105 Organizing the L&D Community for Social Good
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 27
Salon 16
The Houston Food Bank delivered 79 million meals in 2016 and had a goal to deliver 100 million meals in 2018. With this massive expansion, training was required in a number of areas, from leadership development to food safety and compliance. Delivering this training while keeping operating expenses low, however, seemed difficult—that is, until they got support from the Houston L&D community.
In this session, learn how the Houston ATD chapter organized a community effort and competition to develop and deliver training content to the Houston Food Bank and establish an infrastructure to manage training in a systematic, automated way. You’ll learn about the birth of the concept, the project management required to put it into action, and the ongoing effort now to support and continue the expansion of the food bank’s learning ecosystem. At the end of the session, you will be equipped with an outline for creating your own L&D social-good project for your community.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to organize your L&D community to support charities and services
- How to assess the learning needs of charities
- About technologies you can use to support learning organizations
- About the keys to ongoing success and building a learning culture
- Methods to manage volunteer project work with a deadline
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning management systems, authoring tools, project management, and association management systems.
Duncan Welder
Director of Client Services
RISC
Duncan Welder is a director of client services for RISC. He is an educational technology geek, having spent over 20 years implementing learning management systems, domestically and abroad, to manage regulatory compliance. As an xAPI evangelist with a career grounded in instructional design and eLearning, Duncan has provided presentations to professional organizations including the Connections Forum, The Learning Guild, and the Association for Talent Development. Duncan is an active member of the Houston ATD, currently serving as director of special interest groups.
Debbie Richards
President
Creative Interactive Ideas
Debbie Richards, president of Creative Interactive Ideas, is a learning architect, self-proclaimed geek, and early adopter of learning technologies. For over 30 years, she has helped enterprise teams design, develop, and deliver immersive learning programs with measurable impact. Passionate about working with and mentoring other learning professionals, Debbie is a director at L&D Cares. The nonprofit group provides talent development professionals with no-cost coaching, mentoring, and resources to help them thrive and flourish in their careers. She is the past president of the Association of Talent Development, Houston chapter, and a past national advisor for chapters. Debbie has authored two TD at Work guides, Seeing the Possibilities With Augmented Reality and Preparing Your Organization for New Technologies.
F01 Building a Learning Culture
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Tuesday, March 27
Junior Ballroom F
The problem comes down to this: When great training, including great eLearning, comes up against a lousy organizational culture, the culture wins every time. In addition, great technology cannot overcome a bad learning culture. What many organizations fail to grasp is that culture can promote or kill any learning effort, and therefore must be part of the overall learning strategy.
In this session, you’ll uncover how to build (or rehabilitate) the learning culture at your organization. You’ll explore how organizational and learning culture can make or break your initiatives. You’ll then find out how making strategic choices when it comes to communication, change management, technology, leadership, and the right measurement strategy can all work to improve your learning culture and help your initiatives succeed.
In this session, you will learn:
- How learning and organizational culture impacts the success or failure of learning initiatives
- How to use communication and change management to improve the learning culture
- How technology can aid or hinder a learning culture
- How leadership helps or hinders a learning culture
- How the right measurement strategy can improve a learning culture
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
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.
207 Lasting Impact! When Marketing Strategies Meet Learning Solutions
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 27
Junior Ballroom F
As the lines between marketing, communication, and training are blurring, L&D is being asked to think “like a marketer” and develop or promote creative new learning solutions. So how do marketers engage their audience and change people’s behavior despite evolving technology and consumer preferences? The secret is their strategy. How can L&D professionals apply these strategies to change learner behavior and engage participants?
In this session, you’ll learn relevant strategies to think like a marketer while accomplishing your L&D goals. Through team-based activities, you’ll explore real-life examples and principles that top marketing organizations use to resonate with their audiences. You’ll also uncover the role a marketing strategy has on your learning programs through revealing unstated learner needs, applying insights, and creating a learner persona. You’ll leave this session with practical tips to apply to your next training project.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why incorporating marketing principles into your learning strategy can create lasting learner impact
- How to uncover unstated learner needs to shape your training solutions
- About creating a target audience and learner persona and the benefits of this approach
- How to integrate ideas from other industries into your learning programs
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, project managers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Danielle Wallace
Chief Learning Strategist
Beyond the Sky
Danielle Wallace is the chief learning strategist at Beyond the Sky: Custom Learning. Previously, as a marketing leader with Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo, she learned strategic marketing principles which she now applies to learning and development to create compelling breakthrough solutions. Danielle is a sought after speaker at global conferences and her thought leadership is found in numerous industry magazines and publications.
208 Making Evidence-Based Recommendations to Your Organization
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tuesday, March 27
Salon 5
Many professionals struggle with providing clear recommendations to their organizations on what approach to take with courses. Simply putting things online because it is the trend does not seem like a very educated way forward. This often leads to disappointing results that are costly and do not deliver the expected outcomes. Many learning professionals remain unsure of how to formulate an answer to the question they are asked.
This session will share techniques developed over the years to make evidence-based recommendations to an organization. You will learn how to analyze content in order to provide a recommendation on instructional strategies and achieve greater stakeholder buy-in. You will explore a technique that can be applied to any type of content.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to perform a multimedia analysis
- How to build business cases for projects
- How to recommend instructional strategies
- Techniques for successful proposals
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers with some knowledge of the analysis process.
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft Excel.
Luc Blanchette
Techno-pedagogical Advisor
Universitv© de l'Ontario Franvßais
Dr. Luc Blanchette is a seasoned learning and development professional. During his 20 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, he worked as a training development officer in a variety of positions and training establishments. He has advised various organizations on how to implement modern training solutions. He has been involved in a variety of aspects of training modernization such as online learning, blended learning, driver simulation, online assessment, instructor development, alternate training delivery and change management. He holds an undergraduate degree in adult education, a master's in distance education, and a doctorate in education with a specialization in instructional design.
SMM104 Define the Learning Problem Before Determining the Solution
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Tuesday, March 27
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
You’re looking for a learning solution; that’s why we’re all here. But first, let’s take a step back and look at the learning problem—how do you define it? How do you measure it? When the challenge is well-defined, the learning solution becomes clearer. So let’s try defining the problem from a new perspective—the learner’s. The learner is the first key stakeholder in education, so why don’t we put ourselves in their shoes to properly identify the problem and the solution?
In this session, you will discover how some of the world’s leading organizations define their learning problems and create a framework to identify the right solution by starting with the learner experience. Regardless of industry, there has been a clear education/experience gap. This gap continues to expand between the needs of today’s learners and the way the experience is delivered. We will walk through a breakdown of today’s typical learner and the typical learning experience, then explore which aspects of the learner’s journey needs some love to find the right learning solution.
In this session, you will learn:
- What today’s learner looks like
- Why it is important to take a deeper dive into the problem prior to exploring solutions
- How to identify the learner’s journey and the gaps in that journey
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Adaptive Engine, Mobile/Omni-Channel.
Beatrice Conley
Enterprise Solutions Manager
BenchPrep
Beatrice Conley is an enterprise solutions manager at BenchPrep, where she helps organizations deliver engaging, unmatched learning experiences with a learner success platform. While studying psychology, human development, and education at Northwestern University, she explored the way improvements in technology are rapidly changing the way we communicate and ultimately learn, which is why she landed in the EdTech space. For the last four years, Beatrice has worked in K-12 schools incorporating new curriculum management systems and now helps improve the overall professional learning experience for organizations that require enterprise-level solutions.
SDD105 Designing Your Organization for Learning Agility
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Tuesday, March 27
Expo Hall: Design & Development Stage
The fourth industrial revolution is leading to the creation of jobs requiring new skill sets and, in many cases, the creation of new jobs themselves. This calls for continuous training and upskilling. Traditional formats, like learning in classroom and instructor-led formats or learning in formal education settings, no longer work; they are neither cost-efficient nor time-efficient.
Despite the availability of online content, both in-house and MOOCs, many organizations fail to sufficiently skill employees for their day-to-day demands, resulting in erosion of competitive advantage. This session introduces the notion of the continuous learning organization, where people learn at the speed of change and deliver business impact on the ground.
In this session, you will learn:
- The key differences between a legacy learning organization and an agile learning organization
- The key differences between a learning management system and a continuous learning and development platform
- How to use technology and content effectively in building an agile learning organization
- How to link learning with business impact
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Disprz, a mobile app.
Kuljit Chadha
Co-Founder and COO
Disprz
Kuljit Chadha, the co-founder and COO of Disprz, is a serial entrepreneur who relishes taking nascent technology products to new markets. He has a track record of taking at least three products that were category-defining across media, formal education, and enterprise learning to both emerging and developed markets across the world. In his latest stint as co-founder of Disprz, a knowledge-tech startup (which was adjudged the mobile learning company of the year in 2017), Kuljit has interacted with over 100 L&D heads globally and has assimilated a treasure trove of best practices. He holds an MBA from a top-ranked business school in India.
304 So, You’ve Decided to Use Scrum. Now What?
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 27
Salon 7
Scrum has quickly become a preferred methodology for developing educational content in a fast-paced world. But how do you take those agile concepts and apply them to an existing development team deeply rooted in linear processes? MedStar Health had a patient education video production team that was buried under projects. They needed to implement Scrum, and fast, but quickly found that the out-of-the-box process needed some customization.
In this case study session, explore how the production team from MedStar Health’s Simulation, Training, and Education Lab (SiTEL) made Scrum work across multiple linear video projects. Find out what blended well with the existing waterfall framework, what didn’t, and how the solution was customized to fit the team’s needs. You’ll learn how a staged, slow agile release process can facilitate acceptance and support. Learn about the video production life cycle and how to identify natural breaking points within a linear project to facilitate floating project tasks. You’ll learn the basics of managing multi-project sprint backlogs, stickies, and Scrum boards.
In this session, you will learn:
- What the video production project life cycle is, and how to break up linear phases to fit within the incremental nature of a Scrum framework
- How to manage multiple linear projects by finding natural breaking points and floating project tasks
- How to adapt the Scrum board, stickies, and backlogs to support multiple video projects
- How to introduce and pilot Scrum using a slow rollout to maximize team member support
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.
Hilda Demarino
Project Manager
MedStar Health
Hilda Demarino is a senior certified project manager professional and Scrum master for the Patient Education Group of MedStar Health, SiTEL Division. She has leveraged nearly 10 years of designer experience coupled with her project management skills to produce state-of-the-art healthcare education with advanced technologies. She recently led a multimedia production team to create over 100 pieces of patient education video content using the Scrum framework. In 2014, Hilda led her team to a first-place win in the Mobile Solution category at The eLearning Guild’s DevLearn DemoFest.
306 Enabling the Deskless Retail Workforce
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Tuesday, March 27
Salon 18
Sales. Complaints. Stocking. Theft. These issues dominate the retail day-to-day, leaving little time for development. Distributed stores, varying experience levels, and the growing complexity of omnichannel are making it more difficult for L&D to support retail employees. Although this audience is underserved by L&D, they are at great risk for injury, they interact with customers, and they have the power to make or break your business—one decision at a time.
This session will explore the reality of the retail workplace and determine why traditional learning approaches continue to fall short. You will learn about the differentiating role deskless employees will play as the retail business continues to experience seismic disruption. L&D professionals will craft the modern retail learning and performance experience by reimagining L&D tactics to better fit into the day-to-day. You’ll hear stories of emerging retailers that have evolved their learning ecosystems to better support the needs of the deskless worker. The session will demonstrate how a renewed focus on learning can drive measurable business outcomes through an evolved customer experience.
In this session, you will learn:
- Assess the day-to-day performance reality of the retail worker
- Apply modern learning principles and tactics to support the deskless worker
- Enable frontline managers to improve continued learning and coaching experiences
- Foster organizational agility through a reimagined approach to workplace learning
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Knowledge sharing platforms, microlearning platforms, mobile devices, and POS devices.
JD Dillon
Chief Learning Architect
Axonify
JD Dillon became a learning and enablement expert over two decades working in operations and talent development with dynamic organizations including Disney, Kaplan, and AMC. A respected author and speaker in the workplace learning community, JD continues to apply his passion for helping people around the world do their best work every day in his role as Axonify's chief learning architect. JD is also the founder of LearnGeek, a workplace learning insights and advisory group.
SMM106 Knowing Your Business: Using Context to Improve Success
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Tuesday, March 27
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
You want a seat at the table, but you have a difficult time engaging with the right stakeholders. You want your team to be recognized as performance consultants, but do you understand how the business operates?
The challenge of earning a seat at the table has plagued the learning profession for years. Culture, engagement, and business impact are themes we are all familiar with. But do we really know what this means, or do we focus too much on the method of delivery? Do we let our process get in the way of results? In this session, we will discuss how to improve business acumen and learn to ask the right questions in the right context to get to the root of addressing business problems in your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- Practical applications of networking, networking tools, and research to gather data on your audience
- How to ask effective questions to get to the root of the business issues your internal customers need to address, and why these questions are important
- How to apply information so that your solution is delivered in the context of what is important to your customers
- How to work with your partners in the business in the context of their needs
- How to limit preconceived notions
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
LinkedIn, your company’s website, public information, podcasts.
Mike Simmons
Founder
Catalyst A.C.T.S
Mike Simmons is an enabler and a coach. He helps leaders and professionals breakthrough the challenge of second-guessing their work. He does this through a combination of frameworks, process, tools, and thinking. He takes a beginner's mind approach to the work he does, starting with questions informed by experience, practice, and doing the work. Possessing more than two decades of operations, consulting, customer success, sales, sales operations leadership experience; 15 of those years were in the EdTech space where Mike helped numerous clients achieve success through the application of innovative technology to their learning, skills development, and behavior change challenges.
402 Boost Performance on a Budget: Tips for Innovative Learning and Development
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 27
Salon 9
Is your L&D program short on dollars but big on expectations? Most learning and development professionals feel under-resourced given the learning needs they face, the vast number of tools and approaches available, and their overall ambition to do great work. Today’s L&D professionals need to do more with less, but how?
Humentum and its member organizations regularly work with limited funds to design, deliver, and evaluate projects for learners across the globe. This session will explore their success stories using cost-friendly tools, approaches, and innovative learning solutions to address the world’s most difficult problems. You’ll learn about successful strategies used in the international development and humanitarian relief sector, and you’ll discuss how to apply these principles in domestic, corporate, and other settings.
In this session, you will learn:
- From examples and case studies of learning projects delivered affordably
- About cost-friendly tools to design, deliver, and evaluate learning initiatives
- About creative solutions to common L&D problems
- How to do more with less!
Gus Curran
Member Services Manager
Humentum
Gus Curran, a member services manager at Humentum, is passionate about helping people learn. He works with the Humentum team, member LMS admins, and other L&D professionals to create and share innovative training that is appropriate and accessible for learners all over the world. Gus is happiest when connecting with people who believe, like he does, that if you listen to the learner and help them meet their goals, you can make a difference in their life.
Mark Nilles
Director, Learning and Impact
Humentum
Mark Nilles, a director of learning and impact at Humentum, is a learning professional with a nontraditional L&D background. His work has focused on introducing new teaching and learning approaches to the Humentum portfolio. Expanding the reach and impact of learning through eLearning is an important aspect of Mark’s work. His perspective is informed through years of training and capacity building for international development and humanitarian relief professionals around the world. Mark has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin¬¬–Madison and a master’s degree in international education from Florida State University.
Paige Winn
L&D Specialist
FHI 360
Paige Winn is a senior learning and development specialist based at FHI 360 headquarters in North Carolina. When she’s not managing instructional design and eLearning initiatives, she enjoys her favorite work role: facilitating meaningful and lively workshops across the globe to make learning more impactful.
403 Transforming L&D: From Course Catalogs to a Learning and Performance Ecosystem
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 27
Junior Ballroom F
Is your organization interested in moving beyond course delivery to a broader, more comprehensive and strategic approach that focuses not just on learning, but on performance and productivity? How do you justify your L&D budget? What metrics do you track, and how compelling are they to your funders? Are your sponsors asking you to give them courses or improve the productivity of the organization?
This session will reveal the “secret sauce” you need in order to transform your L&D function to create and sustain a learning and performance ecosystem. You will explore the paradigm shift that is required for L&D’s transformation from course provider to ecosystem solution provider. The session will define some key changes to typical L&D roles, processes, and metrics that make ecosystems work. It will be interactive and engaging, with time reserved to discuss participant concerns, ecosystem drivers, and pain points.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the six components and three building blocks of the learning and performance ecosystem
- How critical performance analysis is to the learning and performance ecosystem
- About the metrics of the learning and performance ecosystem
- About the critical ecosystem skills and processes your L&D function must acquire to be successful
- How several organizations are going about transforming their L&D function to an ecosystem approach
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
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.
404 Using Sprint Planning to Tackle Mammoth Projects
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 27
Salon 3
eLearning teams are consistently tasked with completing large projects under impossibly tight deadlines. Often, this feels like eating an elephant. How do you map out the project? How do you hold SMEs, designers, and developers accountable? How do you display progress to stakeholders? The eLearning team at Karmak struggled with these questions and consistently failed to meet deadlines. They wondered: Could borrowing an internal development model be the answer?
In this case study session, you’ll hear the tale of how Karmak’s eLearning team turned its eyes to the “sprint planning” process already used by software developers within the company. By making this one significant shift in the planning process, the team reduced the number of weekly meetings they attended, more accurately calculated deadlines, held everyone more accountable for their share of the work, increased buy-in among stakeholders and SMEs, set clearer expectations for every member of the team, and had a lot more fun in the process, all without spending an extra dime.
In this session, you will learn:
- How sprint planning is defined, and why it works so well in a development setting
- How to reduce the amount of time your team spends in meetings each week
- How to improve visibility throughout a project to increase accountability, improve efficiency, and confidently set deadlines each and every time
- How to identify and deal with potential roadblocks early on, before they stop your team in their tracks
- How to increase buy-in among internal stakeholders by setting expectations and fostering a fun, creative atmosphere
- How to implement a sprint planning process at your organization quickly and inexpensively
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers with basic project-planning and instructional design skills.
Ezzy Schesvold
Senior Instructional Designer
Karmak
Ezzy Schesvold is a senior instructional designer at Karmak. With five years of experience on Karmak’s eLearning team, Ezzy has a passion for creating engaging, meaningful, effective coursework. She holds a degree in art from Blackburn College and takes every opportunity to bring her creative vision to Karmak’s eLearning.
Joe Healy
Instructional Designer
Karmak
Joe Healy is an instructional designer for Karmak, a position he has held for two years, after stops in software design and marketing for the company. Prior to joining Karmak, Joe worked as a journalist, where he honed the storytelling skills that he brings to every course he creates. He holds a BA in political science from Sam Houston State University and an MPA from Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville.
409 A Business Case for Cost-Effective VR
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 27
Salon 15
Many organizations see virtual reality as too expensive to create and implement. However, cost barriers to VR entry can actually be fairly low, and introducing VR into organizations can be more cost-effective than you imagined.
This session will examine ROI that shows potentially more impact from VR than from an eLearning course, as well as which VR strategies to use for various business learning needs. You’ll learn how to bring real-world objects into the virtual world, and how to utilize and reuse VR objects and experiences with no developer skills. You’ll explore levels of immersion and how to use mixed reality to enable true blended learning. Finally, you’ll look closer at best-practice business cases for VR’s application and use.
In this session, you will learn:
- About VR’s low cost barriers to entry
- How to change VR experiences on the fly while in VR
- About applications of VR in the enterprise
- Why VR is potentially more cost-effective than other learning mediums
- About forthcoming VR technologies
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, project managers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
HTC Vive, Samsung Gear, and Google Cardboard; the Immerse, Sansar, and Edorble platforms; and Unity.
Hugh Seaton
GM
Adept Reality
Hugh Seaton is GM of Adept Reality, a software company focused on using VR/AR in adult learning. Prior to Adept, Hugh founded AquinasVR, a VR/AR software company which he sold to the Glimpse Group, parent of Adept. Hugh’s focus, whether in immersive technologies, IoT or artificial intelligence, is on the intersection of learning science, creativity, and the cutting edge technologies that can bring learning to new levels of effectiveness.
504 Best Practices for Global Learning Solutions Rollouts
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, March 28
Salon 15
Rolling out new training is rarely easy, but it can be even more tricky when that training needs to be designed for and delivered to a global audience. This was the case when the Sherwin-Williams Company needed to create and share a new global code of conduct training. With the CEO and board of directors as stakeholders, this high-profile rollout had to go smoothly.
In this case study session, you’ll take a closer look at the year-long process used for designing, developing, and communicating the global code of conduct at the Sherwin-Williams Company. You’ll review best practices and lessons learned that you can utilize to save time and money when implementing global training rollouts. You’ll then get tips for how to manage complex projects with numerous partners, which in this case included internal SMEs and stakeholders, instructional designers, graphic designers, developers, a video crew, post-production services, and a third-party localization vendor. Finally, you’ll explore best practices for making global communication work smoothly.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to create a cohesive client and vendor project management process
- How to implement best practices for managing the instructional design, video production, eLearning development, and localization processes
- How to adapt project management practices for a global audience’s unique needs
- How to develop a global training communication plan
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Tiffany Lombardo
Instructional Design Manager
Cinecraft Productions
Tiffany Lombardo has over 14 years of experience as a learning & development professional. She began her career as part of the L&D team at The Sherwin-Williams Company, where she implemented global learning programs and designed impactful learning for employees, managers, and executives. In 2016, she joined Cinecraft Productions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from John Carroll University, and a master’s degree in business administration with a focus in human resources from Cleveland State University. 
Todd Grove
Video Producer & Learning Project Manager
Cinécraft Productions
Todd Grove is a video producer and learning project manager at Cinécraft Productions, with over 12 years of experience in that role. During his time at Cinécraft, he has managed large-scale projects for many different types of clients on time and on budget. He is passionate about meeting customers’ needs by developing creative and engaging solutions that fulfill the business need. Todd earned his bachelor’s degree in electronic media production and business administration from Ashland University.
510 BYOD: Content Strategy—Not Just for Marketers
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, March 28
Salon 1
L&D professionals often think about one single training program only, instead of looking at the entire journey their learners take. Mapping out the learner life cycle and assigning content that engages them along the way not only helps create unforgettable learning experiences and drive individual performance, but also helps with the transfer of knowledge after a training session ends.
In this session, you will learn how marketing professionals create and plan their content, and reasons why L&D professionals should adapt this model. You will learn how to apply these concepts to L&D in order to drive an individual’s performance, help plan for quarters to come, and measure ROI. You’ll learn how to create a content strategy plan and how to implement it in easy steps. You’ll also find out how a single Trello template can help you work more collaboratively with your team in creating such a plan.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to create a content strategy plan
- How to use a project management tool to collaborate with your team
- How to drive performance by offering the right content at the right time
- How to create meaningful and sustainable content
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Trello.
Bianca Baumann
VP, Learning Solutions & Innovation
Ardent Learning
Bianca Baumann is VP, learning solutions & innovation at Ardent Learning. Over time, she has developed processes and methodologies to help organizations meet their growth targets with the help of innovative L&D approaches including digital transformations, onboarding, and reskilling programs. She has spearheaded multiple projects in the marketing, automotive, financial, and events industries, creating award-winning programs along the way. She shares her expertise in her blog and at global conferences. She teaches learning experience design at OISE and published the eBook, The Little Black Book of Marketing and L&D, a practical guide that helps integrate proven marketing techniques into L&D.
SMM202 An Agile Approach to Learning Development
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, March 28
Expo Hall: Management & Measurement Stage
Business needs and technology are constantly evolving through cycles of change. Traditional approaches to learning development have had trouble quickly translating a business requirement into an appropriate learning solution available at the moment of need. This delay causes dissatisfaction for the audience for several reasons; most notably, it increases time to competency because learners don’t have the proper learning resources to complete the job. So how can you get faster at designing and developing the learning experiences your audiences need?
In this session, you will learn how to create cross-functional (integrated) teams that can start using agile project management and engage in all steps of the value stream, from analysis to design, development, testing, and release. You will learn how to maintain focus on business value throughout the entire journey by adopting an agile scrum approach. This approach enables frequent deliveries of learning solutions, as well as feedback from your intended audience, and it helps your team speed up your production timelines so you can more quickly create the right learning solutions aligned to the business need.
In this session, you will learn:
- What agile project management is
- About the benefits of using agile
- About the team’s key lessons learned
- How the team used agile methods to develop learning solutions
- About critical components of agile scrum
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS), VersionOne.
Adam Hadnott
Learning Analyst/Architect
The Boeing Company
Adam Hadnott is a learning analyst/architect with the Boeing Company. He began his career as an instructor and consultant for computer-aided engineering (CAE) and product lifecycle management (PLM) applications. Following this, he developed quality software for engineering designs. Adam has coached engineers throughout the Boeing enterprise on technical processes and applications, and he led the coaching effort supporting the development of the KC-46 tanker. Currently, Adam is supporting the enterprise-wide implementation of multiple major systems spanning supplier management, engineering, and manufacturing. Throughout his career, he has taken advantage of a variety of formal and informal learning opportunities on numerous subjects.
Fabian Zender
Innovation and Performance Engineer
The Boeing Company
Fabian Zender is an innovation and performance engineer at the Boeing Company. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech, and a passion for data analytics and learning. Fabian leads a multi-university capstone program sponsored by Boeing. He was a product owner for the development of learning solutions supporting the 777X, and is the lead for data analytics within the learning organization. Fabian led the development of standard video processes and templates for learning solutions. He is responsible for technical and data architecture to support learning for the enterprise-wide implementation of software spanning finance, engineering, and manufacturing.
607 Designing a Flexible, Future-Focused Learning Infrastructure
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Wednesday, March 28
Salon 9
L&D professionals are rarely able to build their ideal learning ecosystem; they often inherit legacy systems and approaches. With so many technologies designed to support specific parts of your ecosystem, it can be difficult to organize them into a comprehensive learning strategy with the flexibility to meet the future needs of your rapidly evolving business and the mobile, social, and global engagement necessary for a generationally diverse workforce.
While working together through a sample scenario, you will learn a practical approach to designing a learning and performance ecosystem that both leverages the existing tools you have and anticipates the future needs of your rapidly changing business, so you can identify and demonstrate meaningful business results that will support your ability to grow and evolve your ecosystem when the organization is ready for it.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the components that comprise a learning and performance ecosystem
- How to identify ecosystem components available to you
- How to identify future ecosystem components that will support rapidly changing businesses
- How to organize components to create a flexible ecosystem solution
- How to identify meaningful business measures to track success
- Where to seek support to grow and evolve your ecosystem
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.
Tammy Olson
Global Learning Program Manager
Donaldson Company
Tammy Olson, a global learning program manager at Donaldson Company, is an experienced global learning leader and strategist with a passion for developing learning strategies, infrastructures, and solutions that leverage social, collaborative, virtual, and mobile learning technologies for Fortune 500 companies. Tammy continually looks for opportunities to innovate the way people work by integrating learning and collaboration exactly where and when it is needed. She has over 20 years’ experience creating technology-enabled learning experiences to engage and develop high-performing, diverse employee populations.
608 How Leadership Development Turned a Dying Company Around
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Wednesday, March 28
Salon 14
In 2011, one company had the lowest productivity in its industry in the Asia Pacific, was not making cost of capital, and had a toxic culture. By 2016, the company had the highest productivity in the Asia Pacific, it made record profits, and unions were working happily with management. The organization achieved this by addressing its leadership vacuum and investing in management development that spanned the 70:20:10 in often creative ways.
This session will explore how to develop and select leadership training that influences a culture. You’ll find out how to put in place support for learning transition to the workplace context, how to take a holistic approach to learning on the job though experience, and how to use unorthodox TNA methods to target training effectively. Join this session to learn how a seemingly intransigent culture can change through effective leadership development. You’ll leave knowing how to “wow” customers with training that actually makes a difference.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the place of leadership development in an organization’s culture
- How to underpin TNA with business data
- How training and development can be partnered for holistic learning
- How to turn leadership training into a cultural driver
Audience:
Advanced managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.). A general understanding of business strategy and some knowledge of the leadership development field would be useful.
Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality.
Diane Edwards
General Manager People Systems and Technology
Ports of Auckland
Diane Edwards is a general manager of people, systems, and technology at Ports of Auckland. Diane holds postgraduate qualifications in education, accounting, and banking, and is the current national president of the New Zealand Association for Training and Development (NZATD). Diane was the HRINZ (Human Resources Institute of NZ) 2010 HR Specialist of the Year (training and OD); the 2015 HR Generalist of the Year; and the 2016 Governance NZ Gender Diversity Leader of the Year. She also won the 2016 SSON Australasian Culture Creation Award. Diane holds fellowships of NZATD, HRINZ Institute of Management, and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.
611 How Content Curation and Knowledge Management Can Help Us Thrive
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Wednesday, March 28
Salon 17
We are facing a knowledge tsunami—the sheer amount of content available is increasing at an exponential rate, while the shelf life of that content is shrinking dramatically. It can be overwhelming, not just to learners, but to us as well. As we look at the content we develop and publish, we have to ask some very important questions. Is it good content? Is it the right content for the right purpose? Is it up-to-date? Is it understandable? And even when we are confident in our content, we have to make sure it gets to the right people, at just the right time.
This presentation focuses on the two major tactics to avoiding a knowledge tsunami: content curation and knowledge management. Both are important; you can’t have one without the other. In this session, you’ll learn about the rationale for and the strategies behind content curation and knowledge management, and why these two approaches are so critical as L&D moves forward. From SMEs and instructional designers, to L&D leaders, the knowledge tsunami is a fact of our professional lives, and it’s time to face it head on.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why the two tactics of knowledge management and content curation are so powerful together
- Why these two tactics are of particular importance to L&D
- Key knowledge management and content curation strategies you’ll want to consider
- Tips for implementing knowledge management and content curation strategies at your own organization
Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VPs, CLOs, executives, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
This presentation will focus on general strategies for knowledge management and content curation rather than specific tools/technologies.
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.
705 Transforming Your Learning Ecosystem to Drive Business Results
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Wednesday, March 28
Junior Ballroom G
Today’s learning ecosystems are evolving. Technology continues to advance, people’s learning needs and preferences are changing, and business needs emerge and expand. In 2016, Choice University embarked on the challenge of evolving the franchisee learning management system and tying it more closely to the business objectives of the company and the hotels it serves. This change required a transformation of the learning ecosystem to maximize business results.
In this session, you’ll discover how Choice Hotels International evolved ChoiceU.com, its franchisee-facing LMS, and transformed it to help drive business results. You will learn the steps the team took to discover the needs of users, hotels, and the company itself. You will find out the characteristics of the new environment and actions they took to change ChoiceU.com into a dynamic environment. You’ll see the actual changes and the impacts they made on business results. But the transformation process isn’t over! You will also take a look at what comes next for this learning ecosystem.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the steps the organization took to evolve and transform an LMS/learning ecosystem that can help drive business results
- About the new skills that learning professionals need to help facilitate learning ecosystem transformation
- Lessons from evolving a learning ecosystem—including mistakes that you can avoid
- How to look into the future to anticipate necessary changes for your learning ecosystem
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Learning management systems.
Chris Longstreet
Director of Learning Experiences
Choice Hotels International
Chris Longstreet is a director of learning experiences for Choice University and Choice Hotels International. He oversees the creation, administration, and transformation of the learning ecosystem and learning experiences provided by ChoiceU and through ChoiceU.com, the franchisee-facing learning management system. He also coordinates the educational programs and experiences for the Choice Hotels Annual Convention. Chris leads a team that creates and facilitates the learning programs and resources that develop the skills of those owning and operating hotels. His team oversees the learning experiences for over 50,000 students who participate in the programs of Choice University.
David DuBois
Senior Manager, Learning Analytics and Awards
Choice Hotels International
David DuBois is the senior manager of learning analytics and awards for Choice University, the award-winning franchisee training department within Choice Hotels International. He is a frequent author and speaker around the importance and tactics of learning analytics. David is passionate about leading data analytics for learning organizations.
805 Cultivating Social Learning in Your Ecosystem
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Wednesday, March 28
Salon 5
People who are working to strengthen and diversify their learning and performance ecosystem are often interested in figuring out how to amplify social learning in the organization. L&D professionals may find, however, that promoting social learning is not as easy as enabling communication technologies and assigning roles. Learning leaders are sometimes surprised by inactive enterprise social networks and weak peer-to-peer support for learning.
This interactive session will explore specific strategies for cultivating social learning, including when and how to leverage technology and other community supports to enable and amplify interaction. Drawing from research and case studies on successful learning communities and other social learning strategies, the session will provide specific recommendations for promoting social learning among employees who may need support to effectively engage peers as learning partners and resources. It will help you understand the dynamics of social learning so that you can effectively enable, encourage, amplify, and troubleshoot it.
In this session, you will learn:
- About key factors that influence the formation and strength of a peer learning community
- Specific strategies for cultivating a social community to promote learning
- About the responsibilities of community managers and sponsors in successful social learning efforts
- About potential barriers to peer-to-peer learning and strategies to mitigate them
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Catherine Lombardozzi
Learning Strategy Consultant/Founder
Learning 4 Learning Professionals
Catherine Lombardozzi is a lifelong learning and development practitioner and founder of Learning 4 Learning Professionals. Her work focuses on supporting the professional development of designers, facilitators, faculty, consultants, and learning leaders through coaching, consulting, workshops, and development programs. As an active workplace learning professional with nearly 35 years' experience, Catherine often contributes to professional conferences and journals, and she teaches graduate-level courses in adult learning, instructional design, e-collaboration and consulting. She is author of Learning Environments by Design (2015). Catherine holds a doctoral degree in human and organizational learning from George Washington University.
901 5 Steps to Successful Customer Onboarding
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Thursday, March 29
Salon 9
Businesses understand that the faster customers see value from a product or service, the more satisfied they’ll be, and the more likely they are to renew a subscription or return to buy more. Despite this, many don’t understand how to properly train their customers at the start and ensure that they are giving them the right information at the right time. Furthermore, they struggle to implement processes that scale to support growth.
This session will provide a framework for developing a customer onboarding training program. This includes advice on creating an onboarding program strategy, tips on content strategy and creation, and discussion of distribution channels. You’ll also learn about key components of the customer training technology stack and the different investments that can help enhance the customer experience and accelerate time to value.
In this session, you will learn:
- The key components of a winning customer onboarding strategy
- How to prioritize content for onboarding customers
- Tips for managing and updating content over time
- What technology can help drive your strategy forward
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Webinar platforms, in-app notifications and messaging technology, walk-through wizards, and LMS technology.
Linda Schwaber-Cohen
Head of Training
Skilljar
Linda Schwaber is head of training at Skilljar. Her expertise lies in building and growing onboarding and training programs at software startups. After teaching for several years in K-12 and university settings, she shifted gears and began to develop programs to help customers adopt and see the value in B2B software purchases. Prior to joining Skilljar, a Seattle-based customer onboarding and training platform, Linda managed customer onboarding and enablement at Simply Measured, a social media analytics SaaS company.
903 Practical Considerations When Planning for Virtual and Augmented Reality
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Thursday, March 29
Salon 5
AR and VR present unique challenges in the eLearning space, and because these technologies are so new, many people (both instructors and learners) do not have extensive experience with them. From spatial planning to emotional needs, there is a wide range of factors to consider.
This session will cover what makes AR and VR unique from laptop-based eLearning, and what you’ll need as you plan out your first AR and VR trials. You’ll explore topics including which learning needs are well suited to both AR and VR; understanding how people emotionally perceive virtual worlds and environments; considerations for planning your AR and VR spaces; and how to guide people new to these technologies through them effectively, with live demonstrations during the session.
In this session, you will learn:
- Where AR and VR shine in learning contexts
- How to effectively teach someone new to AR and VR how to use them
- How to think “learner-first” in your planning and execution
- What to consider when planning your first AR and VR trials
Audience:
Novice designers, developers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft HoloLens (for AR) and HTC Vive (for VR).
Duncan Larkin
Digital Learning Innovation Manager
McKinsey & Company
Duncan Larkin is the head of the digital learning innovation team at McKinsey & Company. He is a passionate advocate for simple, elegant, and transformative solutions that push the boundaries of innovation and put the learner first. Duncan is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and the author of two books.
John Sangimino
Senior Learning Solutions Expert
McKinsey & Company
John Sangimino is a senior learning solutions expert with McKinsey’s Learning Design and Development Center of Excellence. He has more than 20 years of experience designing and developing immersive learning solutions for clients, including responsive model-based simulations. John works with McKinsey practices to develop learning strategies and implement learning solutions, including virtual and augmented reality.
904 Faster Training Development with Agile Project Management
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Thursday, March 29
Junior Ballroom G
Many training teams end up spinning their wheels because of too many subject matter experts, too much feedback from stakeholders, or too much time trying to figure out the “perfect” solution; all these can lead to drawn-out development that doesn’t create a better product in the end. Spectrum Health University suffered from all of these issues. They needed a way to get training developed more quickly and efficiently.
In this session, you will learn how to speed up your training development processes without compromising quality. Whether you create eLearning, instructor-led training, or performance support, you’ll come away with effective project management techniques that will work for you. You’ll explore how to break a large project down into deliverable chunks and how to track progress throughout the project. You’ll also learn how to gain buy-in from your team, managers, and clients. You’ll take techniques from agile project management and see how they work (or don’t) with learning design and development.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to use visual task management to track deliverables
- How to plan and run daily check-in huddles
- How to break down a big project into small, manageable chunks
- How to avoid the biggest momentum-killing traps in training development
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.
Technology discussed in this session:
Discussion (not demonstration) of Jira.
Michael Long
Lead Talent Development Specialist
Spectrum Health
Michael Long is a lead talent development specialist at Spectrum Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system, where he specializes in learning technologies and instructional design. He began his career in education in K-12 public schools, where he worked as both a classroom teacher and in administration, primarily training teachers on instructional best practices. Michael has expertise in language learning, curriculum design, and instructional technique.