Free November webinars

Well November, and winter, is officially here! Keep warm and dry by signing up for free webinars being offered this coming month. We hope they will inspire and motivate you.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Learning Meets Big Data: Using Analytics to Create Learning that Works!

Over a third of learning organizations stated that their top priority in 2012 was creating a learning strategy. Why? As an industry, we are still struggling to measure the effectiveness of the learning we create and tie it to business performance. Developing a sound learning strategy requires direction, data and an honest assessment of what’s working and what’s not with your organization's learning. Stacey Harris, the VP of Research from Brandon Hall Group, and Mark Hellinger, CEO of Xyleme, will discuss insights on rethinking the idea of learning analytics. New research highlights how consumer driven learning is changing the market, and how new technologies can help you not only address those changes but do a better job at connecting your learning efforts to performance outcomes. We’ll share key practices in evaluating your learning; focusing on content, users, and business outcomes.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: What to do When There’s too Much to do: Reduce Tasks, Increase Results and Save 90 Minutes a Day (free to ASTD members)

Are you tired of hearing "do more with less"? Many people are already working as long and as hard as they can, and "productivity improvement" classes can be hard to swallow. Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, turns time management on its head and shows overwhelmed professionals how to actually DO LESS and ACHIEVE MORE. They'll produce greater results and create significant impact on organizational goals. Laura teaches her latest thinking using this innovative workflow formula to reduce to-do lists, reduce commitments, reduce distractions, reduce the glut of information, reduce inefficiencies, and reduce energy expenditure. Past clients using these systems and methods report savings of 90 minutes a day and higher productivity than ever before.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: eLearning Content is Everywhere! How to Bring it Alive with Online Video Presentations

Everywhere you look, eLearning content is begging to be captured and put online. Every time an expert gives a lecture, an executive keynotes a conference, a techie gives a chalk talk, a product manager briefs a sales team, or a manager hosts an orientation, valuable content is being created. In this webinar, led by internet content pioneer Michael Kolowich (the Emmy-winning TV news reporter who founded ZDNet) you'll get practical advice on how to capture and deploy multimedia online presentation material in a way that captivates and engages an audience at a very modest production cost.  Michael will show a case example of how one of the world's leading medical schools is using online presentation tools to deploy a brand-new Lectures On Demand series for pay-per-view and subscription continuing medical education programs.

Thursday, November 8, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Evaluation Practices, Promises and Barriers: How do YOU Measure Up?

On one hand, we say we honor evaluation, that we are eager for evidence and data. On the other hand, most reported practice is far from enthusiastic about metrics.  Today’s economic climate has increased accountability in organizations and required training and performance professionals to look in a data-driven way at their influence. At the same time, technology-delivered training, learning management systems and a host of tools has increased possibilities for data collection.  Are organizations using these tools?  And if so, to what ends? Join Dr. James Marshall, faculty member of the Department of Educational Technology at San Diego State University to learn more about evaluation promises, practices and barriers and give you an opportune ity to examine your efforts in light of the possibilities. How do you compare to the reported efforts of our respondents? How can we all do better?

Thursday, November 8, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Thinking of Replacing Your LMS

Your business needs are changing fast, and so are the demands placed on your current learning technology. Learning leaders must stay a step ahead of their business, but that can be difficult when dealing with antiquated technology and limited delivery options. Do you have that nagging awareness that it is time to switch your learning technology, but haven't wanted to face the reality of doing so? Over 30% of organizations in a recent Brandon Hall survey had plans to replace their existing LMS solution. Most of them look forward to the transition with dread and concern. Can they make a solid business case for the change? Will the transition impact business processes or mission-critical learning needs?

Join David Wentworth, Senior Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, and Saba's Shruti Kala, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, as they share insights that can help reduce your fear of change and increase your odds of success. They'll discuss best practices from hundreds of successful transitions for creating a strategy for the upgrade, as well as tools and tricks for preparing your organization for a limited-impact change.

Thursday, November 8, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: 10 Best Practices for Engaging Live Online Learning (free to ASTD members)

You have the lofty goal of developing interactive, dynamic and memorable live online training, but what can you do to keep virtual learners truly engaged and participating?  Join this webinar to hear Sheri Jeavons, founder of Power Presentations, discuss how to deliver effective, engaging online sessions that will leave your attendees eager to learn. Discover:

• Tips to convert in-person training into live virtual sessions        
• Delivery techniques to keep your learners engaged        
• A content development format to create a compelling 5-minute introduction      
• Best practices for training online with the GoToTraining tool      

Friday, November 9, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Designing Virtual Training for a Global Audience

One advantage of the virtual classroom is the potential for global reach.  Participants no longer need to fly long distances to attend a class; instead, we can bring the classroom to them! However, when incorporating international participants into your virtual training classes, it’s important to design sessions with global audiences in mind. In this interactive webinar, you’ll learn three principles to consider when designing for global audiences – how to:

• Design virtual sessions with a multicultural mindset
• Create a comfortable learning environment for all participants, including international attendees
• Apply cultural adaptations to virtual training designs

Friday, November 9, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Get Your New Hire Salespeople Up to Speed…Fast!

Hired and fired! It’s the revolving door of hiring salespeople and firing them 90 days later for poor performance. You loved them in the interview, but somehow they flopped on your team. Many sales leaders and business executives point their fingers at the sales people for failing to deliver on expectations. However, those fingers should be pointed at the executives if a structured salesperson onboarding program is not in place. Top performing companies don’t perceive adding headcount to the sales team as hiring, but rather as a corporate investment in revenue. Join Lee Salz, leading sales management strategist, for this virtual training to learn how to protect that investment and ensure a high rate of return. In addition, you will also receive Lee’s eBook titled “Sales Person Onboarding Best Practices”

Tuesday, November 13, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Exploring Innovation in the Learning Landscape

Explore teaching and learning strategies that foster innovation. Discover practical ways that businesspeople and lifelong learners incorporate innovation into their work. David Wentworth, Senior Analyst with Brandon Hall, and Laurie Burruss, Senior Director of Education at Lynda.com, explain the key tenets of innovation, and discuss the role and benefits of questioning, experimentation, observation, associating seemingly unrelated concepts, and sharing. Topics to include:

• How to produce innovators, not just subject matter experts
• Lessons from curious and creative risk takers and real-world leaders
• Case studies and best practices

Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Can Social Learning Succeed Alongside an LMS?

Social learning is natural, effective and can be low-cost. It’s no wonder so many organizations are keen to embrace it. But most already have a Learning Management System (LMS) in place. Can the two be reconciled? Can collaborative, informal, discursive learning fit with the course- and resource-based approach of the LMS? Join Johanna Sadoudi, CEO of VITAMINDS and David Wentworth, Senior Learning Analyst with Brandon Hall Group as they explore this issue, using real-world examples. Johanna will draw on her depth of experience in the industry, having overseen L’Oréal’s LMS deployment, rolling it out to 60,000 people across 45 countries.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Learning (free to ASTD members)

This session will introduce you to the technologies that are shaping the future of the World Wide Web and how those technologies disrupt existing web based training design. In this session you will learn the five key principles of the web that has sustained its growth; 1) The web wants to be fed, 2) The web wants to understand what it is being fed, 3) The web wants content to be viral, 4) The web wants you to know you and 5) The web wants you to communicate. Using these 5 principles, you’ll explore how to design for a web that is evolving based on these principles in a way that is significantly different from existing design methods.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: How do YOU think? And Can You Think Better for Better Results?

We all use a variety of thinking styles in our daily lives, but we tend to favor some and rarely use others-and that hurts our ability to make good decisions. Taking a thinking assessment can help you find the right balance, so you can make the best choices, in life and at work. Join Training magazine and TalentLens, a Pearson business and learn how to improve your effectiveness and that of your team by leveraging new thinking styles.
 
When you register for the webinar, you will have the opportunity to take the My Thinking Styles assessment and receive your free personalized development report. Then, during the Webinar, Dr. Judy Chartrand, chief scientist at TalentLens, will give a brief overview of the seven thinking styles and help you interpret your results. Knowing your preferred style will help you approach problems and decisions with the right mindset. Your development report will unlock a unique combination that will help you be more successful with your decisions, relationships, projects, and every aspect of your life-so don't miss this opportunity!

Thursday, November 15, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Converting SMEs to the NEW FAITH: Less Content is Better, Faster and Cheaper

When you ask an SME, “What should learners learn from the content?” the response is usually “all” or “everything”. This is the OLD RELIGION where the data is “compressed and dumped” for learners to learn. This is costly and detrimental to the performance of workers. In this webinar you will learn:

• How to approach SMEs and present costs and statistical evidence that less content is better, faster and cheaper
• How to assist SMEs to redesign the way they write content
• How to discover sources of information, cases, examples and experiences within the company that help persuade SMEs to rethink their approach
• How to conduct brainstorming for content development with SMEs following processes and procedures that will guarantee
• An effective design - short and less in content

You will also receive the “SME Content Conversion Step-by-Step Process” - an interviewing guide.

Thursday, November 15, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Understanding Analytics for the Learning Organization

The topic of “analytics” has been on fire lately – everyone is talking about it, asking for it, and trying to figure out how to use it. In a recent Brandon Hall Group survey, over 46% of organizations said that changes in business performance was one of the top measures they used to evaluate the effectiveness of their learning. There is no doubt that learning analytics are important, but data is only valuable if you know how to leverage it for sound business decisions.  

Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research for Brandon Hall Group, and Vinay Nilakantan, Director Product Development and Research for Meridian, as they hold an in-depth conversation on the topic of Learning Analytics.   

Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 4AM – 5AM PST: Creating creative leaders (Special time to accommodate live participation from members and customers from around the world. This session will also be recorded for on-demand viewing.) (free to ASTD members)

If creativity and innovation are top imperatives for your organization, then you also need to build the right leadership capability. However, when we try to develop organizational capabilities for creativity we often focus on the act of creativity rather than how to lead it. Leaders have a critical role in fostering creativity and innovation to build more dynamic organizations. This webinar will provide takeaways to immediately use to bring more creativity into your organizations whether you are new to the field (of creativity) or already a practitioner. Take advantage of endless opportunities to tap into more creative potential within ourselves, our teams, and our organizations. The more deliberate we are in our creativity and innovation efforts, the better the result. . And, what may be most surprising: You don’t need to be creative to be a creative leader (it can even be a barrier!).

Free September webinars

September is just around the corner and summer vacations are coming to an end for many of us. Sigh… But now is a great time to take advantage of the free September webinars coming up to brush up our skills, learn about new industry trends and bring a fresh focus to our work. So take the few minutes, look over the list of webinars below to see what interests you. We hope they will inspire and motivate you.

See you online!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: No Time for Training? Options that Work.

You’re juggling a million things but you know it’s important to have some strategic time and learn new things. How can you facilitate brief sessions with your staff to keep learning and strategy alive? Join Lou Russell, CEO, Russell Martin & Associates to learn ideas for learning within the chaos, ways to leverage technology to create communities and thoughts on how to chunk out existing resources into sound-bytes.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 1PM – 2PM PST: Special Webinar - How to Measure and Increase the ROI of your Exhibit

Making the decision to exhibit at a conference is difficult these days. The cost of exhibiting continues to increase. Exhibit budgets are often difficult to justify. Top executives and financial executives are demanding more accountability. In some cases, executives are suggesting that if you cannot show the value of exhibiting, you should skip the conference.

The good news is that it is possible to measure the success of your exhibit in a very credible CEO and CFO friendly way. Attend this webinar to learn about the ROI Methodology, created by the ROI Institute. This methodology is now being used by many trade show exhibitors to show the value of exhibiting. This approach requires additional planning for your exhibit, setting objectives for implementation and impact, and conducting a follow-up to track the success of the exhibit at a set time after the show.

Thursday, September 6, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: The Wonders of Captivate 6!

Captivate 6 was released this summer and what a release it is! Joe Ganci, President of Dazzle Technologies has used Captivate for many years and will take you through a fun and revealing look at all the new and great features of Captivate 6.

Thursday, September 6, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Learning Transfer: The Two Key Questions (Free for ASTD members)

Good training can provide significant value and a competitive edge for companies provided it is transferred and applied to the work of the trainees. And that, for many programs, is the weak link. In this fast-paced and interactive webinar, the authors of the ASTD Infoline "Ensuring Learning Transfer," will explain what learning professionals can do to facilitate learning transfer. They will explain the "two key questions" that must be answered positively for transfer to occur and they will provide practical guidance on how to influence the answers to those questions. A handout will be provided in advance.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Integrated Learning Analytics Strategies & Best Practices for Success

Understanding the results your learning programs have on your organization’s top and bottom line can ensure greater success of your learning initiatives. Having the right tools in place to track and analyze in real-time is key. Learn how integrated analytics can make your organization more effective. You’ll interact with our speakers as we demonstrate the impact of integrated analytics on the top and bottom line. You will learn how to add value through tactical, strategic, quantitative and qualitative measurement, go beyond ROI to the strategic use of learning analytics, mitigate the risk of bad data in, bad data out and succeed with improving the bottom line                    

Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Five Earth-Shattering Topics for Management Development That I Learned from my Friends (Free for ASTD members)

Management is management. Leadership fundamentals don't change. Right? Wrong! While some of our longest held beliefs about management and leadership are still relevant, the fundamental skills that all managers will need to succeed in today's business climate are shifting. During this webinar, Lisa Haneberg will share the trends and new topics that your management development programs ought to be addressing. She will share specific examples from several experts whose work is on the edge and pushing our thinking about management forward. This session will be high energy, offer high intrigue, and be highly actionable.

Thursday, September 13, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: How to Transition from Training to Coaching

Training and coaching go hand in hand. Research shows that when training is reinforced with coaching, learning increases significantly. Join Tim Hagen, training expert and founder of Sales Progress, as he reveals specific strategies for how you can enhance and extend your training results with coaching. Learn why managers are resistant to coaching, the #1 barrier to coaching and how to overcome it, why trainers need managers to coach and more.

Thursday, September 13, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Employee Development on a Shoestring: Developing Talent Outside the Classroom (Free for ASTD members)

With training budgets slashed and organizations struggling to do more with less, many employees as well as those responsible for their development are challenged to find ways to address employee development needs. While classroom and online training is a popular and first-in-mind development method, it can be costly and complex. In addition to possibly being out of reach for budgetary and cost-to-productivity reasons, even when training is available it may not be the only or the best way to address learning needs. In this webinar, explore other, non-training ways to develop employees on a tight budget. Consider the pros and cons of various non-training development methods, consider the requirements and specifications of three specific employee development ideas, and begin to develop a strategy for implementing new employee development methods for your organization.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 12:30PM – 1:30PM PST: Proof that Stories Improve Comprehension and Retention

“Too long.” “Too costly,” Too wishy-washy.” “Fluff.”   Many eLearning leaders and developers are skeptical about the use of interactive stories in eLearning.  Anecdotal and scientific research in educational institutions suggests that stories facilitate learning.  However, in the corporate world, stories are discouraged and misunderstood. In this session, Ray Jimenez will present a research report on “Story Impacts Learning and Performance.” The research covered 500 respondents who participated in a controlled and blind study to evaluate two types of eLearning: one with stories and another without stories.  The results show the impacts on comprehension and retention and the engagement levels of the learning.  Furthermore, the findings suggest that stories, although add development time, actually reduces learning time and therefore reduces the costs of eLearning project. The session is a research presentation, question and answer session and small group discussions on the impacts and applications of the research findings. 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: The Role of Intuition Smarts in Workplace Innovation Training

A renewed focus on innovation in business means a lot more training is needed.  One of the things that might not be top of mind in designing an innovation training program is intuition skills.  Yet, if everyone had intuition smarts, innovation would be a cinch. Arupa Tesolin, an expert in workplace intuition skills explains why you need to include intuition skills in your training program and how to position it alongside other innovation skills.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 10:30AM – 11:30AM PST: Research-Based Learning: 15 Years of Balancing Research and Practice (Free with a free eLearning Guild membership)

As workplace learning-and-performance professionals we have passion and good intention but are unable to maximize performance because we are infected with misinformation about how learning really works. While scientific research is a good starting point for building a base of common knowledge for our field, many of us rely more on opinions and poorly conceived benchmarking. In this session, join Dr. Will Thalheimer, who has spent the last 15 years working to bridge the gap between research and practice. He’ll share some of his research findings, talk about the state of the industry, and make recommendations on how to create best-in-class eLearning and transform our organizations into ones that truly maximize on-the-job performance.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: How Free is Free? A Look at Open Source LMS vs. Off the Shelf Solutions

The concept of open source software is nothing new, and more companies are exploring this option when it comes to their LMS as a way to save money. Often the idea of a free (or nearly free) solution with endless configuration and customization potential is too attractive to pass up. Join David Wentworth, Senior analyst with Brandon Hall Group and Dan Medakovic, V.P. Learning Solutions, from Blatant Media’s AbsorbLMS as they explore the ins and outs of open source solutions, with a focus on data the experiences companies have had using these tools as well as insights into the true cost of ownership of these systems.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 1PM – 2PM PST: Help them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want

To reach new levels of performance there must be a link between what the individual employee is passionate about and what the organization needs to grow its business.  One way to insure that linkage is for every manager to be held accountable for having solid development discussions with their employees.   Research suggests that if an individual is challenged in their position, finds their work to be meaningful, and believes that their manager truly cares about their growth, their engagement will be high. In this session Bev and Julie will share the research from their new book to demystify the Individual Development Plan (IDP) conversation.     

Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Why We Needed a Social LMS: The AMD Story

Is your organization struggling with how to leverage social learning within your overall learning strategy? Do you see the value of social learning, but aren’t quite sure how to implement it within your organization? The reality is, every organization uses social learning, which is the informal transfer of information from one learner to another. The challenge all organizations are facing is to harness the power of social learning and formalize it so that its power can be used throughout the organization. Learn about exciting findings on Relationship Centered Learning, how it’s changing the face of learning for organizations, what social learning is and the components that make up a social LMS, and AMD’s Dave Stachura, Manager of Global Sales Enablement, who will present AMD’s story of implementing social learning, through a social LMS, throughout their organization.

Thursday, September 20, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Top 10 Practices for a Successful LMS Replacement

Based on Brandon Hall’s most recent LMS Trends survey, one out of every three organizations is looking at replacing their Learning Management System. When the time comes and replacement is inevitable, the first step shouldn’t be product demonstrations – but rather the development of a replacement strategy. A little up front work goes a long way towards a successful LMS replacement and implementation outcome. Partnering effectively with your current LMS provider is critical to ensure a smooth transition. Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research for Brandon Hall Group, and Jason Marceau, VP of Operations from Meridian as they outline key elements of an effective replacement strategy, and key practices for successful replacement implementations.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: For Optimal Learning, Mix It Up

There’s a lot of buzz about using social and collaboration tools to dramatically boost learning results. What does such an approach mean for your investment in LMS? In this webcast, explore the optimal mix of learning approaches and where, when, and why it makes sense to incorporate social learning with formal, LMS-based learning.

Thursday, September 27, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Thiagi and Tracy’s Favorite Jolts for Webinars

Jolts are quick and powerful learning activities designed to jump-start your sessions in less than 5 minutes and provide an emotional impact resulting in surprise and discovery. Your participants will sit-up, listen, learn, and gain instant insights into your training topics. In this session, Thiagi and Tracy will share their favorite jolts and debriefing activities that are especially designed and adapted for the use in webinars including selecting and adapting jolts for webinars to effectively achieve your performance objectives and learning how to leverage your participant's introspection and interaction with follow-up debriefing activities.                                                                        

Free Summertime Webinars

Although the calendar proclaimed it officially summer last month, sunny summer days have been very slow to arrive in Vancouver. But with summer vacations just around the corner for clients, project work can slow down a bit so it’s a great opportunity to catch up on new industry trends, research and ideas. Check out the free webinars being offered this summer. We hope they will inspire and motivate you.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: ROI Basics: Calculating the ROI

Join Patti Phillips, President & CEO, ROI Institute for her fourth and final webinar in the ROI series. To calculate the ROI you must convert impact measures to money, compare it to the program costs, and identify intangible benefits. During this webcast, you will learn a variety of methods to convert measures to money, five steps to convert a measure to money and cost categories that make up the fully-loaded program costs.  Click on the link to also access the recordings of her three previous ROI webinars if you happened to miss them.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Mobile Learning: Delivering Learning in a Connected World

This webinar is based on ASTD and i4cp's recently published report, Mobile Learning: Delivering Learning in a Connected World. This report looks at the current landscape of mobile learning in a world in which the ubiquity of mobile devices seems to have created a perfect environment for delivering learning solutions to our workforce, where or when they need it. Upside Learning’s Kevin Oakes, i4cp's CEO, will discuss how mobile technology is changing the world and our experience of it. From an organizational perspective, mobile learning allows for a spectrum of possibilities that were not present before, and they continue to evolve before us. The findings of this Study indicate that companies with learning functions that help meet both learning and business goals tend to be higher market performers.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: How to Create Interactive Scenarios in Articulate Storyline

Join Tom Kuhlmann, VP of Community at Articulate and author of the widely popular “Rapid e-Learning Blog” as he shares his simple 3C model where you challenge the learner to make a decision, offer some choices, and produce consequences that provides relevant feedback or additional challenges. Then he’ll show you how to quickly create them using Articulate Storyline. You’ll learn to:

• Use the 3C model to build decision-making scenarios
• Build interactive models using states, layers, and triggers in Storyline
• Craft interactive branched scenarios, and
• Discover how to create, share, and re-use what you build.  

Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Design is Everything: 5 Techniques for Designing an Interactive Virtual Class (ASTD members only)

If you want to create a powerful learning experience for your online learners, your virtual training must be engaging – which means your virtual classroom design must be exceptional. In this first webinar in the 2-part Virtual Classroom Design series, learn 5 techniques you can apply immediately to take your interactive virtual training to the next level. 

Thursday, July 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: “What if I die today?” – Story Impacts eLearning Exercise: Building Stories using StoryLine

Using the book, “Story Impacts Learning and Performance” as a point of reference, Ray Jimenez will share how he uses engaging stories and Articulate StoryLine to author “What if I die today?” – Story Impacts eLearning Exercise. Ray will provide in advance, the source code to the self-reflection exercise, authored in StoryLine. You can investigate the authoring design prior to learning more about the approach during the actual webinar. You will learn how to:

• Build basic game-like story elements using animation, objects, scenes and slides, timelines, layers and triggers
• Use variables for multiple decision points
• Provide game-like feedback for progress tracking

Thursday, July 12, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Taking Learning Mobile: The Power of Learning Everywhere (ASTD members only)

Once a learning organization has committed to “go mobile,” it may seem as though the hardest decision has been made. Soon after this path is chosen, though, reality sets in. There are many things to consider as you work to build your initial efforts for the varieties of mobile devices. This webinar will focus on how to get started with mobile learning, including deciding on an initial project and changing your design approach. Join Chad Udell, a seasoned expert on mobile learning and author of the new ASTD book, Learning Everywhere, as he demystifies the choices involved in developing mobile learning content, and provides real-world experience on how to get down to business creating mobile learning.

Thursday, July 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Empowering Employees: Sustainable Career Management Models

In the next five years, businesses will experience major demographic changes as far as their workforces are concerned. Just to name a few: Workforces will continue to become more diverse; millennials are projected to represent more than 50 percent of the overall labor force; and the capabilities required to lead in tomorrow’s economy will be different than the capabilities required today. Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research, David Wentworth, Sr. Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, Jeff Gill, Director, Talent Management and Acquisition and Amy Jo Womack, HR Systems Manager for Valerus as they share the latest research in creating Career Enhancing programs that work for mid-market organizations.

Thursday, July 12, 2012, 8AM – 9PM PST: Building the Business Case for Learning Measurement

Often the only barrier that separates an organization from getting the software it needs is a compelling argument. During this webinar, KnowledgeAdvisors will help you structure your information so you can make the following compelling argument to your leaders, “We need an evaluation measurement system. Here’s why, and here are the benefits.” While this argument will use MTM as an example, you can use the fundamental structure to argue for any software.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Informal Learning Basics: What ARE the Basics?

Informal learning might represent as much as 70 percent of workplace learning and be one of the most talked-about topics in training today. But what is it really? What forms can it take? When can it make a difference in workplace performance and when might it actually detract from it? What role, if any, do Training and Development professionals play in informal learning? Join Saul Carliner, author of the new ASTD best-seller, Informal Learning Basics, as he introduces the basics of informal learning.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: A Unified Approach to Learning Management

As always, the way your learner’s access information (technology – web/mobile) and the number of channels available and utilized to learn (classroom/self-paced/social/informal) continue to increase, these pose challenges regarding how to effectively and efficiently manage learning for your organization. The need of the hour is a unified approach to this problem. Current organizational challenges in managing learning demand a system that understands that different technology options) and different channels of learning are a part of the whole learning experience. Join David Wentworth, Senior Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Jason Clymer, VP - Client Acquisition and Partner Development at Upside Learning as they shed more light on the idea of unified solution approaches as they discuss the need and advantages of an untied learning ecosystem.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Facilitating in the Live Online Classroom: 5 Techniques to Master Delivery (ASTD members only)

What do the best virtual trainers do? They engage learners by presenting, facilitating and teaching in ways that bring the online classroom together. Join this final session in the Virtual Classroom Design series, to discover the 5 techniques master trainers and presenters use to deliver their virtual lessons with real energy. Learn how to:

• Effectively engage out-of-sight participants
• Maintain high enthusiasm during delivery
• Harness your voice for the microphone
• Prepare for unforeseen technical issues

Thursday, July 19, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Developing a Client Centric Culture – A SunTrust Case Study

Differentiating your organization in today’s market can help increase revenue and develop stronger client relationships. SunTrust was able to evolve and deploy a client centric culture that enabled their organization to display growth, improve client relationships, and enhance the talent and development of their sales managers and leaders. SunTrust’s strategic approach to a sales talent and training development program allowed their sales managers to link sales, service and client loyalty while remaining committed to putting clients first. As part of Brandon Hall Group’s Excellence Award Winners Webinar Series, join Mary Slaughter, SVP, Talent Management & Development from SunTrust Banks, Inc.; David DiStefano, Chief Executive Officer, Richardson; and Rachel Ashkin, Chief Operating Officer, Brandon Hall Group, as they share how SunTrust effectively developed and implemented a new sales and sales management curriculum designed to address the current business climate and desired sales leadership competencies.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: I Want to Work THERE! 3 Keys to Creating an Engagement Culture

An organization’s culture has a tremendous influence on employee engagement. A culture that features opportunity, personal accountability, inclusion, community, and validation will lead to engaged employees. But how do you create that culture and how do you maintain engagement throughout an employee’s time at your company? Join Cornerstone OnDemand’s, Bob Kelleher, CEO of The Employee Engagement Group and Kevin Sensenig, Global Vice President, Learning and Organizational Development, Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc. and discover best practices from two employee engagement experts. Explore how to create an employee engagement culture through three steps:
1. Hire the right people
2. Foster engagement through onboarding
3. Maintain engagement for the long term 

Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: What Research Tells Us about Games, Gamification and Learning (ASTD members only)

This decidedly unacademic presentation provides a broad scientific overview of what research has taught us about the effectiveness of games and game-elements in changing learner behaviors. We will consider how playing a video game changes a person’s behavior, how avatars can shape in-game and out-of-game behavior, and how storytelling helps learners memorize facts. We’ll answer questions like: What makes a game…a game? How do points and rewards fit into games? Why are challenges, feedback, and interactivity the keys to successful games? Do serious games have to be entertaining to be educational?

Learn how to use the existing research literature in your own design and delivery of learning. This webinar also includes several practical case studies outlining how the research tips, techniques, and practices can be applied in a real-life online learning situation.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Moving Knowledge for Rapid Business Impact

Learning at work is changing – and not just in how it is delivered. The drivers behind “why” learning is even relevant are shifting as well. Executives and managers recognise the value and power of distributing information quickly, to support anything from security compliance to product launches to corporate values. This top-level recognition marks a move from ‘HR-driven’ to ‘business-led’ learning, something with profound implications for learning and development professionals. What systems do we need to meet these new business needs? What influence do millennials and other learners have? And what impact will this have on the L&D function as a whole?  Join Stacey Harris, VP, Research & Advisory Services, Brandon Hall Group and Donald Taylor, Chairman, Learning and Performance Institute as they draw on a range of practical examples to explore the trends changing the face of workplace learning today.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Critical Competencies for 21^st Century Leaders

Successful leadership involves managing one’s self and relationships with others to move toward a specific business goal. The role of a leader is to grow others - helping people grow their skills, knowledge, and confidence to develop leadership themselves in a real, practical context. The real world has other plans, however. Business goals are fluid, people are stressed, and one-way technological messages continue to invade every moment of our lives. One thing remains the same – leadership is all about people. In this session, learn how you can clear a little chaos and build a high performing team and how to take the time to consider a new approach to leadership while faced with predictable, constant chaos.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 9AM – 10AM PST: Hit the Ground Running: Establishing a Model Executive Onboarding Program

This webinar paints a compelling picture of the importance of executive onboarding in an organization. You will be introduced to OPM's government wide executive onboarding framework and the steps that are critical to developing and implementing a successful formal executive onboarding program from pre-boarding through the first year. OPM will also present a unique product to the Federal sector, the New Leaders Onboarding Assessment --- an assessment designed help government manager and executives more quickly assimilate into new organizations. The New Leaders Onboarding Assessment was developed and offered to agencies through OPM's Human Resources Solutions division.

Thursday, July 26, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Real World Training Design

Despite the assumptions of most instructional design methodologies, your training events don’t happen in a neat little "bubble." And neither does your design process. What are some of the most common pitfalls and contraints? How do you navigate them for the results your organization replies on? In this webcast, author, speaker, and real-world designer Jenn Labin presents some of the most common challenges training designers face, plus solutions to keep your project moving forward.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Effective Manager Training and Education – Building a Foundation for Organizational Success

Over half of all newly promoted managers fail in their roles within two years. We often assume our top performers are instantly ready for the more complex demands of management and supervision. Success for both new managers and their teams depends on support, development, and a solid approach to setting clear management expectations. Join Stacey Harris VP of Research and Advisory Services at Brandon Hall Group, and Chris Osborn of BizLibrary as they talk about the evolving set of demands and competencies all of our managers need, and they will share research and key practices for preparing both current and future managers for success.  

Wednesday, August 1, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Story-Based eLearning: Antidote to Boring Programs

According to Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook CEO), “Our lives are made up of stories – that is why we provide ‘TIMELINE’ in Facebook because we help you tell your life-stories”. From Confucius to Zuckerburg, people learn from each other by sharing experiences and stories. Nowadays, this fact becomes increasingly significant with the advent and continuous development of mobile learning, on-the-job learning support and communities of learners. The challenge has been how to design learning points that are story-driven to help learners learn instantly. In this session, learn how to use the power of story dynamics, both telling and listening, as antidotes to boring eLearning programs. A free pre-webinar study kit that includes white papers, demos and examples is available for this session.

Thursday, August 2, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Gamify Your Training: Use Gamification to Increase Employee Engagement and Improve Feedback

Half of all office workers use Facebook at work. Why? Because it's far more satisfying and rewarding than the vast majority of the tasks we're given during the workday. Facebook has a highly engaged audience for the same reasons we enjoy watching football, playing video games or gambling at a casino. The process is called Gamification and you may already be using several game mechanics now. Gamification is the application of game mechanics and game-thinking in non-game environments to increase fun and engagement. This webinar will explore how specific mechanics influence behavior and how you can add them to your own training programs.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 12:30PM – 1:30PM PST: Interactivity, Games and Gamification: Creating Engaged Learners

Based on the bestselling learning book, “The Gamification of Learning and Instruction” this session introduces, defines, and describes the concepts of gamification, games for learning and interactivity. It then dissects the elements of games and describes how they can be applied to the design and development of interactive learning.  The presentation is based on solid research including peer-reviewed results from dozens of studies that offer insights into why game-based thinking and mechanics makes for vigorous learning tools. Moving beyond the theoretical considerations, the presentation explores three methods for designing interactive learning based on concepts from games.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Informal Learning and Social Media: Upskilling for 21^st Century Training

New tools for and ideas about learning are bringing in a new age for training and development practitioners. We now have real means of extending our reach, learners who can identify and satisfy their own learning needs, and opportunities to support workplace learning and performance like we’ve never had before. This session provides an overview of some 21st century skills we’ll need to develop to stay current and viable in a rapidly changing, but more learning-focused, time. 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 9AM – 10AM PST: Demonstrating Executive Reporting Solutions for L&D

This webinar will provide both strategic and tactical information about reporting L&D results to business executives. Examples of reports, scorecards and dashboards will be demonstrated. As well, you will review three classifications of expertise that exists to support an organizations’ desire to advance its own executive reporting. A review of these consultative solutions will provide insight into the depth and breadth of resources that exist to fully support a practitioners desire to improve upon the metrics provided to the business.

Free Webinars for June

June (and the good weather) is finally here along with a variety of interesting and insightful free T&D webinars.  We hope they will inspire and motivate you.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: 10 Best Practices for Engaging Online Learning

Join Sheri Jeavons, Founder of Power Presentations, Inc. and discover: 

• How to convert in-person training into live virtual sessions
• Delivery techniques to keep your learners engaged
• Why and when you should use a producer
• Best practices for training online with GoToTraining tools.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: ASTD 2011 State of the Industry Report

Training is still “on trial”, charged with incurring expenses in excess of the value it provides to the organization. Training must reinvent itself and transcend the classroom. Attend this information-packed hour to learn how to structure initiatives so they enhance on-the-job performance and impact the bottom line. Join David Wentworth, Sr. Learning Analyst from Brandon Hall Group and James Kirkpatrick, President of Kirkpatrick Partners with a brief appearance by Donald Kirkpatrick himself, to learn directly from the source about the newest way to implement the four levels of learning evaluation. This program will focus on tactics at Levels 3 and 4 and provide ideas that any professional can implement in their own organization.

Brandon Hall group will also share award-winning case studies of organizations that have effectively utilized the Kirkpatrick evaluation methods to enhance learning efforts and identify positive performance improvement outcomes.  

Thursday, June 7, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Talent Management for Everyone – Improve Enterprise Performance

Why do most organizations focus so much energy on high and low performers?  The majority of the workforce falls into that middle category that often gets ignored when it comes to focused performance improvement efforts. The truth is, there is a tremendous benefit to creating customized performance improvement environments that target all levels of your organization. These organizations remove the barriers, break down the walls, and create a culture of “everyone”. Join Stacey Harris VP or research for Brandon Hall Group and Jay Shaw, CEO, NetDimensions as they examine the link between developing the middle and improving enterprise performance as well as:

• Assessing the value of the middle
• Key practices in achieving performance Improvement
• Practical connection points between development and performance
• Integration pitfalls to avoid
• Examples and Case Studies

Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Isolating the Effects of Your Programs

Organizations invest in a variety of programs, projects, and initiatives to drive business performance through people. But when business measures improve, how do you know it was your particular program or project that caused the improvement? Join Dr. Patti Phillips’, President and CEO of the ROI Institute to learn:

• The importance of isolating the effects of your programs
• Three techniques you can use to isolate the effects of your program
• Considerations when determining the credibility of data

This is the third of a four part series. Part four is offered July 10, 2012.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Learning without Walls – Supporting the Extended Enterprise

Very few organizations operate in isolation. The vast majority need to engage and work closely with their entire value chain – their network of customers, suppliers, partners and distributors. Ideally they should also be sharing experiences, expertise and learning resources across their extended enterprise if they are to maximize value and “work smarter.”  Yet when many organizations select and implement learning technologies, their HR and Learning leaders look only within the organizational walls. Implementation only meets internal needs, and integration ignores external systems, processes and, more importantly, opportunities. Clearly the ‘walled’ approach is not adequate if learning is to become a shared asset and drive maximum value. New thinking is required, supported by flexible and effective learning infrastructures.

Join Brandon Hall Group Senior Analyst David Wentworth and Charles Jennings of Duntroon Associates as they examine the link between learning and performance and look at ways to customize learning approaches.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Lean Learning – Reduce Training Costs Without Sacrificing Quality

There are a lot of ways to add value to learning without increasing costs, but first we need to look at the true cost of training and comprehend the real value they deliver for organizational performance. This workshop looks at ways to reduce content documentation time and increase the value of training deliverables using the Learning Paths Methodology, which is rapidly becoming the global standard for lean training. You’ll explore how a Learning Path designed for an entire job can be integrated with courses and e-learning to reduce overall training costs and make the learning process as lean as possible. You’ll also learn the sizeable advantages of measuring organizational results instead of training results and contrast the benefits of proficiency-based training over competency-based training.

Thursday, June 14, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Extending Reach and Generating Revenue – Panel Discussion around Delivering Learning to Partners, Resellers, Customers and Beyond

While most midsized companies recognize the importance of training their internal employees, some find it difficult to extend the same training to their ecosystem of customers, partners, suppliers, resellers and distributors.  As a result, organizations are increasingly exploring how to use their learning management system (LMS) to deliver training, certification, knowledge assets, and information to their external audiences of customers, partners, suppliers, resellers and distributors.  

Join David Wentworth, Senior Analyst, Brandon Hall Group, as he leads a panel discussion around different extended enterprise use cases.  Representatives from Eloqua, Aprimo Inc., and Pelco by Schneider Electric will share their experiences around:

• Developing and delivering knowledge and information to audiences outside the organization
• Driving revenue through customer, channel and distributor channels
• Improving productivity and information sharing with external partners
• Delivering certification programs and share knowledge
• Increasing customer satisfaction and product adoption
• Providing consistent access to training, information and knowledge assets, 24/7/365

Monday, June 18, 2012, 11AM- 12PM PST: Lost Secrets of Effective Leadership Training

With the billions spent on leadership development, why are leaders still lacking the skills they need to actually lead? One reason is that organizations have gone too far in addressing competencies and have forgotten that leaders need a foundation of basic skills to build competencies. In this webcast, the presenters will apply their decades of experience in leadership development to examine how to refocus on Interaction Essentials—the “secret sauce”—that is the key to better leaders. In fact, because Interaction Essentials are part of all leader competencies, initial training on the Essentials means that training initiatives focusing on competencies will have a greater payoff.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: How to Chunk and Boil Down Long, Very Long PowerPoint eLearning Programs

Ask SMEs, your boss or clients about what could be the most important part of the content. And the answer? Usually “EVERYTHING.” We all want to believe this. Yet in real-life, there is hardly enough time to cover all of the content. Consequently, we extend training time beyond what is necessary. Learn:

• How to help SMEs break content down into “must learn now” and “learn later”
• About the benefits of chunked and boiled-down content in rapid development, deployment of programs, frequency and positive overall results, sales and support, coaching and on-the-job learning
• How to cut down PowerPoint from 100 pages to 10 pages
• How to cut costs of development down to 30%
• How to increase speed of development to 300%
• The five-step process of chunking and boiling down long content into small, reusable, learning objects

Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Add Powerful Storytelling Techniques to Your Training

Expert facilitator and "story catcher" David Lee (www.HumanNatureAtWork.com), author of the May 2012 Infoline "Powerful Storytelling Techniques" shows attendees how to:

• Introduce new-hires to organizational culture
• Alter perspectives without alienating the audience
• Gain learners’ trust in you and your message
• Deliver difficult feedback or sensitive messages
• Inspire learner confidence around challenging subject matter

Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Identifying and Jumpstarting New Leaders – the Coldwell Banker Blueprint for Success

Coldwell Banker recognizes the importance of succession planning and developing new leaders.  To accomplish this, they have developed an intensive one day skill and behavior assessment program to identify and qualify new Sales Managers.  To expedite manger readiness, Coldwell Banker is also developing a precision based personalized training program based on an extensive competency model.  Join Dave Rood, Senior Director, Professional Development at Coldwell Banker University to learn about the unique features of these programs, including the use of online competency maps, automated training plans and social learning. 

Thursday, June 21, 2012, 12:30 – 1:30PM PST: Results First: Integrating Formal and Informal Learning to Accredit Proven Skills

There's formal learning and there's informal learning, and never the two shall meet. Unless, that is, you really care about results and transfer back to the job. This case-study will show how formal learning, on-the-job transfer, and cutting-edge social technologies are being integrated into an employee accreditation program and a sales readiness initiative. An integrated approach to blending the formal with the informal also provided an opportunity to use workforce analytics to measure impact.

Aids and tools will include: 

• How to focus on results to get the investment you need
• A matrix for developing an integrated solution
• How to respond when your customer asks for something you disagree with
• How to use your LMS to track employee accreditation and results

Thursday, June 28, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: “Zombies in my workspace” – Building Scenarios using Articulate Storyline

Using the book, “Scenario-based Learning” as a point of reference, Ray Jimenez, Chief Learning Architect of Vignettes for Training, will walk you through how to combine engaging and instructionally sound scenarios with the features of Articulate StoryLine. The source code to a basic scenario “Zombies in my workspace”, authored in StoryLine will be provided to you in advance. This will allow you time to investigate the authoring design prior to learning more about the approach during the actual webinar.

Ray will explain how to:

• Build basic scenarios and decision tree with scenes and slides, timelines, layers and triggers
• Use variables for reported visited scenes and decisions
• Provide game-like feedback for progress tracking
• Download and obtain the free source code for the Articulate StoryLine scenario “Zombies in my workspace”(Ray Jimenez, 2012) – ideal reference for your development.

Free March Webinars

Spring is in the air and it’s a great time for new beginnings. Become informed about new trends, new directions and new research on interesting training and development topics by signing up for free webinars offered in March. We hope they will inspire and motivate you.

Thursday, March 1, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Connecting Your LMS to Your CRM: A Better Way to Bring Training to Sales

The connection between successful sales and training has been demonstrated time and time again, but bringing training to sales is often challenging. Sales forces are often dispersed and on-the-move, pausing only long enough to record a contact or sales call in the CRM. So one strategy for connecting sales to training is to bring the training straight to the place where sales lives and breathes - the CRM. Join Scot Lake, Senior Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, as he discusses key practices for improving sales by integrating your LMS with your CRM. Key takeaways include:

• Tips for setting up access to LMS training in a CRM
• How to select the right content for sales training
• The latest research around measuring training’s impact on sales

Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: A Whack on the Head: Re-thinking Learning Design

Today, organizations are dealing with a unique set of challenges while also having even greater opportunities for innovation. At the same time, we now have at our disposal an “alphabet soup” of learning and business methodologies – ADDIE, HPT, BP, Six Sigma, LEAN, AGILE - and an expanding toolkit of formal, informal, social, virtual and mobile technologies and approaches. So, what does this mean for how we design, develop and implement efficient and effective learning solutions? Join Lance Dublin, Chief Solutions Architect, Dublin Consulting as he: 

• Identifies the new and different organizational challenges – and opportunities!
• Describes six learning and development methodologies and how they impact learning design
• Identifies the range of  learning technologies and approaches now available
• Defines the 8 principles of new learning design

Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: How to Market your Online Training (ASTD members only)

Join webinar marketing veteran Roger Courville for a rapid-fire session of pragmatic, get-it-done ideas on improving registration, attendance and revenue in your online training programs.
Attend this interactive webinar to learn:

• How to market the  unique qualities of online training
• 3 tactics for making your invitations and registration site sizzle
• How to avoid everyone’s big social media mistake
• What your audience is willing to pay

Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: The Learning - Talent Connection: How a Single Technology Platform Can Accelerate Workforce Performance

 Organizations routinely leverage the efficiencies of technology platforms for their learning and development initiatives, but many of these same organizations continue to use manual processes to manage their talent. As a result, there’s little opportunity for technology to easily align training with organizational performance. Learning and talent management are inseparable, and managing them in two silos means missed opportunities for increased effectiveness. Join Scot Lake of Brandon Hall Group and Marc Blumenthal of Intelladon as they discuss the competitive advantages of integrating learning and talent management using a single technology platform.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Contextual Learning - Cheapest, Fastest and Easiest Way to Deliver Learning

Join Ray Jimenez, Chief Learning Architect of Vignettes for Training, Inc to learn key principles and practical examples of contextual learning. Most learning approaches are top to bottom, mandated and driven by leaders, trainers and learning specialists. In today's economy, this is costly, slow and often times late. Contextual learning principles and methods suggest that learner's learn best by referring to their own context, first and foremost. What matters is the learners' view of the content, competencies and skills to acquire as they see fit on the job.

Thursday, March 15, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Telltale Signs You Have Outgrown Your LMS

Learning and development is undergoing dramatic shifts. The workforce is changing. The way workers access and use knowledge is changing. Does your current LMS meet new technology and business expectations? How are learning and development functions to respond, and what role should learning management systems be playing in all this change? Join Brandon Hall Group Senior Analyst Scot Lake as he discusses these terrain-altering changes and six key requirements the learning management system should provide to help organizations adapt and thrive.

Thursday, March 22, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: Bring Your On-Demand Training Content to Life with Video

An increasing number of organizations are turning to technology for on-demand learning to supplement their live learning programs. Geographic dispersion and cost management pressures drive this trend, along with a recognition that just-in-time learning mechanisms can provide more timely, more motivated learning precisely when it's needed, increasing motivation and knowledge retention.
But it can be tricky to build cost-effectively on-demand content cost-effectively that truly engages. Why? On-demand training modules frequently lack “charisma” due to software or cost constraints. Kirstin Lynde of Randstad Professionals and Michael Kolowich of KnowledgeVision explain and show the basics of bringing an on-demand training content initiative to life.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 10AM – 11AM PST: An Active Approach to Teamwork Training

Teamwork is an essential component of organizational productivity. Today's leaders require a wide variety of skills for high performance teamwork, and it is up to learning professionals to use the most-up-to-date methods available to develop these skills. Join Thiagi, Resident Mad Scientist of The Thiagi Group and Tracy Tagliati, Training Manager of Move Inc. as they explore a variety of high-impact activities, jolts, and interactive learning strategies that have been specifically chosen to teach and apply some of the most critical teamwork competencies and concepts that we all need.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 11AM – 12PM PST: Leading in the Learning Function as a Business Partner (ASTD members only)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is top notch for learning and development. Hear from Chief Learning Officer Jody Hudson's team how continuous, agency wide learning supports the business partnership. Also find out, how do you teach effective leadership? How do you enable employees to learn from each other in communities of practice? And learn why job rotation is a critical element of government training and development.

Free October webinars

There are a multitude of free training and development webinars this month on a variety of interesting topics. Hope to “see” you online.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 11AM – 12PM PST: Low-Cost, High-Impact Training on Demand

Join Kendra Lee, president of KLA Group, and Knoodle's Kelly Smith to learn about cost-effective, quick, and easy strategies for creating and implementing on-demand learning in your small or mid-size organization. You will explore moving from a "push" training model to a "pull" one, in which content comes from subject matter experts and peers rather than corporate trainers, how to repurpose training courses into learning nuggets that can be accessed anytime, anywhere and how to incorporate social learning tools into your training arsenal.

 

October 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25 or 28, 2011, 10AM – 11AM PST: Create and deliver Self-Paced Training in 30 minutes or less

You’ll learn secrets to help you create training in minutes by infusing your presentations with audio, video, surveys and more, engage your audience through interactive and collaborative learning and deliver training anywhere, anytime with a 100% hosted solution.

 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 9AM – 10AM PST: Chaos is not Performance: Learning Project Management for Stability

Join Lou Russell, President and CEO of L+EARN and Russell Martin & Associates learn how to organize and prioritize your individual scalability.  Get things done and be more effective.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 10:30AM – 11:30AM PST: The New Learning Architect

The new learning architect designs environments that help specific populations take maximum advantage of multiple learning opportunities. To do this, new learning architects need to understand the unique characteristics of their target populations and the business challenges those populations face. New learning architects need to find the right balance between top-down and bottom-up learning initiatives, between formal and informal learning. Join Clive Shepherd, author of The New Learning Architect as he explains what it means to be a new learning architect and how becoming one could transform the contribution you make to your organization.

 

Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 10AM – 11AM PST: Today’s Innovations, Tomorrows Trends: Learning Technology that Meets Learners Expectations

Join Scot Lake, Senior Learning Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, and Jeff Whitney, OutStart’s Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, as they discuss the innovations, the challenges, and the real-life successes around today’s innovations in learning.

Thursday, October 13, 2011, 10AM – 11AM PST: Presenting and Training When You’re Not in the Room: Virtual Training, Webinars, and Video Conferences

Join Jeff Hiller, Senior Trainer and Workshop Leader , from JB Training Solutions who will give you the inside tips and techniques you need to deliver effective presentations and training sessions when you’re not in the room. Through interactive exercises, you will learn strategies for conveying a strong, clear message to your target audience remotely.

For ASTD members:

Thursday, October 13, 2011, 10AM – 11AM PST: Web 3.0 and Mobile Learning Technologies

Join David Wentworth, Senior Analyst  from i4cp who will discuss various components of Web 3.0 and how they might influence the future of learning, with an emphasis on the practices of high-performance organizations. What does mobile learning mean for learning professionals and the learning function? How will it affect instructional design? What influence, if any, will device manufacturers, platform providers, and software developers have on mobile learning’s future? To register, go to http://www.astd.org/ and click on the Webcasts tab.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 10AM – 11AM PST: Developing Talent in the New World of Business

Organizations must be agile, they must be able to adapt and leverage technology to create an environment that allows high performers to grow professionally and, ultimately, develop new skills that will lead businesses into the future. Join Claire Schooley, Sr. Analyst from Forrester Research who will explore new leadership skills, competencies and how to develop leaders who have the attributes the business will need to remain competitive.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 8AM – 9AM PST:  Making 360′s Smarter and Simpler

Join Knowledge Advisors who will share industry best practices, and years of real world experience, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your 360 degree assessment process.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 10AM – 11AM PST: Selecting and LMS: Converging your Business Needs with Emerging Learning Trends

Join, Scot Lake, Senior Analyst at Brandon Hall Group and Kenneth Fung, EVP of Product Strategy at CERTPOINT as they share best practices in selecting an enterprise learning solution that will meet an organizations business needs for today and prepare them for the learning trends of tomorrow.  Learn how key learning trends that could impact your organization in the next three years , award winning approaches to selecting solution providers that meet today’s needs and tomorrows challenges, the impact of managing and partnering with solution providers effectively and the value of an effective and well implemented enterprise learning solution.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 10AM – 11AM PST: Interactive Lectures is not an Oxymoron

Interactive Lectures involve the participants in the learning process while providing complete control to the instructor. These activities enable a quick and easy conversion of a passive presentation into an interactive experience. Join Thiagi of the Thiagi Group and Tracy Tagliati from Move, Inc. as they explore different types of interactive lectures that incorporate built-in quizzes, interspersed tasks, and teamwork interludes.

Free September webinars

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over. With September approaching, I thought I'd post some free webinars that are being offered next month.  Invest some time in keeping yourself up to date with the latest industry information. I've signed up for a number of the webinars so hope to "see" you online.

Thursday, September 1, 10am – 11am PST: Fostering Learning Beyond the Classroom

Karie Willyerd, co-author of The 2020 Workplace and former CLO at Sun Microsystems will explore how you can keep your training and development initiative up to pace with the rapidly evolving dynamics of how, when and where employees acquire knowledge.

Wednesday, September 7, 10am – 11am PST: How to Select an LMS for your Small/Medium Business

Learning management systems (LMS) are playing an increasingly important role in workplace learning and development. These systems provide learners with access to content and provide managers with the ability to track who knows what. Due to high costs and technological infrastructure requirements, large organizations have traditionally been the first to adopt learning management systems. Price and technological barriers are now dropping, making it easy for small- and medium-sized businesses to obtain an LMS.

Thursday, September 8, 10am – 11am: Web 3.0 and the Transformation of Learning

This webinar takes a look at the next evolution of the Web and what it means for the learning function. The differences between high- and low-performing organizations in terms of how they approach these new technologies will be highlighted.

Thursday, September 8, 10am – 11am: From Rapid Authoring to Rapid Reuse – Why Building Mobile Learning Requires a Scalable Content Strategy

The rapid rise of mobile learning has created a resurgence of interest in reusable content models. Nuggets of content, relevant to the individual learner, that are re-assembled and delivered on-demand and to any device. Learn how open, XML-based single-source learning content management solutions are providing a critical advantage an organization’s mobile strategy in terms of time-to-market, product innovation and efficient content development. Real-time demonstrations will be presented that leverage existing content to create flexible iPad and smart phone applications and will show you how easy it is to customize mobile content for different learners and customers.

Wednesday, September 14, 10am-11am PST: The Truth about Social Learning

"Social learning" and "informal learning" are among the training industry's hottest phrases these days. But there's so much confusion over what they mean, and what they mean to those of us in the business. Join Jan Bozarth to look at real examples of social and informal learning as it happens in workplaces all the time, every day. She’ll also generate some ideas for locating, supporting and facilitating social learning opportunities toward the greater goal of enhancing organizational performance.

Tuesday, September 20, 10am – 11am PST: Building a Business Case for Performance and Learning

Join Stacey Harris, VP of Research for Brandon Hall Group as she shares insights on how to create and deliver a business case that resonates, no matter the size or market of your organization. In this presentation, Harris will offer guidance and practical examples on creating a business case for investing in a more effective approach to performance management and employee development. Key take-aways include:

• The business leaders perspective
• Insights on the value of connecting performance management and employee development
• Elements in creating and delivering an effective business case for companies of every size
• Illustrations of business cases that made an impact

Tuesday, September 20, 10am – 11am PST: How to Add “Gamification” to Your eLearning Design

Do you know how Gamification can boost learning effectiveness?  Gamification is the application of theories in gaming, its attendant rewards and its motivational impact. It has caught the attention of both learning designers and elearning developers because gamification presents new opportunities to raise the learner's engagement and learning applications. But how to make it a practical enhancement to the elearning design is a mystery. In this webinar, Ray Jimenez will present case studies on how to apply gamification to enhance your eLearning projects.

Thursday, September 22, 10am – 11am PST: Navigating the Social Learning Roadmap

With more companies and organizations recognizing the value of social learning, we are fast on our way to a major shift in learning. The emergence of social media has enabled us to capture what we do quite naturally, LEARN.During this webinar, you will:

• Discover the career implications of a social learning culture

• Evaluate the value of a social learning strategy within their organization.

• Navigate steps to creating a social learning culture

• Forecast obstacles in the organizational culture that block social learning

• Fuel engagement within the framework of a social learning culture.

Tuesday, September 27, 10am-11am PST: How to Measure Informal and Social Learning Investments

Informal learning measurement (social networks, performance support, coaching) is on the rise. It is important to think about measuring this investment and comparing it against formal programs to determine its mix and place. Questions such as what, when and how to measure informal learning are challenges faced by practitioners using informal learning. This webinar will discuss informal learning capabilities, how to measure them and what resources are available to make measurement practical.

Thursday, September 29, 10am – 11am PST: Creating eLearning Stories and Exercises with Articulate Storyline®

There are two daunting tasks when using stories and exercises in eLearning: creating a good design, and authoring the software. Instead of focusing the quality of the lessons into engaging learning, designers and developers spend more time in the production work. This slows down the delivery and increases the cost. This clinic will present proven ways in using stories and exercises to engage learners as well as step by step methods to develop events, characters, choices and consequences and to quickly convert them into eLearning by using Articulate's new software, Storyline®