Unlocking Your Personal Brand: Elevate Your Career Potential

As learning professionals, we often spend so much time helping others grow that we neglect our own development. This keynote is designed for YOU—focused on building and enhancing your personal brand so you can influence and impress key stakeholders, all while advancing your career. Through William’s proven, time-tested techniques, this presentation will reveal a fun, thought-provoking three-step process for creating and communicating your personal brand with confidence and clarity. The journey begins with discovering the authentic you. Then, you’ll explore ways to tell your story in the real and virtual worlds, and you’ll discover how to grow your brand and the impact you create. You’ll leave the session with a clear strategy to enhance your success and happiness at work.

You will learn:

• The proven three-step process for building an authentic and compelling brand
• The biggest mistake people make when trying to build their brand
• How to tell your engaging brand story in the real and virtual worlds
• The three most important elements of your LinkedIn profile and how to ace them
• How to maximize the most important online tool for delivering your first impression
• Ways to use AI to build your brand
• Techniques to help you impress, influence, and affect stakeholders by delivering on your brand promise
• The best place to build your personal brand and how to maximize it
• The secret to being visible on social media without it taking over your life

Speaker: William Arruda, Motivational Speaker, Trainer, Personal Branding Authority
Target Audience: All TD Professionals

Accessibility for Online Learning—Improve Your Learners’ Lives TODAY!
Equal access to learning isn‘t a privilege, it‘s a right! This session equips you to create and deliver inclusive online learning (e-learning, webinars, job aids, and more). Imagine dramatically improving lives just by making your content work for everyone, regardless of ability. Learn why and how accessibility, disability, and usability should be considered in online learning, how to design with inclusion in mind, and how to evaluate your existing courses for accessibility and usability. No prior knowledge needed— just a desire to make a difference—TODAY! You‘ll leave this session with checklists and tools to get started on improving your own accessibility practices right away.

Learning Objectives:

• Make adjustments while creating online learning materials to ensure they are accessible and usable.
• Evaluate accessibility and usability of existing online learning materials. 
• Discuss challenges facing disabled learners in online learning and types of assistive technology used by disabled learners.

Speaker: Britne Jenke, Inclusive Pixelation
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Instructional Design
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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Demonstrating the Impact and ROI of Learning and Talent Development
Organizational leaders must perceive learning and talent development as an investment—not a cost. If leaders see your programs as a cost, they will inevitably control, reduce, or eliminate them, resulting in weakened partnerships, diminished influence, decreased support, and reduced funding. However, if funders view these programs as investments, they will maintain, enhance, and protect them. Are you prepared to show your learning and talent development programs? This session will show you how to measure and improve investments in learning and talent development at all levels of evaluation, including ROI. Don‘t forget to bring a calculator! 

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the framework used to demonstrate the value that matters, including ROI.
• Use the alignment model to position programs for success. 
• Identify methods and techniques that make ROI work. 

Speaker: Patti Phillips, ROI Institute, Inc.
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: ROI
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: All TD Professionals
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

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Harnessing the Power of Cohort-Style Learning for Employee Development
This session examines the transformative potential of cohort-style learning in driving employee development, retention, and skill acquisition. You’ll gain actionable insights and strategies to cultivate a culture of continuous learning. 

Learning Objectives:

• Design customized cohort-based learning programs tailored to your organization’s specific needs and objectives.
• Assess the effectiveness of current initiatives and make data-driven decisions to improve and optimize learning.
• Cultivate an environment where growth and development are prioritized thereby improving the culture of the organization

Speaker: Maurine Kwende, EMK Learning Solutions LLC
Track: Training Delivery
Area of Focus: Hybrid Facilitation
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Director/Manager
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Why Most E-Learning Fails: How to Design E-Learning That Gets Results
Let’s admit it: most eLearning just plain sucks! The sad reality is that most eLearning courses require learners to sit through a disappointing experience, where information is poorly organized, the content isn’t relevant, and the interactions seem contrived and without purpose. This is compounded even more when the slideshow-like presentation is interrupted with several poorly written quiz questions and cheesy animations to make it all seem “fun.”

In this session, you will explore many of the reasons why most eLearning fails and the components that contribute to bad eLearning design. You will also explore how bad eLearning design can negatively affect the learning experience. Finally, this session will walk you through several practical methods you can immediately apply to fix your bad eLearning courses.

Learning Objectives:

• Why eLearning isn’t always the answer.
• Why clicking doesn’t make interactivity meaningful.
• Why good eLearning requires more than instructional design.
• Why knowledge and behavior aren’t mutually exclusive.

Speaker: Tim Slade, Creator, The eLearning Designer's Academy
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Developing Content and Materials
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

Transforming Leadership: The Power of Emotional Connection to Build High-Performing Teams

Step into a new era of leadership with the Emotional Connection (EmC) process—a groundbreaking approach to cultivating strong, resilient bonds within your teams. This session reveals how embracing emotional connection as a leader not only resolves conflicts and enhances communication but also unlocks the full potential of every team member. Based on cutting-edge research and proven steps, you’ll discover how to foster a culture where collaboration, trust, and engagement thrive. Discover how to lead with empathy and create secure relationships that propel both people and organizations toward unprecedented success.

Speaker: Dr. Lola Gershfeld, Psy.D., Author and Developer of the Emotional Connection (EmC) Process, EMC LEADERS, INC

Sponsored by:

Agility Will Elevate Your Facilitation Skills
In the ever-evolving landscape of talent development, adopting an agile mindset and dynamic facilitation techniques is essential for those who wish to excel as modern talent development consultants. “Dynamic Facilitation Mastery: Transforming Learning in the Digital Age” is designed for emerging facilitators and trainers who aim to revolutionize their approach to engaging audiences, whether in-person, online, or in a hybrid setting. Gone are the days of static presentations and disengaged participants. Today, the focus is on creating experiential learning environments where versatility and flexibility are paramount, catering to the needs of learners who crave genuine human connections and practical knowledge. 

Learning Objectives:

• Harness and embrace your genuine facilitation style.
• Keep your audience captivated using agile rules of engagement.
• Facilitate leveraging empathy, storytelling, and YOU.

Speakers: Jonathan Burman and Cornelius Dowdell, The Best Workplace
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Facilitation
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Learner Personas for Better Learning Solutions
What makes marketing initiatives so successful that they can change people’s behavior? It starts with their strategic understanding of their audience. Through team-based activities, you’ll practice the three steps of creating learner personas in this session. You’ll uncover the benefit of learner personas by revealing unstated learner needs and by their influence on decision making. Through activities, relevant training examples, and application, you’ll discover how the insights from learner personas help you change behavior and engage employees. You’ll leave this session with practical tips to apply to your next training project.

Learning Objectives:

• Create a learner persona to make better talent development solutions on projects. 
• Analyze qualitative data to draw insights from learner populations. 
• Uncover unstated learner needs to shape your learning solutions. 

Speaker: Danielle Wallace
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Needs Assessment
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Learning Platforms: Selection, Choices, Implementation, Ongoing Management and Governance
Thinking about a new learning platform but do not know where to start? Overwhelmed by the choices and types of platforms available today? This session will provide basic information on learning platforms (with examples) and give you guidance on how to select, implement, manage, and govern the new digital learning platforms that are available today. You’ll get a walkthrough of simplified plans that lead an agile team through the processes, examples, and plans. Drawing on the speaker’s experience with dozens of implementations of many different platforms, you’ll discover how to make your choice easier, drive learner engagement, champion culture, and deliver the skilling your organization needs—regardless of size.

Learning Objectives:

• Know the differences between LMS, LXP, DLP, and other types of learning platforms, with examples and applications for each.
• Use the tools and examples provided to select and implement a new platform.
• Follow the speaker’s processes to quickly implement, govern, and manage a new platform.

Speaker: Becky Willis, Tractus Learning
Track: Learning Technologies
Area of Focus: LMS/LXPs/Platforms
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Decision Maker/Leader
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

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Using AI to Facilitate Effective Learning Measurement
This session will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be leveraged to improve learning measurement. Specifically, the session will review artificial intelligence AI applied to text analysis, data visualization, predictive analytics, anomaly detection and cluster analysis, data summarization and personalized reporting, and real-time feedback. A broader understanding of AI will preface the specific discussion of its application to the field of learning measurement.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand AI in a practical sense.
• Determine how AI can be applied to learning measurement and evaluation.
• Use AI concepts like NLP and cluster analysis to measure training programs.

Speaker: Jeffrey Berk, Performitiv
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: Data & Analytics
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Internal Practitioner
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

Conducting and Using a Job and Task Analysis
This session gives you a hands-on opportunity to learn how to conduct a job and task analysis and shows what can be done with that information relevant to L&D practice. Doing a job and task analysis is often a critical first step in preparing needs analysis inventories and designing training programs, including preparing training objectives, identifying training content, and constructing performance ratings and test items, among other important outcomes. Arguably, job and task analysis provides more useful information than any other area of practice. Job and task analysis focuses on understanding the work to be done, not on training topics, and having skills in this topic becomes an important part of the L&D professional toolkit.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the process of conducting a job and task analysis. 
• Demonstrate how to construct a duty and task statement derived from the job and task analysis. 
• Demonstrate how to convert a task statement to a performance-oriented training objective. 

Speaker: Ronald Jacobs, SiTUATE, LLC
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Developing Content and Materials
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Director/Manager
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Modern Virtual Classrooms: 5 Essential Things Every Facilitator Should Know
Virtual classrooms have evolved to include new features to connect with remote audiences, who expect more from virtual training. Therefore, facilitators and trainers must use modern delivery techniques to connect with today’s audiences. In this session, you will learn how to use modern virtual classroom tools to enable learning and application. You’ll discover fresh ways to connect with your remote audience, while using tools like breakout rooms, scenarios, video, and even immersive features. You will leave with a ready-to-use toolkit of engaging learning activities. If you want to take virtual engagement in your virtual classes to the next level, then this session is for you! 

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the needs of modern, virtual learners and how to engage them. 
• Create an interactive virtual class using commonly available tools. 
• Use modern virtual classroom features creatively to capture and keep attention. 

Speaker: Cindy Huggett, Cindy Huggett Consulting, LLC
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Virtual Classroom
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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The Future-Ready Instructional Designer: New Skills for an AI-Powered World
As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the learning landscape, new skills are emerging for instructional designers. Explore the technical, creative, and interpersonal competencies you’ll need to thrive, and discover practical strategies to future-proof your career. Leave with a roadmap to expand your impact and value. 

Learning Objectives:

• Investigate the new technical skills IDs need to leverage AI tools and platforms effectively. 
• Describe the rising importance of creativity, curiosity, and innovation in an AI-enhanced field. 
• Articulate how AI is automating and augmenting various aspects of instructional design. 

Speaker: Michelle Lentz, Innovate + Elevate Strategies
Track: Learning Technologies
Area of Focus: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

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The Transfer Blueprint: A Framework for Effective Learning Transfer
Are you tired of investing time and effort into designing meaningful learning experiences, only to face challenges like limited engagement or poor knowledge retention? Say goodbye to these frustrations and hello to success with the Learning Transfer Blueprint. In this session, we’ll explore the secrets of ensuring your training efforts deliver tangible results. In today’s fast-paced world, mastering the art of learning transfer is essential. Discover how the Learning Transfer Blueprint can revolutionize your approach to training, ensuring that knowledge translates into real-world results. Join this interactive journey where you’ll roll up your sleeves and put theory into practice by applying the blueprint to your own content. 

Learning Objectives:

• Explore strategies to enhance learning transfer in their organization.
• Discover practical techniques for implementing the transfer blueprint framework. 
• Apply reflective practices and coaching methods to facilitate effective learning application. 

Speaker: Mariah Bradbury, Advisor360°
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: Learning Transfer
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Internal Practitioner
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

From Number to Narrative: Storytelling with Data
Competence in conveying data effectively and persuasively is a key knowledge area for TD professionals who need to bring organizational performance, productivity, and results data ALIVE. A TD professional’s ability to transform dry data into stories will vastly improve their ability to be heard and to persuade. So, don’t put your data on mute! Data cannot speak for itself—it needs YOU to voice its story and provide context and meaning. Depending on a data dump to kindle discussion or drive decisions can lead to analysis paralysis. Instead, transform dry data into juicy anecdotes that drive results by applying three easy guidelines you will learn during this session.

Learning Objectives:

• Convey data effectively and persuasively and make it memorable.
• Recognize the emotional contrast in your data and use it effectively in your data story.
• Artfully organize a data story using a simple three-act data story structure.

Speaker: Karin Rex, Geeky Girl, LLC
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: Data & Analytics
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

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If You Give a Robot a Story: Humanizing AI-Generated Content
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we source content, but only humans have the essential skills needed for effective experiences. This session explores how you can infuse AI-generated content with storytelling techniques to create truly memorable training. We’ll look at a road map, tools, and strategies to bring your AI-generated content to life!

Learning Objectives:

• Create stories that strengthen learner connections to content and colleagues.
• Apply storytelling techniques to AI-generated content to deliver meaningful learner experiences.
• Align existing or planned training to a road map that supports successful facilitation.

Speaker: Stephanie Hubka, Protos Learning, LLC
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Storytelling
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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Mix and Match: Strategies for Reaching Intermediate Learners
Your learners have mastered the basics and now need to elevate their skills to the next level. Each learner has a to-learn list, and no two lists are identical. Focused on their own needs, these learners are also too impatient for a formal course. So how can you meet these needs? This session offers specific guidance for addressing the learning needs of intermediate learners emerging from studies of how actual workers learned on the job over a period of six to 12 weeks. After sensitizing participants to the experience of these learners, this session offers specific tactics for meeting intermediate learners’ needs. 

Learning Objectives:

• Explain why formal course-based training falls short of the needs of intermediate learners. 
• Describe at least two ways to effectively employ documentation and videos to benefit intermediate learning needs. 
• Describe at least two ways to prepare workers to take ownership of their intermediate learning. 

Speaker: Saul Carliner, Institute for Performance and Learning (I4PL); Concordia University, Canada
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Microlearning
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Start the Podcast! A Low-Cost and Efficient Way to Learn
Podcasting is an accepted and effective way to provide and consume self-paced, personalized training and development content, largely because its efficient and portable content fits easily into our busy lives. Through concrete approaches for bringing the elements of great audio and video podcasts together, you will learn strategies to design, develop, and publish your own podcast on any budget (even zero). In this session, you’ll develop your podcast concept and learn how to produce an internal podcast for your organization.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop your own podcast concept.
• Review and reflect on podcast processes and possibilities.
• Leave with the steps needed to start your own podcast.

Speaker: Betty Dannewitz, [email protected]
Track: Learning Technologies
Area of Focus: Podcasts
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Essential Topics

Creating Engagement Through the Power of Narrative Storytelling
Join this session designed to dive into the power of storytelling. Throughout the session, you will understand how narratives can serve as powerful tools to connect facilitators and participants. By infusing sessions with compelling stories, facilitators can create an environment where participants feel not only engaged but also connected on a deeper level. We will also explore how storytelling can facilitate community building within sessions. By sharing personal stories and experiences, you can forge connections with one another, fostering collaboration. Join this enriching journey as we unlock the potential of storytelling to enhance engagement, foster community, and elevate the facilitation experience.

Learning Objectives:

• Practice sharing personal stories prompted by various topics to enhance storytelling abilities.
• Develop an understanding of the power of storytelling in facilitation beyond traditional lecture-style presentations. 
• Discover strategies to connect with participants on a deeper level through storytelling techniques.

Speaker: LaKisha Brooks, Brooks Consultants
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Storytelling
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Designing Virtual Learning for Application and Impact
Now more than ever, virtual learning must drive organizational success. With the widespread shift to virtual formats in recent years, many programs lack clear connections to desired business outcomes. Today, program owners and designers must showcase the tangible results of virtual learning to secure the support and funding that virtual learning needs. Studies show that virtual learning often breaks down when measured at the application and impact levels. However, this challenge is avoidable. Through case study reviews and actionable exercises, this session will explain how designers, developers, providers, and program owners can ensure that virtual learning delivers results.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the five levels of outcomes from virtual learning. 
• Explain the need to deliver impact and ROI for selected virtual learning programs. 
• Design virtual learning to deliver application, impact, and ROI, using design-thinking principles. 

Speaker: Jack Phillips, ROI Institute, Inc.
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: ROI
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Harnessing the Power of Change–Agile Methods in L&D
The software industry has embraced Agile project management, and there is much that we in the learning and development field can learn from them. Whether employing SAM, LLAMA®, Scrum, or considering alternatives, Agile teams offer valuable insights into managing relationships and communications with the business, delivering work punctually, within budget, and aligned with evolving expectations. In a rapidly changing environment, the Agile mindset helps us harness change for good (instead of resisting it) and Agile techniques offer solutions for making constant change a practical reality. 

Learning Objectives:

• Explore how Agile in L&D is applied differently from the rest of the organization. 
• Use Agile methods to build strong relationships with SMEs, sponsors, and stakeholders. 
• Use iterative development and evaluation cycles to move projects along faster. 

Speaker: Megan Torrance, TorranceLearning
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Developing Content and Materials
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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The Neuroscience of Chatbots for Learning: What Works and Why
Building an educational chatbot has never been easier. But if you want your chatbot to be effective, you need to understand more than just prompts and models. This session begins where all learning experiences do—inside the human brain. When you understand the neuroscience of learning, you can build AI-enabled “conversations” that adapt to each learner, delivering a unique experience based on individual needs and capabilities. This session will give you a sound foundation in the learning science of chatbots, supported by several demonstrations of real-world examples. You’ll also receive a handout with detailed steps for developing your own solutions. 

Learning Objectives:

• Design educational chatbots aligned with insights from neuroscience. 
• Select specific chatbot use cases for your environment.

Speaker: Margie Meacham, Learningtogo.ai
Track: Learning Technologies
Area of Focus: Chatbots for Learning Transfer
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: All TD Professionals
Learning Path: Essential Topics

5 Things Every L&D Pro Should Steal from Marketing

In this session, we’ll unlock the secrets of marketing to supercharge your training programs. You’ll learn how to captivate learners, tailor content to their needs, and create immersive learning experiences that drive results.

We’ll start with an intriguing look at how marketers master the art of attention-grabbing and engagement. Then, we’ll create learner personas that will help you understand your audience, allowing you to design more relevant and engaging learning experiences. You’ll discover how to map out touchpoints that lead learners to mastery, ensuring a memorable and effective learning experience.

The speaker will guide you through the art of creating stunning visuals with easy-to-use tools that marketers use and share secrets on writing engaging copy that resonates with your audience. Learn how to craft catchy taglines and titles that make your training stand out.

This session will include discussions and real-world examples. You will leave with tips and tricks that will be easy to implement back in the office.

Speakers: Mike Taylor, Learning Consultant, Nationwide, and Bianca Baumann, VP, Learning Solutions & Innovation, Ardent Learning

Learning Cluster Design Methodology: Multi-Asset Initiatives That Drive Behavior Change
Elevate your impact with designing practical learning in and out of the flow of work! Discover the “how to” using the popular Learning Cluster Design (LCD) model. Design multi-asset initiatives that align with business goals, address learner differences, and leverage technology. Reshape your organization’s learning landscape with a new strategic competency!

Learning Objectives:

• Demonstrate your understanding of the job and business impact to stakeholders via setting a learning strategy-level objective. 
• Leverage online and offline technology to meet your unique learners’ needs, socially, formally, and in the moment. 
• Influence learning culture in your organization through impact metrics and continuous learning strategy. 

Speaker: Crystal Kadakia, LCD Group
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: ISD Models
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Decision Maker/Leader
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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Making Measurement Easier - Simple Solutions for Evaluating Learning Programs
Recent trend reports indicate that 55 percent of learning professionals are unhappy with their approach to measuring and evaluating learning. Many L&D pros feel overwhelmed by measurement, under-resourced, and don’t know where to start. If this experience resonates with you, join this session to simplify your measurement approach and find the best strategy and tactics for evaluating the outcomes of learning in your organization.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover the critical difference between measurement strategy and tactics.
• Explore the most common challenges to learning measurement and how to break free from those M&E roadblocks.
• Create an impact hypothesis to map the intended outcomes and data collection strategies for your programs.

Speaker: Alaina Szlachta, By Design Development Solutions
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: Evaluating Learning Impact
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: All TD Professionals
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Unconscious Bias—From Knowing to Doing
We are all biased to some degree. It’s about what we do with that knowledge that can have an impact on how we show up with others and the decisions we make. This session is designed to move people through their growth journey starting with understanding unconscious bias to teaching others. The topic is presented in a psychologically safe way for all to explore and learn so that collectively we can take back and make a difference in the workplace.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover how reducing unconscious bias can help maximize facilitation and training in the workplace. 
• Explore how unconscious bias can strengthen positive relationships. 
• Improve better development of training programs by understanding a wider range of needs.

Speaker: Barbara Ann Sharon, The Training Edge, LLC
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Unconscious Bias
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: New Practitioner
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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Video Rules: 7+ Ideas to Rethink and Level Up Your Videos
There are new 'Rules' for creating videos. Video as a medium keeps evolving, but many organizations are struggling to keep up with the best practices that can help make videos Better, Faster, and for Less. This session will have examples, ideas, and practical approaches to breaking the 'rules'; and help you rethink and level up your videos.

Learning Objectives:

• Critically think about the “rules” around video creation to determine when to apply them and when to break them.
• Evaluate the options to make your videos better, cheaper, or faster.

Speaker: Matthew R. Pierce, Learning & Video Ambassador, TechSmith
Track: Learning Technologies
Area of Focus: Video 
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: All TD Professionals
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

Design and Deliver Inclusive and Accessible In-Person and Virtual Training
Is your live in-person and virtual training inclusive and accessible? Does it account for learners with disabilities, low literacy, non-English speakers, and other learning challenges? This session will demonstrate how to increase inclusivity and accessibility before, during, and after in-person and virtual training classes so that no learner is left behind. 

Learning Objectives:

• Explore ways to apply inclusivity and accessibility before, during, and after in-person and virtual training courses. 
• Utilize tools that will help increase accessibility in real time. 
• Discover ways that inclusion and accessibility can be applied to current and new training courses. 

Speaker: Gwen Navarrete Klapperich, Klapperich International Training Associates (KITA) LLC
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Accessibility
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: All TD Professionals
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

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Innovation Hour: Teaching Participants That Creativity Is Within Reach
Are creativity and innovation just buzzwords to you? Many L&D departments face challenges in fostering innovation amid rules and policies. In this session, the speaker will share practical strategies beyond buzzwords. Learn how we initiated “Innovation Hour” at CenterPoint Energy, providing dedicated time and space for creative thinking and collaboration. Whether launching your own program or seeking quick tips, you’ll leave with actionable strategies and insights into our journey from pitch to implementation.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze, plan, and implement innovative spaces fostering creativity in your organizations.

Speaker: Robyn Cole-Jackson, CenterPoint Energy
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Learning Activities
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

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Neuroscience-Based Hacks for Successful Learning Transfer and Behavior Change
People rarely wake up and spontaneously commit to initiating new behavior. Even when they do, few maintain new behaviors for long. In just 48 hours after learning something new and without reinforcement, we are unable to recall 60 percent of what we were taught. Neuroscience provides some insight into how “neurons that fire together wire together” in terms of the number of repetitions of practice we require post-training to facilitate neuroplasticity and how long we need to facilitate deliberate practice before new behaviors become automatic (i.e., a habit). This session presents ten neuroscience-based “hacks” to help employees facilitate learning transfer and successfully set, adopt, and maintain behavior-oriented goals. 

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the three barriers to successful behavior change. 
• Apply a three-step individual change model (enlighten, encourage, and enable). 
• Apply implementation intentions to enhance goal setting and successful long-term behavior change efforts. 

Speaker: Kenneth Nowack, Envisia Learning, Inc.
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: Learning Transfer
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Effective Visual Communication Using PowerPoint
*Advanced Level Session
PowerPoint is such an essential tool for all types of communication, but it’s badly used. The slides are overwhelming, and the story doesn‘t cater to the audience. This session looks at ways to incorporate persuasive storytelling techniques into your presentations, ensuring that they are focused on the needs of the audience in front of you and how you can respond to their needs. You‘ll then see how to translate that story into compelling visuals so that the presentation is engaging and clearly communicates your key messages. In this session, you’ll also see live PowerPoint demos of how to translate your ideas into slides so that you can immediately start creating more effective presentations.

Application on the Job

• Craft persuasive audience-focused messages that cater to diverse needs and requirements.
• Incorporate visual storytelling to engage audiences and ensure they understand and follow through.
• Use PowerPoint as a tool to meaningfully enhance your communication and make it successful.

Speaker: Richard Goring, BrightCarbon
Track: Learning Technologies
Area of Focus: Authoring Tools
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: All TD Professionals
Learning Path: Essential Topics

Level 3 Evaluations Made Simple, Credible, and Actionable
Knowing whether participants apply what they learned in a training program is critical for L&D professionals and business executives. Demonstrating that learning is applied speaks directly to L&D’s ability to be viewed as a credible business partner. However, according to research, only 11 percent of CEOs report receiving this information. So, why don’t more L&D departments conduct Level 3 evaluations? A frequent answer is because it’s too complicated. A second reason is that many L&D professionals lack the knowledge and skills to collect and analyze Level 3 data. In this session, you will learn how to implement a revolutionary new, easy-to-use Level 3 evaluation methodology that produces credible, actionable data. 

Learning Objectives:

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

Speaker: Ken Phillips, Phillips Associates
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: Learning Transfer
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Decision Maker/Leader
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Navigating E-learning Standards: What to Know and When to Use
E-learning standards—these two simple words can inspire dread in even the most experienced L&D professionals—and they all have pros and cons. Often, you’ll need to decide which standard best supports your goals, considering things such as the delivery format, reporting requirements, compatibility, etc. SCORM is the most supported standard, but it has limitations. xAPI can help fill those gaps by working with new technologies and tracking everything, but it doesn’t have rules for key training aspects. cmi5 brings the best of both, but adoption rates are still low. It’s important to understand the nuances of the standards, so you can make an informed choice for your content format, next RFP, or product evaluation. 

Learning Objectives:

• Learn when and why you should use e-learning standards. 
• Gain a basic understanding of the differences between SCORM, xAPI, and cmi5. 
• Discover what to ask vendors about standards support. 

Speaker: Chris Tompkins, Rustici Software and Watershed
Track: Learning Technologies
Area of Focus: E-Learning and Digital Design
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: New Practitioner
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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Present Like a Superhero ... No Cape Required
It’s no secret that trying to connect with and reach audience members in person and online can be a challenge of seemingly epic proportions. Some of the challenges trainers and facilitators experience can include: covering large amounts of content, getting audience members’ focused on the presentation, and checking to ensure learning actually took place. In this session, new trainers and facilitators receive 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. You will learn a methodology the most effective speakers use while uncovering their own hidden superpowers.

Learning Objectives:

• Avoid overwhelming their audiences with too much information.
• Grab and keep an audience’s attention throughout a presentation.
• Deliver any subject matter and check for understanding in meaningful ways.

Speaker: Bridgett McGowen, BMH Companies
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Presentation Skills
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: New Practitioner
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

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The Four Horseman of the Learning Apocalypse
We spend a lot of time and energy in the learning design and training world on how to improve learning experiences; but do you ever think about the quickest way to ruin a learning experience? In this session, we’ll unpack the Four Horseman of the Learning Apocalypse and how to avoid them when creating effective learning experiences, building thriving learning cultures, and optimizing learning for yourself. You’ll walk away with new ideas and tools, a little science, peer-generated strategies to avoid these Four Horseman, and build a thriving learning environment for yourself and others. 

Learning Objectives:

• Support a thriving learning culture.
• Integrate human performance and learning sciences into your learning design methods. 

Speaker: Lauren Hodges Performance on Purpose, LLC
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Design Thinking
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

A Trainer‘s Gifts—Discovering Your Unique Strengths and Style
Every trainer offers a unique set of gifts for every group of learners they meet. That uniqueness is personal, like a signature. It adds deeper meaning and purpose to the work they do. In this session, you‘ll work with others to help you accelerate the discovery process, identifying your natural strengths. In contrast to your strengths, you‘ll also be invited to identify what might be challenging for you to embrace in your work as a trainer. The speakers will also guide you to new insights on how your style has a direct impact on those in your sessions. By the end of the session, you‘ll be well on your way to understanding your unique gifts and the traits that define your signature style as a trainer.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe your strengths and weaknesses as a trainer using the characteristics and traits of personas.
• Adapt the strengths of your unique training style to better support your learners.

Speakers: Jason Lewis and Moe Poirier, Shift Facilitation
Track: Training Delivery & Facilitation
Area of Focus: Train-the-Trainer
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Facilitator/Trainer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Low Stakes Ways To Boost Learning Transfer
Struggling to ensure your training translates to on-the-job success? Retrieval and reflection are powerful techniques that strengthen memory and recall. Learn how to easily integrate both into your design and empower learners to retain information for the long haul. This session will answer: What are retrieval practice and reflection, and why are they so effective? How can you incorporate them into your training, regardless of the topic? When is the best time to use them for maximum impact? Leave with practical strategies to transform your training from forgettable to unforgettable!

Learning Objectives:

• Develop a retrieval and reflection method for use in training.
• Choose from six retrieval practice methods.
• Lead a group through retrieval and reflection.

Speaker: Katrina Kennedy, Katrina Kennedy Training
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Learning Transfer
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: Elevate Your Learning & Development Toolkit

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Transforming Training Intake with AI: An ROI-Driven Approach
Discover how ELB Learning leverages AI internally to optimize their training intake process for every new project, ensuring L&D efforts are laser-focused on high-impact initiatives. Explore how AI tools can help you prioritize projects, align with business goals, and create ROI-driven learning programs. Leave with a roadmap to transform your own intake strategy.

Learning Objectives:

• Quickly identify high-impact initiatives and filter out low-value requests.
• Gain visibility into the projected costs and benefits of each project.
• Make data-driven decisions about where to invest time and budget.

Speakers: Scott Provence and Josh Penzell, ELB Learning
Track: Evaluating Impact
Area of Focus: ROI
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Decision Maker/Leader
Learning Path: Essential Topics

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You Can Do It! Harnessing Innovation for L&D
Feeling stuck with your L&D offerings? Looking for new ideas for your instructional design or interactivity challenges? Ever wonder where how to get there? Innovation is something a lot of people talk about but aren’t sure how to start. Come join this session to get you into that innovative mindset so you can begin to transform your L&D practice, processes, and offerings!

Learning Objectives:

• Apply innovation strategies and tools to their L&D products, processes, and systems.
• Build a business case for Innovation in L&D.

Speaker: Mark Sheppard
Track: Instructional Design
Area of Focus: Developing Content and Materials
Knowledge Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Instructional Designer
Learning Path: New to Talent Development

Unlearning Silence: How to Find and Use Your Voice
People like you are underrepresented—in the industry, meetings, and rooms you’re in. But the truth is you’ve long been underestimated. Told to wait your turn, not rock the boat, and follow the rules. But as you watch others get the opportunities and promotions you want, you wonder what’s missing. The common advice, “just speak up,” falls flat if we fail to recognize the silence we’ve learned and the real and perceived costs of speaking up. In this session, we interrogate the role silence plays in your leadership and offer concrete ways to find and use your voice—for the impact you want.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how you have learned and benefited from silence.
• Identify your unique value-add perspective.
• Utilize three levers for using your voice.

Speaker: Elaine Lin Hering, USA Today Bestselling Author, Unlearning Science | Speaker, Facilitator
Target Audience: All TD Professionals