The World of Learning Conference & Exhibition, 16th – 17th October 2018.
Insightful, but Not Inspiring!
Having held many roles in L&D over the past 25 years it has taught me one thing… to manage my expectations. Yet, I attended the World of Learning event, this year at the NEC Birmingham, with a tinge of excitement and intrigue. Would there be many new organisations in this field? Would they be offering anything that was new or different? Will I learn anything new?
Filled with questions, I arrived at the event. The free seminars were interesting especially the one from Richard McCann. Sharing his personal tragedies, he went on to explain that anyone can look for positive aspects and turn their life around. It was a real emotional rollercoaster. What I learned was that despite his horrendous upbringing and personal losses, he still managed to become a successful motivational speaker. The only thought I had was – that some people don’t have the right coping mechanisms or mental resilience to overcome such tragedies.
I saw quite a few companies using aspects of social collaboration to launch eLearning modules. Very much like Amazon, or Netflix the end-users can give a ‘thumbs up’ or equivalent rating and then a further 5-star rating. I thought this was very interesting as it was a great way to demonstrate peer recommended content.
I enjoyed bumping into colleagues I’ve worked with in the past. Finding out what they are working on and some of their current challenges! We all know people in L&D love putting the world to rights!
The most engaging and useful seminar I attended was eLearning Engagement: A Practical Strategy hosted by Phily Hayes from LearnUpon. Despite consuming 7 coffees, Phily was articulate, interesting and funny! He emulated the content of his presentation well.
To Answer My Questions from Earlier:
Would there be many new organisations in this field? Yes, there were lots of new players in the field which was good to see.
Would they be offering anything that was new or different? No, I didn’t see any content that was new. However, the way it was packaged and presented was different and has certainly come a long way with the help of technology.
Will I learn anything new? No, I didn’t learn anything new. But, what I did learn from attending the World of Learning event was that the experience I have is still very relevant. Furthermore, the challenges faced with various aspects of L&D are felt around the industry.
