Summer is hurtling along—have you managed to grab some downtime? A little break can be a great time to recharge your batteries, enjoy family and friends, and refresh your knowledge and skills. With a laptop (and a frosty drink in hand), it’s easy to put in a quick burst of learning. Just check out one of this month’s free webinars. 

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, 9AM – 10AM PST: The Business Case for Learning: Using Design Thinking to Deliver Business Results

Expenditures for learning and talent development have grown significantly in the past two decades. Few leaders would argue that learning is critical for organizational growth. Investments in programs have generated mixed results. On the one hand the volume of programs is increasing; on the other hand, the business impact is less evident. Learning professionals try to measure their way to results—that is, to implement a measurement strategy to capture evidence of value. Overall, however, this attempt to capture value is not working. Learning and development practitioners must move from a value-capture focus to a value creation focus, which means using design thinking to drive results.

During this webinar, you’ll learn:

• The importance of design thinking in driving business results.

• Eight steps that incorporate design thinking in the learning cycle.

• How to begin incorporating design thinking to deliver business results in your organization.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: Top 10 Tips When Designing for Mobile

A lot of people are comfortable designing their courses for the desktop. However, designing for mobile is very different. Is your content being viewed on the phone being held in landscape or portrait mode? Did you know that knowing if the learner is right- or left-handed can impact on the user experience?

Learn Top 10 tips for mobile design and significantly improve the User Experience (UX) for your learners, including...

• How to set up a project for mobile design.

• How to keep objects within thumb swipe.

• How to accommodate for landscape and portrait views.

• How to determine which view to design for.

• The importance of the placement of the navigation.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: Psst... Your Talent Called. You Weren’t Home!

You’ve heard the story. A key staff member left suddenly to work for a competitor. It’s easy to get mad at the competitor, but no one leaves a great place to work without a reason. So, what’s preventing you from engaging and retaining your top talent? What’s preventing you from getting rid of the others?

Based on the book Talent GPS, Lou Russell will help you:

• Learn concrete processes to improve engagement.

• Share talent hacks and tools.

• Build a plan to bridge your talent gap and retain your best employees.

• Answer the call of your best talent.

Thursday, August 3, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: Connecting The Dots… Incorporating Microlearning Techniques into Virtual Classroom Experiences

Would your learners benefit from virtual training served up in small bites? Come learn InSync’s recipe for success in crafting and delivering engaging microlearning and incorporating it into virtual classroom design. You will view examples, analyze what does and doesn’t work, and create a strategy for ensuring your bite-sized content gets used over and over again. Join us, and learn how to eat an elephant. YUM!

Goal: Learn how microlearning design can be incorporated into the virtual classroom and how to facilitate exercises that rely on microlearning content. 

Thursday, August 3, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Steps to Building a Culture of Appreciation with Those You Lead (Free for ATD members)

Recently, ATD's research team identified five core sets of skills related to managerial success. Interestingly, learning how to communicate authentic appreciation to team members directly contributes to the development of four of those areas: collaboration, engagement, and listening and assessing.

In this webcast, you’ll learn about the Appreciation at Work training model. Managers (and all employees) have limited time, energy, and mental bandwidth, so the model and resources have been designed to be learned quickly, remembered easily, and applied practically within the context of a busy work schedule.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: Measuring ROI in Sales Training

According to ATD’s 2016 State of Sale Training report, organizations spend an average of $954,070 per year on sales training. One of the top three barriers to making it work is the inability to tie training to sales performance. This webinar offers steps you can take to demonstrate how your training is driving sales performance and the value that performance adds to the organization.

During the webinar, you’ll learn:

• How to isolate the effects of training on sales performance.

• How to convert improvement in sales to monetary benefits.

• What costs to include when developing the fully-loaded cost.

• How to calculate the ROI in sales training.

Following the webinar, participants will receive an application guide and a case study describing a simple application of the process to sales training. 

Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: Adjusting Your Consultative Selling Approach to Engage the Modern Buyer (Free for ATD members)

Today’s buyers are ultra-informed and have more options than ever before. Yet, they are less equipped to make a decision and more likely to stick with the status quo. A consultative selling approach should help sellers cut through the noise and lead their customers to clarity.

In this webcast, you’ll learn how to bring a fresh approach to your consultative selling training programs. It will cover:

• Buyer psychology and the neuroscience and behavioural science behind how people form impressions, make judgments, and arrive at decisions.

• How to foster trust and encourage openness from your buyers.

• How to float ideas in a way that deepens the conversation, rather than limiting it.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Top 5 Moodle Plugins to Enhance Productivity

Data-driven learning is the key factor in optimizing learning and training programs for learner success. By gaining a more holistic view of how learners engage in their online programs, organizations can get a better picture of how effective their learning programs really are. Armed with this information, measurable improvements can be made across learning and training initiatives. Your organization can achieve a deeper understanding of the usage, effectiveness, and success of their programs, and how they directly impact learning performance.

Join Lambda Solutions' learning analytics expert, Stewart Rogers, to discover 5 steps for building a data-driven learning model to improve learning performance.

Register for this webinar to learn:

• How to make analytics part of the fabric of daily operations

• Access robust reporting and analytics solutions

• Establish shared goals throughout your department hierarchy

• Ensure continuous training and coaching of core analytics skills

• Track the right metrics and make data-driven decisions

Wednesday, August 9, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: 5 Ways to Benchmark Your Programs with DataNow

DataNow, Brandon Hall Group’s proprietary online research database and benchmarking tool, allows you to see all its research and filter the data that is most applicable for your business, like company size, revenue, industry, and more. Data is available days after the research is completed.

Michael Rochelle, Brandon Hall Group Chief Strategy Officer and Principal HCM Analyst, will show how you can benchmark using DataNow, and five ways to effectively present the data to your organization.

Now you can benchmark your programs and more confidently present results to management, or find data-driven ways to right your course. 

Wednesday, August 9, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: Convert Classroom Training to Virtual Training in 3 Simple Steps (Free for ATD members)

Organizations are increasingly moving from instructor-led classroom training to the synchronous virtual classroom. However, one minute of classroom time does not equal one minute of virtual classroom time. And some face-to-face activities simply don’t make sense online. How do you know what to translate versus what to build from scratch, or what activity options are available that will help meet the desired learning outcomes?

This webcast will explore the three simple steps you should follow when converting your traditional, in-person training classes into live online ones. In addition, you’ll learn how to avoid the three most common conversion mistakes, and get lots of ideas for virtual class activities.

Whether you’re a trainer, a designer, or someone overseeing training, you’ll leave this webcast with practical tips for migrating your classes to virtual solutions.

By attending this webcast, you’ll be able to:

• Translate classroom lessons into virtual activities.

• Avoid the three most common conversion mistakes.

• Determine the best virtual activity format for each learning objective.

• Design virtual sessions for frequent participant engagement.

Thursday, August 10, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Modular, Data-Driven, Adaptive: Future of Training (Free for ATD members)

The future of corporate learning is adaptive. Behavioural and performance data can be used to optimize every single moment in a learning experience, delivering the most efficient and effective training possible. Bite-sized pieces of content, while valuable in their own right, become exponentially more powerful when combined into a fluid ecosystem that is backed and synchronized by data.

After participating in this webcast, you’ll be able to:

• Recognize key trends in technology that allow learning to become modular, data-driven, and adaptive.

• Grasp learning theories concerning focus, memory, metacognition, and engagement.

• Explore how learning analytics can be used to benefit trainers, managers, content authors, and learners.

Thursday, August 10, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: OLC Preview: eLearning Strategies for Driving Business Results

Grab this opportunity to learn some great tips and also get a sneak preview of what it will be like to attend Training's Online Learning Conference in New Orleans. Each speaker will present a 15-minute condensed sample of their OLC content. Listen fast and you'll learn plenty of useful tips even during this brief preview!

This preview focuses on the eLearning Strategies for Driving Business Results track.

Monday, August 14, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: How to Attract and Retain Frontline Employees in Healthcare (Free for ATD members)

Have you ever thought about what the best healthcare organizations are doing to attract and hold onto their frontline employees? Here is an opportunity to hear insights from a panel of leaders who are recognized nationally by CareerSTAT, a network of healthcare leaders, for their efforts in supporting the skill and career development of staff.

The CareerSTAT Frontline Healthcare Worker Champion program recognizes organizations that make significant investments in their frontline workers. These panelists represent organizations that are generating business impact, such as better employee engagement and patient care, through frontline investment.

After attending this webcast, participants will be able to:

• Identify strategies that make a healthcare company the best place to work for frontline employees.

• Introduce employees to new, better roles.

• Identify leadership’s role in influencing workplace culture.

• Create an ownership and leader mentality in all levels of the organization.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017, 9AM – 10AM PST: Creating Responsive eLearning with Adobe Captivate 2017

Are you still creating fixed dimension eLearning courses? Are the learners still forced to take the courses using their desktop or laptop? It's time for you to rethink!

In this device-rich world, it's absolutely important to make the content available on different devices. The web world has quickly adapted to it, making most of the websites responsive to device size.

Join Dr. Pooja Jaisingh to learn about the simple steps to create responsive eLearning courses using the magical Fluid Boxes in Adobe Captivate 2017. You’ll learn how to create responsive courses from scratch, or convert your static courses to responsive in a snap! 

Tuesday, August 15, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: How Predictive Analytics Can Improve Your Recruiting Outcomes

There’s a data revolution going on, and it’s changing the way HR professionals are making decisions. One aspect of this data revolution pertains to predictive analytics, and it is having a significant impact on talent acquisition.  

Are talent acquisition professionals ready for this revolution? Do predictive analytics improve outcomes? And, what are some of the best practices around predictive analytics? These are just some of the questions that will be addressed during this webinar.

Discussion topics include:

• Definition of predictive analytics and how it applies to talent acquisition.

• The market need and impact of predictive analytics.

• A case study showcasing improvement in outcomes and how you can capitalize on it.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: How to Train the Smartest People in the World (Free for ATD members)

It’s responsible for putting 12 people on the moon and sending countless more to space, and has some of the world’s most advanced technology and brightest minds inside its walls. But even NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has learning challenges.

Recognizing the shift is already under way in the technology, skills, and employee demographic that will lead them into the future, JPL has shifted its learning strategy and technology ecosystem.

This interactive webcast with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Head of Technical Learning and Development Tony Gagliardo will explore:

• What progressive organizations such as NASA JPL are doing to build the business case for new technology.

• How JPL has adjusted its learning strategy and infrastructure for the future.

• How NASA is measuring employee development and defining success.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 9AM – 10AM PST: Creating a Culture of Learning in the Modern Workplace

Are you creating a learning culture for your employees? We’re working in environments today where change is no longer an event but a constantly occurring process.

In order for businesses to maintain a competitive advantage, it’s vital for their employees to be continually improving and learning. You may have some good ideas about what it takes to implement a culture of learning, but how’s your strategy? Do you have the tools and resources necessary to build a solid foundation for your learning culture? What's your communication plan? How will you measure success and failure?

In this webinar, CEO of BizLibrary Dean Pichee will talk about what an engaged learning culture looks like, what types of strategies to implement to turn your ideas into a reality, how to make sure your training really sticks, and how to manage the change that will inevitably occur as you implement a culture of learning.

Key learning objectives:

• Learn the key characteristics of an engaged learning culture.

• Why micro-learning is the ideal tool for real culture shift.

• How the science of learning reinforces training and increases ROI.

• Why change is inevitable and how to deal with it in a positive way.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 9AM – 10AM PST: Negativity in the Workplace: Where Does It Come from and How Can It Be Neutralized? (Free for ATD members)

Employees and workplace communication are becoming increasingly negative in nature and intensity. This webcast will explore negative behaviours and the factors that are contributing to this. You’ll receive practical suggestions for individuals and organizations to begin to lower the intensity of negativity and neutralize its destructive energy.

You’ll also be able to:

• Describe the wide variety of negative behaviours (both active and passive) displayed by employees, individually and collectively.

• Identify individual, cultural, and workplace factors that are fuelling negativity in the workplace.

• Develop a practical action plan to take steps to reduce the frequency and intensity of negative behaviours within your workplace.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: Best of DevLearn: How Today’s Emerging Technologies Can Redefine Your Training

In this webinar, you’ll learn how various media—like serious games, podcasts, simulations, short-form videos, 3-D immersive experiences, mobile, and virtual reality—are poised to forever change the way people learn and organizations teach. Packed with demos and case studies, the webinar will cover how leading Fortune 50 companies and government agencies are harnessing gamification, simulation, and digital video to build organizational capabilities. From sales skills taught in a spy-themed game with live-action video, to leadership skills taught with 3-D immersive simulations, to technical skills taught with virtual and augmented reality, these organizations will give you inspiration for how to use today’s multimedia breakthroughs to push what you can do for learning. 

Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: The Modern Subject Matter Expert (SME): Agile, Responsive and Digital

SMEs are important sources of knowledge taught to others. Traditional SMEs are isolated and are not in synch with the immediacy of demand for their knowledge. They become roadblocks to rapid transfer of skills. In contrast, the modern SMEs are in constant motion and feeding the right knowledge as they are needed by learners and workers. They focus on the impact and value of their contributions to immediate results.

How does one become a modern SME? How does an SME re-skill for the new rapidly changing workplace?

In this session, Ray Jiminez will cover the following topics:

• What are the expertise models that SMEs use? Which ones are dated and which ones are new trends?

• How is knowledge transfer changing and how does this impact the way workers and learners learn?

• What are the skills of the modern SME—the outlook, the packaging of knowledge, the tools, the delivery and transfer options?

• What jobs and roles do the modern SMEs start to embrace?

Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Research Spotlight: Learning Content

Content is king once again. As technology has continued to shift toward the learner experience, the content that inhabits that experience needs to catch up. The challenge of providing up-to-date, relevant, engaging content is complicated by the fact that content exists just about everywhere and in every form.

This research spotlight will take a look at the results of the recently conducted 2017 Learning Content Study, exploring how organizations source and create content, as well as which types of content they are finding the most effective. It will also focus on the ways organizations use technology to deliver a wider spectrum of learning experiences.

Discussion topics include:

• Drivers of the content strategy.

• Learning content sources.

• Learning content types.

• Use of formal and informal content.

• Content challenges.

Thursday, August 17, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Building Capability vs. Performance Management: Using Competency Models to Look Forward Instead of Backward (Free for ATD members)

Today, success is driven by innovation and the ability to evolve. You have to look forward to win. Traditional performance management, which looks backward, is not well suited to support the organizational agility imperative. Couple this with research that shows how the most successful companies embrace a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset and you’ll understand why the status quo cannot support your company’s objectives.

You may know this intuitively, but can you sell it to leadership?

In this webcast, you’ll learn:

• How capability enablement can overcome the limitations of traditional performance management approaches to drive organizational agility.

• How this approach addresses key talent management trends, including those tailored for millennials.

• How to sell this vision to leadership.

Thursday, August 17, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: 5 Ways to Get Your Sales Team Fully Engaged

Obviously, the sales team has a tremendous impact in the organization. If sales people don’t produce, the business is negatively impacted. And that impact is felt at every level of the organization. That means keeping the sales team engaged and productive.

This workshop will cover:

• Why engagement is important and the current state of engagement.

• Five strategies for engaging your sales team, including remote sales teams.

• How to implement an engagement strategy.

• Measuring the results of your engagement strategy.

Friday, August 18, 2017, 8AM – 9AM PST: Boosting Training Transfer Using Predictive Learning Analytics™ (PLA) (Free for ATD members)

What is arguably the number one issue facing L&D professionals today? The answer: scrap learning. Scrap learning refers to the gap between training that is delivered and what’s actually applied back on the job. It’s a critical business issue because learning that’s delivered but not applied is a waste of an organization’s resources.

In this webcast, you’ll learn how to use predictive learning analytics to reduce the amount of scrap learning associated with a learning program. You’ll:

• Discover the meaning of the term scrap learning and its impact on wasted organizational resources and lost credibility with business executive stakeholders.

• Analyze how to build an algorithm that predicts which learners are most and least likely to apply what they learned in a training program back on the job.

• Examine the three-phase, nine-step predictive learning analytics methodology using data from an actual implementation.

Friday, August 18, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: Avoiding the Top Training Evaluation Pitfalls: A Book Club Meeting with the Kirkpatricks (Free for ATD members)

Myths and misapplications abound in the world of training evaluation. In this webcast, Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick will reveal the top training evaluation pitfalls seen around the world, as detailed in their latest book, Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation. They will lead an interactive and thought-provoking discussion, book club–style, of practical solutions to these problems that economize limited training resources.

This webcast is appropriate for training professionals of any level of experience who want to ensure that the training they provide is truly creating value for their organizations or their clients. It is not necessary to have read the latest Kirkpatrick book to participate in and benefit from this interactive program. Participants will come away with a fresh perspective on the Kirkpatrick Model, as well as a list of ideas they can implement in their work.

After this session, you’ll know how to:

• Design training with the end result in mind.

• Focus on improving performance after training.

• Create evaluation tools that gather meaningful, usable data.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Micro Learning Gets Big

In today’s business environment, companies require learning that is agile, engaging, and meets the learner at the moment of need. Many companies and employees no longer have enough time for traditional courses and all-day training sessions. Traditional classes and courses alone can’t get it done. Companies need smaller learning interactions that are nearly indistinguishable from the normal workflow. Micro learning allows employees to weave educational opportunities into their daily schedules—giving them the tools to quickly develop and hone new skills, when they have five minutes to spare. Micro learning is an approach that makes learning at work more like the way people learn things in their everyday lives—when and where they need to know something.

Discussion topics include:

• Traditional learning vs. micro learning.

• Micro learning considerations.

• Micro learning in action.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: Underinvesting in Your First-Time Leaders Will Cost You (Free for ATD members)

Skill development doesn’t happen by accident, but targeted, competency-based leadership skill development pays off.

This webcast will provide the business case for investing in first-time managers, who, when well prepared, can help you drive meaningful results, improve performance on key metrics, and aid in the retention of your people assets. You’ll learn how to empower new leaders with knowledge, skills, and experiences that add value and confidence to their daily work.

You’ll also learn:

• Why the things frontline managers pay attention can help or hurt business performance.

• Why investing in emerging leaders and frontline supervisors pays off, and several practices to make the development “stick.”

• The benefits of virtual development and just-in-time learning.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: OLC Preview: Innovative Mobile Learning Solutions

Grab this opportunity to learn some great tips and also get a sneak preview of what it will be like to attend Training's Online Learning Conference in New Orleans. Each speaker will present a 15-minute condensed sample of their OLC content. Listen fast and you'll learn plenty of useful tips even during this brief preview!

This preview focuses on the Innovative Mobile Learning Solutions track. 

Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Innovative Leadership Development

Innovation in learning technologies, global leadership needs, and the changing nature of the workplace drive a leadership landscape that leadership programs struggle to navigate.

Join Max Meadow, Principal HCM Analyst with Brandon Hall Group as he looks at the research and case studies of organizations implementing leading-edge leadership programs.

Attendees will learn:

• How new learning modes are being employed in leadership.

• What is takes to create success in leadership development.

• What types of programs are being developed to produce tomorrow’s leaders.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: ATD Research: Onboarding, Engagement, and Development (Free for ATD members)

Onboarding, engagement, and development program areas are all essential in talent management, particularly when an organization wants to retain employees. In this webcast, we’ll discuss the role that talent development plays in each of these key programs. We’ll also discuss the anticipated importance of these three program areas in the next five years.

The data presented in this webcast are drawn from the upcoming ATD research report, Onboard, Engage, and Develop: How Organizations Improve Effectiveness, available at www.td.org/developtalent.

In this webcast, you’ll also learn:

• About the effectiveness of learning programs

• How programs in these areas are being evaluated

• The effectiveness of evaluation efforts.

Friday, August 25, 2017, 9AM – 10AM PST: How to Get Started with Game Design (Free for ATD members)

As a trainer interested in game design, you know that games are more effective than lectures. You've seen firsthand how immersive games hold learners' interest, helping them explore new skills and experience different points of view.

Have you been asked to incorporate learning games into your repertoire of offerings? Do you want to explore how you can dip your toe into the water of game design? Are you unsure if learning games are appropriate and effective in your environment?

Join Sharon Boller, co-author of Play to Learn: Everything You Need to Know About Designing Effective Learning Games, to explore this topic in an informal, members-only webcast.

During the webcast, Sharon will discuss:

• How games and learning are linked, and the nine steps to good learning game design.

• The game-gamification spectrum and questions to ask based on where you are on this spectrum.

• Best practices and pitfalls to avoid when using learning games.

• Buying versus building, and the spectrum of "buy" options (templates for a total custom solution).

When you register, be sure to submit a question you would like the presenter to address during the webcast.

Monday, August 28, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: 5 Steps to Less Stress, More Energy, and Remarkable Results at Work (Free for ATD members)

Are you dealing with the challenges of having to “do more with less”? Who isn’t?

This webcast will provide five steps to manage rampant change and be able to gracefully do more with less. The presenter will share stories, anecdotes, and proven ideas for being resilient at work—especially in the face of change.

At the end of this webcast, you’ll be able to:

• Role-model a state of high engagement, with several specific ideas for re-energizing yourself.

• Identify beliefs and mindsets that are holding you back from full engagement.

• Demonstrate a proven, five-step process for transforming workplace challenges into positive outcomes.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: Revisit Your Sourcing Strategies and Fill Your Talent Pipeline

Do you find yourself implementing the same old, same old sourcing strategies, like posting to a job board, and winding up with less than stellar results? You are not alone! Brandon Hall Group’s 2017 Recruitment Marketing Survey shows that the most pressing problem for most organizations is attracting quality candidates (63%).

If you want to improve your sourcing results, it’s time to break out of the routine and take advantage of important practices and new technologies that will deliver effective results. Did you know that only 34% of organizations are using source-to-hire analytics, 38% have diversity and inclusion practices, and 53% use a CRM technology solution? We can do better!

Find out how to revitalize your sourcing practices and technology solutions by joining Brandon Hall Group’s Daria Friedman, Principal Analyst/Talent Acquisition, and Jobvite’s Robert Tsao, Chief of Product Marketing, who will share leading practices in sourcing and technology.

Topics will include:

• How organizations are currently sourcing talent and the implications of those practices.

• Leading practices for keeping your talent pipelines filled.

• The most effective sourcing channels.

• Technology solutions that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sourcing.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017, 11AM – 12PM PST: Engagement vs. Disengagement: What It Does to Your Company and How to Get Your Managers to Enhance Engagement (Free for ATD members)

Ike Bennion is a product marketing manager at Instructure, where he monitors market trends in buyer and competitor behaviour in training and development. His research includes human capital development through training in achieving business goals, and formative and summative assessments in learning. While at Instructure, he has successfully consulted with the training departments of more than 150 companies, of varied sizes and verticals. Before Instructure, Ike was a healthcare market strategy consultant specializing in population health management and accountable care.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: OLC Preview: Applying Social Media Tools for Performance Improvement

Grab this opportunity to learn some great tips and also get a sneak preview of what it will be like to attend Training's Online Learning Conference in New Orleans. Each speaker will present a 15-minute condensed sample of their OLC content. Listen fast and you'll learn plenty of useful tips even during this brief preview!

This preview focuses on the Social Media Tools for Performance Improvement track.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017, 9AM – 10AM PST: Developing Function Leaders to Drive Business Growth

Are your function leaders driving business growth?

Those leading a function have arguably the greatest impact on overall business performance, yet organizations continue to underinvest in developing this level of their talent pipeline.

Why is this a challenge? With significant spans of responsibility, function leaders—such as those leading an organization unit, geographic region, product group or customer segment—offer immense competitive value. Although company executives possess power and influence, functional executives provide the most obvious impact on company performance. While strategic managers determine the company's mission and direction, functional managers control expenses, manage resources, make decisions about specific projects, and drive the success or failure of many strategic priorities.

Unfortunately, most function leaders have not had any targeted leadership development for this type of role, and thus are limited in truly elevating their performance. Many function leaders have confided: “I was not really sure what this job should look like and how I should be spending my time. I needed to understand how I should be operating at all levels.”

During this session you’ll learn:

• Why the value and influence of function leaders has never been stronger.

• The five roles most critical to function leader success.

• The development experiences that accelerate function leader performance.

• A smart business case for securing a greater development investment in those leading a function.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017, 12PM – 1PM PST: Creating Microlearning Objects: It’s About Performance Support!

In this webinar session, Online Learning Conference presenter Shannon Tipton will discuss “How-To’s” for creating microlearning objects. Let’s get our creative hats on and create solutions that solve problems!

Not every problem requires a course, micro or not. Most times, within a course—a job aid is screaming to get out. Enter, microlearning objects. Accessible, short bursts of critical information. Most commonly referred to as performance support tools or job aids. With all the new tools at hand, it’s easy to be confused about what to use and when. So many tools…so little time! Let’s get together to discover different tools and their applications. What tools are best for your audience and their needs? Time for the fun to begin.

This webinar will cover:

1. First—set the stage. The difference between microlearning courses and objects.

2. Determining the appropriate modality for your content. Meeting the end-user need.

3. Tools for successful outcomes.

4. Media checklists.

Thursday, August 31, 2017, 8AM – 9AM PST: 10 Days to Learning Technology Success

A learning technology suite can be one of the biggest investments and company can make, and one with a huge impact on the entire organization. Contributing to business success in measurable, meaningful ways and doing it year after year is one of the most important aspirations of any corporate learning function. And one of the toughest.

Learning technology is more than just software to help deliver training and automate training administration – it is the engine behind your L&D strategy and the ability to drive business results. Managing the distinct needs of disparate business divisions and/or separate brands, catering to various employee, contractor and external learning audiences and delivering the right content to meet goals - both now, and in the future, should be a central focus of any implementation. Organizations fail to realize the full benefit from their LMS implementation when they focus on functionality alone.

Join David Wentworth, Principal Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, and Scott Mumby, Client Partner with Tribridge, as they draw from extensive research and hundreds of technology implementations to share 10 critical factors for learning technology success, from implementation to continued optimization.

Discussion topics include:

• Vision and objectives

• Implementation team

• The learner experience

• Solution requirements

• Communication strategies

Thursday, August 31, 2017, 9AM – 10AM PST: Research Briefing: Teams at Work—What’s Not Working—and How to Fix It

The nature of teamwork in today’s organizations is evolving. New research conducted by Training magazine and The Ken Blanchard Companies found that while people spend over half of their time working in teams, significant gaps exist between what people want and what they are experiencing in terms of clarity, accountability, and leadership practices.

In this webinar, Blanchard researchers Jim Diehl and David Witt share the findings from the 1,300-person poll and identify steps for improving team performance in your organization.

You’ll learn about the perceived lack of accountability among team members as the number one obstacle to team performance. You’ll also learn about the impact trust has in determining the amount of effort people put into a team.

The survey found significant gaps between the amounts of support high-performing teams receive versus the support average teams receive—at both an individual leader and organizational level. With today’s accelerated pace, teams don’t have as much time to form, experiment, and organically develop along the way.

Don’t miss this opportunity to review the state of teams in organizations and how to take steps to close the gaps.

Thursday, August 31, 2017, 10AM – 11AM PST: CPLP Panel: Hear From Your Peers (Free for ATD members)

Are you thinking about pursuing the CPLP credential but aren't sure if you're ready? Are you registered to take the exam, but would like some advice on how to proceed? Are you wondering if the CPLP credential is worth the time and effort?

Join us for this interactive webcast with three current CPLPs who will share lessons learned from their CPLP experiences.

In this webcast, you’ll learn:

• The best ways to approach the exam process.

• Helpful hints on how to maximize the value of your study time.

• Pitfalls to avoid during the credentialing process.

• The value of the credential from CPLP holders' perspectives.

Be sure to submit a question for the panelists when you register for the webcast.