ATD 2015 - Confluence of Learning Community

I was at the ASTD 2014 (now ATD 2015) International Conference and Expo last year at Washington D.C. and I'm going to miss it for sure this time. Our business development team at Origin Learning will attend the ATD 2015 Conference and Expo in Orlando, FL between 17 and 20 May.

Through this blog post, I’d like to share some of my experiences and thoughts on this large international conference and expo.  Here is a short video which gives you a sneak peek at ATD 2015.

With the mercury soaring in May, people, not only from the United States but also from several other countries, have started checking into hotels for the event.  Welcome all to the home of Walt Disney World! It is a great place to understand the global challenges that impact organizational learning and development from a truly global perspective.

So, how do you best leverage the next 3 to 4 days at ATD 2015? Before you read this, please download the ATD Events app by searching your app store for “ATD Events.”

Speakers

A number of world-renowned speakers, practitioners and thought leaders are coming together to provide insights, knowledge and best practices to empower the attendees to solve the complex challenges  impacting learning organizations currently and to educate them on how to prepare for the future. Personally, I am looking forward to hear what the speakers have to say in the following areas:

• According to Bersin’s predictions for the 2015 report, millennials are expected to comprise 75 percent of the global workforce by 2020. How do organizations redesign their strategy to accommodate the demographic shift?

•  Deloitte 2015 Global Human Capital report indicates the top 3 challenges that are consistently ranked the most important issues across regions and industries – culture and employee engagement, leadership, and learning and development. What is the broader learning strategy framework that an organization can design to overcome these issues?

•  Mobile has become the way of computing currently and there is an influx of new devices, such as Apple Watches, which are expected to bring dramatic changes in the way people consume content not only to learn but also to manage their lifestyle. Ubiquitous access to learning through cloud, mobile and social tools have created a new challenge to organizations on how they could provide learning environments that allow informal, social and peer-peer knowledge exchange. How can enterprise mobility strategy support ubiquitous access to learning through cloud, mobile, and social technologies? 

• With Big Data, enterprises now have the opportunity to integrate real-time data of employees to get insights on learning activities and employee feedback, and to use analytics to improve workforce productivity. Are the CLOs and CIOs geared up for leveraging these technologies for measuring learning outcomes to improve workforce competencies?

Learning and Development Professionals

• The expo is a great opportunity for L&D professionals to attend preconference workshops, panel discussions, speaker and educational sessions, and certification programs. Choose your track and focus on topics and sessions that are very relevant to the challenges you currently face in your job responsibility and learn how they can be overcome with some key takeaways, best practices, and ideas. Here are some useful links for you to explore:

                  Preconference Workshops 
                  Tracks and Topics

•  More than 400+ exhibitors are showcasing their products and services. If you are looking for specific solutions, this would be an opportunity to evaluate some of the potential vendors or service providers for your requirements.  You can search for exhibitors by product categories at Exhibitor Directory 

Remember, if you need more time with the exhibitors; please reach out in advance to schedule a meeting with them.  They may be busy at their booth and you may not get the desired attention sometimes.

Exhibitors

• As an exhibitor, you may be very keen on lead generation and may be thinking about your ROI from ATD. In my humble opinion, this is not a place to sell, but some may get lucky finding their buyers at ATD.  Please use your booth to position your products and services, and communicate your value proposition clearly.  Train your reps in communicating consistently with your booth visitors.  Listen to people and respond to their queries with relevant information.  Do not waste a lot of time with people who are really interested in freebies; give them what they want and move on.

• The expo hall is a great place for you to learn about your competitor landscape and study their offerings. Go and politely talk to them on how they are performing and what is driving their success. Derive interesting ideas from other exhibitors that you can use to prepare for future events.

• Designate one of your colleagues to attend conference sessions to learn best practices from the educational seminars and panel discussions. You may also do this on a rotation basis so that there is someone at the booth to attend to the visitors.

Finally, if you want to unwind after the event, there are great places to explore for adventure, food, entertainment, and nightlife.  Here are some resources that may be of help.

Top 5 Attractions in Orlando

10 Things to do in Orlando besides theme parks

10 Best Things List in Orlando

Orlando Restaurants