Spring has arrived with lots of rain, a touch of snow and a little sun.  Take advantage of a rainy (or snowy) days and sign up for one of the free webinars being offered this month. We hope they will inspire and motivate you.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 6AM – 7AM PST: The Neuroscience of Leadership: Understanding the Brain to Create Better Leaders

In a constantly changing world, the organizations that succeed will be ones that are the most adaptive. Brain research shows why change is hard, and how organizations can get better at change. This research can improve how you make decisions and solve problems, manage emotions, collaborate, and create change. By understanding the underpinning biology of leadership, leaders can create better organizations, and organizations can produce better leaders.

Thursday, April 5, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Getting to Kirkpatrick Levels 2 and 4: Delivering Believable Value

Attend this information-packed hour to learn how to structure initiatives so they enhance on-the-job performance and impact the bottom line. Learn directly from the creators of the Kirkpatrick Model the newest way to implement the four levels. This program will focus on tactics at Levels 3 and 4 and provide ideas that any professional can implement in their own organization. Attend this session to learn:

• Why starting with desired results in mind is critical for any initiative to be successful
• Specific tactics for influencing on-the-job behavior
• How to create a plan to implement a program that enhances on-the-job behaviour and bottom-line results.  

Thursday, April 5, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Thinking of Replacing Your LMS?

Join Scot Lake, Senior Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, and Saba's Naren Patil, senior director of product marketing , as they share insights that can help reduce your fear of change and increase your odds of success. They'll discuss best practices from hundreds of successful transitions for creating a strategy for the upgrade, as well as tools and tricks for preparing your organization for a limited-impact change. Key takeaways include:

• Insights on business strategies for change
• Best practices for selecting solutions for the future, not just today
• A technology migration framework, highlighting both the risks and rewards in the migration process
• Tips for preparing your organization and data for a straightforward change
• Insights into managing expectations and change-management goals
• Award-winning case studies and practical steps to help you make a successful transition

Thursday, April 5, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Developing Results, Aligning Learning`s Goals and Outcomes with Business Performance Measures

This webinar is based of i4cp in partnership with ASTD Research’s latest report, Developing Results: Aligning Learning’s Goals and Outcomes With Business Performance Measures. It is intended to examine the ways in which high-performing organizations approach the evaluation of learning and tie that measurement to overall business performance measures. The Study found that a strong correlation exists between goal alignment and market performance, as well as a strong correlation between alignment and a learning function that is effective at meeting its own goals and the organization’s goals. Some of the issues and topics addressed in this webinar includes: the development of the learning strategy, the measurement of learning’s impact on results, challenges to maintaining and measuring alignment.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Making E-Learning Stick

The e-learning module or virtual class is animated and interactive, but are participants using it?  Join Barbara Carnes, CEO of Carnes and Associates to learn the latest research on e-learning and live virtual design practices – what works and what doesn’t work to make the e-learning stick. You will learn research-tested techniques you can begin using immediately, with any training topic, to increase transfer to the job.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Props, Magic & Object Lessons – 11 Ways to Involve Participants & Anchor Learning

Magic, props, and object lessons can energize and anchor learning -when they make a point. The story is the key! Attend this session and walk away with at least four magic tricks, props, or object lessons that you will immediately be able to use in your own training. Everyday objects like envelopes, rubber bands, and pennies create memorable learning points that are fun for both participants and the trainer. You'll see each example demonstrated in a compelling way. The speaker will then pull back the curtain and take you behind the scenes to learn how to do it yourself. Come to learn, be amazed, energized, and inspired. Leave prepared to do the same thing for your classes. You will get secret links to videos that demonstrate the various examples.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Engaging the Front Line Workforce: Training and Development that Generates Respect

Front line employees are the nameless heroes in today’s workforce. These employees interact with our clients, build our products, and offer our services day in and day out. Yet, this audience often receives less training and limited development opportunities. Working conditions can make training difficult, and operational demands require that training time has immediate bottom line impact. Research shows that small changes on an organization’s front line can have a major impact on business – so the real question is how you leverage training to engage performance and improve business outcomes on the front lines. Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research for Brandon Hall Group and Joel Copeland, COO for KMI as they share recent research on training and development that engages the front line workforce, and creates an atmosphere of genuine respect.

Thursday, April 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Human Capacity Building in Emerging Economies

Governmental and non-governmental agencies are highly involved in projects to improve human capacities in developing countries. In addition to emerging economies, they are also targeting critical priority countries (CPCs), as per the U.S. government (Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Sudans), in an effort to transition to more secure and stable environments and to strengthen and sustain economies. Many of these agencies, have well-defined approaches to human and institutional capacity development (HICD) from long term experiences overseas. However, these approaches may be limited in practical ways to address elusive cultural aspects of human resource development, which are key determinants of successful project work. In this session, the speakers – a training director from an established international development consulting firm and a globally recognized consultant on culturally appropriate interventions – lead you through the process of identifying likely cultural constraints to improving capacities and devising appropriate ways to address them.

Monday, April 16, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: The Yin and the Yang of Formal and Informal Learning

How would informal learning change the way you do things? Is it right for your situation? What about formal learning? Why so little support and so much action? Informal learning has obvious value for individuals. But, how could informal learning benefit the enterprise charged with developing customer service reps, nurses and truck drivers? Join Allison Rossett as she looks at formal and informal learning for the enterprise, where promises are made beyond individual inclinations. She will use real cases and an online tool to look at what these forms mean, how habits affect us, and whether the approaches are fertile for something you and your organization want to do.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Sustainable Career Management Models for Medium Sized Businesses

In the next five years, businesses will experience major demographic changes as far as their workforces are concerned. Just to name a few: workforces will continue to become more diverse; millennials are projected to represent more than 50 percent of the overall labor force; and the capabilities required to lead in tomorrow’s economy will be different than the capabilities required today. So, in light of these anticipated developments, how does a company successfully engage and prepare such a diverse workforce? Many organizations are turning to career management programs to resolve these challenges.  For mid-market organizations, is this the right answer? For this segment, the answer may be career enhancement over career management. Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research and David Wentworth, Sr. Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group as they share the latest research in creating career enhancing programs that work for mid-market organizations.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Whack on the Head Part 2…Now What??? Redesigning Learning Design

This is a follow-up to lively discussion and debate in the March 6 webinar, 'A Whack on the Head: Redesigning Learning Design'. In ' Part 1' (recording available) Lance Dublin, Chief Solutions Architect of Dublin Consulting laid the foundation for redesigning learning design.  Part 1 looked at the challenges facing organizations today, the "alphabet soup" of proven learning and business methodologies at our disposal, and the expanding tool kit of learning and performance support technologies and approaches. The session then outlined eight principles that could form the foundation for a new approach.  In 'Part 2' you will do a quick review and then dive into an in-depth exploration, discussion and debate of these eight principles. Come and join in the discussion and debate.  Prepare to challenge and be challenged.  And, together let's define and operationalize the next generation of learning design!

Thursday, April 19, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Virtual Training Implementations: Preparing for Success

When rolling out virtual training to your workforce, how can you ensure it goes smoothly? What steps do you follow to get facilitators ready and participants on board? Whether you have a blended program for a large global audience or a single synchronous session, proper preparation ensures success.
Join Cindy Huggett, author and CPLP, as she shares proven practical tips for implementing virtual training in your organization.

Thursday, April 24, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Whole-Brain Instructional Design – Rapid, Inexpensive, Durable. Helping Learners Learn Facts, Discoveries, Methods and Values

Cognitive sciences have proven that people learn and perform best when they fully utilize their brains. The challenge for instructional designers is how to make this idea simple  and easy enough to apply in the practical day to day world of rushing through learning and eLearning projects, in a rapid way and of course effective manner. Join Ray Jimenez as he covers:

• The difference between traditional instructional design and whole-brain design
• The new learner is fully engaged, whole-brain speaking, without knowing it or without even trying hard
• The key questions when asked of the learners, increase engagement and learning
• Step-by-step process of designing lessons using whole-brain based applications
• Making very complex topics easy to learn using the whole-brain methods
• Applying the whole-brain design when  creating learning objectives, presentation, exercises and tests and tracking of applications
•  Developing eLearning that is rapid, inexpensive and durable through whole-brain methods
• Demos and examples of a whole-brain eLearning design
• Feature: Thiagi’s 4-Door Learning and Tayko’s WBLDI Online System
• To be received in advance: PRE-WEBINAR STUDY KIT, white papers, demos and examples 

Thursday, April 26, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Create Interactive Software Simulations with Articulate Storyline

Need to train people on using software applications? But you’re not sure if you want a video or interactive tutorial. Have no fear because Articulate Storyline makes the process super simple by offering the best of both worlds in software simulations. You have the choice of inserting demo videos or interactive step-by-step tutorials that simulate the software’s functionality. And you only need to record the screen once. Then you can choose what type of tutorial you need. And you can change it at any time. Join Tom Kuhlmann, VP of Community at Articulate as he discusses screencasting simulations for software training; and then shows how to quickly create and edit them in Storyline.

Thursday, April 26, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Expanding Learning Development Capabilities: Global Outsourcing Done Strategically

Learning budgets are on the rise, but today’s buyers are savvy and have high expectations. Today’s content buying community is looking for quality content at a cost effective prices. They are also looking for organizations that can meet their growing content needs quickly. If you are in the business of publishing on-line learning content for general use, training on global products, or simply creating custom on-line learning content for clients – the one thing you have in common today is the need to develop content quickly and cost-effectively. You need to meet growing client demands and keep up with the changing development practices. The combination of content creation and outsourcing, has had mixed reviews in the past – but organizations are beginning to re-think their approach to outsourcing and their strategies. Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research for Brandon Hall Group and Bill Rosenthal from Communispond as they share research and practical on-the-ground strategies for effectively working with global outsourcing firms.