Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

Kick-start your day with Morning Buzz, the ever-popular “Early Bird” discussions. This is your chance to grab a cup of coffee and meet other conference attendees in a relaxed, casual environment, so you can share your best practices, insights, and tips while learning from one another’s experiences.

The goal of most learning programs is to create an experience that engages the participant in a way that enables learning. Mobile, video, and games are just three of the tools we use to support these types of experiences. However, understanding our tools is only half of the equation; in order to use them effectively, we also need to understand what it is that causes people to engage with content in today’s digital world. In this keynote, web psychologist Nathalie Nahai will explore why and how we use online content in the way we do, every hour of every day. She will cut through the common misconceptions about Internet use, calling upon online behavior research that examines real rather than theoretical information. Ms. Nahai’s keynote will help you discover the scientific rigor that can be applied to your design and decision-making processes to achieve better engagement.

Time is money, and so are happy clients! Come spend some time with the Articulate team and learn how you can speed up your workflow, help your budget, and increase your productivity with the tools in Articulate 360.

This session provides a comprehensive introduction to video compression and how to optimize content for delivery to mobile and desktop. It’s an overview of everything you need to know about preparing and delivering the highest-quality video and audio to your audience. The discussion will cover techniques and interactivity, as well as the latest standards. Learn how to take advantage of open-source, free compression tools and the latest applications for getting the smallest file sizes and the highest quality. You’ll also learn how you can create your own in-house studio for under $1,500.

You love the idea of using mobile, but you’re not sure how to get started, how to test a concept, or how to improve the design to be on the same level that mobile users are used to with their latest apps.

In this session, you will learn four primary methods for designing a mobile experience. You’ll also learn how to take a concept, sketch, or prototype and design for an amazing learner experience. You’ll actually walk through using paper, then mobile tools, and finally doing everything from your desktop based on your preference.

In this session, you will learn:

• About four primary delivery methods for designing mobile experiences
• How to sketch and prototype using just your phone or tablet
• How to use a web browser to prototype
• About best practices for sharing and gathering feedback
• About resources and tools to help you get started
• How to create advanced prototypes

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Sketching techniques and mobile and web-based apps for prototyping, such as Marvel, Marvel Pro, and Proto.io.

Technology required:
Android or iOS phone or tablet, and a laptop with a modern web browser (Chrome, Safari, IE11, or Edge).

Most people interact with social media via their smartphone on a continual basis throughout the day. Smartphones and social media are integrated into daily life. Interactive and social learning can maximize learning opportunities by engaging in actions that people are already accustomed to.

In this session, you will explore the creation of an interactive microlearning session for deployment to mobile devices. You will create a less-than-one-minute interactive video using your phone or laptop, be able to post your videos on social media channels, and direct the video to individuals or groups. You will learn how to best utilize techniques to focus your microlearning and integrate social media in order to leverage the everyday use of smartphones and create an environment for smart learning.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to integrate the use of social media into learning
• How to create an interactive video
• How to leverage mobile learning opportunities

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Android or iOS mobile phone, Adobe Premiere Clip, HapYak, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Technology required:
Laptop and mobile phone with Internet connection.

The digital world is entering your learners’ world in a big way. Augmented reality is reshaping the way they interact with systems and websites, entertainment, and of course, education, and this change is ultimately coming to your organization!

In this session, you’ll explore the connections between some of the most popular AR experiences out there today and your corporate learning strategy. The session will cut through the hype and draw correlations between them and their success, relating how you can use their design patterns and sticky user experiences to create valuable, easy-to-use mixed-reality experiences that produce results and happy learners!

In this session, you will learn:

• How popular trends in AR can apply to learning strategy
• How to analyze AR products and identify common design patterns
• How to plan for user experiences and expectations in order to align user acceptance with organizational goals

Audience:
Intermediate designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Augmented reality, design patterns, usability, and user acceptance.

With the ADL’s release of cmi5 in June 2016 as the xAPI profile for LMS/content communication, a wave of early-adopter authoring tools have embraced the specification. Other authoring tools have been slower to adopt cmi5, opting to rely on xAPI-enabled SCORM modules to extend tracking beyond the limited data points of SCORM.

In this session, you will explore commercially available authoring tool adoption of cmi5, including the structure of xAPI statements generated by those tools. More importantly, you will review how to use those statements for reporting on a variety of interactions within an online content module. In addition to reviewing authoring tools, the session will discuss critical differences between cmi5 and SCORM, including the advantages of cmi5 and possible migration plans for adopters.

In this session, you will learn:

• About cmi5 support for various authoring tools
• About the benefits and limitations of xAPI-enabled SCORM content
• About options for cmi5 adoption within an organization
• About the infrastructure needed to support xAPI and cmi5 within your organization

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Authoring tools, including iSpring and Obsidian Black; learning record stores (LRSs), including the ADL LRS and Watershed ADL Statement Viewer.

The innovative use of mobile learning products in education has significantly increased in recent years. Mobile applications are meant to be engaging and reach beyond the walls of a classroom. Instructors and educators can use these mobile apps to increase student learning. However, the value of integrating them into the overall training is unclear. Are there added values if the organization invests in mobile apps?

In this session, you will learn about a return on investment (ROI) evaluation case study, which determined the value of the mobile applications to the organization. You will explore each level of the ROI evaluation and learn strategies to overcome challenges associated with determining the value of the mobile apps. You will learn about the strategies that were implemented and the unanticipated values gained by integrating mobile apps into the organization.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to develop an action plan to overcome challenges of integrating mobile applications into the classroom
• About options for determining the impact that mobile apps and interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) products have on student learning and performance
• How to effectively collaborate with instructors and subject matter experts to develop a mobile app and/or IMI products
• About the unanticipated benefits of integrating mobile apps and IMI products into the training environment

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and directors.

New for FocusOn this year! This is a popular session being offered twice. It's also available as session 1012.

Video is the engagement medium today, yet the all-too-common “play and walk away” issue still dominates—i.e., not having engrossing material that engages viewers. Interactive video increases response rates, view times, and viewer satisfaction. Engaging viewers with in-video questions, knowledge checks, and choose-your-own-adventure adaptive paths allows instructors to better ensure knowledge transfer. Who is doing this right? How can you move away from boring video design?

In this session, you will explore 30 of the best interactive videos in the eLearning and training space. You will discuss viewer engagement tactics, best practices, and adaptive experiences. You will also look at branching, scalability, production quality, data collection, and integration into existing learning strategies.

In this session, you will learn:

• About best practices of interactive videos
• How other educators are leveraging interactive video in their curriculum
• How to scale interactive video strategies
• How to leverage data obtained from viewer engagement with interactive video

Audience:
Novice to advanced developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Interactive video from a variety of sources and technologies, displaying on laptop, tablet, and mobile.

According to the Pew Research Center, 92 percent of adults ages 18 – 29 reported watching videos on a video-sharing site. This is becoming a norm for learning and obtaining new knowledge. Live-action videos with SMEs are not always possible because of the costs and time associated with this practice. If you think advanced animation that is engaging, entertaining, and fun seems out of reach for most eLearning professionals, think again!

In this session, you will learn how to use a variety of low-cost animation software tools, crowdsourcing platforms, and outsourcing strategies that will allow you to develop animated videos on a shoestring budget. This session will also allow you to mix and match software applications to create interactive video animation tools. And finally, you will walk away with instructions on how to produce an engaging, highly animated one-hour video course for under $1,000, using all the tools discussed.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to combine software to produce highly animated eLearning videos
• How to combine Adobe After Effects and CrazyTalk Animator to create cartoons (real ones!)
• How to find and manage voice-over artists inexpensively
• About various eLearning tools to help you produce fun courses
• How to get access to highly talented labor for under $10 an hour

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline 2, Fiverr, Reallusion’s CrazyTalk 8 and CrazyTalk Animator 2 and 3, Adobe Creative Suite, and Lynda.com.

mLearning developers spend a lot of time developing courses. Often, the programming is needlessly repetitive, which makes the work inefficient and increases costs. In other cases, the programming leads to undesirable trade-offs because engaging interactions can be difficult and time-consuming to develop. An investigation of how to reduce repetitiveness and improve engagement might lead one to think this problem could be easily resolved through tools or templates. However, it’s not that simple.

This session will draw on a mixture of practical mLearning development experience and widely accepted computer science principles to uncover the pros and cons of various mLearning authoring tools, templates, models, and patterns. Some of the approaches discussed will include reusable functions, separation of content and functionality, debugging functionality, selection of proper level of abstraction, and selection of appropriate level of rigor for reusability. The session will present real-world examples from actual mLearning courses and tools.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the strengths and weaknesses of tools, templates, models, and patterns
• About pros and cons of various authoring tools
• Tips for improving mLearning programming efficiency using authoring tool composition
• Tips for efficient mLearning programming in a variety of authoring tools

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Studio, Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, and JavaScript.

The industry is saying that video is the way to go for online learning—great. But before you get started, it is important to think strategically about why and how video will create the most value in your course. This session will explore the best questions to ask before you incorporate (or don’t incorporate) video into your courses.

In this session, you will learn to identify the top video types that are best for courses, as well as the best questions to ask to determine whether video is the right solution for your project in the first place. You’ll learn how to determine whether video will improve your learners’ experience and explore the best way to start incorporating video into your courses, even if you don’t have a big budget.

In this session, you will learn:

• Which video types are best for online courses
• Which questions to ask to determine whether video is right for your project
• How video affects the learner experience
• How to get started with video in your courses, even on a small budget

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, project managers, and managers.

Performance support videos are everywhere. From YouTube to the workplace, you can learn pretty much anything by watching a step-by-step video. Some of these videos are good; others, not so much. So how can you be sure that the video you are producing for your client or organization is high-quality—and effective?

In this session, you will learn 10 tips and tricks for producing a video that will have impact. These tips will help you through various stages of the development process, including pre-production, production, and post-production. You’ll get tips on tools, working with SMEs, equipment, output delivery, accessibility, and maintenance. And, time permitting, there may be a few bonus tips. This session won’t show you how to make your video. Instead, it will help you make your video better!

In this session, you will learn:

• How to determine which tools to use
• Tips for working with subject matter experts and clients
• Ideas for developing your video to suit the delivery method
• Tricks to assist you in every step of the production process
• Small ways to make a big difference in your video’s effectiveness

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Camtasia Studio, Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Audacity, and Adobe Audition.

Deconstructing Games is a new series of hands-on sessions where you’ll have the opportunity to play a game and then discuss how the mechanics in play can be applied in your own learning context.

Session Description:

This is a game designed to build a mobile learning strategy. It was created by Kris Rockwell and Alicia Sanchez and first appeared at mLearnCon 2011. In it, training and performance challenges are presented to two or more players, who can then play technology, hardware, and expert cards to offer up a potential solution. Both players state their case, and then they can either debate or they can have a third party judge their proposals. Game of Phones is a simple game style that can be expanded, replicated, or added to for team members to create a wide range of strategy or solutions.

Audience:

Novice and intermediate designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Chances are that your favorite characters are your favorites because of what they taught you. How can you ensure that characters in your games are effective in supporting learning?

This session will explore the impact of characters on learning outcomes; and, more importantly, you’ll learn how you can incorporate powerful, memorable characters into your games to make learning last. Join this hands-on session to get started creating meaningful characters in your learning games!

In this session, you will learn:

• About the deeper impact of characters in learning
• About examples of powerful characters in media and literature
• How to create characters to support learning

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Should you turn on your webcam during virtual training classes? Or does the webcam detract from the learner experience? What about using pre-recorded training videos in your virtual platform—how do you ensure they actually work and provide value to the learning outcomes?

In this session, you will learn how to incorporate video into your virtual training classes. You’ll first learn the importance of advance planning for video using a three-step process. You’ll observe firsthand how to set up your platform, your learners, and yourself for a seamless video experience. Next, you’ll explore the common challenges with virtual training videos and learn two simple techniques to eliminate them. In addition, you’ll learn when to use webcams for live video (and when not to), along with three keys for quality streaming. You will leave this session with practical tips for using video in your next virtual training class.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to use a three-step advanced planning process to seamlessly play pre-recorded video in virtual training classes
• How to apply two simple techniques to eliminate video challenges during virtual events
• How to incorporate live video effectively into virtual training events

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Many organizations try to address their learning needs with intranet content, eLearning courses, and reminder emails, but these efforts often fail to get the desired results. Busy employees just don’t have lots of time for learning content, particularly when it feels like a content dump. So how do you cover what employees and managers need to know and do without writing even more text? Short multimedia presentations and videos are one of the best ways to simply and quickly convey concepts and context, influence behavior, and, best yet, reduce text overkill.

In this session, you’ll learn more about how to write and produce short yet powerful video content for your audience. With examples from the Canada Revenue Agency, you’ll learn how to produce quick videos that deliver microlearning bursts for your eLearning or performance support systems. You’ll leave this session with strategies you can use to craft videos that will increase people’s engagement with your content, without adding to the feeling of text and content overload.

In this session, you will learn:

• How video can convey content more effectively than text
• How to create stories specifically for learning or training purposes
• About formulas and templates that can help you write engaging scripts
• How to create simple video storyboards for web developers

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Video production.

New hires feel excitement, uncertainty, enthusiasm, and discomfort. It can be a roller coaster ride! Line manager engagement has a significantly beneficial impact on new hires’ learning curve and sense of belonging; however, managers are often stretched with multiple responsibilities, and new starters’ needs are relegated. This session will outline a project that utilized mobile device features to shift the new-hire experience from one of passive consumption to active participation while simultaneously making the managers’ role more time-efficient and impactful. The solution delivered better performance, earlier, while reducing attrition.

How do you know your content is ready for a global audience? Will you be able to translate it? What kind of issues will you run into? This session explores the design and technical challenges of getting your content properly internationalized and ready for consumers worldwide.

Interactive videos increasingly are seen as one of the most effective ways to demonstrate a desired behavior while maximizing learner retention. However, the high cost of external video production combined with expensive interactive video authoring tools often means that this solution is out of reach for many organizations—but it doesn’t have to be.

In this session, you’ll see how easy it is to develop effective interactive videos using the equipment you have in your pocket and the computer you use every day. Don’t think you have what it takes? You’ll find out that you do by developing your own interactive video within the session! First, you’ll be walked through a branching and quizzing template. Then, you’ll learn about the basic setup required to shoot your video. Finally, you’ll find out how to bring it all together with a commonly used eLearning authoring tool.

In this session, you will learn:

• Why interactive videos are more effective than standard linear videos
• How to plan and script your own interactive video
• About the basic video production techniques required to produce a video in-house
• How to use a standard eLearning authoring tool to develop interactive videos

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate.

Technology required:
Laptop running an eLearning authoring tool (Storyline 360 or Captivate).

Microlearning is a way of teaching and delivering content to learners in small, very specific bursts. Microlearning videos can teach people how to use different systems within an organization effectively and efficiently—including systems for travel, finances, document management, procurement, and more.

In this session, you will learn how to create an animated instructional microlearning video from scratch. Together we will develop a microlearning video using a script and files provided by the instructor. You will walk away with your first microlearning video ready (or almost ready)!

In this session, you will learn:

• How to script a short video
• How to create graphics to illustrate your video
• How to convert your script into an audio file
• How to render and view video
• How to publish to a video platform (YouTube, Vimeo)
• Techniques to record final audio for your video

Audience:
Intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
GoAnimate.

Technology required:
Laptop running GoAnimate.

HBO has an app. So do other major TV channels like Comedy Central and ESPN. With major media brands like these distributing content via television-based apps, and an increasing number of people cutting the cable cord, television-based app development is a rapidly growing segment of media. Learning media and content isn’t far behind; in fact, it’s already happening. However, most developers have little understanding of the television app ecosystem and how L&D can benefit.

In this session, you’ll learn about opportunities to distribute learning content using television-based apps. You’ll find out what universities like Harvard and Georgetown and businesses like Lynda.com and Coursera have discovered about teaching on TV and why it’s changing the direction of these companies. You’ll discuss the major ecosystems for television-based apps, such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Google TV. You’ll then explore how learning organizations can exploit the explosion of smart TVs and TV-based apps.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the major TV-based operating systems and the app distribution process for each one
• How major media companies are already using TV for training and learning
• What resources you’ll need to develop educational TV apps
• How to optimize your video for TV-based apps
• How small companies can benefit from TV-based learning

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).

Technology discussed in this session:
Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android, Google TV, and OTT (over-the-top) television.

Many professionals developing eLearning content focus on SCORM or static content. Video is often thought of as an expensive and difficult modality, and is outsourced to agencies and external production houses. It’s so helpful for teaching others to use software, yet there is a fear of getting started with video and committing valuable time and resources to its creation. Constant changes in software interfaces add to these concerns.

In this session, you will learn how to create video for software tutorials in five steps without breaking the bank. With this workflow and the proper planning, you’ll have no problem introducing video into your training strategy. The session will cover helpful techniques for improving the quality of your production with each step, and introduce affordable planning, recording, and editing technologies to keep your process as efficient and agile as possible. You’ll receive resources to help you with the process as you try it yourself.

In this session, you will learn:

• A framework for creating software tutorial videos from start to finish
• An easy, step-by-step process for producing your next video
• How to best plan for video creation so it’s a fast, enjoyable process
• About resources for improving your video development skills
• Tips for creating video when the software you’re supporting changes frequently

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Smartsheet/Excel Gantt charts, Blue Microphones’ Snowball and Yeti microphones, Camtasia, ScreenFlow for Mac, Wistia video hosting, and content hosting platforms.

Have you seen videos where a green screen or blue screen wasn’t used properly? There’s a thin green line around the edge of the actor or a green hue on their clothes, which makes the video less authentic and usable. Filming someone on a green screen can be a challenging aspect of video production.

In this session, you’ll explore methods for using chroma key effectively in your production. You’ll see examples of good keys, as well as costly mistakes to avoid. To begin, you will create a straightforward game plan: setting up the camera, positioning lights and actors, selecting the right green screen material, and completing the effect in your editing software. This is a hands-on approach, so be prepared to help set up a green screen!

In this session, you will learn:

• About the basics of green screen
• How to light a green screen
• How to remove the green screen in editing
• How to set up a green screen
• How to light actors in front of the green screen
• About the correct camera settings for green screen

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Light stands, green screen material, the Blackmagic Production Camera, and LED video lights.

New for FocusOn this year! This is a popular session being offered twice. It's also available as session 409.

In business, you are often faced with problems that don’t have neat or clear solutions. There are often multiple solution paths and some solutions that are more optimal than others. How do you simulate the types of complex problems that you face in your career? How do you create interesting game-based learning that allows learners to explore different types of solutions?

In this session, you will examine a single case study in the use of BranchTrack. Throughout, you will learn about creating game-based learning interventions through a choose-your-own-adventure–style game development program. You will first explore the value of game-based learning, simulations, and failure in education. You will then examine one particular use of BranchTrack simulations in training passport acceptance agents. Afterward, you will learn about the features of BranchTrack that make it easy for instructional designers to develop simulation-based learning interventions.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to identify complex problems within your organization
• About the value of game-based learning, simulations, and failure in education
• How to create game-based learning interventions to teach complex problem-solving skills
• How to design a learning intervention using BranchTrack

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
BranchTrack.

You got the message about the value of games in helping people learn—and you buy in! Perhaps you’ve even built some games or selected a gamified learning platform. Having a good game or a well-designed gamified initiative is only half of the equation you need for success. The other half is a comprehensive, well-thought-out implementation strategy. Without it, your likelihood of deriving business value or learning results is low.

This session will focus on maximizing the value of your game-based or gamified learning initiatives. You’ll explore the factors to consider and the components to include when formulating a strategy. You will explore the common risks in gamification and learning game implementation, and how to minimize and mitigate them.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to identify where you are trying to fit on the gamification continuum, from execution of a single gamified initiative to a gamified learning ecosystem
• How to distinguish between a great game-based learning solution and a great strategy for implementing a game-based or gamified learning solution
• How to recognize common risks of failure in gamification or learning game implementation, and how to minimize risk
• What information you need to gather in order to formulate a strategy and use a template to guide strategy development

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Everyone plays games, so why not use that interest to help them improve their performance? This session will address how instructional designers and learning professionals can develop a gamification culture in their organization. By describing and experiencing the difference between gamification and gaming, you will learn how to incorporate gaming techniques into traditional eLearning designs.

In this session, you will hear about one team’s experiences in making this transition; as learning professionals in a Fortune 500 company, they were charged with taking a traditional instructor-led approach and making it blended, with all kinds of games. This session will include details on tools and execution at two large companies, including the development tools used along the way.

In this session, you will learn:

• About roadblocks for a large-scale implementation of a new approach
• The difference between games and gamification
• About key design considerations for developing games
• About the steps to move from an instructor-led approach to a game/mobile approach to learning

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft Office Professional, Gomo Learning’s responsive authoring tool, and Articulate Storyline 360.

Visual directions provide the framework upon which producers, editors, and animators base their content production, and many IDs introduced to today’s expanding eLearning departments lack familiarity with and experience in writing targeted visual directions for video scripts. This can result in increased costs in the form of ongoing revisions and can undermine the quality of the final product.

In this session, you will learn strategies and best practices designed to improve the effectiveness of script-based visual directions. These strategies will increase IDs’ success when adding targeted visual directions to SME materials, and they will increase interdepartmental collaboration among producers, editors, and animators in order to create a more effective and visually engaging educational product. You will also discover some best practices for adding targeted visual directions to video scripts, including strategies for adding storyboarding elements to assist with script-based visual direction.

In this session, you will learn:

• Writing strategies for composing effective visual directions for video scripts
• Storyboarding best practices that assist producers, editors, and animators
• Scene tagging strategies that ensure variety and engagement throughout instructional videos
• Production strategies that increase efficiencies and minimize cost overruns

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Computers, tablets, mobile devices, YouTube, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Photoshop.

Deconstructing Games is a new series of hands-on sessions where you’ll have the opportunity to play a game and then discuss how the mechanics in play can be applied in your own learning context.

Session Description:
Hanabi is a cooperative card game for two to five players where you can’t look at your own cards, but can see everyone else’s hands. Players take turns giving clues to other players about what cards to play, with certain constraints. Players often have to make choices with imperfect information, and it’s difficult to get a perfect result.               

In this session, you will explore Hanabi and how its format is useful in helping decide which information to give to whom. You will look at the game in terms of how to address teammate mistakes and frustrations. This game also lends itself to project management and dealing with having imperfect information.

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Smartphones are well regarded as the “go-to gadget” for knowledge workers in the modern workplace, and learners increasingly rely on them to interact with learning communities and access developmental resources. But what technologies lie beyond the smartphone that can accelerate learning and engage your audience?

According to industry analysts, the growth of the “wearables” market—spanning wristwear, headwear, eyewear, footwear, and more—will dwarf the learning market over the next five years, as intelligent devices of all sizes and purposes appear as logical endpoints in a hyper-connected world. Many of these devices have already arrived and are starting to reshape how employees interact and engage with co-workers, managers, organizations, and customers. Join this session to see how progressive teams are applying wearables to learning in intuitive and innovative ways.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the emerging wearables market and how these connected devices are changing the ways people communicate and connect
• About the myriad challenges surrounding the introduction and use of wearables for learning, including access, security, integration, and user adoption
• How to assess your own organization’s readiness to introduce wearables into your learning programs
• About practical use cases that leverage the power and convenience of wearables to deliver learning in the moment of need

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Smartphones, smartwatches, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality/virtual reality, and machine learning.

Chatbots are becoming more and more commonplace for consumers to help automate simple tasks and make life easier. But what about using chatbots to facilitate learning?

In this session, you will see examples of common chatbots on Facebook and Slack that are transactional and responsive in nature, and you’ll contrast them with programmatic chatbots that drive a learning experience. You will also see examples of the various channels in which you can reach learners through a chatbot, such as SMS, Facebook, or even your corporate learning mobile app. Finally, you’ll brainstorm creative ideas for how this form of artificial intelligence can transform your digital learning infrastructure!

In this session, you will learn:

• What a chatbot is
• About common uses of chatbots
• What a programmatic chatbot is
• How to use a chatbot to support corporate learning and development
• About examples of chatbots that support corporate learners
• How to develop and author a chatbot
• About ideas of where artificial intelligence is headed for the future of corporate learning

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Facebook and Slack’s bot framework.

So, your boss wants you to produce a video for a training project. Great! Well, aside from the fact that you’ve never worked on video production and don’t even know where to begin. If you’re in a situation where you’ve been tasked with creating video content, but have never actually been involved with formal video production before, there can be a lot of pressure to create something polished despite your lack of experience. But amateur videos can be surprisingly easy to create with a few tips and tricks to get you started.

In this session, you’ll explore a wealth of useful tips that can help any accidental video producer create a training video from start to finish. You’ll take a closer look at the most common pitfalls in an amateur video production and ways you can avoid them. You’ll also investigate how the video production process works and what steps you’ll want to take to step up your own. You’ll then get tips and resources for how you can make your videos look polished and professional. By the end of this session, you’ll have the skills you need to make your video production run smoothly and create a fantastic final product.

In this session, you will learn:

• About common mistakes new producers make and how to avoid them
• What a solid video production process should look like and consider
• How to make your videos look more professional
• About post-production tools that can help you add even more polish to your videos

Audience:
Novice designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Premiere Elements.

Come see, hear, and do as you explore three levels of interactive learning experiences. This session will share three different use cases with increasing levels of interactivity for learners. You’ll hear about an eLearning course designed to improve a highly technical skill in learners; an interactive gaming experience that allows learners to record themselves and get involved; and a virtual reality experience that allows learners to interact with products directly. You will learn about approach, technology, and user experience, and you’ll gain tangible ideas and action items for creating your own interactive experience.

By making the transformation from the ordinary world of uninspiring online learning to the special world of deeply immersive and compelling online learning elements, you can create games that learners will engage with willingly, repeatedly, and excitedly. Embrace the call to adventure in this session, and return to your job with elixir!

Organizations often spend a lot of time and money to create awesome videos for learning, but don’t track how effective the videos are. How do you know if your videos are effective? Are learners watching the videos? For how long? Having this kind of data would help you create better and more effective videos, so how do you track these types of measurements?

Luckily, you can track them simply by using xAPI statements within your videos. You can trigger statements when the video starts, if a learner completes the video, if they pause the video—as well as tracking where in the video they paused and even where in the video they left the page. All are valuable insights into how well your videos perform. In this session, you will follow along while you learn how to send over xAPI statements from any HTML5 video or even a YouTube video.

In this session, you will learn:

• About xAPI statements
• About jQuery video events
• How to send a statement to an LRS
• How to see the data from the LRS

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
HTML, JavaScript, and xAPI.

Technology required:
Laptop running Sublime Text or any text editor.

The mobile learning landscape is continually growing and shifting. As intimidating as those changes may be, organizations must be prepared to formulate and execute strategies to harness this growing technology. An understanding of the various devices, the appropriate content, the impact of mobile on traditional training and development, and how to make a business case for mobile in your organization are of key importance in navigating today’s mobile learning landscape.

In this session, you will explore the mobile learning landscape. You will build basic mobile skills through hands-on activities. You will leave with a stronger understanding of the processes and tools, as well as with guidance to begin designing and developing your own mobile projects by immediately applying the concepts covered.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the various types of mobile devices and how they affect your training approach
• About the various content types that are optimal for mobile deployment
• How to make the business case for mobile and why you should incorporate mobile into your organization’s strategy
• About approaches to mobile design, and how it may differ from your typical design process
• About ideal approaches to mobile development, using tools you likely already have
• From common examples of mobile deployment and security

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

Audio is easily neglected in online multimedia, especially for learners viewing on mobile devices with relatively substandard audio playback hardware (tiny speakers or earbuds). In fact, audio has not undergone the same rapid stylistic change that video has in the YouTube era—viewers still expect rich, clean, and well-balanced audio. Poor audio is always the first signal of an amateurish production.

This session is designed to give attendees the tools they need to record high-quality voice-over or on-screen audio, and to edit together not only a rich soundtrack that matches modern stylistic expectations, but perhaps more importantly, a soundtrack that is quite intelligible for learners viewing on limited audio playback hardware, such as mobile devices. You will learn about sound frequencies and the human voice; recording strategies that maximize signal-to-noise ratio and audio quality; tips for “cleaning up” and improving recorded sound; and recommendations for creating rich, authentic soundtracks without detracting from the quality of your learning content.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the audio components of the human voice and the spectrum of human hearing
• How audio editors use layers of sound to create a sound space
• Specific methods (software agnostic) to clean up audio, including normalization, noise reduction, equalization, compression, and expansion
• How to get a tasteful balance between music and voice audio in your productions
• Specific tips for good audio recording practices

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Microphones and recording devices (cameras or audio recorders), audio editing softwares, and audio components of video editing softwares.

As instructional designers skilled in eLearning design begin offering mobile experiences to learners, the ways in which they approach instructional design and development need to change. What works for a full-screen desktop experience doesn’t work on a mobile phone. So how can you shift your thinking to consider things like screen experience and what that means to learners? And once you’ve considered new design concerns and approaches, what development platforms should you consider to make your mobile design come to life?

In this case study session, you’ll follow an instructional design and development team’s thought process and deliverables on a mobile course from start to finish. This course was originally designed for desktop only, but was then adapted to two different mobile development platforms (Adobe Captivate 9 and dominKnow Flow), leading to a total of three different user experience approaches. You’ll find out what the designers had to consider when adapting content to mobile; about the differences between how Captivate 9 and Flow approach the mobile experience; and how the team used user feedback to guide their choices. Apply these lessons to your own projects to save time and heartache along the way.

In this session, you will learn:

• About design considerations when moving from desktop to mobile and responsive screens
• What’s different about responsive screen development approaches and their development timelines
• How to select a development platform for mobile that will work for your project
• About the differences and similarities between mobile experiences in Adobe Captivate 9 and dominKnow Flow

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Captivate 9 and dominKnow Flow.

Each year, PG&E Academy was spending nearly $1 million on printing costs to support required instructor-led training programs. Large binders of student materials had to be manually updated, and often would never be referenced again after training. PG&E Academy was driving to web-based training (WBT) and blended solutions that could leverage mobile devices; however, the organization needed to cover the costs of student tablets for use back on the job.

In this session, you will learn how mobile workbook cost savings paved the way for mobile devices to be rolled out to employees, enabling other mobile training and support programs. You’ll learn about the mobile workbook program, how it was implemented, and the tools needed for its development. You’ll also learn how the other mobile training initiatives, such as mobile WBT and field exams, benefited from getting mobile devices into the field. Finally, you’ll receive tips on identifying the right audience, easing the transition to mobile, and gathering metrics and feedback.

In this session, you will learn:

• How multiple mobile initiatives, including workbooks, training, assessments, and job aids, can be aligned as mobile use grows
• About calculating the cost savings and other program benefits of going digital
• About the change management requirements in moving from paper-based to digital workbooks
• About the operational needs before, during, and after the classes using iPads
• About the conversion of instructor-led materials to mobile devices

Audience:
Novice developers and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
iPad, Smart Utility Systems, apps for taking course notes, Adobe Acrobat, Author-it, and Metrics that Matter (survey tool).

Shooting video according to the script is one thing, but what about when the content is the conversation, or an interview with live Q&A? What about when there is no power to call “Cut!” and start again? No fixing it in post? No webinar agenda? How can you best leverage live interactions without compromising the recorded asset?

In this session, you’ll explore several different models of live streaming used for L&D. Programming formats, platforms, getting the word out, and your individualized organizational needs will all be addressed. The session will leverage lessons learned from live streams like the daily “L&D Talk,” the monthly “YouTube Certified Online Partner Hangout,” and others. You’ll learn how to keep your cool when everything goes wrong, and why this kind of content is becoming more familiar and important to learners. You’ll also look at some of the most common technologies and terms used for live streaming in the modern age.

In this session, you will learn:

• What is important in your live stream, and what isn’t
• About the top five most common mistakes and how to avoid them
• About technical setups that work
• About live-streaming strategies for L&D
• Critical communication tactics

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Cameras, microphones, and live-streaming platforms.

According to the “Five Moments of Need” model set forth by Bob Mosher and Conrad Gottfredson, there are moments when a learner requires certain bits of information in order to perform assigned tasks more efficiently and effectively. Just-in-time video is a great solution for those moments. But who will create those videos?

In this session, you’ll explore how subject matter experts (SMEs) can create short, just-in-time performance support videos for specific conditions or situations in which people require instruction or assistance. You will see a demonstration of the production process and receive a roadmap for success.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the process that makes the best use of everyone’s time
• How to fit the moment-of-need model into your organization
• How to identify the right approach for each moment of need
• About a concrete example to share with your SME team
• Tips for coaching and support

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Video production and process.

Sales reps struggle to have quick and easy access to their product and services portfolio at the point of sale. Marketing, sales management, and L&D struggle to provide sales reps with the most up-to-date, consistent, and synthesized product messaging in an ongoing way. They also struggle to understand the impact their training is having on their sales reps.

This session will focus on three essential concepts: (1) how to align the strategies and messaging of sales, marketing, and L&D for sales reps; (2) how to better empower sales reps at the point of sale through mobile sales enablement and just-in-time learning; and (3) how to leverage real-time data and analytics to measure sales behavior, sales engagement, and the impact of training programs. The session will cover best practices, and a detailed case study of Pitney Bowes will serve to illustrate these points.

In this session, you will learn:

• About best practices for deploying a mobile sales enablement program
• About the value of just-in-time learning as it pertains to increased sales
• How technology can bridge the gap between sales, marketing, and L&D
• How to leverage user-generated data to gain powerful insight into the impact of your marketing and training materials
• How Pitney Bowes uses sales enablement tools and technology to provide its reps with a consistent, relevant, just-in-time and offline sales and learning platform

Audience:
Intermediate developers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Mobile and tablets.

Deconstructing Games is a new series of hands-on sessions where you’ll have the opportunity to play a game and then discuss how the mechanics in play can be applied in your own learning context.

Session Description:
Spaceteam is a game that challenges up to eight players to work together as a team to repair and control a rapidly deteriorating spaceship. Unique orders appear on each device relevant to other players’ control panels. Players must then verbally communicate these orders to crewmates who can complete the task in order to progress.

In this session, you will explore the importance of providing clear, task-specific instructions in fast-paced, chaotic operational situations. Spaceteam emphasizes working towards small goals and thinking rapidly. Using group exercises, the game simulates communication challenges on a cross-functional team in a high-pressure environment. It’s a great jumping-off point for discussions about workplace communication, interdependency, team-building, trust, leadership roles, maximizing productivity, and prioritizing in high-pressure environments.

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

In the beginning, gamification was shiny and new and full of promise. But its reputation quickly tarnished when people misused it as a quick fix to create learner engagement. There was too much focus on extrinsic rewards and on elements like points, badges, and leaderboards (PBLs) in ways devoid of meaning to the learner. But gamification is alive and well for those who dug deeper.

In this session, you will see how the application of a re-envisioned set of PBLs—pathways, bunches, and lodestones—can provide a fresh look at the topic and boost engagement and learning results. You’ll see that by rebooting your approach to gamification, you can help learners truly win through a process of leveraging collaboration, providing better feedback and clearer goals, and promoting curiosity through better-designed experiences that keep the learner challenged.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to transform ideas from mobile games to course curriculum
• How creating clear pathways to progress can increase learner motivation
• How you can leverage micro-bundles of content to increase knowledge retention
• How to make your content more attractive in ways that will bring learners back again and again

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Many training professionals are reluctant to start developing game-based learning. They may mistakenly believe their success depends on being able to code as a programmer, being proficient in developing animations or virtual worlds, being able to illustrate as a state-of-the-art graphic designer, or being an expert videographer. By devaluing the effectiveness of low-cost, low-tech solutions, they lose the opportunity to convince key stakeholders to fund more ambitious projects.

You can start implementing game-based learning using highly impactful solutions that are not complex functionally or graphically. In this session, you will learn about a wide variety of platforms and methods that you can use in implementing end-user interactivity and engagement to produce measurable real-world results. Areas of focus will include: learning to know vs. learning to do; awareness of the risk-opportunity continuum; focusing on the long game—learning objectives vs. institutional objectives; tips and techniques enabling anyone to develop effective simulations; and reproducible lean development practices.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to develop high-impact game-based learning that you can effectively deploy using low-cost, low-tech solutions
• About reproducible lean practices for courseware development
• Tips and techniques for developing effective simulations
• How to persuade stakeholders to approve time and cost investments for more ambitious projects

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Feeling like you can’t get past gamification? Tired of matching, memory, or Jeopardy-style games? Everyone hits creative road blocks. Maybe you see a great example of a learning game online, but feel held back creatively by learning objectives. How do you create a serious game while ensuring you meet your learning objectives?

In this session, you’ll learn about common game mechanics and how to apply them to serious games in learning. You’ll walk away with real gameplay and game-based learning examples that can achieve almost any learning objective.

In this session, you will learn:

• Why serious games perform better than gamification
• How to interpret game mechanics in gameplay
• How to apply game mechanics in your design
• How to achieve almost any learning objective with game-based learning

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers and developers.

New for FocusOn this year! This is a popular session being offered twice. It's also available as session 904.

In the past, the self-paced content created by L&D often took the form of eLearning courses. But there’s a growing recognition that more learning takes place outside an organization’s LMS than in it. As a result, learning content—and the time and effort that goes into it—needs to be more flexible in order to be effective as it performs the critical role of supporting both formal and informal learning.

In this session, you’ll focus on how to design and create content for use on any device, no matter where your audience is. This approach allows you to provide content in the manner your audience needs it most—whether they need formal learning, such as courses in your LMS, or informal learning opportunities like performance support, job aids, or knowledge bases. You’ll review instructional design processes to guide you through planning for single-source, multipurpose content, as well as development strategies to ensure that people can find and use this content no matter what device they use.

In this session, you will learn:

• About strategies that can help you evaluate what your audience really needs in order to carry out their roles
• About instructional design approaches to help you plan for single-source, multipurpose content to meet these needs
• Strategies to develop and deliver this content
• How to kick-start a learning and development process in your organization that supports single-source, multipurpose content creation

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Numerous mobile devices.

You would like to design and develop animated videos, but you’re not sure how to get started or apply the tools you have to create new content. You may have a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud but may not be sure how to get started with Adobe After Effects.

In this session, you will learn how to get started building and designing animated motion videos and compositing to improve your video-based deliveries. You will learn the finer points of audio, video, and effect creation and the best practices for compositing green screen. Finally, you will learn how to export your video for anytime, anywhere use.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to get started with Adobe After Effects
• About graphics, audio, and effects that can help create dynamic videos
• Best practices for compositing green screens
• Techniques and best practices for working with motion elements
• How to prep, animate, and export videos for delivery everywhere

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe After Effects and green screen technology.

Technology required:
Laptop running Adobe After Effects (if using trial version, sign up for Creative Cloud trial 20 days prior).

Building learning for mobile devices is not the same as building an eLearning module. At its most basic level, it requires tools and features with specific options that support mobile development. But it also requires you to take a different approach to how you should design your content. Great mobile content takes into account the needs of your mobile learners as well as the unique features that mobile learning can provide to them.

In this session, you’ll explore how the combination of thoughtful mobile design and the flexibility of Articulate Storyline 360 can help you build powerful solutions. Storyline has become a popular eLearning development tool, and recent updates have given it significantly more functionality for creating mobile content. This session will help you master the new features in Storyline 360 that make mobile learning development easy and effective.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to build mobile-friendly interactivity
• About the mobile publishing options that are available in Storyline 360
• How to design and test features on the adaptive player
• How to have more control over how the user experiences your mobile modules
• How to test mobile gestures for screen manipulation and navigation

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline 360.

Technology required:
PC or Mac with Windows, running Storyline 360.

Years of momentum have resulted in numerous use cases for teams seeking to leverage xAPI to better track, measure, and manage their mobile learning efforts. It’s clear that xAPI can improve the ways you create and deliver mobile content, track interactions, and measure performance. Armed with knowledge and the proverbial “Swiss Army knife” of xAPI functions, you can begin to “slice, saw, tweeze, and pick” your way through mobile training challenges.

In this session, you’ll discuss what xAPI really is, how statements are structured, and how it’s already being used to power mobile initiatives. You’ll explore how teams use xAPI and cmi5 to improve learning, streamline tracking, automate tasks, and drive engagement via modern authoring tools and an LRS—as well as how LMSs are undergoing transformations to support these trends. You’ll also look at the basic challenges teams face in implementing xAPI. Finally, you’ll learn how authoring tools, LMS platforms, mobile apps, and IoT endpoints are being connected to leverage the power of xAPI.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the basic structural and design tenets of an xAPI-based solution and the best-practice approach to implementing those solutions
• About new use cases that can show how to apply tracking to non-traditional learning assignments and interactions
• What technical challenges you’ll need to overcome with LMS integration, security, mobile (when offline), and more
• How to determine the best authoring tools and learning platforms to take advantage of xAPI
• The importance of cmi5 and its future impact on learning

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Experience API (xAPI), content authoring tools, integrated and remote learning record stores (LRSs), and mobile technology.

Professional development generally means taking time away from your work to go and learn a concept, then return to your team, who may have a “What are you going to make us do now?” attitude. Take a moment to think “what if.” What if professional development were delivered where and when it was important to you? What if you did not have to leave your team to participate in behavior-based professional development? What if your professional development created greater cohesion within your team? What if your professional development were focused directly on issues and content that were meaningful to you and your team?

This session will explore methods of creating mobile professional development that produces greater team cohesion, changes behavior, and allows participants to engage in the development process while they remain on the job with their team. You’ll learn how mobile learning gives participants the unprecedented ability to gain new perspectives and connect with their team in a meaningful way while engaged in the professional development process. Finally, you’ll learn the findings from a recent study and real-time implementation of these strategies.

In this session, you will learn:

• About mobile professional development strategies to create greater team cohesion
• About learning strategies that have the greatest effect with mobile professional development
• How to determine the right amount of content to deliver for the greatest effect on a mobile device

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Flipgrid, HapYak, the Adobe suite, and Google Drive.

Everyone has seen truly terrible training videos at some point—everything from awkward educational films that put you to sleep in school to unintentionally hilarious training videos that have you laughing more than learning. It’s abundantly clear that just because content has been put into video form doesn’t mean it’s something people want to watch. But while these training video failures may not be fantastic at what they were designed to do, there’s a surprising amount that we can learn from their mistakes.

In this session, you’ll learn how to make engaging video content by taking a look at some impressive examples of what not to do. You’ll watch samples of some of the most amusingly odd training videos and then critically discuss why they didn’t succeed and what you can do in your own work to avoid their mistakes. And while the videos you’ll watch will make you laugh, they’ll also help you better understand how to use this medium more effectively.

In this session, you will learn:

• What can make your audience tune out of your video content
• How to share information in a way that doesn’t leave viewers cringing
• What to avoid when trying to make a training video that actually works
• How to separate what’s not working in a video idea from what is

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Video.

Today, anyone with a smartphone has video capabilities—just look at the number and variety of videos posted on YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. In addition to phones, you now have drone capabilities and cameras that you can attach to yourself and your pets or embed in your doorbell. The possibilities are seemingly endless. So how do you take advantage of these options for training?

Join this session to learn how a team at Farmers Insurance has been exploring new ways for using video technology to enhance training for employees and agents. You’ll explore options for using tools like drones, smartphones, and GoPro-style cameras to record video, going beyond the bells and whistles to look at how to use these tools in ways that aren’t just cool, but also make a real difference in how effective your content is. You’ll review options for how you can use these recordings in your courses, performance support, and testimonials. And you’ll also look at how to add interactivity to your videos using software like Captivate and Storyline, giving you even more options for what kinds of projects you can create.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to use drones, smartphones, and GoPro-style cameras to record video for your projects
• How to use these recordings to enhance your courses, performance support, and testimonials
• How to add interactivity to your videos using Captivate, Storyline, and other software
• Tips and tricks to help you create your own videos for training

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Captivate 9, Articulate Storyline 2, and Camtasia.

The da Vinci Surgical System was an important medical innovation, but not necessarily one that was quick for hospital staff to learn to use. With such a complex product, hospital OR staff needed not only training on how to transport the system, set it up, and use it during surgery, but also follow-up support to help them master interacting with it in the hospital operating room. This support needed to be quick, so staff could quickly access the information necessary to work effectively with the system, and it needed to be available at any time and on any device. The solution was to blend video and performance support, creating a video portal staff could access at their exact time of need.

In this case study session, you’ll learn how you can shift from an online module model to a video format by taking a closer look at the launch of the da Vinci System Video Portal. You’ll discover how to rethink content for the video format, including how to repurpose existing content as well as chunk information for new videos. You’ll also explore the team’s planning for the portal itself, from the initial wireframes to the prototype to the final version they piloted with customers. This session will help you consider which situations a performance support video portal may be right for, and what you’ll need to do to make launching one a success.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to plan for a content format conversion
• How you can repurpose your existing content into video
• How to appropriately chunk content in the best way for video
• How to mock up your concepts for a wireframe video portal
• How to create a prototype video portal for testing and piloting

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Microsoft SharePoint, Sony 4K cameras, Brightcove Video Cloud, and Brightcove Gallery.

Many people in the eLearning realm are attempting to use gamification and serious games to spark employee engagement and drive learning retention. And while the intent is to make the best serious games that will enhance the learning objectives and help people retain content, unfortunately, they don’t always go as planned. Common issues with these unsuccessful serious games and gamified learning experiences include little to no planning, tough-to-pinpoint metrics, little to no implementation strategy, and insufficient or nonexistent post-deployment support. So what can you do to ensure your game-based project actually works?

In this session, you’ll discuss what makes a serious game a success or a failure. You’ll look at the proper steps to take throughout each phase of your project to ensure its effectiveness. This journey will include investigating best practices as well as highlighting common pain points throughout the development process and how to address them. You’ll leave this session with a better sense of not just why games can be a powerful tool for learning, but also what steps you’ll need to take to develop effective ones.

In this session, you will learn:

• What gets in the way of creating serious games that work
• Best practices to ensure successful implementation of a serious game
• About the first steps to take when creating serious games
• What other organizations’ serious game projects can teach you about the development process

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).

Technology discussed in this session:
Mobile games; motion tracking with Leap.

Gamification is not just a trend. It works—when done well. Unfortunately, many organizations get caught up in the “let’s gamify everything” hype and fail to properly align game mechanics to meaningful objectives. L&D professionals continue to face stakeholder and employee objections when attempting to introduce game-based concepts. They also run into conflicting priorities when multiple game ideas are implemented without a holistic vision for employee engagement.

In this session, you’ll explore real-world examples of how reputable organizations are effectively applying gamification and realizing measurable business impact. You’ll dig into a variety of game mechanics and explore how you can best use them to drive employee engagement. You’ll discuss common objections to game-based concepts and share both talking points and data to help L&D professionals overcome these challenges. You’ll examine simple ways to prove the potential of gamification in your organization before making a considerable investment. And you’ll learn a set of best principles to help you drive gamification impact over the long term.

In this session, you will learn:

• Why much of the existing gamification research fails to reflect real-world potential
• How to leverage the right game mechanics to achieve your learning objectives
• How casual gameplay can facilitate user engagement during learning experiences
• How to sell your stakeholders and employees on the concept of gamification

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Axonify, Confluence, Duolingo, Gamify, and Swarm.

Deconstructing Games is a new series of hands-on sessions where you’ll have the opportunity to play a game and then discuss how the mechanics in play can be applied in your own learning context.

Session Description:
Story Cubes is a creative story game using dice imprinted with pictures. Each player rolls nine dice and tells a story based on the dice pictures facing up. There is no winner, just great fun to be had listening to improvised stories.

In this session, you will explore opportunities for designers and developers to decide how unique pieces of content fit together. You will examine the idea of looking for common threads, deciding what the purpose of a story is, and determining its beginning, middle, and end. Finally, you’ll learn how the Story Cubes structure could be useful in the scriptwriting process.

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

As technology continues to evolve, it creates new opportunities to let people play, explore, and learn from games that include video, animation, and biometric data, and from one another. How can these new technologies support immersive learning and enable you to re-create “real” experiences in learning games?

In this session, you will explore a future vision of workplace learning, from onboarding to leadership development, from job skill training to coaching and mentoring. Come experience “a day in the life” of learning at work in the not-so-distant future, and consider how you think about game-based learning today and tomorrow.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the various applications of new technologies that can be used in games to solve current and future workplace problems
• How learning and development can change today to better prepare for the future of workplace learning
• How data, curation, immersive technology, biometrics, personalization, ubiquity, and social learning intersect in the future

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Suggesting a mobile learning program can still raise some eyebrows in even the most progressive organizations. Concerns about security, cost, device type, and use are just a few of the barriers that can stall your efforts.

If you’re struggling now or anticipating resistance to mLearning, join our panel of experts as they tackle the big questions, and find out how you can overcome the most common barriers to mobile learning in your organization.

Virtual reality has exploded over the last year, extending to conversations in the mobile, gaming, and video landscape. There’s a rapidly rising interest in how to use this new technology for learning and performance. With “VR” now one of the hottest buzzwords, how much is hype and how much is substance?

In this session, you will explore the current state of virtual reality in 2017. You will see examples of virtual reality in practice in both the consumer and enterprise markets. You will examine what’s working—and what’s not—and how you can apply those lessons to learning and development.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the critical components of a virtual reality experience
• How early adopters are using VR for L&D
• About common mistakes to avoid
• What questions to ask to determine whether VR is right for your organization
• How consumer-led VR is shaping VR’s use in training

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and executives.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate 360