Are you ready for October? If it feels like autumn has crept up on you, join the club. It’s that hectic time of year again—all those bats and skeletons aren’t just there to scare you. They’re a reminder that 2018 is rushing by. Are you scared yet?

Okay, not scared. What about eager for some new L&D ideas? This month’s crop of free webinars is full of them. “Step into my parlour,” said the spider to the fly, “these webinars will inspire and motivate you!”

Tuesday, October 2, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: How to Deliver a Coaching Training Program Managers Love!

This webinar will reveal five key strategies to implementing a successful training program that positions managers to engage, develop, and retain top talent. Coaching is much like a foreign language and requires practice and application; therefore, this webcast will teach very specific methodology of how to not only train managers but what support requirements are needed to help them transition from management to management coaching. Tim Hagen of Progress Coaching will provide innovative and unique strategies based on a proven methodology that has been around 20 years specifically helping managers become powerful and engage manager coaches.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018, 10AM – 11AM PT: Great Customer Training Requires the Right Technology Fit

Focusing on training throughout the customer lifecycle can have a significant impact on churn. In fact, a recent Technology Services Industry Association research report found that 68% of trained customers use the product more often than those who are not trained. However, choosing the appropriate customer learning technology to automate many of the operations for managing users, training content, and data analytics is not an easy task. In this webinar, Claude Werder from the Brandon Hall Group and Barry Kelly from Thought Industries will share their insight and expertise to help guide you to make the right choices as you're building your technology stack for your customer learning platform.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018, 11AM – 12PM PT: What Works in Role-Specific Onboarding (Free for ATD members)

Onboarding programs are designed to ease the transition from candidate to productive employee. However, many of these programs still miss the opportunity to offer targeted components to address the needs of employees assuming particular roles, or role-specific onboarding going beyond providing a general understanding of the business. Additionally, many companies lack the structure to provide specific guidance to current employees whose roles change, under the assumption that those employees already know the company and are familiar with the new role. Norma Davila and Wanda Pina-Ramirez of The Human Factor Consultation Group will introduce you to role-specific onboarding and specific steps you can take to include this component in your company’s program.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018, 12PM – 1PM PT: 5 Compelling Ways to Use Video for Employee Training

As companies stare down the challenges of ever-increasing compliance regulations, unpredictable turnover, and growing cultural and learning style changes among employees, businesses are looking for new ways to scale and support their training efforts. More and more, they’re finding that help in video. Adaptable to both formal and informal learning needs, video can help instructors increase training quality, speed, and effectiveness — all while significantly lowering program costs. Dave Dumler of Panopto will go beyond the basic applications for video in employee training and explore 5 new and exciting ideas you can take back to your own organization for using video to improve the reach and effectiveness of your training, support social learning, improve productivity, and more.

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2018, 10AM –11AM PT: Unlocking Opportunities for a New Learning Architecture

There is a big shake up, a paradigm shift in learning architecture. We have moved from course catalogs and compliance to micro-learning and personalization. We’ve evolved from e-learning to digital learning all in one generation. What does this mean to us not only as learners, but as learning architects? In this session David Wentworth from the Brandon Hall Group and Barb Farley and Jo Sweales of Conduent Learning Services will take you through this evolution; discuss its impact and provide some hints on unlocking opportunities and possibilities in the new learning architecture. They also show you how to get there from developing a road map to taking the first step. 

Thursday, October 4, 2018, 6AM – 7AM PT: Microlearning: 5 Techniques to Improve Job Proficiency and Prove ROI on Training Investments (Free for ATD members)

How can organizations measure the impact of training investments and whether employees are applying learning in the field? Join Rich Lanchantin, CEO of Qstream, who will discuss:

• Applying contextual learning in developing critical thinking skills

• Using microlearning to change on-the-job behaviors at scale

• Identifying gaps in job proficiency to inform future learning and development programs

• Measuring the impact of microlearning on job performance.

Thursday, October 4, 2018, 8AM – 9AM PT: The Integrated Learning Ecosystem

Organizations are requiring more and more technologies to deliver the learning experience the modern workforce needs to succeed, but it can be a huge challenge to get it to all work together. Brandon Hall Group’s 2018 Learning Management Technology Study found that most solutions get poor satisfaction rates for integration with other systems, and improving integration is the number two reason why organizations seek to replace their LMS. All of this is happening as companies seek to add solutions for microlearning, simulations, gaming, video and more. In this webinar, David Wentworth at the Brandon Hall Group and Bill Mastin at NetDimensions will look at the learning ecosystem and what it takes to integrate not only learning technologies, but other talent technologies as well so as to create a seamless experience. 

Friday, October 5, 2018, 11AM – 12PM PT: Are You and Your Employees Open to Think? (Free for ATD members)

Society is beginning to lose its grip on what matters most: the ability to think. We have begun to reward speed over quality and multitasking over focus, and the negative effects on both our personal and professional lives are potentially catastrophic. We need a return to balance between the three components of productive thought: dream, decide, do—and then repeat. Dan Pontefract of TELUS will show you how to:

• Recognize the effects poor thinking is having on employees and organizations.

• Define the difference between reflection and action, and become aware of indifferent, inflexible, and indecisive thinking attributes.

• Distinguish the traits that make up creative, critical, and applied thinking—in other words, dream, decide, do, and repeat.

Monday, October 8, 2018, 10AM – 11AM PT: Accelerated Learning in Healthcare – Free to ATD members

Ready to learn about the power of your multifaceted, genius brain and how to tap into its unused potential to discover what’s possible for you? The many elements of Accelerated Learning will be explored in this webcast, along with experiential exercises such as Brain Gym, Mind Mapping, and the use of special music as significant learning aids. Millicent St. Clair of LIGMO Institute will show you how to connect to students’ various learning styles and increase the joy of learning while reducing the stress of teaching. You will learn about your marvelous body-brains and improve memory and comprehension while you develop a love for lifelong learning. 

Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: Leveraging Learning to Build Agile, High-Performing Organizations

In times of unprecedented change and disruption, organizational agility is crucial to effectively cope with complexity. This webinar explores why traditional models and frameworks for dealing with change fail and what learning leaders can do to enable employees to thrive despite uncertainty. Using real-world examples, Thomas Bertels of Valeocon Management Consulting will provide a framework for identifying opportunities and review selected tactics for learning leaders to prepare their organizations to succeed in a VUCA world and accelerate employee development. Learn how learning and development professionals can support business leaders in creating agile and nimble organizations.  

Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 10AM – 11AM PT: The Power of Pull: How Learning is Changing

With today’s consumer-centric technology, people are used to having all of the knowledge, information, and entertainment they need at their fingertips. Their expectations for work-related technology have mirrored this evolution. Rather than pushing one-size fits all learning out to learners, organizations need to make learning more seamless and available in an intuitive, curated environment. Join David Wentworth with the Brandon Hall Group and DXC Technology as they discuss the ways in which learning can become more learner-centric, providing a more relevant, personalized and impactful experience. 

Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 12PM – 1PM PT: If Not You, Who? How to Crack the Code of Employee Disengagement

Companies in the top tier of employee engagement outperform their peers by 147% in earnings per share and have a 90% better growth trend than their competition. However, 87% of global workers are disengaged, sleepwalking though their day and giving you zero discretionary effort. They don't trust your leaders, they don't feel an emotional connection to your workplace, and they are only doing what they have to do to get by. Jill Christensen will show you how to inspire employees to get off the sidelines and get into the game. 

Wednesday, October 10, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: Employee Coaching: 5 Key Elements to Create High Performance

High-performing employees are 400 percent more productive than the average performer. Yet they comprise less than 5 percent of your workforce. The reason? Because organizations aren’t focused on what it takes to develop high-performing employees - coaching. Join Sharlyn Lauby, author of the blog HR Bartender, for a discussion about employee coaching and performance. With retention being a top business priority, organizations need to allocate resources and develop programs that will deliver results.  

Wednesday, October 10, 2018, 11AM – 12PM PT: Learning in the Modern Workplace: What’s Truly Effective (And What’s Not) (Free for ATD members)

Delivering impactful learning to modern learners seems like an ever-changing goal when there are seemingly endless innovative tools and e-learning capabilities. How do you cut through the clutter to determine what’s truly effective? Join Neha Gupta of True Office Learning, as she evaluates common e-learning capabilities for cognitive soundness, meaningful engagement, impactful efficacy, and measurable ROI. 

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: PowerPoint Productivity Boosting Tips that Take You to Infinity and Beyond!

Do you use PowerPoint on a day to day basis? Would you like to get more done? Get better results? It's possible! This online PowerPoint masterclass is perfect for anyone struggling to make their slides stand out. This session focuses on PowerPoint productivity, giving you the edge when creating visual slides. Richard Goring of BrightCarbon will start by helping you become more productive by setting up a customized tool bar which allows you to put your most used commands at the tips of your fingers. We'll also show you some of the hard to find features within PowerPoint that you may have missed, and consider novel ways to use combinations of functions to make your presentations really quickly.  

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: What’s it Worth? Moving from Impact to ROI

Connecting improvement in business measures to the program is a critical first step in demonstrating value for the money; but the next question is, What's the improvement worth? Return on investment (ROI) is a single metric that can answer that question in terms that resonate with decision makers.  Join Patti P. Phillips of the ROI Institute, as she describes:

• What ROI is and what it is not

• How to convert program benefits to money

• What to include in your fully-loaded program cost profile

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: Harness the Power of Mobile Learning

Join John Reddin of MobileLearning.io as he shares the role of mobile learning today and the opportunities you can take advantage of in your learning programs. With two-thirds of the world connected by mobile, imagine what the potential reach of your learning programs could be if you integrated mobile aspects. The beauty of mobile learning is that your learners don't need a continuous network connection and can work offline with a mobile app. They have full control of the way they consume your content - whenever and wherever. It isn’t surprising to see that engagement levels are higher when programs have some mobile aspect. This just the tip of the iceberg. John will also be discussing the future of mobile and what it means to eLearning.  

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 11AM – 12PM PT: ATD Research: Sales Coaching for Success (Free for ATD members)

Join Shauna Robinson and Jenna Cronin at ATD to explore how organizations use sales coaching to develop employees. Based on recent findings from ATD Research, the webcast examines how much time per month employees spend on sales coaching, along with what topics are most frequently discussed during sales coaching sessions. We’ll review the benefits of sales coaching for sales coaches, sales employees, and the organization overall. You’ll get research-based recommendations on how organizations can make the most of their sales coaching approach. 

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 12PM – 1PM PT: What Does the Future Hold for Universal Design for Learning?

In the olden days, we would create courses that presented the content the stakeholders believed the learners needed to know. Things are different today. Learners want personalization and don’t want to waste time on things they don’t need.  Leveraging the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) allows us to put processes in place to extend the model of ADA requirements and Section 508 compliance and not only provide alternatives for visually, auditory and physically challenged learners, but consider the needs of the experienced learner who may want to explore more, and support the ESL learner who may require scaffolding to be successful for course completion. UDL allows designers to develop adaptive courses that personalize the experience for each learner, allowing one design framework to satisfy many learner requirements.  

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 3PM – 4PM PT: Harness the Power of Mobile Learning

With two-thirds of the world connected by mobile, imagine what the potential reach of your learning programs could be if you integrated mobile aspects. The beauty of mobile learning is that your learners don't need a continuous network connection and can work offline with a mobile app. They have full control of the way they consume your content - whenever and wherever. It isn’t surprising to see that engagement levels are higher when programs have some mobile aspect. This just the tip of the iceberg. Join John Reddin from MobileLearning.io as he discusses the future of mobile, what it means to eLearning and the best practices behind integrating mobile learning in your strategy. 

Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 8AM – 9AM PT: Creating Interactive elearning Using VR and 360° Assets with Adobe Captivate (2019 Release)

Have you been thinking of creating virtual reality courses but have no time to learn how to use a new tool? Join Dr. Pooja Jaisingh at Adobe to learn how to create interactive virtual reality-based training using Adobe Captivate (2019 release). You will learn how to easily import 360° media assets and add hotspots, quizzes and other interactive elements to engage your learners with near real-life scenarios. 

Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 12PM – 1PM PT: eLearning Accessibility Challenges: When Closed Captions and Alt Text Aren’t Enough

Accessibility is not a "nice to have." It's necessary to ensure that the materials we provide offer all learners equal access and the ability to learn without hindrance. Web accessibility standards like Section 508 and WCAG provide guidance and best practices, but in some cases, simply complying with the standards is not enough. Most current authoring tools offer ways to add closed captioning for the hearing impaired, or to set "tab order" and "alt text", two basic means for supporting assistive devices such as screen readers. But many designers and developers don't think beyond those basics and are unfamiliar with the issues that individuals with disabilities face, or the frustrations they experience. In this webinar, Michael Getz of Illumina Interactive will share the some of the nuts and bolts of achieving a fully accessible learning experience. In the end, you’ll leave with a sense of what it takes to create elearning that works for everyone. 

Thursday, October 18, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: eLearning Accessibility Challenges: When Closed Captions and Alt Text Aren’t Enough

Among the many ways to learn in an academic environment, use of the virtual simulation is a method worth considering for the impact it can deliver and the lasting, useful learnings. Join Sara Cadrian of TRI Corporation as she explains:

• What is a “virtual” simulation?

• Benefits of virtual simulations to students

• Benefits of virtual simulations to instructors

• An example of a virtual simulation in action in an academic environment

Thursday, October 18, 2018, 10AM – 11AM PT: Learn to Build a Competency Model in Weeks! – Free for ATD members

With the world of work facing an increased pace of change, fewer years on the job, employee desire for self-directed career development, and knowledge drain from retiring Baby Boomers, competency models are more critical for executing strategy than ever before. Competency models identify what people in a particular job role need to know and do so the organization can succeed and create a competitive advantage. They intrinsically motivate people by providing a road map for how to succeed in any position. If you take six to 12 months to build them, they could be outdated on release. In this webcast, Cheryl Lasse of SkillDirector and Heather Reed of Press Ganey Associates will show you an agile methodology for building them in weeks, in a way most likely to be embraced and made actionable. 

Friday, October 19, 2018, 8:30AM – 9:30AM PT: Keynote Session to the Masters Series – Innovations in On-the-Job Training: 5 minutes Per Day – How to Build a Workplace Learning Habit

People learn most of what they need to do their jobs by just doing their jobs. However, we don’t learn EVERYTHING we need to perform at our max from experience alone. Problems arise. Shortcuts develop. New skills are required for the next role. As organizations strive to do more with less and the pace of change continues to accelerate, time for additional training almost always goes by the wayside. As a result, organizations are slow to learn and become more easily disrupted. But what if training didn’t always require lengthy chunks of time people never have? What if the opportunity to develop fit snugly into 5-minute gaps in the average workday? What if training was a regular part of the day - like brushing your teeth? Join JD Dillon of Axonify as he shows you the power of habit in workplace learning. 

Friday, October 19, 2018, 11AM – 12PM PT: Workplace Coaching: What is It and What Are Its Benefits (Free for ATD members)

Executive coaching has enjoyed a massive boom over the past five years. It is estimated to be a $2 billion global industry. Executive coaching is fueling the trajectories of most companies and top-tier executives’ careers. But what exactly is executive coaching? Join Nadine Greiner of Target Solution to learn how to:

• Define executive coaching

• Weigh its benefits

• Discuss its four-step process

• Become an executive coach

Monday, October 22, 2018, 11AM – 12PM PT: Crossing the Great Divides: What to Do With Differences in the Workplace (Free for ATD members)

We are living in a time of almost unparalleled separation and dissension. Societies all around the world have moved from environments in which people might “agree to disagree” to environments in which people are quick to disavow others’ right to an opinion. On a societal level here in the United States, we have seen these social cultural debates being raised around race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, politics, and other identity traits. In these times of extreme (and toxic) societal polarization, organizational leaders, diversity and inclusion specialists, and human resources professionals struggle to cope with the impact of having social divides intruding into their workplaces. Join Howard Ross of Cook Ross as he discusses these concerns and seeks to answer the question: How can we deal effectively and ethically with societal culture issues that undermine employee engagement and team cohesion? 

Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: Developing the Coaching Skills of Your Managers and Leaders

Developing effective coaches in your organization is critical to its success.  When armed with effective coaching skills and the inclination to coach workers regularly, managers and supervisors can dramatically uplift business results and the performance and lives of their workers. According to a study by Bersin by Deloitte, organizations with senior leaders who coach can effectively and frequently improve business results by 21 percent compared to those who never coach. Join Libby Mullen of BizLibrary as she uncovers key elements of training you can implement to develop leaders that are able to create measurable differences in performance through coaching. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 10AM – 11AM PT: The Learning and Performance Link: Making the Connection

While the most important outcome of learning is improved performance, nearly 60% of organizations say learning is not aligned with business goals. So why – and how – should organizations restore the lost connection between learning and performance? Join David Wentworth with the Brandon Hall Group and Hawley Kane at Saba, as they examine how learning and performance intersect to drive business success. You’ll discover research-backed strategies for delivering a hyper-connected learning experience that moves the needle on performance. 

Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: How to create engaging & effective elearning

Creating online courses is one thing. Creating courses that are both effective and engaging is another. With all the effort that goes into course development, why wouldn’t you ensure that the learning material is being well-received, and is effective? Effective and engaging elearning courses are ones that deliver meaningful material, enhance learner interest and increase learner retention. Join Paula Yunker from Limestone Learning as she explores why learning engagement is so important to learner attention AND retention and provide practical tips and examples on how to create engaging and effective elearning courses. Paula will also share her favorite elearning resources. 

Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 10AM – 11AM PT: Building Your Talent Development Career (Free for ATD members)

Are you wondering how to grow your talent development career, but are not sure where to start? Perhaps you'd like to move into a position in the talent development field, but you're not sure how to accomplish that goal. Maybe you're wondering what skills you need to stay current or what you need to do to move into a management role in talent development. Or, you may be considering pursing a certificate or certification to boost your career. If any of those scenarios sound familiar, join us for this interactive webcast on building your talent development career. Courtney Vital and Holly Batts from ATD will talk about building your talent development career with ATD's stackable credential learning paths. 

Thursday, October 25, 2018, 9AM – 10AM PT: No Money? No Design Skills? No Problem: Making Professional Graphics on a Budget

Do you want customized, professional graphics but lack the resources? If yes, you must attend this one-of-a-kind session. Mike Parkinson, a graphics guru and Microsoft MVP, shares how to do it yourself. NO design skill needed. Get the latest tools and techniques to make professional graphics quickly with little to no money. All attendees get Mike’s Graphic Cheat Sheet, his top 25 websites for free graphics, and step-by-step instructions for making graphics yourself. Mike will also give away a copy of his Billion Dollar Graphics eBook and 200 professional, editable graphics to one lucky winner. Do not miss this high-energy, highly rated webinar. 

Thursday, October 25, 2018, 11AM – 12PM PT: Developing Strategic Thinking Skills to Defeat Bad Strategy (Free for ATD members)

New research conducted with 400 learning and development managers showed that less than half of organizations have a universal definition and common understanding of strategy. This may be explained by the fact that only one out of every four organizations teaches strategy skills. Since the number 1 cause of business failure 80 percent of the time is bad or nonexistent strategy, creating a common language and understanding of strategy is critical to long-term success. Many of the barriers to good strategy are internal—things like fire drills, too many priorities, silos, and bad meetings all contribute to the challenges your managers face in trying to achieve their goals and develop plans to get there. Join Rich Horwath from the Strategic Thinking Institute as he provides an entertaining and engaging approach using superheroes and villains to arm you with frameworks and tools to help your team develop their strategic thinking capabilities. 

Tuesday, October 30, 2018, 10AM – 11AM PT: Managing Compliance Training in High Consequence Industries

According to Brandon Hall Group’s 2018 Learning Strategy Survey, 55% of companies identify compliance training as a high priority – making it the number one L&D priority. However, in industries where compliance and regulation are even more crucial, such as life sciences, healthcare, manufacturing and finance, nearly 70% of companies say compliance is a high priority. In these and other “high consequence” industries, having a technology platform that can manage compliance effectively is critical. Join David Wentworth with the Brandon Hall Group and Donna Lord with ePath Learning as they discuss the ways in which some learning technologies can expedite the software validation process for regulated companies, while greatly reducing the risks and costs associated with compliance.