Wrong month? Check out our latest list of free L&D webinars.

February may be short, but all the better to get us into spring. This little month packs a whirlwind of free webinars to keep your motivation up — that is, if you have the time to tune in. There are some gems, though, so it’s worth checking out and spending a strategic hour or two learning something new! 

Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 8 a.m.–9 a.m. PT: Skills Strategy: The Key to Employee Engagement (Free for ATD members)
Providing your employees with fresh opportunities is good for them, and it’s good for your organization. Employees get to learn and grow, which boosts their morale. At the same time, your company benefits from higher employee retention, increased engagement and more valuable contributions. One of the most important things is a skill-based development strategy from which leaders and managers can receive skill data. Join Global Digital Learning Innovations Lead at British American Tobacco, Amritha Murali, and Degreed’s Head of Global Communication, Sarah Danzl, for an engaging session about: 

• How to get started with a skills strategy.

• Tips to align fellow leaders across the organization around reskilling.

• The importance and power of skill data.

• Some practical insights on a skills-based versus HR-based strategy.

Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Hollywood FX with PowerPoint
Make professional, movie quality effects using PowerPoint. Learn tips, tricks and techniques to make the impossible. From beautiful effects to cinematic animations and everything in between. Share your stunning presentations in person, virtually or export your slides for use in other software. Do not miss this latest jaw-dropping session by Mike Parkinson, Owner of Billion Dollar Graphics. 

Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Driving Business Value: Five New L&D Thinking Habits for 2021
As we enter 2021, L&D teams have the opportunity to add new levels of business value into the continually changing world of work — but how do we cut through the noise and surface the priority actions that will deliver in your workplace? Join this presentation, led by Laura Overton, award-winning L&D analyst, to uncover how learning innovation can improve business value. Most recently, Laura has been part of a team exploring how companies can emerge stronger as a result of the challenges faced in 2020. Combining insights from global experts and seasoned practitioners over the last six months with her research findings, she’ll share five new thinking habits to help practitioners at all levels work smarter and influence meaningful change. 

Wednesday, February 3, 2021, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: The Best of Stress: Reframe Your Stress Into Energy
John Sweeney and the team from the Brave New Workshop were standing-ovation crowd-pleasers at last year’s Training 2020 conference. They’ll be back at Training's 2021 conference (Feb. 8 - 12), but they’re excited to invite you to this special one-time webinar. Research shows that stress isn’t something that happens to us, but it’s our response to circumstances and events. In this highly entertaining and interactive session, you’ll learn simple ways to discover that stress can be your friend and you’ll explore what you can learn from the stress you experience. This session is all about you as a whole person — at work, home and play.

Wednesday, February 3, 2021, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: The Speed of Change: How Fast Is Your Enterprise Sales Team?
Enterprise sales teams that can adapt and respond quickly to changing needs and trends will be well positioned to stay one step ahead of the competition. This involves agile sales enablement training with content that’s fresh, accessible and measurable. In this session, hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge, Director of Product Evangelism at Adobe Digital Learning Solutions, you’ll learn how to:

• Distribute sales enablement content effectively.

• Provide appropriate and relevant sales enablement experiences at the point of need.

• Deliver sales enablement content to the reps always on the move.

• Track content consumption with rich analytics.

• Correlate sales enablement impact on sales performance.

• Build a sales and partner training platform. 

Wednesday, February 3, 2021, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Articulate Storyline: Using Convert to Freeform to Create Custom Quiz Templates
Assessing a learner’s knowledge in a course is a common design practice. Adding quiz questions in Storyline is easy with its included template library. However, we sometimes need a custom-designed quiz question and that’s when we can use Storyline’s Convert to Freeform feature. In this session, Kevin Thorn, Chief NuggetHead at Nuggethead Studioz, will show you how to make a simple custom quiz question by converting it to the freeform template. 

Thursday, February 4, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Break Up with Your Current LMS and Find a Partner, Not a Vendor
Fallen out of love with your LMS? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. A big reason is that fewer than half say they’re satisfied or very satisfied with their technology vendor’s ability to be a partner in the organization’s success, and in turn, it’s holding back their future learning strategies, so now’s the time to break up and find your new, perfect match — just in time for Valentine’s Day! Join David Wentworth, Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Laura Wilson, Onboarding Specialist at LearnUpon, as they discuss how it takes more than a technology solution to achieve business goals; it takes a technology partner.

Thursday, February 4, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Setting the Stage: How to Effectively Give and Receive Feedback (Free for ATD members)
Giving and receiving feedback’s hard, no matter how long you have been a manager. It’s important that you’ve prepared for those conversations and are ready to also receive feedback from your team. Using actionable tips, case studies and worksheets from Karen Weeks’ (SVP of People, Ordergroove) workbook, Setting the Stage, the audience will be lead through self-discovery about how they’ve handled feedback in the past, a reflection on a recent feedback conversation and help them prepare for their next feedback meeting.

Thursday, February 4, 2021, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: How to Prospect and Find New Opportunities in Uncertain Times
In these uncertain times, prospecting is tough. How do you reach contacts now working for home? How do you tiptoe around budget and pay cuts? What are prospects paying attention to today? Should you be prospecting at all? It’s a new prospecting world right now and it’s time to refresh your approach and message. Join prospect attraction authority Kendra Lee President of KLA Group, and expert sales consultant, Lynn Hidy, for this interactive webinar as they share the prospecting strategies that will start conversations and will get results in 2021.

Thursday, February 4, 2021, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Agility and Learning at the Speed of Change
Join an insightful conversation between Mark Evans, Director of Global Commercial Learning at Colgate-Palmolive, and Paul Meyer, Head of Global Sales for simpleshow, as they explore the power of creating a company culture focused on continuous learning, the pillars of Colgate's learning philosophy and how specific elements of their learning methodology helped Colgate pivot quickly at the onset of COVID-19. You can expect to learn useful and inspiring material, such as:

• The learning models, techniques and modalities that drive the Colgate family of brands.

• How people-centric learning and business driven goals co-exist and thrive.

• The power of the modern and responsive mindset as a company ethos.

• How to create a system of sustainability and scalability for blended/remote learning.

Tuesday, February 9, 2021, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: Expectation Versus Reality: Five Contradicting Corporate Training Trends in 2021 (Free for ATD members)
More than 70% of HR and L&D professionals claimed to have rushed transforming their training materials into digital-friendly courses in 2020. As a result of the pandemic, digital training programs were no longer a “nice-to-have” but a “must-have.” Without warning, face-to-face training became a thing of the past. Join Priscilla Villaseñor, business unit leader at Gamelearn, to talk about the status of corporate training, identifying methodologies gaining traction in the industry and whether or not professionals will give employees the digital courses they want in 2021. If there were a time to revamp your online corporate training strategy, it’s now.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Is the Virtual Classroom the Right Answer for a Remote Workforce?
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations were forced to quickly find alternatives to in-person, instructor-led classroom training. Most opted to turn their ILT into virtual classrooms, but this was done for the sake of expediency, efficiency and without an eye on the future. The truth is that this sudden transformation is merely an acceleration of where learning was already headed, and your organization must take this opportunity to truly transform your learning strategy and the technology used to make it a reality. You need to look toward sustainable, impactful solutions, rather than stop-gap measures. Join David Wentworth, Principal Learning Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Ron Zamir, CEO of AllenComm, as they discuss strategies for transitioning from ILT.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: What Happens After the Training? Five Diversity and Inclusion Strategies That Create Lasting Change (Free for ATD members)
Getting individual employees to work on inclusion every day is a real hurdle. Yet how your people interact day in and day out is what drives inclusion and belonging at your organization. Join The Moxie Exchange’s Maureen “Mo” Berkner Boyt, Founder and CEO, and Andrea DiMatteo, Head of Digital Learning, to learn about practical strategies and actions to engage every employee, from your newest hire through your C-suite, in being inclusive. Learn how to shift the responsibility of inclusion out of the training room and away from reliance on the learning and development team to where it belongs — with individual employees. 

Thursday, February 11, 2021, 10 a.m–11 a.m. PT: Culture, Communication, and Connections: Working from Home Does Not Mean Working On Your Own
Although many more people are working remotely, and will continue to do so, the underlying need for human connection has not changed. This is as true for work as any other place, which is why organizations have been looking for ways to help their employees stay connected to each other, to stay immersed in the company culture and to continue having strongly bonded teams. Paradoxically, a way to create a more humanizing workplace is often through the use of the right technology, along with the right policies, processes and programs. Join Cliff Stevenson of Brandon Hall Group and Rodney Turner of isolved as they discuss the strategies, best practices and technology that will allow your organization to fully grasp and implement the newest and most effective ways of creating a more connected and humanistic workforce.

Thursday, February 11, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: The Three Pillars of an Engaging Elearning Program
Elearning is here to stay, and while many organizations understand the importance of transitioning their instructor-led training (ILT) to the world of digital learning, many are confused about how to create an effective and engaging online learning experience that drives results. Without incorporating modern learning methods such as gamification, social collaboration and microlearning, you run the risk of a bad learning experience, which results in high dropout rates, poor learner engagement and ROI left on the table. Join Stacy Hunt, Learning Content Manager at BenchPrep, for this webinar, and you’ll learn how to adapt your digital learning program to the needs of today’s learners by using the three pillars of an effective online learning program. 

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Creating Elearning for Global Audiences: Tips for Saving Time and Money
Creating elearning for global audiences presents some unique challenges. How do you create content that speaks to your audience, wherever they are in the world? Luckily, working at scale also allows you to benefit from economies of scale. The small decisions you make when planning, building and delivering your elearning can all add up to make a big difference. This webinar will show you some great ways to embed value into your current — and future — courses. Join Gomo’s Simon and Huw as they explore: 

• How to build content just once — and deliver it to a global audience.

• The features that drive efficient course building.

• The small changes that, when scaled, offer big savings.

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: How to Build Your Business Case for a Learning Platform and Prove ROI
When building a business case for a learning platform, there are some basic things you need to cover: justification for why you need one, costs and projected ROI, risks and benefits, options to consider and numbers to support your argument. In this hands-on, eye-opening session, Dr. Christian Weilbell and Jon Tota from eLearning Brothers will demonstrate a process for building a business case that puts you and your teammates into a real-world, immersive experience of what you’re proposing. Between a solid business argument and early results demonstrated in a model environment, senior leadership will grasp the precise reasons why a learning platform will optimize your entire L&D operation, and therefore will have a hard time saying “no” and looking the other way.  

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Learner Engagement and Performance: From Correlation to Causation
It’s not enough that learners are completing learning programs. The real question is, are they engaged enough to actually change their behaviour and apply new skills? Are they engaged enough to keep coming back to continuously grow and develop? Checking the completion box does not mean the outcomes are being achieved. Learners must be truly engaged in the learning if you want their knowledge, skills, behaviours — and ultimately performance — to change and improve. Join David Wentworth, Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Steve Dineen, Founder and President of Fuse, as they look at how companies can shift from a correlation between engagement and performance, to causation. 

Wednesday, February 17, 2021, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: Five Best Practices to Create Killer Global-Ready Elearnings (Free for ATD members)
During this session, you’ll learn about what the most important best practices are to develop elearning courses for a global audience. Sergio Atristain, Managing Director of Idea Translations, will describe typical problems that organizations face during the translation and localization of their elearning courses and how to avoid them. He’ll also go over some of the less evident elearning assets that may cause cultural problems. Finally, he’ll give you tips to keep a budget-tight global elearning project and to avoid timeline issues. 

Wednesday, February 17, 2021, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Why Build a Course When a Job Aid Might Do?
What do cave drawings, assembly instructions and recipes have in common? They are all job aids. Good job aids help people to be more successful in their work by reinforcing learning, providing just-in-time reference material and other types of guidance. Join Dawn Mahoney, CPTD, Founder of Learning in the White Space, and Matt Pierce, Customer Support Manager at TechSmith, as they discuss why job aids work as well as a few tips for crafting better job aids. They’ll also discuss the various types of performance support tools you might consider when planning your content development. 

Thursday, February 18, 2021, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Personalizing Your Learning with Adobe Captivate Prime LMS
We’ve all become accustomed to targeted messages — and have even begun to expect them. When you log in to your favourite news site or social space, it’s often re-organized to send you the most relevant information and messages curated toward your past preferences, behaviours and interests. At this point, we expect nothing less but this sort of personalization from our learning delivery solutions. Join Dr. Allen Partridge, Director of Digital Learning Product Evangelism for Adobe, for this insightful exploration of personalization for Learning Experience and Learning Management Solutions. Learn how to ensure that your learners are getting the most out of your available training with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

Thursday, Feburary 18, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Time to Bring Workforce Training Into the 21st Century — Personalized and Adaptive
Organizations are recognizing the urgent need to extract “real and sustainable” value from their workforce training programs yet are hamstrung by their legacy technologies. Personalized and adaptive learning powered by machine learning is the game changer. Join David Wentworth, Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Manoj Kulkarni, CEO with Realizeit, as they look at how personalization and adaptive training helps transcend barriers to deliver real value in workforce training.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Video Training Unlocked: Five Keys to Success in 2021
Training teams have big goals for 2021. Reskilling workers and integrating learning into every day work will require trainers to rapidly develop new learning content that's just in time. What should you plan for as you scale your team's efforts to meet this increase in demand? Join Mark Lagemann, Chief High Five Officer and Video Evangelist at Panopto, for this webinar to learn more about:

• Top challenges to keep in mind as you plan, create and promote your trainings this year.

• Everything you need to tackle those challenges.

• How to create content and promote it in ways that will keep your trainees engaged.

• How to use, both qualitative and quantitative, data to determine the success of your trainings.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Advanced Virtual Skills You Need: Persuation Techniques — Advanced Virtual Presentation and Webinar Skills
So now you’re an expert in using Zoom, Adobe Connect, and other software and tools. You’re even adept in designing polls, using chat, implementing breakouts and creating PowerPoint slides. Although these are excellent skills, often times, many presenters, trainers, subject matter experts and leaders overlook that all their virtual sessions and webinars are meant to persuade learners and their audience. In this session with Dr. Ray Jimenez, Architect of TrainingMagNetwork.com and Chief Learning Officer of Vignettes Learning, you’ll: 

• Learn what habits and attributes you may have that make you less persuasive.

• Review your total delivery package to see if they build respect, credibility, sincerity and enthusiasm.

• Assess how you use your personal assets in persuading your audience and leaders.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 8 a.m.–9 a.m. PT: Best Practices for Recording and Editing Narration for Your Elearning Courses
The quality of narration added to your elearning course can make or break the learning experience. Poor quality audio will result in learners paying less attention to the content and being more concerned about how inconvenient it is to hear and understand the narration. Join Dr. Pooja Jaisingh, Lead Elearning Evangelist, Adobe Digital Learning Solutions, to learn about the best practices for recording and editing narration for elearning courses. She’ll talk about the audio recording set up and get into the details of script writing, recording, editing and the publishing process. She’ll also share some tips and tricks on how to improve poor quality audio using effects in Adobe Audition.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Post-COVID: Could ILT Be the Secret to Help Digital Learning Reach Its Potential?
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a digital transformation for many learning organizations by forcing an almost overnight shift away from in-person training. Companies are now scrambling to fine-tune digital strategies that in the past have produced sub-par results. In this time of transition, perhaps the key to optimizing digital learning is to get far more innovative at combining digital with the richness of ILT in blended learning solutions. The old way, treating the digital component as a de-valued leave-behind, isn’t the answer. Making digital learning integral to blended learning and making it a true partner in the equation is the way forward. Join David Wentworth, Principal Learning Analyst with Brandon Hall Group, and Steve Meyer, Managing Director of Rapid Learning, as they discuss what a combined ILT/Digital strategy should look like for 2021. 

Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: Beyond the Letters: The Real Impact of DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) (Free for ATD members)
Further your diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) journey with an illuminating discussion led by Liza Wisner, OpenSesame senior DE&I curation specialist. DE&I come together with pooled perspectives from HR, learning and DE&I experts to provide practical tips to facilitate your organization's DE&I progress. In this session. you'll learn who to involve in the process, how to navigate difficult conversations and how to move beyond one-off training sessions to ensure the sustainability of a well-rounded team.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Why Blended Learning Helps Upskill and Engage Your Workforce
As a learning and development professional, you’re constantly looking for the most effective strategies to train and develop your employees. There are so many tools available, but each option always feels like something’s missing. During this webinar, Senior Director of Talent Development & Culture at BizLibrary, Libby Mullen-Eaves, is going to share why blended learning’s the secret to filling in those missing pieces. Libby will explain how utilizing a blended learning approach has helped boost the effectiveness of other organizations’ training programs and how it can positively impact yours, as well. 

Thursday, February 25, 2021, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Proven Strategies to Keep Remote Workers Engaged, Enthused and Effective
We are living in unprecedented times — work as we know it, has changed forever. In order to thrive, organizations must re-invent themselves and embrace the new normal. As a Top 101 Global Employee Engagement Influencer, Jill Christensen understands how organizations operate and what they need to do to attract, retain and engage employees, whether they sit under your nose or work remotely. Remote workers incredibly productive, but they also tend to feel more disengaged and neglected. The companies that will come out on top are the ones that create and execute a strategy to effectively manage remote workers. During this session, you’ll learn:

• The one thing you must know to keep remote employees engaged, enthused and effective.

• The importance of connection, communication and collaboration, and how to bring these things to life for employees, regardless of physical distance.

• A proven strategy that you can apply immediately to re-engage or engage remote workers.

• Clarity on next steps and inspiration to achieve your goals.

Thursday, February 25, 2021, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: VIBE: Bringing Energy and Synergy to Your Team (Free for ATD members)
This webinar will focus on VIBE. Businesses need energy and synergy to flourish in today’s market situation. Be that person who has that special VIBE when you enter a room or join a call or meeting. It can set the tone for everything to follow. Join Tony Jeary of Tony Jeary International, for a detailed discussion on the various best practices that you can add to your daily routine to bring VIBE to your team.

Know of any upcoming free L&D webinars? Contact us here to let us know!

Check out our own Limestone Learning L&D webinars here.