Our Mission: Empower Professionals to Develop Talent in the Workplace.
© 2020 ATD | All Rights Reserved 1640 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
Our Mission: Empower Professionals to Develop Talent in the Workplace.
© 2020 ATD | All Rights Reserved 1640 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
Don't know where to start? Check out our selection of sessions to attend with our curated learning paths.
View and download our curated learning paths here.
“Use your head.” That’s what we tell ourselves and others when facing a tricky problem or a difficult project. But a growing body of research indicates that we’ve got it exactly backwards. What we need to do, says science writer Annie Murphy Paul, is think outside the brain. A host of “extra-neural” resources—the feelings and movements of our bodies, the physical spaces in which we learn and work, and the minds of those around us—can be used to support thinking and learning processes, a phenomenon that cognitive scientists call “the extended mind.” Augmenting the biological brain in this way can help us focus more intently, comprehend more deeply, and create more imaginatively—and help others to do the same.
Most learning interventions fail because they focus on facts and ideas instead of practical changes in behavior. If we want to change behavior, we must focus on how the brain decides what action to take and then design a course with that in mind. This course will help you design learning that’s specific in its goal, creates connections, and builds context for learners so you can make an impact.
Applications on the Job:Have you ever asked a question in a virtual presentation and not gotten a response? Or wondered if your message is getting across clearly to a remote audience? The best virtual presenters know how to capture and keep attention in online events. Join this session to learn the secrets to their success! You will learn how to prepare yourself in advance, open your presentation in ways that generate interest, and create a dialogue instead of a monologue. You’ll discover new uses for virtual tools and new techniques for interaction and engagement. You will also learn practical tips, such as when to turn on the webcam in an online meeting, how to present yourself online with professionalism and poise, and what to do when technical challenges occur. Whether you are brand new to live online delivery or have been facilitating virtual events for years, you’re sure to leave this session with new ideas, tips, and techniques for improving your virtual presentations.
Applications on the Job:Before measuring the impact of any learning solution, you must clearly define the problem you’re solving. A needs assessment is a systematic approach to determine the gaps between the current and desired state. Once those gaps are identified, you can design the metrics you’ll use to measure the impact of solutions. Needs assessments can be right-sized to meet the demands of nearly any project, even if you’re operating as a team of one. This session will break down the complexity of needs assessments and help you design a data-driven strategy for measuring what matters most.
Studies show that virtual learning often breaks down when measured at the application level (using what was learned) and impact level (the impact connected to learning). However, this breakdown can be avoided. To secure the support and funding that virtual learning needs, it must deliver effective results. This session explains how you can apply design-thinking principles that focus on designing for application and impact to ensure that your virtual learning programs deliver desired results.
Speaker: Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D., Chairman, ROI InstituteIn today’s hybrid workplaces, training programs often need to accommodate both online and on-site learners concurrently. Although hybrid training can be challenging, this session will help you identify and explore the foundational pillars that support successful live mixed learning. You’ll leave with practical strategies to elevate your hybrid training programs.
Applications on the Job:Are you wondering how to create meaningful connections among employees, or an environment for learning that is inviting, responsive, and engaging? Join this session to learn how employee resource groups (ERGs) can cultivate belonging and connectedness, fostering longer-lasting training and development impacts. Learn strategies and approaches to link ERGs to learning and development initiatives, improving employee understanding and enhancing your organizational culture as a whole. You’ll leave with suggested resources to explore this topic further.
Applications on the Job:It’s time for a mindset shift! Re-architect your learning ecosystem to keep pace with change, provide right-fit solutions, and ensure the people you support are always ready for what comes next. Discover a tried-and-true framework for making learning a frictionless, meaningful part of everyone’s jobs. Spoiler: You’ll be building fewer courses.
Applications on the Job:When leading virtual presentations and trainings, do you struggle to keep people engaged? Does your audience suffer from “death by PowerPoint?” Does their memory evaporate after every session? Adding digital whiteboarding is a great way to teach, demonstrate, and invite participation, while holding interest and boosting recall long after the event. But many leaders believe they can’t draw. Plus, they don’t know how to manage the technology. This session will give you the skills and tools to draw ideas live in virtual meetings and seamlessly integrate whiteboarding into your existing training programs to enhance the experience and learning outcomes.
Applications on the Job:In today’s rapidly changing world of talent development, embracing new ways of learning and advanced technologies is more critical than ever. This session will focus on creating successful plans for integrating new learning technologies, drawing from real-world examples and practical steps. These resources are valuable guides to unlocking the potential of modern learning technologies. Recognizing the need for structured approaches to exploring and implementing these technologies, the speaker will present a streamlined framework to help you make informed decisions aligned with your organization’s unique culture and goals.
Applications on the Job:Get ready to dive into the future of learning and development with ChatGPT! In this session, we’ll explore how AI platforms like ChatGPT are revolutionizing productivity. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, this session will equip you with the tools to supercharge your L&D skills. Fasten your seatbelts, because we’re about to take off into the world of ChatGPT!
Applications on the Job:Videos fill a variety of needs in learning and development, but just turning on and pointing the camera isn’t enough. From TV to the internet, high-quality videos are everywhere. Is everyone making better-looking and better-sounding videos than you? Don’t be left behind. In this session, you’ll learn various techniques to elevate your videos in a scalable, approachable way.
Applications on the Job:Level 1 evaluations are a staple of the L&D industry. Eighty-three percent of organizations evaluate their learning programs at Level 1, according to a recent ATD research study. However, only 35 percent of these organizations view the data they collect as valuable. Incorporating predictive questions into your Level 1 evaluations can increase their value. Predictive questions forecast the results a learning program is likely to achieve. They begin to answer the question that both business executives and L&D want answered: Is this program delivering value?
Applications on the Job: Use facts from a recent ATD research study to benchmark your organization’s use of Level 1 evaluations.Create predictive questions for a Level 1 evaluation to forecast participant learning, training transfer, and improved business results. Calculate three predictive metrics: a learning gain score, a training transfer likelihood score, and an improved business results likelihood score.Remote work demands a thoughtful approach to training. The shared experience of a digital cohort can create powerful peer-to-peer learning and lasting relationships. In this session, you’ll learn how to structure a digital cohort to foster collaboration and innovation among team members.
Stories are effective tools for triggering emotions and empathy, which is why they are often part of a design strategy. Why do stories influence behavior? In this session, you’ll learn the reason why along with three recommendations for taking a science-supported approach to integrating stories into your courses.
Applications on the Job:Join this session to explore the early steps of developing a microlearning product. First, we’ll examine the role of strategic design in making decisions about the primary use case for the product (the six Ps) and evaluative measures that align to that product. Then, we’ll review a sample microlearning product that illustrates some of the seven microlearning design principles. Using chat and polling questions, you'll explore microlearning design and how it drives effectiveness. You’ll leave this session with a micro- and macro-view of how effectively designed microlearning products fit into strategic learning campaigns.
With the global economy in flux, there is a pressing need for L&D teams to deliver training that translates to better organizational performance. Training programs need to be engaging to drive knowledge retention, upskill employees, and enhance productivity.
However, with an increasingly distributed workforce, transforming training into engaging learning experiences becomes complex. Join this session to discover how workflow learning can bridge this gap and seamlessly integrate training into daily work routines, making learning more personalized, effective, and engaging than ever before.
Speaker: Diksha Sharma, Product Marketing Manager, Digital Adoption Specialist, Whatfix
How can you start integrating emerging technology into your learning initiatives? Could using chatbots help you deliver and demonstrate the learning outcomes your organization needs and wants? Join this session led by a learning transfer expert as she shares real client examples and lessons learned from using coaching chatbots in a previously human-dominated arena. Challenge your beliefs and assumptions about what’s possible with AI through insights from real client experiences; learn the top 5 reasons AI chatbot projects fail; and review the powerful combination of chatbots and data analytics.
Applications on the Job:Is your training inclusive and accessible? Does it account for learners with disabilities, low literacy, nonnative English, and other learning challenges? Traditional accessibility application focuses on asynchronous e-learning and concentrates mainly on vision and hearing challenges. But how do we increase accessibility in our synchronous in-person and virtual classrooms? This session will demonstrate how to account for a wide variety of learners in training programs, including those with disabilities, low literacy, or low proficiency in English. Accessibility tips, tools, and resources will also be shared that address various learning barriers, such as sensory, mobility, cognitive, literacy, and language challenges.
This session focuses on creating learning programs using evaluation criteria. It will explore how instructional designers can use evaluation criteria to inform course objectives, activities, and materials. Taking this approach and designing programs with evaluation front and center makes conducting evaluations easier and more intentional, and helps you demonstrate the value of your programs.
Applications on the Job:The modern workforce is unique; people have endless options for personalized learning that meets their needs. Yet many of the design and development models in L&D are decades old. In addition, we now know that one learning intervention is insufficient to build the skills and competence that will create real change in workplace performance. Design thinking is a mindset, a toolset, and a process that helps learning designers generate new approaches to performance issues. And it’s also fun!
Organizational leaders must perceive learning and talent development as an investment, not a cost. If leaders see L&D as just a cost, they will control it, reduce it, or eliminate it, resulting in weak partnerships, diminished influence, decreased support, and reduced funding. However, if funders view these programs as an investment, they will maintain, enhance, and protect the budget. This session will show you how to measure and improve investments in learning and talent development programs and people at all levels of evaluation, including ROI. It will emphasize what executives (the funders) want to see and how to communicate the results to key stakeholders credibly.
Join this session to marvel at the compelling presentations you can create using only PowerPoint. Create visual, dynamic, and engaging slides that help your audience learn. This session will also present a variety of real-life examples illustrating how to transform bullet points into meaningful visuals.
What does it take to drive on-the-job change through learning? It takes a strategy and methodology that meets unique learners’ needs at their time, place, and way of choosing with content that connects back to the job. The Learning Cluster Design Model is a breakthrough for the learning industry and elevates our impact out of the classroom or program and into the flow of work and the bottom line. Multi-asset initiatives are the way of the future—and implementing them effectively will differentiate organizations that survive and thrive from those that don’t.
Looking to add podcasting to your organization’s learning solutions, but not sure where to start? Podcasting provides a simple, low-investment option for informal or casual learning. This session will discuss podcasting in learning development. We will explore how podcasts are used today and the benefits of podcasting for your organization. We will learn about popular podcast formats, brainstorm podcast ideas for your organization, and even talk about how to avoid the walkout in podcast interviews. You will leave with strategies for starting a podcast in your organization.
Why do some participants leave a virtual training session as soon as the breakout activities are announced? After all, you have worked so hard to develop, design, produce, and facilitate them! And after many years of avoiding breakout session activities in virtual training, we have reached a point where we are finally ready to do the work it takes to design and deliver them effectively. So, it’s disappointing when participants leave, and frankly, it’s a tad confusing!
Aren’t we avoiding lectures by adding small group activities to a learning program? Isn’t this the engagement participants have wanted all along? Something must be missing. Somehow, somewhere, something has gone astray. What has happened, and more importantly, what can be done about it? Additionally, what are some techniques to make breakouts run smoothly? This session reveals creative ways to provide clear information to participants and give them the time they need to succeed. Let’s discover this together in this session!
In a world that’s changing faster than ever, traditional approaches to learning and development are no longer sufficient. It’s time to challenge assumptions and embrace a new era of inclusive learning. Join this session for a deep dive into the core areas of training delivery, instructional design, measurement and evaluation, and learning technologies. Drawing wisdom from The Ultimate Guide to Being an Inclusive Learning Hero, authored by the renowned talent development expert Liza Wisner, this session is your gateway to becoming a learning hero. Liza, who is professionally trained in computer science and instructional design and has a wealth of experience collaborating with trailblazing organizations and visionary leaders all over the world, will equip you with the insights and strategies needed to become a hero of inclusive learning practices so that you can make profound impacts on the evolving landscape of learning and development.
The use of ROI in the talent development field continues to increase as the demand to prove the value of our investments grows. At the same time, the concept of ROI stirs up fear, causes debates, and presents challenges among practitioners in many organizations. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. This session briefly traces ROI’s history and use as well as common concerns while focusing on the basics of how to use it. Discover the importance of implementing an evaluation strategy using the ROI Methodology, a credible process that measures reaction, learning, application, impact, and ROI. This session will help you gain confidence to show the value of what you do.
Speaker: Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D., Chairman, ROI Institute
Onboarding and training represents both an exciting and stressful time for L&D teams and the new employees. For organizations investing in talent, an effective onboarding and training process provides a framework to turn new employees into high performers. But how do you ensure that the onboarding and continuous training processes are effective and efficient? In this session, you’ll learn how to rethink and redesign your onboarding and training methods, accelerate learning technology adoption, and make employees more efficient and productive.
Speaker: Maria David, Digital Onboarding and Training Expert, Director of Enterprise Sales, Whatfix