| Analysis |
| ATD 2015: engaging with leading edge resources and collaborating with practitioners from around the globe |
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Held in Orlando, Florida, USA, from May 17‐20, the 2015 ATD International Conference & Exposition drew nearly 10,000 people from 92 countries. The number of attendees from outside the United States totaled 2,300. There were 163 attendees from China, which put China in the Top 5 countries, based on number of international attendees. The Top 5 Countries, by attendance, were:
The ATD conference lasted for four days and featured three keynote speakers, more than 300 conference sessions, and nearly 400 of the world’s leading suppliers that showcased their products in the EXPO. In addition there were countless opportunities to network with peers and thought leaders, engage with leading edge resources, and collaborate with practitioners from around the globe.
World Class Keynote Speakers
Keynote speakers at ATD 2015 were Andrea Jung, former CEO of Avon, Sugata Mitra, who won the 2013 TED Prize, and Erik Wahl, a graffiti artist and innovation expert.
Andrea Jung, who now leads an organization called Grameen America, which is dedicated to solving economic issues for women and their families through microloans, training and support, talked about global leadership and the characteristics of successful leaders. She said leaders who achieve the most success are those who challenge their own actions and thinking. She told the standing‐room‐only audience, “You cannot reinvent your organization without reinventing yourself.”
Sugata Mitra, who is a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University, wowed the audience by sharing the story of his “hole in the wall” experiment in India where he observed por children teaching themselves how to use a computer. That experiment inspired the movie Slumdog Millionaire and has since led to Mitra to expand his educational experiments to include the current School in the Cloud effort. An education reformer, Mitra told the audience that traditional learning environments don’t fit the world we live in today, and he says this applies to school children and adults.
He believes in the power of self‐organized learning environments that focus on creative and collaborative learning spaces enhanced with technology.
The closing keynote speaker, Erik Wahl, immediately captured the audience’s attention by painting portraits of celebrities while he was speaking. Wahl’s book, Unthink, captures much of what he shared with attendees. While he was painting, Wahl talked about the power of creativity, innovation, and disruption when it comes to effecting change in organizations. Wahl’s talk was so inspirational that attendees rushed the stage to greet him when he finished.
Education Sessions for Every Practitioner
ATD’s theme for the conference was “Content, Community, Global Perspectives,” and this was evident in more than 300 education offerings. There was something for everyone, regardless of work experience, role, or industry. Conference tracks were offered by content and industry: career development, global human resource development, human capital, instructional design, leadership development, learning technologies, learning measurement and analytics, management, training delivery, science of learning, government, sales enablement, healthcare, and higher education. Seventytwo international speakers from 23 countries were featured.
Sessions related to the Science of Learning were very popular. Likewise, training delivery sessions were well attended and this year featured new presenters. The always‐popular Karl Kapp, who will speak at the 2015 China Summit, had a preconference workshop on gamification that sold out.
New at ATD 2015 was the “instant insights” networking area where practitioners could meet with mentors to discuss projects they were working on in their organizations. The mentors offered advice and guidance, and shared ideas on what could take the projects to the next level.
Networking Night Offered Fun, Food, and Networking Opportunities
On the last evening of every international conference, ATD hosts an evening designed to give conference attendees the chance to have some fun and network with each other. The ATD 2015 Networking Night event was held at Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction.
“Our conferences are jam‐packed with education sessions and learning opportunities and we believe it is equally important to provide our attendees a chance to have fun away from the educational setting,” said Kristen Fyfe‐Mills, Senior Manager of Communications for ATD. “Providing a special place for attendees to relax and enjoy themselves, and network with each other, is part of what makes the ATD International Conference & Exposition a unique and worthwhile experience.”
Global Mindset and Industry Trends
Global mindset was a common thread in many of the sessions presented at the conference. In the Global Human Resource Development track, 25 sessions were offered. Topics ranged from global strategy, to leadership development, to building a global learning strategy, to corporate universities.
Other notable trends featured at the conference were related to technology. In his opening speech on Monday, May 18, Bingham talked in depth about mobile learning and why it was important for organizations to build mobile technologies into their talent development initiatives. To make the case for adopting mobile learning, Bingham said, “Millennials comprise more than 50 percent of the workforce now. They work, play, and learn – and most of all, interact – with their mobile and social tools. They’ve grown up with them. They already use them at work to communicate and collaborate, and they expect their bosses and co‐workers to do the same.”
He continued, “They email less than other generations, and even though they carry their mobile devices everywhere, they don’t make a lot of phone calls. Instead they tweet and text, blog and search, and make and send videos, from anywhere, any time. It’s the way they live. They are the connected generation. For learning to be relevant in organizations, use of mobile and social technologies have to be part of the learning mix.”
Bingham and co‐author Marcia Conner unveiled the second edition of their book The New Social Learning” at the conference. The book, which had a limited print run for the conference, sold out at the ATD Store. The book will officially be released on June 15, 2015. You can read more about the book at www.thenewsociallearning.com
Virtual training, storytelling, and the use of video were other key trends noted at the conference.
“ATD is continued to be seen as thought leader at the global scale, that’s why people have been coming from around world to ATD.” said Wei Wang, Director of International at ATD.
For more information about ATD2015 learnings follow the back channel.
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Every year, the Association for Talent Development (ATD) holds an international conference that attracts learning and development practitioners from all the world. It is a great event for those who develop talent in organizations, and the 2015 conference was no exception.
It’s been one year since the Association for Talent Development came into being. For 70 years, prior to 2014, the organization was known as the American Society for Training & Development. When Tony Bingham, the organization’s president and CEO, announced that the association was changing its name, he noted that one of the driving reasons for the change was because the membership of the Association was global, coming from more than 120 countries.