instructional design model that addresses the needs of the modern workplace and modern learners.
Steve Foreman
President
InfoMedia Designs
Steve Foreman is the author of The LMS Guidebook and president of InfoMedia Designs, a provider of eLearning infrastructure consulting services and technology solutions to large companies, academic institutions, professional associations, government, and military. Steve works with forward-looking organizations to find new and effective ways to apply computer technology to support human performance. His work includes enterprise learning strategy, learning and performance ecosystem solutions, LMS selection and implementation, learning-technology architecture and integration, expert-knowledge harvesting, knowledge management, and innovative performance-centered solutions that blend working and learning.
Jane Bozarth
Director of Research
The Learning Guild
Jane Bozarth, the director of research for the Learning Guild, is a veteran classroom trainer who transitioned to eLearning in the late 1990s and has never looked back. In her previous job as leader of the State of North Carolina's award-winning eLearning program, Jane specialized in finding low-cost ways of providing online training solutions. She is the author of several books, including eLearning Solutions on a Shoestring, Social Media for Trainers, and Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-To's of Working Out Loud. Jane holds a doctorate in training and development and was awarded the Guild Master Award in 2013 for her accomplishments and contributions to the eLearning community.
SMNX104 Get Organized and Prosper: Project Planning for the Instructional Designer
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
It’s the job within the job—in addition to designing and developing amazing training solutions, instructional designers often must also plan, organize, and manage their projects. This can be a daunting task, as projects have many components and moving pieces to stay on top of in addition to the actual design and development work.
In this session, you will learn how to create a project plan that will grow and flex to your project needs using something you probably already have access to—Microsoft Excel. You’ll explore a project plan that was used for a large-scale project in order to see practical real-world examples. In addition, you will also learn how to track and organize project information such as budget, communications, stakeholders, and more. You’ll leave this session with a clear understanding of how to develop and maintain a project plan, and with practical tips you can immediately apply back on the job.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why it’s worth taking the time to develop and maintain a project plan
- How to set up a project plan using Excel in a way that allows you to easily view a high-level and detailed status
- How to stay on top of the waterfall of information associated with a project
- Best practices for maintaining a project plan
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft Excel.
Molli Dohogne
Sr. Manager, eLearning and Tech
Sodexo
Molli Dohogne, a senior manager of eLearning and tech at Sodexo, is a certified PMP with over 16 years of experience in developing eLearning solutions. At Sodexo, Molli focuses on finding innovative solutions that will enhance learning. Molli is passionate about making process improvements that allow teams to streamline and work more effectively. Her pragmatic approach to challenges results in solutions that can also be sustained and maintained. Molli led the design team that won the Brandon Hall 2010 Excellence in Technology Bronze Medal: Best Use of Blended Learning and the ATD 2011 Excellence in Practice Award.
STRS104 Frictionless Learning Ecosystems: What Are They, and How Do You Create One?
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
Companies spend billions of dollars trying to understand consumer behavior, but the L&D groups in these same organizations may not be leveraging those insights and strategies to reach their learners. If you look at your learning solutions as a product that you want your learners to consume, where are you creating friction that discourages those learning consumers? And what can you do about it?
In this session, you’ll examine the Fogg Behavior Model and the ideas around “frictionless commerce,” and apply them to your learning organization. You’ll leave this session with a friction assessment of your learning ecosystem, along with a toolkit of strategies you can explore to eliminate that friction in your organization. Moreover, you’ll leave with a new perspective on your learners and their motivations, and how you can best reach them.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to use the Fogg Behavior Model to identify points of friction in your learning ecosystem
- How to translate the five pain points of frictionless commerce to your learning ecosystem
- Opportunities for improvement in your learning ecosystem
- How to identify potential solutions to the friction in your learning ecosystem
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
xAPI, Netflix.
Jeremy Roberts
Chief Learning Officer
Infinitude Creative Group
Jeremy is a seasoned professional with 25+ years of experience in learning strategy and design, change management, and communication. While recently focusing on customized learning solutions, he began his career crafting change management and communication strategies for large projects. This foundation informs his approach to learning program development. As the founder of JRo Learning, he draws from his extensive experience as both a client and consultant. Jeremy is particularly interested in the neuroscience of learning, and how innovation outside of the world of L&D can be introduced into our learning ecosystems.
STRS105 Is a Learning Content Management System Right for You?
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
Modern learning and development (L&D) organizations make it a priority to improve employees’ skills and enhance knowledge—not yearly or monthly, but continuously. These successful organizations have moved away from disconnected, rigid courses and instead enabled flexible, multipurpose, agile learning content. By ensuring their learning content is rich, dynamic, and personalized, they provide their teams with the tools to drive their own learning. As a result, the value of every content asset is maximized and production is streamlined. But many organizations have struggled for years to find a way to enable this dynamic learning. Often, learning content is stored in silos, making it difficult to find and reuse. Reviewing and updating courses is time-consuming, creating derivative courses is problematic, and version control is a nightmare. Distributing learning content in multiple formats (SCORM, PDF, EPUB, HTML, XML, etc.) requires painstaking rework. Sound familiar?
Adopting a learning content management system (LCMS) can help you resolve these challenges by removing content silos; enriching your content assets to make them more discoverable and reusable; streamlining the course development, editing, and review processes; ensuring courses meet quality standards; and enabling team members to easily publish learning content across multiple channels. Join this session to learn how the right LCMS can benefit your organization—and your employees.
In this session, you will learn:
- What a learning content management system (LCMS) is
- The difference between an LMS and an LCMS
- How an LCMS can help you to better store, enrich, discover, assemble, reuse, analyze, and disseminate your learning content
- What an LCMS does and how it works
- Whether an LCMS is right for your organization
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Ixxus Learning Content Management System (LCMS).
Tim Bowen
Sr. Director, Information & Content Services
Ixxus
Tim Bowen is a senior director of information and content services at Ixxus, responsible for the development, management, and marketing of Ixxus’ licensing and content services for the K-12, higher ed, and corporate learning markets. Tim has over 20 years of product management, product marketing, and channels marketing experience. Previously, he worked at Genuity, Cabletron Systems, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Nashua Corporation. He holds a BS in business administration from Plymouth State University and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University.
Stephen Casbeer
Principal Consultant
Ixxus
Stephen Casbeer, a principal consultant at Ixxus, is a senior technology and business transformation specialist who has extensive experience with content operations, content management and delivery systems, and a wide range of editorial and production technologies. He has led global organizations and advised executives on adapting to and benefiting from rapid change in the information industry, encompassing issues of business and technology strategy, process re-engineering, and organizational design.
SXAPI105 What Makes a (Good) Learning Experience Platform?
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: xAPI Central Showcase Stage
LMS, move over. LRS, you are so last year. LXPs, or learning experience platforms, are the new kids on the block. This session will highlight an emerging category of digital learning tools, the learning experience platforms, and help you to draw your own conclusions about what an LXP really is and how it could be useful in your context.
You’ll discover the results of extensive user research around the concept of learning experience platforms, including the role that “personalization” artificial intelligence might play in the user experience. You will explore the role of the instructional designer as the linchpin in a learning experience versus users simply “discovering” new content. You’ll walk away from this session with a clear idea as to whether an LXP could be a useful new tool, or whether it’s just a bunch of old ideas dressed up in new terminology.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the conditions that have made the learning experience platform concept come to life
- What research suggests learners (and their managers) want from an LXP
- About the capabilities that good LXPs seek to deliver
- The likely differences between LXPs and existing categories of software, including the LMS
- The seven habits of highly effective LXPs
Audience:
Novice to intermediate managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning experience platforms, xAPI, AI tools, and personalized learning tools.
Ben Betts
Chief Executive Officer
Learning Pool
Ben Betts serves as CEO for Learning Pool. Previously, Ben served as chief product officer, where he worked to help define and develop Learning Pool's next generation of workplace digital learning platforms, with a focus on learning experience platforms and the learning analytics space. Ben's expertise is based in research, having completed his PhD researching the impact of gamification on adult social learning, Ben has authored and contributed chapters for many books, has two peer-reviewed academic papers, and has presented at conferences around the world, including TEDx.
304 Designing Actionable Learning for Leadership Development
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
St. Croix A
In 2017, 73 percent of L&D respondents to a client survey cited “application to real work” as an important characteristic of leadership development programs, particularly as related to mid-level management. And yet many L&D practitioners do not have a clear path to providing ways for their learners to apply their new knowledge and skills on the job. This session will share best practices for integrating learning with real work.
Today’s busy managers have little patience for learning something they might use “someday.” Learners want actionable solutions to their day-to-day challenges. But what about building capabilities that require leaders to go deeper to learn new concepts? This session will unpack the design challenge of addressing both conceptual and actionable learning. You’ll get access to models for integrating learning with real work, brought to life with real examples. You’ll leave wanting to create a library of actionable projects that you can offer to your learners. And you’ll have a framework to integrate this approach into your measurement strategy.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to design actionable models and assignments that integrate learning with work
- What learning experiences provide immediate value to managers
- How to leverage learning design to measure meaningful business impact
- How to help learners bridge the gap between knowing and doing
Audience:
Designers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Brightspace Core, and Webex and other webinar platforms.
Louise Axon
Director, Content Strategy and Development
Harvard Business Publishing
Louise Axon is a director of content strategy and development at Harvard Business Publishing, where she leads the design, development, and curation of HBP’s leadership solutions. Louise has 25 years of experience in executing strategic change and delivering business results through learning, with particular expertise in developing leaders at all levels. Prior to joining Harvard Business Publishing, Louise worked at the Forum Corporation, where she led development of the leadership portfolio and consulted on complex leadership solutions for clients.
Jennifer Long
Director, Learning Experience Design
Harvard Business Publishing
Jennifer Long is the director of learning experience design at Harvard Business Publishing. In her role, she is responsible for innovative and effective learning design of new cross-enterprise learning products. Her most recent project is HBP's first consumer-facing leadership development program, HBP LeaderLab, which is currently in the beta-test phase. Jen has been with HBP for eight years. Prior to that, she worked in client-facing and consulting roles for Accenture, AchieveGlobal, and Impact Performance Group. She has her BA in music/arts administration at Rice University, and her MA in adult development/holistic coaching from Lesley University.
305 Point-of-Work = New Ground Zero for Learning
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Montego B
Training alone does not drive performance—it contributes only to potential. Performance does not manifest until learners become performers at their point-of-work (PoW). This means that learning needs to converge with work, and doing this effectively requires holistic learning and performance assessments at the PoW. These evolved discovery methods then require enhanced performance consulting skills and tactics to enable L&D solutions that are agile and responsive.
If the rules of engagement have changed, so must L&D tactics and solutions to best serve learners and performers. In this session, you’ll learn how to address both using a learning performance continuum spanning from point-of-entry (PoE) to PoW. You’ll learn evolved performance consulting discovery tactics used in a holistic, repeatable learning performance assessment methodology. You’ll also learn how intentional design blends formal learning and performance support assets that thread learning continuity from PoE to PoW. If we desire agility in our workforce, L&D needs to be at least as agile and responsive to their demands from learning to work.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to evolve your discovery tactics to adopt a learning performance assessment methodology
- How to address a learning continuum through adopting intentional design
- How to identify where embedded performance support fits on the continuum
- What to consider in the event performance support technology is a good fit
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
LMS/LES, portals, DPS, cloud-based digital performance support
Gary Wise
Founder/Principal Strategist
Human Performance Outfitters
Gary Wise, the founder and principal strategist at Human Performance Outfitters, is a workforce performance strategist and coach with performance consulting fueling his foundational discipline and perspectives. He is a 30- plus-year veteran of corporate L&D gigs and is now a Point-of-Work consultant and coach. Gary’s experience includes several performance support system integrations. He speaks at many local and national events, is a longtime blogger, and advocates for changing things mired in outdated paradigms. He recommends disruptive solutions that normally accompany shifting paradigms.
314 Scaling Personalized Learning for 1 Million Users
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Andros AB
It is no secret that personalized content is more relevant and engaging. Engaging a network of different people in a world saturated with content requires organizations to deliver relevant and personalized information at the right time, in the right place. Travel technology behemoth Amadeus needed to engage and connect a network of 1 million people. The team needed to renew their learning and development strategy and get everyone onboard.
In this case study session, find out how Amadeus scaled personalized learning, engaged users, and synchronized their global operations. You’ll explore how the team developed and scaled their L&D strategy with a learning experience platform, and how to overcome geographic barriers to curate personalized learning content for an expansive global network.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to develop an L&D strategy to scale to a million people
- How to choose the right learning platform for your specific organizational challenges
- How to deliver a new learning solution and get everyone on board
- How to build an agile learning solution so it changes as technology evolves
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Amadeus IT and Travel Technology, and Valamis Learning Experience Platform.Rebecca Gonzalez
Head of Americas Learning Services
Amadeus North America
Rebecca Gonzalez is head of Americas Learning Services at Amadeus. Of her 25 years at Amadeus, 24 have been in Learning Services, and the last 16 in a leadership role. Rebecca was part of the team that launched the first corporate online university at Amadeus in 1999, and winner of a Best in Class CUBIC award in 2006. As leaders in online learning, Amadeus North America Learning Services is driving the vision of a new, next-generation learning platform to be used by Amadeus globally.
Mary Brosch
Manager, Online Learning Systems
Amadeus North America
Mary Brosch is a manager of online learning systems at Amadeus North America. She is the regional product owner for the Global Learning Platform, implemented with Valamis Learning Experience Platform and Liferay. She communicates with all stakeholders and is a bridge between the technical development teams and the business users, playing a key role in influencing the evolution of the learning system to provide business value. She has worked for Amadeus for over 20 years, mostly in the Learning Services department in a variety of roles from technical developer and instructional technology specialist to manager, leading the implementation of the online university.
SMNX106 Driving Innovation in Your Training and Development Program
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
What is innovation? How do you recognize it? Most importantly, how do you continuously innovate in your training design and pedagogy? Come find answers to these questions and more, and walk away with new ideas that will help you drive innovation in your training and development programs.
This session will help you see the difference between “what works” and “innovation” and understand how to move toward innovation. The evidence tells you what works—your creativity tells you what might work, but innovation creates the evidence of what actually does work.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to apply IDEAS pedagogy
- How to use thinking and creative tools
- How to include reflection in training and reward discovery
- How to use teams and project-based learning to foster innovation
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, managers, trainers, and others in L&D, HR, and staff development.
Technology discussed in this session:
Blackboard solutions.
Darcy Hardy
Associate Vice President
Blackboard
Darcy W. Hardy is an associate vice president for enterprise consulting at Blackboard. With over 25 years of experience in higher education distance and online learning, she leads a team of nationally recognized experts in eLearning and distance education. She holds a PhD. Previously, Darcy was assistant vice provost for technology education initiatives at the University of Texas at San Antonio, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Texas System, and executive director of the UT TeleCampus. She also served as an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) appointment at the US Department of Labor and Department of Education in Washington, DC.
STRS106 Insights from the Front Lines
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 24
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
For an enormous number of organizations, training requirements are still driven by urgency, the need for rapid development and deployment, and the need to meet regulatory and management compliance requirements. Many organizations are still in transition from face-to-face training and manual tracking systems. This session will describe the simple procedures and best practices you can enact that will work with any training platform while reducing your risk of failure.
This session will illustrate simple techniques for the rapid development and deployment of online training resources and activities using anecdotes and statistical evidence drawn from a user base of 88,000 member organizations and 166,000 courses. The session is reflective of the user base and demographics of the organizations that have used Udutu, and may not represent all situations, but will be of interest to anyone curious about what goes on in other training organizations around the world and how they deal with challenges. The session will provide an easy-to-follow framework for agile course development, and tips on how to leverage subject matter expertise and non-professionals to develop engaging and interactive training resources.
In this session, you will learn:
- A simple rapid development and deployment methodology
- Why compliance training still drives budgets and frustrations
- About training people external to your organization
- How to take the risk out of transitioning from F2F or a legacy learning system
- About trends observed in 88,000 training organizations around the world
- How to use Windows Kiosk mode for offline learning that must integrate with an online LMS
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Browser-based learning activities on any device that supports a browser. The session will also illustrate how an offline training program can be integrated where bandwidth or connectivity issues are a problem. Most examples of online course development will utilize the free Udutu authoring tool.
Roger Mundell
Founder
Udutu
Roger Mundell, the founder of Udutu, was an early pioneer in the online learning space. As the director of research and innovation at Royal Roads University from 1996 to 2005, he led research and demonstrated concepts such as reusable learning objects, adaptive learning, and gamification (as in decision-led branching, not Skinnerian rewards), and received numerous awards for learning innovation from around the world. Roger was a frequent speaker on the conference circuit until 2006, when he left the university to create Udutu with an unusual business model—to democratize online learning and enable the thousands of organizations that were cautious about online learning.
SELR201 On the eLearning Horizon and Beyond
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: eLearning Rockstars Stage
The eLearning industry is constantly changing. It can be difficult to keep an eye on what advancements are coming while also trying to manage current budgets and technology restraints.
Gain in-depth understanding on how the eLearning landscape is shifting and evolving, as well as how to make the most of emerging trends including social, microlearning, gamification, and mobile trends you need to know before 2019.
In this session, you will learn:
- What general trends are being seen in the industry
- Mobile trends you need to know
- Trends for Generation Z
- How to prepare for Generation Z
- How to maximize the business impact of learning
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Alessio Artuffo
President & COO
Docebo
Alessio Artuffo has served as the chief revenue officer at Docebo since 2012 and has several years of experience in the eLearning and knowledge management industry. Prior to this role, he was Docebo's director, international business operations from 2012 to 2013 and later, the company's chief operating officer in North America. Beginning in 2013, Alessio played an integral role in establishing the operations of Docebo in North America and has led Docebo's sales and revenue efforts to date. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Artuffo was country manager for North America at eXact Learning Solutions S.r.l., ("eXact").
Curtis J. Morley
President and Chief Growth Officer
eLearning Brothers
Curtis J. Morley is the president and chief growth officer of eLearning Brothers. Curtis founded several successful multimillion-dollar companies, which include the world’s first interactive digital sheet music company and an executive coaching company.
SMNX201 Give Your Organization the Freedom to Innovate
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
Highly customized learning platforms may sound like an inherently good thing. But what if those customizations are patching holes rather than tailoring the performance of your learning solution to your organization’s needs? These kinds of patches and workarounds can hinder a learning professional’s ability to innovate. In the rapidly evolving world of digital learning, the freedom to innovate is essential for a sustainable, scalable, and efficient learning program.
By leveraging open-source solutions, organizations can adapt a completely supported system to their evolving business needs. In this session, Totara partner Remote-Learner will detail how they helped the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence to reimagine what their nationally renowned training could be. Along the way, attendees will learn how to increase the likelihood of success, how to minimize the likelihood of confusion, how to organize the segmentation of learner audiences, and how to improve the efficiency of learning administration.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to increase the likelihood of success through strong project scoping
- How to minimize the likelihood of organizational turmoil through strong implementation practices
- How to organize the segmentation of learner audiences for efficient content delivery
- How to improve the efficiency of learning administration through sound system design
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, managers, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Totara Learn (desktop view).
Daniel Vecchi
VP of Channel Operations, Americas
Totara Learning
Daniel Vecchi is a vice president of channel operations at Totara Learning, supporting the Totara Partner Network across the Americas. As an established leader in internationalization, Daniel has successfully led teams into new and competitive markets developing complex projects with multiple stakeholders in the private sector, government, and educational institutions. Having spent most of his life and career working in new countries in the Western Hemisphere, Daniel speaks English and Spanish. He holds an MA in international relations and economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Charles Ackerman
Manager, Managed Solutions
Remote-Learner
Charles Ackerman is a manager of managed solutions at Remote-Learner. He leads the solutions architects team responsible for the design and implementation of tailored, fully integrated digital learning environments consistent with the goals and business rules of Remote-Learner clients. Charles has a master of science degree in human resource development and has been designing learning solutions for Remote-Learner clients since 2011. Prior to joining Remote-Learner, he spent seven years as a classroom teacher.
404 Emerging Skills for L&D to Enable the Future of Work
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Montego DE
The world is gripped by accelerated change, and the need to learn and adapt is taking center stage; yet ironically, L&D professionals continue to struggle for relevance and impact. Instead of being sought-after business partners, practitioners are often marginalized as order-takers for narrow training solutions. The challenge is one of urgent relevance as L&D must quickly learn and adapt to better enable the future of work.
This session first identifies key trends in the future of work that will impact you and your organization. Next, it outlines strategies that you can prioritize to enable people amid those trends. Finally, it highlights emerging skill clusters that you and your team require to address these challenges and stay relevant. A must for L&D professionals wanting to boost their value by adopting emerging, in-demand skills, the session will highlight practical strategies to upskill and experiment in these domains. Topics include approaches to effectively contextualize, combine, and develop capability in design thinking, data literacy, marketing, systems design, and performance consulting.
In this session, you will learn:
- About four key trends influencing the future of work
- Priority L&D strategies to enable people in that future
- About the centrality of experience design, continuous learning, and data moving forward
- About priority skill clusters to develop in yourself and your team
- About the particular competitive edge of combining design thinking and data analytical mindsets
- Simple next steps to begin upskilling yourself and your team in various skill clusters
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Blended learning, performance ecosystems, data, and xAPI.
Arun Pradhan
Learning, Performance & Innovation Strategist
ArunPradhan.com
Arun Pradhan is a curious geek obsessed with helping people and organizations learn, perform, and innovate. He has taken the lead creative role in delivering learning campaigns and performance ecosystems to Australia's largest banks, telcos, and retailers. Arun was awarded Australia's Learning Professional of the Year Award in 2017 and the Australian eLearning Award for Individual Excellence in 2015. He is the founder of Learn2LearnApp.com, an enterprise solution to enable a learning agility, and is launching his next start-up soon. Arun's areas of specialization include using design thinking for performance solutions and enabling learning agility in organizations and people.
405 An Inbound Approach to Your LMS Launch
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Montego C
You’ve signed the contract for your new LMS, but the hard work is only beginning. It’s time to think like a marketer. How can you get everyone at your company to adopt this new software? How can you help employees to think of learning as happening outside of the classroom?
In this session, you'll learn how to use an inbound mindset to drive adoption and engagement of your LMS. You’ll discover how to create a learner persona and get ideas for creating a multi-channel marketing campaign that meets your learners where they are. You’ll be inspired to create an exciting event out of your launch date and be ready to support and engage learners from that first moment they log in.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to research and create a learner persona for your LMS
- How to create the feeling of an event and get people excited on launch day
- How to develop a communication strategy around your LMS launch
- How you can prepare to support your learners on the launch date so they can focus on diving into the platform
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Docebo LMS, Slack, Canva, Atlassian Confluence, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Emily Ricco
Sr Manager of Learning Design
Salesforce
Emily Ricco is currently senior manager of learning design at Salesforce. She formerly managed the L&D team at HubSpot. Emily was a member of the Learning Thirty Under 30 cohort in 2018 and has spoken at DevLearn.
410 Learning Technology’s Past, Present, and Future: A Guild Master Panel
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Bermuda AB
Technology has shaped much of the world of education and training for decades. Understanding the role technology plays in our work is critical as technology continues to advance and become even more embedded into our work. Being prepared for this emerging world won’t be easy and will require an understanding of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are headed.
In this session, you will join in a discussion with many of those recognized as Guild Masters exploring the role technology plays in our work. You will discuss the various technologies that have shifted the landscape of organizational learning, and the common characteristics of emerging technologies that have the potential to disrupt organizational learning. We’ve invited all our Guild Masters to this discussion, making this super-sized panel a conversation you won’t want to miss.
In this session, you will learn:
- How technology can disrupt organizational learning
- Lessons from the past that inform how we approach the future
- The common characteristics shared by disruptive technologies
- Tips for staying ahead of changes in the learning technology landscape
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
Joe Ganci
President
eLearning Joe
Joe Ganci is the owner and president of eLearning Joe, a custom learning company. Since 1983, he has been involved in every aspect of multimedia and learning development. Joe holds a computer science degree, writes books and articles about eLearning, and is widely considered an eLearning development guru. He consults worldwide and also teaches at conferences and client sites. Joe writes tool reviews and has received several awards for his work in eLearning, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 and an eLearning Guild Master Award in 2013. His mission is to improve the quality of eLearning with practical approaches that work.
Marc Rosenberg
President
Marc Rosenberg and Associates
Dr. Marc Rosenberg is a global expert and speaker in training, organizational learning, eLearning, knowledge management, and performance improvement. He has written two best-selling books, E-Learning, and Beyond E-Learning. His 100 monthly columns, “Marc My Words,” appeared in The eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions magazine from 2010 through 2018 and are still available online. Marc is past president and honorary life member of the International Society for Performance Improvement, is an eLearning Guild “Guild Master,” has spoken at the White House, debated eLearning’s future at Oxford University, keynoted conferences around the world, authored over 200 columns, articles, white papers, and book chapters, and is frequently quoted in major trade publications. Learn more at www.marcrosenberg.com.
Michael Allen
Founder and CEO
Allen Interactions
Dr. Michael Allen, founder and CEO of Allen Interactions, has been a pioneer in the eLearning industry since 1975. Dr. Allen has more than 50 years of professional, academic, and corporate experience in teaching, developing, and marketing interactive learning and performance support systems. Dr. Allen has led teams of doctorate-level specialists in learning research, instructional design, computer-assisted learning, and human engineering. He defined unique principles and methods, Successive Approximation process or SAM, and the CCAF design model for designing and developing high impact interactive eLearning experiences that invoke critical cognitive activity and practice.
Julie Dirksen
Learning Strategist
Usable Learning
Julie Dirksen, a learning strategist with Usable Learning, is a consultant and instructional designer with more than 15 years' experience creating highly interactive eLearning experiences for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to technology startups to grant-funded research initiatives. She's interested in using neuroscience, change management, and persuasive technology to promote sustainable long-term learning and behavior change. Her MS degree in instructional systems technology is from Indiana University, and she's been an adjunct faculty member at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She is the author of Design For How People Learn.
Jane Bozarth
Director of Research
The Learning Guild
Jane Bozarth, the director of research for the Learning Guild, is a veteran classroom trainer who transitioned to eLearning in the late 1990s and has never looked back. In her previous job as leader of the State of North Carolina's award-winning eLearning program, Jane specialized in finding low-cost ways of providing online training solutions. She is the author of several books, including eLearning Solutions on a Shoestring, Social Media for Trainers, and Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-To's of Working Out Loud. Jane holds a doctorate in training and development and was awarded the Guild Master Award in 2013 for her accomplishments and contributions to the eLearning community.
Nick Floro
Learning Architect/Imagineer
Sealworks Interactive Studios
Nick Floro, a co-founder and learning architect at Sealworks Interactive Studios, has over 25 years of experience developing learning solutions, applications, and web platforms. Nick is passionate about how design and technology can enhance learning and loves to share his knowledge and experience to teach, inspire, and motivate. As a learning architect, Nick gets to sketch, imagine, and prototype for each challenge. He has worked with start-ups to Fortune 500 companies to help them understand the technology and develop innovative solutions to support their audiences. Nick has won numerous awards from Apple and organizations for productions and services.
Robert Gadd
President
OnPoint Digital
Robert Gadd is president of OnPoint Digital and responsible for the company’s vision and strategy. OnPoint’s online and mobile-enabled offerings support more than one million workers and include innovative methods for content authoring, conversion, and delivery extended with social interactions, gamification, and enterprise-grade security for workers on their device or platform of choice. Prior to OnPoint, Robert spent 10 years as CTO of Datatec Systems and president/CTO of spin-off eDeploy.com. He is a frequent speaker on learning solutions—including mobile, informal learning, xAPI, and gamification—at national and international T&D conferences.
David Kelly
Chairman
The Learning Guild
David Kelly is the Chairman of the Learning Guild. David has been a learning and performance consultant and training director for over 20 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance. David is an active member of the learning community, and can frequently be found speaking at industry events. He has previously contributed to organizations including ATD, eLearn Magazine, LINGOs, and more.
411 Demystifying the LMS Selection Process
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Montego B
Choosing the right learning technology is a daunting task. A bad decision could cost an organization immeasurable time and money, not to mention the negative impact on talent development. Research shows that nearly half of organizations are looking to choose another technology provider. Whether the system is lacking features, is hard to use, or simply appears outdated, companies want a change.
Organizations are looking for modern, flexible systems that can adapt to the evolving needs of the business and its learners. Join this discussion exploring the evolving learning landscape and what it takes to select and implement a new platform that can deliver this environment.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify the right requirements for choosing a technology
- The steps to building impactful use cases
- Why you need to create an RFI
- A technology migration framework
- Practical steps to help you make a successful transition
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced managers, project managers, directors, and executives.
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning management systems.
David Wentworth
VP, Learning & Talent Development Platform Evangelist
Schoox
In his role, David Wentworth is part of the company’s Go-to-Market team, developing and implementing a strategy that communicates Schoox’s value proposition at scale. David has over a decade of knowledge of the HCM market, including a deep understanding of the workplace technology industry, emphasizing learning and development. David is a regular speaker at talent management and HR industry events and has authored numerous articles in learning publications.
SEMT202 Out of the Back Room: McDonald’s Digital Learning Transformation
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Emerging Tech Stage
With more than one million new crew members hired every year in the US alone, it is imperative for McDonald’s to onboard new hires efficiently and effectively. However, new hires were spending more than twelve hours studying processes and procedures in back rooms with printed binders that could double as doorstops before learning in the restaurant with peers and managers. McDonald’s recognized the need for a new approach to their training program.
In this session, you will learn how McDonald’s modernized their global onboarding and operations by adopting a smart content system. You’ll hear how moving onboarding out of back rooms and into kitchens with shoulder-to-shoulder training on mobile devices took McDonald’s crew member training to the next level. You’ll find out how these interactive, searchable reference guides help deliver a consistent customer experience worldwide while saving time and increasing productivity. You’ll discover how McDonald’s saves $30 million in labor costs annually by shaving off three hours of crew member training time.
In this session, you will learn:
- How providing digital training materials on mobile devices decreases onboarding time and increases training effectiveness by enabling shoulder-to-shoulder training
- How smart content systems drive super field execution through consistent access to a single version of accurate content with real-time updates
- Why transitioning to digital operational content empowers managers and employees with easy search and discovery of information, which increases employee engagement and job satisfaction
- How significant time savings, cost reductions, and quality of service improvements can be achieved by going digital and ditching the printing and shipping of onboarding and training materials
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Inkling.
Alex Martell
Senior Solution Consultant
Inkling
Alex Martell, a senior learning consultant with Inkling, is responsible for helping customers plan and build for implementations of the Inkling platform. Alex started his technology career 17 years ago on a help desk and has since transitioned through project management and finally into solution engineering. For the past nine years, he has focused on enabling large organizations to empower their field teams and improve their customer experience through technology. Alex helps Inkling’s customers to see value in providing a better experience for the deskless workforce and has helped companies find value in a better user experience, including Kohl’s, Liberty Mutual, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
SMNX202 Perception to Reality: Proving Your Training’s Value
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
In a world of perpetually shifting priorities and uncertain outlooks, it’s important to prove the value of your work to your clients and stakeholders. We rarely have the resources we need to do effective analysis before and after training, which leads many in management to view training as just an expendable expense rather than an investment. How can we, as learning professionals, change that reality?
In this session, you will learn how you can address this issue by using expectations and practical, on-the-spot analytics to change perceptions about training. Your clients, stakeholders, and learners may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Show them the value that you, your team, and your training bring to the table by giving them what they need to believe.
In this session, you will learn:
- The importance of perceived value
- Multiple practical methods to quantify the value of your training, including satisfaction, impact, and more
- How to use return on expectations (ROE) in place of and alongside return on investment (ROI)
- Strategies for communicating with clients and stakeholders on the value and effectiveness of your training programs
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline, Adobe Creative Cloud, TechSmith Camtasia, Salesforce, G Suite, Google Analytics, Microsoft Office Suite.
John Wurch
President and CEO
JPW Consulting
John Wurch is the president and CEO of JPW Consulting, which he founded in 1998 to provide premium training and high-quality courseware to corporate clients. John’s role includes viewing the horizon of learning best practices and taking the best practices and incorporating them into specific and actionable training programs. He frequently speaks at Salesforce.com events, as well as PMI chapter events around adoption best practices utilizing JPW’s adoption playbook. In addition, John frequently engages directly with clients to ensure project success is met. John holds an MBA, as well as PMP certification.
Shawn Zuratovic
Senior Learning Consultant
JPW Consulting
Shawn Zuratovic is a senior learning consultant with over 10 years of experience in designing, developing, and delivering innovative learning solutions utilizing the latest and greatest eLearning and analytics technology. He helps organizations of all industries, sizes, and locations, from small local startups to global giants, make the digital transformation in training.
STRS202 Successfully Implementing an LCMS: eXact and Merck Case Study
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
One of the most challenging issues for organizations is how to undertake digital transformation successfully. Adopting new technology to address content and learning challenges can be high on internal agendas, and therefore it is imperative that the enabling technology is able to deliver successful outcomes to an organization. It is essential to anticipate the challenges that might lie ahead, in order to optimize potential efficiencies and measurable benefits. This session will provide a guide for those who might consider embarking on such an internal transformation—and you will be given the background on how Merck progressed on its innovation journey.
In this session, introduced by eXact learning solutions, you will discover the considerations and challenges the Merck team was trying to address at the outset. While understanding their goals, you will be provided with some useful dos and don’ts from a Fortune 50 company having undertaken the initiative. Find out how Merck enhanced its ability to tailor its content to the needs of its audience and efficiently delivered engaging information successfully. The session will discuss some of the challenges around delivering content “chunks,” and how Merck and eXact worked together to meet the needs of the Merck internal audience. Discover how eXact’s consulting process really focused on understanding internal needs. The session will aim to provide practical solutions that will be applicable to other organizational learning scenarios.
In this session, you will learn:
- About some of the complexities of implementing a new system internally
- Dos and don’ts, and pitfalls for other practitioners to anticipate
- How Merck overcame the challenges of implementing a personalized experience for all internal users
- Some of the key takeaways for Merck’s innovative learning team from delivering a successful internal program
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
The eXact learning solutions digital transformation solution (or LCMS).
Robert DeMaria
Business Development Sr. Solutions Architect
eXact learning solutions
Robert DeMaria is a business development senior solutions architect at eXact learning solutions. Through his consultative approach, his nearly 20 years’ experience in technology, and his unique ability to infuse business needs with cutting-edge strategies, Robert provides organizations with the concepts and solutions they need to reach greater heights. His foundation in learning management, portals, content management, authoring tools, and strategic implementations is just the beginning. Robert’s advanced experience in 3-D virtual worlds for learning, informal learning strategies, and the emerging use of artificial intelligence makes him a pioneer of the future.
SELT203 How Organizations Create and Deliver eLearning at Scale
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: eLearning Tools Stage
This session will look at the eight big challenges that gomo’s global customers have highlighted when developing and delivering eLearning at scale.
These challenges include effective teamwork, design consistency, rolling out global branding and design changes, ease of use for subject matter experts, getting courses quickly and easily into an LMS, updating content when it’s live in an LMS, reaching learners via non-LMS routes, and reaching learners on any device.
In this session, you will learn:
- How global teams can work together effectively
- How to ensure design consistency
- How to roll out global branding and design updates in seconds
- How ease of use allows subject matter experts to use an authoring tool
- How to get courses quickly and easily into an LMS
- How to instantly update content when it’s live in an LMS
- How to reach learners via non-LMS routes
- How to reach learners on any device with the rise of smartphones and BYOD policies
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
The gomo learning suite.
Mike Alcock
Global Sales Director
Instilled
Michael Alcock, global sales director for Instilled and Gomo, is responsible for the company's strategy for UK and worldwide sales, product development, and global marketing. Prior to Gomo, Mike founded Atlantic Link Limited, where he invented the world's first cloud-based authoring tool.
SMNX203 Learning Like Tribes: A Knowledge Expansion Model
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
For thousands of years, knowledge has been the catalyst for growth, providing organized groups of individuals a competitive advantage. Awareness, insight, and discernment became essential for groups to progress and lead, and that same principle shapes today’s successful organizations. One of the main challenges that organizations face is aligning business objectives with employees’ ambitions. Clustering individuals and calling them a group doesn’t necessarily guarantee they’ll meet learning goals or the company’s expectations. The assimilation of knowledge depends on many factors, and even when you can granularly customize training, you still need to make it applicable to the collective goal.
In this session, you’ll take a deep dive into the fundamentals of tribal learning and how this can help you build stronger and focused groups: a solid model that works today for the most successful organizations. When taking a tribal approach to learning, you are compelled to direct your efforts toward the common goal. Learning from the way tribes learn promotes creative thinking and fosters authentic collaboration, strengthening collective learning without undermining individual accomplishments. Storytelling is still considered one of the most effective knowledge delivery mechanisms; stories not only teach but bolster human connection and build up culture and values. You will also learn how games were utilized, the effects of recognition, and how you can implement these tactics as members of the modern tribe. The main takeaway will be a practical assessment model that will allow you to identify learning opportunities and appraise the current state of your “tribe.”
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify your learning tribes
- The basic principles of tribal learning
- About the balance between formal and informal learning
- About innovative storytelling techniques
- Social sharing methods for corporate training
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Some examples of modern-day storytelling, interactive video, and Klaxoon.
Dan Gizzi
VP of Business Development
Learning Tribes
Dan Gizzi is the VP of business Development for Learning Tribes. Dan has worked at the forefront of technology and education for more than a decade. He moved from sales representative to become director of retention solutions at Pearsons, where he partnered with private sector institutions to redesign their offerings for students who weren’t ready to begin college-level courses. In his position with Learning Tribes, Dan continues his path of empowering professionals to reach their maximum potential as they work towards their company’s goals.
504 Working Digitally: Strategies for Moving L&D Forward
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 25
Andros AB
Digital transformation is the push for most L&D organizations. But what does it really mean? Just because you are leveraging digital technology to develop learning assets doesn’t necessarily mean you are working in a digital way. In many ways, today’s L&D is still “analog,” leveraging the latest technology but traditional methodologies and working culture. You may need to not only transform your tool set, but also your mindset and how you work.
In this session, you’ll learn the difference between “doing digital” and “working digitally.” Everyone leverages modern digital learning technology to design, develop, and deploy assets, but how are you collaborating? How transparent and open is your process? Find out how to use digital toolkits empowering you to work differently. You’ll learn strategies to identify systems that empower digital ways of working. Culture is different in every organization, so you’ll also learn how to either embrace or push your current culture through operation and organization. Ultimately, you’ll discover the right way to move L&D incrementally toward a digitally mature future.
In this session, you will learn:
- How doing digital and working digitally are different
- Why working digitally is the future of L&D
- How to identify the right digital strategy for your culture
- What’s next to move your organization in the right direction
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Various systems and technologies used in design, development, and collaboration with work, including management of these.
Sean Bengry
Director, Digital Learning Studio
PwC
Sean Bengry is a director in PwC’s Digital Learning Studio. He keeps apprised of L&D trends and focuses PwC on its role in the ever-shifting state of learning culture and the intersection of technology. Sean is passionate about leveraging technology to help people find the right information they need to do their job successfully. As an active speaker and leader, his work has taken him all over the world as he continues to assist others in developing corporate learning strategy, but more importantly, changing the overall culture of learning within companies.
505 Project Management Tips for Learning Professionals
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 25
Montego A
Managing learning projects, even small ones, can be a complex endeavor for learning professionals attempting to bring their courses to life. By incorporating appropriate project management principles, instructional designers can create a smooth process for all stakeholders involved in designing and developing learning products to submit project deliverables on time.
Keeping track of the deliverables for a project can be cumbersome and hectic if you do not have a process in place to manage it. In this session, you will learn some tips for putting project management principles and processes to work for you: to streamline the design and development of your courses, and to keep stakeholders and subject matter experts informed and on track. You will take a closer look at the questions you need to ask before creating a course development timeline, and at examples of challenges that might affect production schedules or delivery dates.
In this session, you will learn:
- Project management principles and processes to guide your course production
- Questions to consider while creating your development timeline
- From examples of challenges that affect your timeline and what course of action to take
- About simple project management platforms to use
- About project documents to keep stakeholder and subject matter experts informed and on track
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Project management platforms such as Smartsheet, Wrike, Microsoft Office 365 Planner, and Asana.
Rachel Moss Ellsworth
Sr. Learning and Development Specialist
Daymon Interactions
Rachel Moss Ellsworth is a senior learning and development specialist at Daymon Interactions, a global leader in building successful brands and delivering high-impact experiential consumer marketing and in-store services. Rachel earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California–Santa Barbara and her master’s degree in educational technology from San Diego State University. She is currently completing her dissertation in the educational technology doctoral program through the University of Florida.
Monica Dragonheart
Learning and Development Specialist
Daymon Interactions
Monica Dragonheart is a learning and development specialist at Daymon Interactions, a global leader in building successful brands and delivering high-impact experiential consumer marketing and in-store services.
511 What Is Learning Engineering?
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 25
Montego C
Education, training, and even learning itself is changing. As technology advances, the shift towards learning and development initiatives that require engineering support is growing at an ever-increasing speed. The increased need for engineering skills within learning and development will be a major disruption in the near future, one filled with both challenges and opportunities.
In this session, you will discover the growing world of learning engineering, learning from leaders of the IEEE IC Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering (ICICLE). While the need for technical competence for create, design, produce, and manage education and training programs has existed for decades, this session will explain how and why engineering problem-solving methodologies are becoming more central to learning and development endeavors. Join us and learn more about this exciting new professional growth opportunity for eLearning professionals.
In this session, you will learn:
- What learning engineering is
- What forces are driving the need for learning engineering
- The opportunities learning engineering presents to our industry
- The challenges learning engineering presents to individuals, organizations, and our industry
Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
N/A.
Robby Robson
President
Eduworks
Robby Robson, the president of Eduworks, is an internationally recognized innovator in online learning. He began developing web-based learning content and learning management systems in 1995, chaired the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee from 2000 – 2008, and has helped dozens of organizations develop eLearning technology strategies. He has served as principle investigator and lead scientist on multiple federally funded projects that explored new technologies for learning, education, and training. Robby co-founded Eduworks in 2001, where he has guided research, services, and product development.
Avron Barr
Chair
IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee
Avron Barr started his career as a programmer at Stanford University; editor of the seminal Handbook of Artificial Intelligence; and founder of Teknowledge, an early AI startup in Silicon Valley. Since Teknowledge was sold in 1986, he has been an independent consultant, helping people understand, explain, and market cutting-edge software. He consults for the Institute for Defense Analyses and is involved in the US Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative’s Total Learning Architecture project. He volunteers as chair of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee and spends his free time hiking in the redwood forests around Santa Cruz, California.
STRS204 Developing a Learning Technology Strategy: Where to Start
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
Do you find that the pressures of rapidly changing technology and the need to support a nontraditional, remote workforce require rethinking how work is done in your organization? Is it challenging for your organization to keep up with the needs of your audience due to restrictive, outdated procedures, tools, and skill sets? For the talent development function, emerging workforce needs raise important questions when it comes to strategic planning.
During this session, you will learn a practical, four-step approach to developing a learning technology strategy for your organization. You will also explore about common pitfalls to avoid. You will receive access to worksheets that may be used back on the job during specific stages of the strategic planning process.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to identify drivers for learning technology in your organization
- How to define the goals of your learning technology strategy
- How to analyze your current state
- How to develop an action plan
- How to ensure that you execute on your learning technology strategy effectively
Audience:
Managers and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executive, etc.).
Sarah Mercier
CEO & Strategic Consultant
Build Capable
Sarah Mercier, CEO and strategic consultant at Build Capable, specializes in instructional strategy and learning technology. Sarah is known for translating highly technical concepts and research to real-world practice. She is an international facilitator for the Association for Talent Development and Greater Atlanta ATD Past President. Her innovative learning solutions have been recognized by winning industry awards, such as Best of Show at FocusOn Learning DemoFest for xAPI for Interactive eBooks, and Best Performance Support Solution at DevLearn DemoFest for Critical Success Factors training and assessment tool. Sarah is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and business events on topics such as instructional design and development, accessibility, data strategy, and learning ecosystems. Her work has been published in ATD’s 2020 Trends in Learning Technology, The Book of Road-Tested Activities, TD Magazine, Learning Solutions Magazine, CLO Magazine, and a variety of other training and workforce publications.
SMNX205 Keeping an Agile Workforce in the Digital Age
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
Digital transformation is accelerating at an exponential pace. While it disrupts old ways of doing things, it also opens up new avenues of innovation, efficiency, and connectivity. As complexity increases, you have the opportunity to use tech to support your performance, to learn, share ideas, and innovate. This requires thinking differently about how you digitally design your learning and interactions. Agility depends on it.
In this session, you will explore ways you can use digital learning design to make learning the way you work, to unleash the collective intelligence in your organizational community, and to build powerful learning organizations—essential for agility in the digital age. You will examine recent, tangible examples from Mars, Inc. and how it successfully designed digital learning enterprise-wide.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the role that talent leaders must play as architects of agility in the digital age
- How digital learning is essential to support performance and catalyze a culture of curiosity
- About the building blocks of digital learning through key use cases at Mars
- A road map for building digital capability in your organization
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
EdCast, an organizational “knowledge cloud.”
Mimi Williams
lobal Curriculum Design Director
Mars, Inc.
Mimi Williams is the Global Curriculum Design Director at Mars, Inc. She is an expert at building and customizing measurement strategies and has over seven years’ experience in curriculum development.
Patricia Robertson
Chief Knowledge Officer
EdCast
Patricia Robertson is the chief knowledge officer at EdCast. She is experienced in strategic planning, innovation, organizational development, and learning, working with Fortune 100s, private enterprises, and nonprofits across sectors including healthcare, energy, technology, and higher education. Patty implemented EdCast while head of professional and leadership development and enterprise digital learning innovation at Shire and serving on EdX’s advisory board. She led MIT’s two largest custom executive education programs—the BP Operations Academy and Accenture’s Technology Academy—delivering blended, distance learning programs globally, and she led two startups: an alternative medicine network, Wellspace, and an MIT Media Lab digital identity company, Presto.
STRS205 Practical Microlearning: Continuous Compliance Training
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM Thursday, October 25
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
Everyone’s talking about microlearning, but what does it really mean to your organization? Is microlearning destined to simply mean sub-10-minute videos, or is there more to it?
This session will demonstrate exactly how one organization left annual compliance training and adopted continuous compliance training with three minutes of personalized learning every day. You will get a peek behind the curtain at learner analytics and engagement statistics, and you’ll be guided through a sample content conversion. This will be a fast-paced session focused on the real impact and results from moving to continuous compliance training. Attendees will receive a free account on the OttoLearn platform so you can try out what you’ve learned in this session.
In this session, you will learn:
- The difference between microlearning and adaptive microlearning
- How to structure content for adaptive microlearning delivery
- How an organization moved away from annual compliance training to continuous compliance
- About the surprising impact on employees
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Learner analytics and engagement statistics; two adaptive microlearning platforms.
Dan Belhassen
President/Founder
Neovation Learning Solutions
Dan Belhassen is the president and founder of Neovation Learning Solutions. A 20+ year tech entrepreneur, Dan Belhassen is passionate about how integrating relevant technology improves KPIs and drives opportunities, with a laser-focus on how best to measure the impact of online training to close skill and knowledge gaps. His speaking style is best described as "demystifying all things internet, making technology understandable/adoptable even by the least tech-savvy person in the audience” while engaging and even challenging the technical professionals in the room.
604 Case Study: Starting an Online Community—from Ideation to Launch
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 25
Barbados AB
Morningstar is built around serving individuals—both by helping them reach great financial outcomes and by providing outstanding customer service. Morningstar partnered with an online community platform to modernize the support experience, provide greater transparency around product development, and enable its customers to connect with each other. This session shares that journey with you, so you can know what’s ahead if you choose this option for surfacing and supplementing more traditional eLearning.
In this case study session, learn how Morningstar revolutionized their customer experience by building a brand-new community where their users can interact and receive the help they need. You’ll hear how a cross-functional team at Morningstar collaborated to define the problems they wanted to solve and the types of user experiences they wanted to foster. You’ll learn how customer communities are much more than just chatrooms, allowing companies to serve up help content, walk users through guided learning experiences, and even gather feedback and product ideas.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why a leader in the financial technology space made a significant investment in community
- What questions a company should ask itself when designing a customer community
- How communities play a major role in improving customer experience
- How eLearning can be integrated into a customer community
Audience:
Designers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Morningstar Community site.
Ryan McClelland
Customer Engagement Manager
Morningstar
Ryan McClelland is a customer engagement manager at Morningstar. He began his career at Morningstar in 2007 as a technical writer, and he went from writing online help content to teaching users how to use Morningstar software via webinars and live workshops. Ryan went on to lead internal training for Morningstar employees. He has most recently taken on the role of community manager for Morningstar’s customer community.
Brian O’Neill
Director of Customer Engagement
Morningstar
Brian O’Neill is a director of customer engagement at Morningstar. He joined Morningstar as a training manager in 2007 and spent time in the sales organization before directing the client solutions consulting team, which works directly with Morningstar clients to get them up to speed on the software. Brian has spearheaded the launch of the Morningstar Community.
605 CANCELLED: Building a Culture of Feedback with Your Digital Learning Strategy
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 25
Antigua A
While organizations have started to recognize the importance of including practice in their learning programs, one of the most critical aspects of practice—feedback—has been an overlooked aspect of performance improvement. Feedback is challenging, as most feedback depends on critique, and an organization’s culture can impact how comfortable employees are in providing and receiving feedback.
Join this session to learn how to introduce feedback into your digital learning strategy while developing a culture of feedback. Providing opportunities to give and receive critique as part of your digital learning strategy can be a powerful tool to ensure that L&D programs have measurable impact on performance, while developing the critical skills of providing and incorporating feedback to see continuous employee performance improvement across your organization. You’ll explore how coaching, mentoring, and social assessment can be delivered as part of your digital learning strategy, and you’ll leave with tangible ways to improve feedback in your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- How feedback is a critical component of a digital learning strategy
- About the challenges in providing feedback and critique
- Strategies for building skills in providing meaningful feedback
- Proven approaches for incorporating coaching and mentoring in your digital learning strategy
- About the impact social assessment can have on performance improvement and building a culture of feedback
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
YouSeeU, CritiqueIt Practice, and potentially other practice/feedback platforms.
Koreen Pagano
Founder & CEO
Isanno, Inc.
Koreen Pagano, founder and CEO of Isanno, Inc., is a globally recognized product leader with deep expertise in learning technologies, skills strategy, AI, analytics, and immersive technologies. Koreen has held product leadership roles building go-to-market strategies and technology and content products for learning, skills, and talent markets at Lynda.com, LinkedIn, D2L, Degreed, and Wiley. Koreen previously founded Tandem Learning in 2008, where she pioneered immersive learning through virtual worlds, games, and simulations. She has taught graduate courses at Harrisburg University and provided advisory and consulting services to emerging tech companies in the VR and education markets. Koreen is a seasoned international speaker and author of the book Immersive Learning.
704 Multiplying Your L&D Capacity with Employee-Generated Learning
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 26
Andros AB
Tighter budgets, smaller L&D teams, and an increasing number of learning requests. You can’t do more with less. Or can you? L&D needs a new approach—and one that can be built in-house by leveraging internal expertise. What if there were an option for L&D to put the employees at the center of the learning ecosystem and enable them to drive and self-serve their training needs?
In this session, you’ll learn how an employee-generated learning (EGL) model can help L&D overcome these challenges and why it complements the existing L&D interventions. You’ll uncover how to practically implement EGL, and explore the best practices drawn from companies such as Nielsen, Unilever, and Electrolux. You’ll analyze the barriers and opportunities (including didactics and technical aspects) to implement EGL at scale. Finally, you’ll leave the session with actionable ideas on how to get started with this approach and an understanding of the suitability of this approach to your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- What employee-generated learning (EGL) is, and what it can mean for your organization
- How to start the shift toward EGL
- Practical L&D applications and examples of EGL
- Challenges and opportunities when implementing EGL
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Kasper Spiro
CEO
Easygenerator
Kasper Spiro is the CEO of Easygenerator. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of learning: teaching, authoring textbooks, designing and creating eLearning, and developing knowledge management systems, user performance support systems, and eLearning systems. Kasper’s experience as a manager also includes being CEO of an early internet startup in the 1990s. At Easygenerator, the goal is to facilitate non-learning professionals in sharing knowledge and creating effective eLearning through Easygenerator’s cloud- based eLearning service.
705 Learning Professionals as True Business Partners
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 26
St. Croix B
As a training manager or instructional designer, have you found yourself on the outside looking in when business decisions are made? Do you have a seat at the table when business strategy is discussed within your organization? Are you in the unenviable position of reacting to others’ decisions regarding employee training rather than influencing or leading the conversation? That doesn’t have to stop you from changing the situation and becoming a true business partner who can help drive strategy.
In this session, you will learn how to advocate for a seat at the table by proving you can align learning with business strategy and execute on business goals. You will examine how to move your learning strategy from training to a performance improvement focus. You will learn a variety of performance improvement techniques to increase the effectiveness of your learning projects. You will leave this session armed with ideas for skills to develop and tools to help you become a better business partner in your organization. There is a seat at the table waiting for you.
In this session, you will learn:
- What may be holding you back from having a seat at the leadership table
- Why your career as a learning professional should be more about performance improvement than just training
- What senior leadership looks for in a true business partner
- Skills and techniques to improve your business acumen
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, and senior leaders (directors, VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Sonya Overstreet
Learning and Development Manager
Leadec
Sonya Overstreet is the North America learning and development manager for Leadec and a certified performance technologist. She has over 20 years of experience in engineering, performance improvement, and L&D. Throughout her career, Sonya managed the development of technical and leadership training within various industries. She has presented at conferences for the American Society for Engineering Education and the International Society for Performance Improvement. Sonya holds a master of science degree In instructional design and performance technology. Her awards include Technology Rising Star 2017 from the Women of Color STEM Conference and the Excellence in Practices Operation 2016.
804 Selecting Innovative eLearning Technologies: A Practical Guide
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 26
St. Thomas A
With an ever-expanding number of teaching and learning technologies available, it can be challenging to pick the ones that fit the needs of your learners and organization. All of these technologies claim to solve your problems, so how do you know you are making the right choice? Without a sound strategy, it may be difficult to select appropriate, innovative, and institutionally sustainable technologies.
In this session, you will learn about the strategies that can assist your decision-making process when selecting innovative, yet sustainable, technologies. You will also learn how to assess, vet, and critically evaluate technologies and how they integrate into a comprehensive strategy. You’ll develop skills to address issues you may encounter with current technologies. In addition, you will explore the biases, tendencies, and emotional aspects of choosing technologies. You will leave this session with practical strategies and resources to help you evaluate and select technology for your eLearning endeavors.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why technology should be thoroughly assessed before implementing
- What factors you should consider when selecting learning technologies
- How biases, tendencies, and emotions affect the decision-making process
- How to leverage your resources to ensure a sound technology strategy
- How and when to re-evaluate and pivot your technology strategy
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.), and strategists.
Technology discussed in this session:
Common eLearning technologies such as learning management systems, LTI tools, etc.
Nikki McIntosh
Owner and Lead Instructional Designer
Home Learning + Development
Nikki McIntosh is the owner and lead instructional designer at Hone Learning + Development. She has experience in both academic and professional settings. While working at University of Wisconsin–Madison, she was the liaison to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and the Wisconsin Department of Justice. She has worked in the field of educational media and technology for over five years. Nikki has an associate degree in visual communications and a bachelor’s degree in adult education from Bellevue University.