ATD New England Area Conference
I attended the A.T.D. New England Conference at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was a fantastic experience, and everyone there was super friendly.
On October 17, I attended the networking reception. The volunteer at the front, Michael Merline, was friendly and started my evening with a smile. I told him I was starting in the industry and looking for more clients. He then proceeded to give me a lot of helpful resources from the different New England chapters. Many A.T.D. chapters have online networking meetings—for example, A.T.D. Greater Boston has an online networking event at noon where I can connect with other professionals. A.T.D. Central Mass has an online event every other Friday called Central Mash at 8:00 am. A.T.D. Rhode Island Bay Colonies has an online lunch and learn meeting called Bite-Sized Learning. He said the best thing I can do is be helpful.
I also heard many stories about different jobs in the industry. One lady was a training manager at the Girl Scouts in Maine. She told me about their online training, including how to have an effective scout meeting, teach people how to tie a rope, etc. Another gentleman worked with a team to roll out a gamified L.M.S. for his company.
The events on October 18 were also super helpful. This is the day of all the sessions and expos.
I thought Brandy Ford's opening keynote was inspiring. She discussed managing change in Learning and Development and the A.D.A.P.T. Change Management Process.
A is for Assessing the Need for Change.
D is for Define Objectives and Goals.
The second A is for Analyze and Plan. P is for Prepare and Communicate.
T is for Track and Evaluate.
She said we would fail if we didn’t have a plan. She also had some inspiring words, such as “Keep shining your light” and giving ourselves grace.
Brandy Ford
The next session I attended was called “Mirror, Mirror: Exploring Self-Reflective Models” by Jill Kasten. She provided three models: the E.R.A. Cycle which stands for Experience, Reflection and Action, the Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle, and Gibbs Reflective Cycle. Gibbs cycle includes the steps
Description (what happened?)
Feelings (How did you feel about it?)
Evaluation (Evaluate your actions)
Analysis (What other options did you have?)
Action Plan (What can you learn from this that you can take to the future?)
The next session I attended was “Charting Your Career Path” with Cammy Bean, the author of one of my favorite instructional design books, The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age. She talked about the learning pie from the book, which includes learning, creativity, technology, and business. She asked us what we thought our gaps were. For the people in the room, their most extensive, most significant was: business and technology. Then, she gave us a chart that dives deeper into the learning pie, providing all the possible subjects for each section. This chart is probably available on the Kineo website if you want to see it.
The next session was “Our Brains and Change” by Elizabeth Moran. This session was surprisingly motivating. She says our brain sets us up for a negative outlook, and all the negative stuff feels more natural. She challenges us to ask: What can go right? and use accurate self-talk. We can say to ourselves, “There is no problem.”
I attended one more session before driving back to Connecticut. The session was called “Creating Inclusive Learning Experiences” by Debbie Becker. There were some constructive suggestions included. For example, consider readability, especially when converting an e-learning course into a presentation. The words that are readable on a computer may not look the same on a giant projector screen. Also, think about every generation when technology is used. Something that might be easy for one may not be easy for another. I also learned that Google has a tool that creates Alt text.
After this session, I left into the sunset, reflecting on all my experiences at the conference. This is an excellent conference if the big conferences seem too much for you. I met so many people because the networking reception didn’t include music.
Thank you so much for reading.
