How quickly summer packed up and left us! For those of us who throttled back our work for the holidays, it’s time to rev up again. And what goes better with “back to work” than “back to school”? Webinars provide us with a great way to gain new knowledge on our own time and at our own pace. We hope these October events will inspire and motivate you.

Thursday, October 1, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: New World Kirkpatrick® Levels 1 and 2: Powerful Components Not to Overlook

Most training professionals would agree that administering a pre-test, post-test, and post-program reaction sheet will not yield complete Levels 1 and 2 evaluation data. However, this insufficient method is employed quite often. Consider the usefulness of the data and information you currently gather at Levels 1 and 2. It is likely that you collect much more data than you actually use to make program improvements. Attend this informative session to update your knowledge of the New World Kirkpatrick Model and all of the Levels 1 and 2 components to ensure you are not missing out on collecting and using vital data.

You will obtain practical tips for steps to take before a training event begins to increase both participant engagement during the session and commitment to perform the newly learned behaviours when participants return to work. Techniques for building training participant confidence and commitment during training will also be shared in an interactive forum.

Every training professional will benefit from participating in this new, information-packed program, which builds on the Level 1 ideas shared in the sold-out June 11 webinar Build a Better Reaction Sheet – Tips from Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick. Don’t miss this chance to pick up simple and effective ideas for increasing the value of any training program. 

Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: From the Mouths of Millennials: Priceless Tips for Managers (Free for ATD members)

Big data can give us demographic numbers to crunch and analyze. But that’s not enough for us to be the most effective managers we can for our millennial employees.

Listen to what they are saying:

• What is on their minds?

• What is important to them now?

• How can we break the 1.5-year-average retention rate?

• How can we engage them to produce their best work?

Learn the insights that emerged from an open-ended survey conducted with employees born between 1980 and 1992. These priceless tips will make us the best managers millennial employees can ask for. 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 10:00AM – 11:00AM PST: A New Approach to Microlearning

Instructional design vendors are rediscovering the small-steps approach to learning that was used extensively—and discarded unceremoniously—in the 60s heyday of behaviourism. In this webinar, you will learn what is dysfunctional about many of the past and present approaches to microlearning—and what is wonderful about it. You will also receive some hands-on experience, with effective and engaging materials and methods for a new approach to microlearning. 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 10:00AM – 10:45 PST: Research Spotlight: 3 Talent Acquisition Tips to Best the Competition

Brandon Hall Group research shows that companies are still having challenges with some of the more common talent acquisition practices, including attracting talent, engaging candidates, and selecting the right hires. Just what can companies do to meet their hiring needs and make the right choices while still keeping ahead of the competition? On October 7th, please join Ben Eubanks, Learning Analyst, and Daria Friedman, Principal Talent Acquisition Analyst, as they share the answers to these questions and more during this 45-minute session.

The discussion will cover various topics, including:

• Key findings from the Brandon Hall Group 2015 Strategic Talent Acquisition Survey.

• Data about what companies are doing to meet hiring needs, including key metrics utilized.

• A peek at information detailing what high-performing companies do differently from the rest.

This webinar will also include a look at the Brandon Hall Group DataNow tool and Membership Center for you to learn more about where you can find other relevant study information. In addition, there will be Q&A time for you to share your most pressing questions about your organization’s recruiting challenges. 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 10:00AM – 10:45 PST: Resistance is Futile: A New Way to Fully Engage Learners (Free for CSTD members)

Humans have elaborate visual systems designed specifically for learning. Learning and development professionals who are often short on time default to the bullet point feature of presentation software for their training content. The consequences of this word-heavy design are overwhelmed and disengaged learners, which leads to partial learning at best. The opportunity to engage learners in richer ways using a visual storytelling approach is easily within the learning and development professionals’ grasp.

Learning Objectives:

1. Discover the neuroscience that shows how humans are hardwired for stories/case studies.

2. Incorporate storytelling elements into your learning content to engage learners and increase learning.

3. Transform heavy data slides (including charts and graphs) into engaging visual learning content.

4. Create a plan for easily revamping your presentations into a visual feast for the eyes and the mind. 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 11AM – 12PM PST: Improving Your Workplace with Everything DiSC (Free for ATD members)

How would work improve if you knew one manager wants details and another wants the bottom line? That your teammate wants public acknowledgement for a job well done, rather than a simple note? That one co-worker prefers to work alone while another craves collaboration?

What if people had their needs written all over them?

Learn to use Everything DiSC as a decoder to identify your own style and the styles of others. Everything DiSC provides a common language for connecting with others.

In this webcast, attendees will:

• Determine their own priorities based on their DiSC style.

• Learn a simple method to determine the DiSC styles and priorities of others.

• Discover the most effective communication methods for working with others. 

Thursday, October 8, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: ATD Research: Global Trends in Talent Development (Free for ATD members)

ATD Research and ATD International recently embarked on their first truly global assessment of talent development outlooks, resources, and practices. ATD research analyst Maria Ho and ATD International director Wei Wang will be presenting some important findings from this research, which is compiled in full in the report Key Trends in Training: A Global View.

By looking at key metrics by global regions, this research will aid learning and development professionals in benchmarking their practices against those of their peers in their own regions and tailoring training offerings to each region’s unique learning environment. Among the topics explored from a global perspective will be the influences, challenges, and outlooks that shape the decisions of organizational learning functions, the size and role of learning departments, budgets for training, and hours and content of training. 

Thursday, October 8, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: The HCM Imperative – Align Technology with the New Digital Employee

Employees have high expectations about their work environment. Whether they are millennials or older, they expect to utilize technology to consume information and to participate in processes that are effective, efficient, and engaging. But when it comes to HCM technology—the systems that can have a huge impact in keeping talent engaged—many organizations have a gap between their talent strategies and the tools that enable them.

Join Michael Rochelle, Chief Strategy Officer and Principal Analyst, Brandon Hall Group, and Douglas Golenski, Solutions Consulting HCM Practice Lead from Cognizant, as they share how:

• High-performance organizations are leveraging new technologies to streamline and improve practices and processes, enhancing their employees’ experience.

• HR executives can create a work environment that supports employee engagement and workforce productivity.

• Technology can impact your organization’s employment brand.

• Bad or outmoded technology can adversely affect your organization’s work environment. 

Thursday, October 8, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Scrap Learning – Your Programs Are Not As Good As You Think They Are

How much of the learning is wasted in your organization? 5 percent? 10 percent? 30 percent? Would you be surprised to learn that most organizations waste roughly 50 percent of their investment in development programs because learners apply only 50 percent of what they learn? It’s shocking how much is invested and lost each year. This session will focus on defining scrap learning and measuring it within your organization. Scrap learning benchmarks will also be shared. Additionally, the link between scrap and performance improvement will be discussed.

Spoiler alert: As scrap goes down, performance goes up. Research from Corporate Executive Board will support the findings. Additionally, a new feature in Metrics That Matter will be shared, which combines some simple principles of Big Data and predictive analytics to put information in the hands of learning professionals for decision making.

Friday, October 9, 2015, 11AM – 12PM PST: Global Virtual Teams: How Talent Leaders Enhance Results (Free for ATD members)

It is increasingly necessary for employees to work on virtual teams, where all or some team members are geographically dispersed during their careers. Globalization, matrix structures, flexible work arrangements, and contingent workforces contribute to this trend. The stakes are high for such teams to be successful, but the common challenges of teamwork are magnified as a consequence of distance, with the added complexity of cultural diversity and communication barriers. Talent development leaders can play a key role in maximizing the effectiveness of these teams by enlisting senior management support, deploying a change management approach, and removing barriers to high performance.

This session presents a practical toolkit to help talent development leaders enhance the purpose, process, and people components of virtual teams, thereby promoting organizational alignment, fostering collaboration, and achieving intended business goals. 

Tuesday, October 13, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Building Content that Drives Performance

Organizations can no longer put their employees in a classroom once a year and hope they reach their full potential. Today’s learners need the tools and knowledge to help them do their job effectively on an ongoing basis. This means a whole new look at how learning is developed and delivered. What does it take to shift from event-based learning to embedded learning?

In this webinar, David Wentworth, Principal Analyst with Brandon Hall Group, and John Stedman, SAP Learning Consultant with Dexler, will look at the different content development tools and delivery methods necessary to enable employees to perform at their best. They will look at recent research in learning technologies, as well as share real-world examples of organizations that have adopted this new vision of learning.

Discussion topics include:

• Development – Content creation/management.

• Training Analysis – User experience management.

• Deployment – Content hosting and maintenance.

• Extendibility – On-demand cloud solution. 

Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 10:00AM – 11:00AM PST: How Learning and Development Can Build Stronger Leaders and Cultures

Many learning and development leaders struggle with connecting their development efforts to what’s keeping their senior executives awake at night. L&D is often given lip service and served up with warm platitudes. Development budgets and development time are too easily pushed aside by short-term priorities and financial setbacks.

In a large-scale global survey of CEOs and senior executives, 76 percent cited leadership development as important, yet only 7 percent thought their organization was doing it effectively.

There’s a blizzard of theories, opinions, arcane thesis papers, inspirational quotations, training programs, books, frameworks, and approaches to leadership and organization development. What’s sorely lacking is an integrated model that combines both “hard” management practices, “soft” leadership behaviours, sustained and supported by culture development, that’s built on a base of solid research.

Stronger leaders create stronger organizations, and stronger organizations create stronger leaders. This generates an interdependent cycle that creates a flywheel effect. Like two wings of an airplane, both are needed for sustained and soaring performance.

Thoreau wrote, “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue… but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look…” Extraordinary L&D professionals use evidence-based approaches to build leadership skills that strengthen cultures, and cultures that strengthen leaders.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 11AM – 12PM PST: A Modified Agile Approach to Project Management (Free for ATD members)

The concept of Agile is appealing in a training initiative, but not always successful in implementation. How can we be more agile in our project management techniques to increase the speed of the design and development process while protecting our timeline and budget? This webcast will focus on a modified Agile model and the project management tools and techniques needed to be successful.

In this webcast, you will use:

• Social contracting for team and stakeholder alignment.

• Team-based portals for project tracking and updates.

• The stage gate process to protect your timelines and budgets. 

Thursday, October 15, 2015, 8AM – 9AM PST: 5 Reasons Learning Needs to Think Like Marketing

In our consumer-driven world, employees expect a personalized learning experience, accessible 24/7 on any device.  And it’s all possible with today’s technology. But learning organizations often struggle with options and flexibility in how content is delivered and consumed, in addition to harnessing meaningful metrics from learning that occurs outside of the LMS. The ability to personalize content is one of the top three requirements for companies looking for new learning technology, and is among the top 10 reasons organizations replace their current technology.

During this webinar, attendees will:

• Explore practical applications of today’s new technology solutions that allow learners to interact with learning outside the confines of the LMS.

• Learn how to leverage those lessons learned to engage talent and deliver better business results.

• Discover marketing best practices and how they apply to learning.

• Understand the link between learning and performance.

• Delve into enhanced reporting and analytics for modern content with xAPI. 

Thursday, October 15, 2015, 10AM – 10:30AM PST: Conference Sneak Peak – Hybrid Driver Training for a Modern Police Service (Free for CSTD members)

The number one cause of death for police officers in North America is motor vehicle collisions. With this in mind, the Toronto Police Service revamped their driver training program to ensure the safety of officers and the public. With the help of DriveWise, a Canadian driver training provider, they developed a hybrid program that included interactive classroom materials, simulation exercises and in-vehicle training. Using training examples and research by Police Officer Standards and Training (POST), this session will demonstrate how Toronto’s new approach was embraced by officers, and how successful it was in increasing officer safety and reducing operating costs. The interactive lecture will engage participants through simulation examples, as well as the audience response system used by Toronto police.

This webinar will be a sneak preview of Lesley’s session at the upcoming CSTD 2015 Conference and Tradeshow. The webinar will count towards .5 CEU credits.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the effectiveness of a blended learning approach to police vehicle operation.

• Identify key learning points and outcomes from using this type of blended learning system.

• Compare the differences between traditional learning and simulation-based blended learning.

• Appraise the benefits of such an approach for all training solutions.

Thursday, October 15, 2015, 11AM – 12PM PST: Sales Training That Maximizes Your Sales Kickoff (Free for ATD members)

Sales Kickoffs (SKOs) are a widely used event designed to empower sales teams for success. However, these events can quickly become an endless parade of PowerPoint presentations that overwhelm salespeople with knowledge they cannot retain. The result? A big, expensive event with minimal impact on profitability.

In this webcast, Inkling’s Jill Clark will share new ways to rethink learning at your SKO and help companies move toward a level of training that bridges the gap between your trainers and your sales teams, at both one-off training events and day-to-day operations.

You’ll learn how to:

• Take advantage of just-in-time learning at your SKO.

• Bridge the gap between your subject matter experts and your sales team.

• Reinvent your SKO so your sales team can retain and use the presented information in the field, all year long. 

Friday, October 16, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Virtual Halloween Party: Using Virtual Learning Tools for Online Fun

Back by popular demand, this annual virtual party will be making its appearance for Halloween! If you haven't been to one of these RMA virtual parties, you're in for a treat.

Grab an avatar for yourself, because dressing up is one of the best parts, and join us for tricks and treats. This highly fun and interactive session will also show how zany webinars can actually be.

Join Lou Russell and friends as they revert back to childhood to play some games, create some decorations, and treat everyone to a virtual hour of fun. 

Friday, October 16, 2015, 11AM – 12PM PST: Learner Engagement in the Modern Classroom (Free for ATD members)

Engaging learners has always been a challenge. Not only has training evolved into a blended learning model; the modern classroom is influenced by multicultural cohorts, a mobile workforce, and social networking tools. Managing these influences and integrating them into a blended program requires planning, training, and understanding from all members of the training delivery team.

It starts with language. Engagement, interaction, collaboration: These terms are often used interchangeably, and with little thought to what they actually mean, how they might be measured, and how they influence the learner experience and outcome. This webcast distinguishes these concepts, and provides some guidelines as to when they should be applied. Whether delivering a one-hour webinar or three-week blended curriculum, we need participants to be engaged for the program to be successful. Interaction and collaboration are the engagement techniques used to ensure this success. Learners in this webcast will gain insight into the mechanics of learner engagement and the resulting improved learner trajectories. 

Monday, October 19, 2015, 11AM – 12PM PST: Beyond Happy: Women, Work, and Well-Being (Free for ATD members)

Demanding, inflexible workplaces are negatively affecting everyone’s well-being. Women have an especially hard time because they have to add household and caregiving responsibilities to their list. After surveying and interviewing hundreds of women, Beth Cabrera has come to the conclusion that they should stop trying to find balance and focus instead on increasing their well-being. Her book, Beyond Happy: Women, Work, and Well-Being, offers strategies for experiencing greater joy and meaning in life so that women can thrive despite the challenges they face.

At the end of this webcast, attendees will be able to:

• Describe the two key dimensions of well-being.

• Explain the benefits of pursuing well-being.

• List strategies for experiencing more positive emotions.

• Name steps they can take to increase their sense of meaning in life. 

Tuesday, October 20, 2015, 9AM – 10AM PST: Power Up eLearning—Author on the Mobile, Author for the Mobile (Free for ATD members)

Kick-start your e-learning authoring journey with your fingertips! Yes, it is possible to start storyboarding your ideas on the iPad using Adobe Captivate Draft—the all-new e-learning storyboarding app. Share your storyboards for review and comments, and then import them into Adobe Captivate 9 to make them shine.

Join Allen Partridge as he takes you through this webcast. You’ll learn to:

• Take advantage of some of the platform’s stellar features, such as multistate objects, SVG support, knowledge check questions, in-product learning management system (LMS) preview, and responsive effects.

• Customize your e-learning with more than 25,000 assets that come free with Captivate 9, and publish courses that are responsive as you reach out to your learners in this device-rich world.

• Track learning seamlessly using the one-click publish feature to Adobe Captivate Prime, the new LMS from Adobe.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015, 10AM – 10:30AM PST: Conference Sneak Peek – Not Just for Superheroes: Exploring Learning through Comics (Free for CSTD members)

Most people, particularly in North America, are used to seeing comics and graphic novels as a fluffy diversion often just for kids. But that mindset blinds us to a tool that’s portable, easy to comprehend, and highly engaging to readers. Comics are fantastic at communicating and simplifying diverse types of information, from step-by-step procedure instructions to complex case studies. More comics-friendly countries like Japan use comics quite successfully for educational purposes. In this session, you’ll explore what features of comics work particularly well for training, examples of how others have successfully used comics for communicating content, and how to write comics scripts that take advantage of the strengths of this learning tool and avoid its weaknesses. You’ll also learn about some of the technology available to help you create your own comics, with a particular focus on tools that can help those who aren’t themselves artists.

Learning Outcomes:

• Explain why comics are a viable option for creating training.

• Describe how others have successfully used comics for education.

• Recognize what you need to know about comics in order to create ones that are effective.

• Choose technology to help put a comic together (even if you don’t have strong art skills yourself).

Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Best of DevLearn DemoFest 2015: Award-winning Learning in Action

This webinar showcases some of the award-winning projects presented at DevLearn DemoFest 2015, now available to all through this special online presentation.

Each year at DevLearn, dozens of conference participants share their latest and greatest projects at DevLearn DemoFest, the industry showcase of technology innovations for learning and performance. DemoFest offers DevLearn attendees the opportunity to see a wide variety of projects that provide solutions to common learning and performance challenges, and to learn about the tools, technologies, and processes that members of The eLearning Guild community used to build these projects.

Meet several of this year’s DevLearn DemoFest winners in this free webinar, and see and discuss short demos of their award-winning projects.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 11AM – 12PM PST: 12 Ways to Provide Better Feedback (Free for ATD members)

From the classroom to the boardroom, feedback is a vital component of communication and effective talent development. Most people in the workplace suffer from a lack of performance feedback, yet feedback is essential in supporting candidate progress and improvement. Feedback is the cheapest, most powerful management tool that we have at our disposal. However, it is often underused, or provided in ways that are geared toward compliance, rather than meaningful performance improvement.

Effective feedback serves as a guide to assist people in understanding what is expected of them and how others perceive their performance. This webcast outlines 12 ways to provide better feedback to support candidate performance and will explain how feedback can be utilized to improve employee satisfaction and productivity. 

Thursday, October 22, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Developing Your Technical Experts Into Organizational Leaders (ATD member/subscriber content)

Developing technical experts into organizational leaders is critical. In today’s changing and competitive business environment, making this shift is ever more important; companies and organizations need this capability and individuals need to grow. By understanding common challenges for this group and focusing on several key areas, the presenters will map out a path to accelerate the development process.

Thursday, October 22, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Driving Service Excellence through Competencies

As clear as it seems that competencies and learning should be connected, that is clearly not the case for many organizations. According to Brandon Hall Group’s Learning & Development Benchmarking study, 72 percent of companies have a system in place to manage competencies, and only 24 percent of them say there is a high level of integration with learning. In fact, 30 percent say there is actually no integration. If an organization cannot use L&D to address competencies and any gaps that may exist, exactly what are they managing?

One organization that recognized the importance of competency management was the life sciences firm SCIEX. This webinar will discuss the journey that the service organization at SCIEX embarked on to identify an opportunity by integrating a competency model in the learning and development of their associates and leveraging technology to ensure success.

Discussion topics include:

• Research into competency management.

• Past state of competencies at SCIEX.

• Design/delivery of SCIEX’s competency program.

• Outcomes.

Monday, October 26, 2015, 9AM – 10AM PST: Think Like an Extraordinary Leader: Developing a Mindset for Results (Free for ATD members)

As a leader, your thinking has a greater impact on your team and your business results than any other factor. This is why examining and sharpening your thinking is vital for attaining outstanding levels of success. The process requires you to understand how your thinking has both propelled you forward and held you back, and to build the muscle that keeps pushing you toward your goals.

In this webcast, you will begin to realize how your thinking affects your outcomes and learn how to stretch your mind muscle and challenge your self-imposed limitations to reflect the thinking and practices of today’s most accomplished leaders. You’ll walk away with tangible strategies for overcoming your biggest leadership obstacles. 

Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Hello Stay Interviews, Goodbye Talent Loss

Today's manager is busy. With more pressure and more change in their daily routine than ever before, they must somehow find time to also engage and retain the vital talent on their current teams. Talent loss only creates more work. This session provides a solid, time-sensitive suggestion. Instead of waiting till the exit interview to learn why individuals are leaving, a recommendation is made to create a pattern of stay interviews instead. A prescription for stay interviews is presented as well as the research-based impact of this conversation across cultures. Talent development professionals will learn the signs and situations that cause individuals to consider looking elsewhere for employment. They will also learn a specific approach to mining a conversation for no-cost and low-cost information that managers can apply to retain the critical talent on their teams. 

Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 9AM – 10AM PST: Career Coaching for Government Employees (ATD member/subscriber content)

If you work for a government entity, your career development needs differ from those in the private sector. Join us for a special members-only Ask-a-Coach webcast with career coach Michelle Carroll. Michelle will answer common questions that she hears from government employees, as well as queries posed by you during this interactive webcast. Submit your questions when you register and come prepared with additional issues on the day of the session. Don't miss this unique opportunity for a group coaching session! 

Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Learning & Performance: The Ties That Bind

Despite the best of intentions, learning often ends up operating in a vacuum. The learning strategy serves to achieve learning outcomes, and learning outcomes are measured against learning needs, creating an insulated cycle with no connection to the business. For high-performing organizations, however, the link between learning and the overall business strategy is strong, with a focus on performance.

This webinar will examine some of the practices of these high-performing organizations and how they approach learning from a performance perspective by breaking out of the traditional, formal learning box. Today’s organizations need to deliver learning in a more fluid, adaptable, and contextual manner in order to truly have an impact on performance.

Discussion topics include:

• The 70:20:10 framework.

• The link between learning and performance.

• Learning strategy considerations.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: 3 Learning Tools to Advancing Business Strategy: Custom Content, Off-the-Shelf Training, and Technology

Creating compelling and engaging content focused on the learner is critical for training and development success. Today's best-in-class learning environments are a combination of face-to-face events, off-the-shelf training, and custom content, which can be coordinated so that each contributes in its own way to advance organizational learning.

The webinar will discuss how by soliciting feedback and fostering collaboration (discussion boards, wiki, journal, and blogs) trainers can transform foundational off-the-shelf assets into a robust communication platform that will build company specific know-how.

Attending members will learn...

• How to uncover the secrets of connecting learning strategy with business strategy.

• How to map business learning assets and liabilities.

• How to master the elements of a blended business learning framework.

• How to integrate specific organizational knowledge into content for the advancement of learning.  

Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 10AM – 11AM PST: Research Spotlight: Leaving Money on the Table – How Companies Are Missing the Point on EVP

Webinar facilitators discuss leveraging EVP to engage employees, drive innovation, and reduce turnover.

Friday, October 30, 2015, 9AM – 10AM PST: Leveraging Your Degree in Talent Development (ATD member/subscriber content)

You’ve made the commitment to pursue a degree in the talent development field at the undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral level. Your hard work will pay dividends down the road in terms of your job prospects, pay, and marketability. How can you best leverage your academic credentials to advance your career?

Join in for this exclusive students-only webcast to learn how to make the most of your degree when speaking with employers. Have your questions answered by career coaches who are intimately familiar with the field. Have specific questions for the career coaches? Bring them to the Ask-a-Coach portion of this webcast, or listen in to hear what your peers are asking. This Ask-a-Coach session with Alan De Back and Barbara Seifert is designed for students focusing on careers in the talent development field.