Sessions
  • General Session

    Full Speed Ahead: Thriving in a Rapidly Changing Learning Tech Environment

    Wheeeee! New technology is only arriving faster. With so much going on in our industry, keeping up with everything is nearly impossible. But that’s also what makes it exciting! The road ahead will be fast, fun, and a little bumpy–and your job is to keep it safe and productive for you and your team. In this keynote session, we’ll explore how you can navigate this innovation landscape and focus on what matters.

    First, we’ll examine the map: What promising new technologies are getting the most real-world traction? How do innovations evolve, gain momentum (or not), and become mainstream? When is it right to jump in, and when should you wait?

    Next, the on-ramp: How can you keep up with all there is to learn? We’ll explore the strategies that have been effective in the evolution of xAPI and learn what they offer us in a new landscape full of AI, VR, and more.

    Finally, the big picture: Along the way, we can’t lose sight of how we’re using all this technology to solve big organizational and societal challenges. As talent professionals, we can use our powers and tech not only to fill skills gaps and develop talent, but also to mitigate disconnectedness, inequality, and injustice.



    Speaker:Megan Torrance
  • Education Sessions

    Design Thinking Essentials

    In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, instructional designers must keep up with the latest trends and techniques to stay ahead of the curve. Design thinking can help you traverse the ever-changing landscape, ensuring you meet your learner’s needs. This crash course will help learning professionals embrace a modern, human-centered approach to problem-solving. Through interactive activities and engaging discussions, participants will learn the design thinking phases, tools, and techniques that can help them create innovative solutions at lightning speed.

    Applications on the Job:Conduct interviews to identify learner pain points and business impact.
    • Develop test plans and prototypes.
    • Facilitate design thinking sprints.

    Speaker: Almira "Myra" Roldan
    Track: Instructional Design
    Area of Focus: Design Thinking
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, New Practitioner



    Take Your Training Further Faster with Video

    Every day, online creators engage with hundreds of millions of viewers on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. These platforms have become the world’s classroom, teaching everything from website design to car maintenance. This session will take the lessons of those online creators and apply them to the content we create daily. Participants will learn how to plan an effective video, the tools needed for recording, and techniques for editing a great video. These lessons will help you unlock the power of video to make content faster and with more engagement than traditional e-learning courses.

    Applications on the Job:Design content for a video format. Choose the essential tools to make a great video. Edit a new or existing video to make it more engaging.
    Speaker: Matt Gjertsen
    Track: Learning Technologies
    Area of Focus: Video
    Target Audience: Instructional Designer, Facilitator/Trainer



    What to Do With a Training Request: A Guided Case Study

    Every trainer has been faced with a request for training that may or may not have been appropriate. Join this session to learn how guided case studies, which the speaker has been using in her NYU classroom for years, can help beginners and experienced TD professionals with needs assessment.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Learn how to respond to a training request using a case study—a powerful way to learn what works and does not.
    • Identify when you’re jumping into training solutions before training has been identified as a solution, as well as when your questions are not adding value.
    • Respond appropriately to a training request to save your organization time and money and protect the reputation of your training department.

    Speaker: Sophie Oberstein
    Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
    Area of Focus: Planning and Preparation
    Target Audience: Training Delivery & Facilitation
  • General Session

    The Science of Participant Engagement

    According to a recent survey, the number 1 problem facing training professionals today is a lack of participant engagement. Join renowned engagement expert Sardék Love in this captivating general session as he unveils the secrets to creating highly engaging training experiences. Delve into the fascinating science of participant engagement and discover the three pillars of engagement from his Engage FrameworkTM. Learn how to transform even the most content-heavy technical training into powerfully memorable and entertaining learning experiences, in-person or virtual.

    Compelling scientific evidence will expose why most training falls woefully short in engaging participants. Sardék Love will arm you with a short list of powerful actions that make active participation automatic and turn your sessions into dynamic and impactful learning experiences, no matter what content you teach. Whether you're a trainer, facilitator, instructional designer, or learning manager, this session will provide evidence-based insights and practical strategies to elevate your training programs and empower you to excel back on the job.



    Speaker: Sardek Love, Sardek Love International
    Track: General Session
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals
  • Education Sessions

    Building an L&D Control Tower for Metrics

    Control towers have been staples in manufacturing and supply chain operations for years, providing standardization and data for better business decisions. Control towers often show inefficiencies like bottlenecks and help organizations build strategies to improve performance. In this session, we will work on building control towers for learning and development to add value to our organizations and track the nuances of our work. You will walk away with your own control tower template and ideas for populating it with data specific to your organization.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Identify key metrics that align with your goals and objectives.
    • Determine how to translate common control tower metrics to learning and development.

    Speaker: Cara North
    Track: Evaluating Impact
    Area of Focus: Data & Analytics
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, New Practitioner



    Intro to xAPI & Learning Data for Analytics & Action

    As xAPI adoption takes hold, learning professionals increasingly want to learn about this new(ish) data specification and its uses—analytics, credentialing, personalization, and recommendation within the workflow. Successful adopters of xAPI for learning analytics and action have three things in common: a data-driven mindset, a data toolset, and a success strategy. xAPI tools and platforms are ready. Are you?
    How Does This Session Address the Problem?
    This session will start with a high-level overview of xAPI to connect participants to some of the data structures that are important in a modern learning ecosystem. We’ll then quickly switch to the role of analytics in the learning organization, contrasting it with reporting and other data uses an organization might have. We’ll explore different levels of analysis with examples from real-life case studies and look at how to get started. The session includes a stepwise progression that starts with creating a plan for data & analytics, designing questions for analysis, and honing the list of questions to a manageable set. Then, we’ll move on to capturing and storing data in the learning ecosystem, analyzing & iterating, and finally, reporting that information out to stakeholders. We’ll end with some cautionary tales, insights about using data to make decisions within the organization, and ways to learn more.
    .

    Applications on the Job:
    • What xAPI is? A roadmap for implementation, including data sources, data storage, relationships, and strategies.
    • A process for getting started with data & analytics and tools and components required for analytics.
    • Cautionary words about over-reliance on data.

    Speaker: Megan Torrance
    Track: Learning Technologies
    Area of Focus: LMS/LXPs/Platforms
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals



    New Age Facilitation Skills to Nurture

    In today’s digital society, emerging as a facilitator and trainer in TD in any capacity requires an agile mindset to your approach to delivery. In the past, we discussed “going slide-less”—engaging participants with a more experiential approach. Versatility and flexibility are now the skills valued by our customers, participants, and stakeholders, who enter our learning spaces (whether classrooms, virtual, or hybrid) eager to connect with humans and knowledge.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Harness and embrace your genuine facilitation style.
    • Align your participants’ and stakeholders’ expectations.
    • Keep your audience captivated using agile rules of engagement.

    Speaker: Cornelius “Neil” Dowdell
    Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
    Area of Focus: Facilitation
    Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
  • Education Sessions

    Accessibility: Leave No Learner Behind

    Everyone deserves the chance to get better at their jobs, right? E-learning can be a great way to reach more people with your professional development offerings. But without purposeful planning, some technology can be a barrier to learners with disabilities. In this session, you’ll get a deeper appreciation about the effects of your choices by experiencing assistive technology yourself by experiencing how individuals with disabilities would navigate your courses.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Identify technology and design choices that might create a barrier to individuals with disabilities.
    • Adjust instructional design practices and technology decisions to be more inclusive.
    • Gain new perspective about the decisions you are making and learn how to pivot to create more accessible offerings.

    Speaker: Diane Elkins
    Track: Learning Technologies
    Area of Focus: E-Learning and Digital Design
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Instructional Designer



    Irresistible Virtual Training!

    ILearning online is now commonplace. Unfortunately, encouraging attendees to participate, turn on their cameras, and unmute can feel like herding cats. Establishing a comfortable, safe, and technically sound online learning environment is essential. Meaningful and relevant activities are the secret. Like tasty treats and fresh catnip, attendees can’t resist participating in your virtual training when you use three engaging learning activities and a “never fail” debrief strategy to involve them! Invite participants to take charge of their learning and experience virtual training like they’ve never seen before.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Implement five ready-to-use virtual learning activity examples.
    • Deliver one “never fail” debrief strategy to reflect on, validate, and encourage learning.
    • Use a job aid to assist you in designing virtual learning activities.

    Speaker: Kassy LaBorie
    Track: Learning Technologies
    Area of Focus: LMS/LXPs/Platforms
    Target Audience: Instructional Designer, Facilitator/Trainer



    Making Measurement Easier—Find the Simplest Solution for Evaluating Your Learning Programs

    Recent trend reports indicate that 55 percent of learning professionals are unhappy with their approach to measuring and evaluating learning. Many learning pros feel overwhelmed by measurement, under-resourced, and confused about where to start. If this experience resonates with you, join this session to simplify your measurement approach and find the best strategy for evaluating the outcomes of your learning programs.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Take a short quiz to find your measurement match (the most useful evaluation model for your learning initiative), and learn why it’s the best fit for your program.
    • Explore the most common challenges to learning measurement and the most important action steps to break free from those monitoring and evaluation (M&E) roadblocks.
    • Create the first three steps toward implementing your measurement match in a current or future learning initiative.

    Speaker: Alaina Szlachta, PhD
    Track: Evaluating Impact
    Area of Focus: Evaluation Instruments
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Decision Maker/Leader



    Present Like a Superhero ... Cape Not Required

    It’s no secret that trying to connect with and reach audience members in-person and online can be challenging—covering large amounts of content, getting audiences members’ minds off everything else and focused on the presentation, and checking to ensure learning actually took place. In this interactive session, new trainers and facilitators will establish the perfect foundation for becoming world-class speakers, and experienced presenters will walk away refreshed, renewed, and ready to improve upon what they are already doing well. Participants learn a methodology the most effective speakers use while uncovering their own hidden superpowers.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Examine the most effective strategies for organizing any amount of presentation content on any topic.
    • Discover how to powerfully establish credibility and create connection with any audience.
    • Investigate how to regularly check for understanding to ensure learning objectives are met.

    Speaker: Bridgett McGowen
    Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
    Area of Focus: Presentation Skills
    Target Audience: New Practitioner, Facilitator/Trainer
  • Education Sessions

    Full-Body Meeting Facilitation: Essential Techniques for In-Person and Virtual Meetings

    To be effective, efficient, and successful, meeting facilitation requires more skill than most organizations realize. While excellent agendas are foundational, learning full-body techniques will take your facilitation to the next level. In this interactive and experiential training session, participants will have the opportunity to practice their new tools with peers to move the energy in a conversation forward. Specific improv activities to facilitate meetings and conversations will be followed by practice applying advanced techniques. By incorporating the full-body approach, participants can learn to foster conversations in meetings that encourage growth and change.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Empower yourself to drive conversations so that people have their opinions and ideas heard.
    • Activate tools to manage challenging participant behaviors.
    • Navigate difficult conversations while remaining fully present and inviting differing perspectives.

    Speaker: Hilary Blair
    Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
    Area of Focus: Planning and Preparation
    Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer



    Demonstrating the Impact and ROI of Learning and Talent Development

    Organizational leaders need to perceive learning and talent development as an investment and not a cost. If leaders see these programs as a cost, they will control it, reduce it, or eliminate it, resulting in weak partnerships, diminished influence, decreased support, and reduced funding. However, if leaders view these programs as an investment, they will maintain, protect, and even enhance the budget. Are you prepared to show how your learning and talent development programs deliver business value? This session will show participants how to measure and improve investments in learning and TD at all levels of evaluation. It will emphasize what executives want to see and how to communicate the results to key stakeholders authentically.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Describe the framework used to demonstrate the value that matters, including return on investment (ROI).
    • Use the alignment model to position programs for success.
    • Identify methods and techniques that make ROI work.

    Speaker: Patti P. Phillips, PhD
    Track: Evaluating Impact
    Area of Focus: ROI
    Target Audience: Director/Manager, Decision Maker/Leader



    Learning Engineering 101: Applying Evidence-Based Practices

    This session will equip you with the knowledge you need to implement learning engineering practices and processes to design, iterate, and evaluate learning solutions. In this session, you’ll discover how to apply learning sciences to inform your design decisions. We’ll discuss human-centered design practices including design-based research, personas, and user-testing solutions to further improve conditions of learning. Find out how to use instrumentation and data analysis to discover what works, why it works, identify critical issues, develop targeted solutions, and—most importantly—scale what works through iterative, evidence-based design.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Apply learning science research and modeling to guide instructional design decisions.
    • Employ instrumentation to collect data to test hypotheses and assumptions.
    • Leverage data-driven insights to build better learning experiences.

    Speaker: Kristin Torrence
    Track: Learning Technologies
    Area of Focus: E-learning and Digital Design
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Instructional Designer



    Macro to Micro: Turning Big Concepts into Small Content

    Today’s workforce has grown up with knowledge at their fingertips, and the need for structured training is diminishing. This is especially true for remote and hybrid work teams. Today’s rapid learning style demands that L&D become more flexible and sharply focused on delivering short bursts of right-sized, hyper-targeted knowledge. But how do we get there from here? Many organizations are bogged down in macro curricula with as many layers as a good biscuit. The solution is not taking an axe to macro content but using a scalpel to reveal the imperative knowledge. This session will move beyond theory into application by working directly within a “content deconstruction” design framework to explore a real-life use case.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Align content and context with outcomes to begin the “deconstruction” process.
    • Determine how to reconstruct content pieces to form microlearning connections.
    • Hyper-target your audience with “human-centered” outcomes.

    Speaker: Shannon Tipton
    Track: Instructional Design
    Area of Focus: Microlearning
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Instructional Designer
  • Education Sessions

    Keep It Real: Scenario-Based Learning for Change and Connection

    Training should inspire learners to challenge themselves, change their behaviors, and connect to one another. That’s why scenario-based learning works so well: It helps you deliver memorable, meaningful experiences that enable human performance and achieve organizational goals. This session will explore scenario-based learning fundamentals and facilitation techniques. You’ll discover tools, approaches, and tips to make your next training fun and effective.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Identify key characteristics of great scenarios.
    • Leverage scenarios that align with learning outcomes and reflect learners, companies, and culture.
    • Facilitate and debrief scenarios as part of broader training delivery.

    Speaker: Stephanie Hubka
    Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
    Area of Focus: Learner Engagement
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Facilitator/Trainer



    Story Design: A Foundationally Human Approach to Instruction

    The tried-and-proven method of instructional design serves us well. But the science of our craft can often overshadow the fact that we need to speak the language of our learners. Stories humanize the learning experience and open up amazing design possibilities. In this session, you will learn how story design leans on the familiar process of instructional design to develop stories that train.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Learn how to use storytelling to train more effectively.
    • Unearth stories that resonate with your learners through analysis.
    • Design relatable characters in strong conflict that make your learners feel seen.

    Speaker: Rance Greene
    Track: Instructional Design
    Area of Focus: Design Thinking
    Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer, Instructional Designer



    Aligning Instructional Design with Business Goals: Make the Case and Deliver Results

    This session focuses on creating learning programs using evaluation criteria. It will encourage instructional designers to use evaluation criteria to inform course objectives, activities, and materials. This approach puts evaluation front and center and makes conducting evaluations easier and more intentional.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Identify how business challenges can be achieved through learning programs.
    • Establish evaluation criteria at four levels: reactions, learning, application/behavior, and results/impact.
    • Design and develop a curriculum aligned with business goals.

    Speaker: Kristopher Newbauer
    Track: Evaluating Impact
    Area of Focus: Evaluation Metrics—What to Measure
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Instructional Designer



    Unleashing the Power of AI: A Hands-On Generative AI Experience for Learning Professionals

    TAre you ready to take your learning and development game to the next level? Join this session and discover how AI can transform your learning programs. Learn the latest hacks and techniques for implementing AI in your learning solutions, from image and text generation to voice and video. Our hands-on activities will give you practical experience.Identify AI opportunities for learning and development.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Implement AI hacks for effective and engaging training.
    • Develop an AI action plan for learning and development strategies.

    Speaker: Almira "Myra" Roldan
    Track: Learning Technologies
    Area of Focus: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, New Practitioner
  • Education Sessions

    On-site? Off-site? Yes to Both! How to Successfully Facilitate Hybrid Learning

    Hybrid classes are on the rise, which creates a challenge for facilitators who need to engage both in-person and remote audiences simultaneously. In this interactive session, you’ll learn how to effectively set up a successful hybrid class. You’ll explore how to create a sense of shared experience among audiences joining from different locations. You’ll learn how to lead group discussions that allow all participants to feel included and heard. You’ll also hear proven tips on audio and video placement for optimum viewing, and where to look while facilitating—including when there are multiple cameras available. You’ll leave with a hybrid event checklist that equips you and reminds you of the five key techniques.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Set up a hybrid class for success.
    • Create a sense of shared experience despite location differences.
    • Manage robust discussions that include both in-person and remote attendees.

    Speaker: Cindy Huggett
    Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
    Area of Focus: Hybrid Facilitation
    Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer



    L&D Detective Measurement Mysteries

    How do we measure training and learning’s contribution to human and business performance? What’s the evidence for the impact of training and learning effectiveness? In this session, you will conduct an impact measurement investigation. You’ll examine nine questions whose answers are essential for successfully measuring impact for training and learning. You’ll collect facts, clues, evidence, and data that reveal training and learning’s influence on human performance and business results.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Examine how to measure training’s contribution to human performance and business results.
    • Discover how to plan for impact measurement in the beginning so it’s easier to measure in the end.
    • Investigate facts, clues, evidence, and data that signal the impact of training and learning.

    Speaker: Kevin M. Yates
    Track: Evaluating Impact
    Area of Focus: Evaluation Metrics – What to Measure
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Internal Practitioner
  • Education Sessions

    You Want it, When? Lessons Learned From a Short-Notice Gap Training Project

    This session will address the challenges faced by less ­seasoned L&D professionals when asked to provide solutions on extremely short notice. It will showcase what’s possible in content development, as well as the risks associated with a rapid rollout and the importance of management expectations. You will see how an organization took on the challenge of redeveloping their in­house curriculum and processes to meet a challenging deadline and examine the roadblocks during the initial rollout of the materials. Finally, you will engage in a shared discovery of the lessons learned from the example pilot launch.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Understand what you can achieve on short notice.
    • Learn to manage expectations for content quality, effectiveness of learning, and timelines.
    • Discover what pitfalls to avoid when rolling out a rushed project.

    Speaker: Mark Sheppard
    Track: Instructional Design
    Area of Focus: Learning Transfer
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Instructional Designer



    Level 3 Evaluations Made Simple, Credible, and Actionable

    Knowing whether participants take what they learn in training and apply it back on the job is critical for both L&D professionals and business executives. Demonstrating that learning application directly affects L&D’s ability to position itself as a credible business partner. However, according to research, only 11 percent of CEOs reported receiving this information. Why? Many L&D professionals lack the knowledge and skills to collect and analyze Level 3 (behavior) data. In this highly informative session, participants will learn how to implement a revolutionary new easy-to-use Level 3 evaluation methodology that produces credible, actionable data.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Use facts from a recent ATD research study to benchmark the use of Level 3 evaluations in an organization.
    • Conduct focus groups using three key questions to collect the data needed to conduct a Level 3 evaluation.
    • Calculate the best-case, worst-case, and most likely training transfer percentages using the estimation technique.

    Speaker: Ken Phillips
    Track: Evaluating Impact
    Area of Focus: Evaluating Learning Impact
    Target Audience: All TD Professionals, Internal Practitioner



    Five Powerful Improv Exercises for Stronger Teams

    Improv training is a powerful and fun method to strengthen communication, agility, collaboration, and creativity in the workplace. Simple behaviors learned through improv training support the psychological safety of teams. In this interactive session, you’ll participate in five exercises, learn to implement them, and engage in powerful debriefing questions to make learning relevant for your teams.

    Applications on the Job:
    • Explore behaviors of teams with high psychological safety—the basic premise of improv training—and learn how improv strengthens soft skills for more powerful teams.
    • Design and implement five improv exercises to address specific organizational learning objectives.
    • Facilitate debriefing questions after each exercise to translate learning to the workplace.

    Speaker: Viet Hoang
    Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
    Area of Focus: Learning Activities
    Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer