Key players from the Association for Talent Development (ATD) opened the keynote presentations throughout the conference. Each had something interesting to share.

Across the screens behind the presenters, there were important messages being shared:

• Talent development
• Innovation
• Culture of collaboration
• Social learning

Together we create a world that works better.

Tony Bingham

Bingham proudly noted that this was the first conference as ATD. However, this was the 70th anniversary of the conference. The first conference was in 1945.

Social Media

Bingham asked the question, “Does your CEO use twitter?” CEOs not known as social media users. But they should be. Using social tools will help better connect with customers. We need to be social and mobile. All of us need to be using social technologies. It is a disruptive technology. Note how much we are using mobile tools. See how much we are doing on our own such as organizing travel, finding restaurants, etc. Customers want this.

Millenials

In 2025, 75% of the workforce will be millennials. They do not use email or make phone calls. But they are connected. You can learn more in the book, The New Social Learning.

In 2015, there are twice as many mobile devices as people and 34% of organizations have mobile learning programs.

Bingham likes to show L&D leaders discussing their programs and lessons learned. Here are some L&D lessons learned:

• Learning that occurs in the workspace at the time needed.
• Benchmark other social media sites to find the best elements to model while developing your site.
• Young workers expect technology to be present for learning.
• Build prototypes with users in their workplace.
• Ask customers what content they want and work down the list.
• Listen to people who will be using your tools. 
• Create thin-sliced content. Videos that focus on one objective.
• People want to search. They want local searches to work like Google.
• They also expect personalization.

Recommended Books

• The New Social Learning ~ Tony Bingham and Marcia Connor
• Improving Formal Learning with Social Media ~ Dan Steer
• Mastering Mobile Learning ~ Chad Udell

Charles Fred

Charles Fred, the ATD Board Chair, indicated that we should have one goal, “Help develop others to create jobs.” We need 600 million jobs to keep pace with growth.

Where Do We Start?

Over 99% of employees work for companies with less than 500 employees. These companies are considered to be small businesses. Sixty percent of jobs come from small businesses. By adding one job to each of these businesses, we could add 3 million jobs.

New Is Seductive

Fifty percent of all small businesses fail in the first 2 years. and 80% in the first 5 years. Because only 20% will succeed, we need to help startups; this is where future jobs will be. Job growth will come from businesses that survive startup.

Skills necessary to start a business are the same skills that greatly limit its growth. We need to keep developing our skills. We need to develop other skills necessary for new phases of a business life cycle.

We need to help others grow.

Neville Pritchard

Pritchard introduced the last keynote (Erik Wahl) of the conference by having all of us stand and dance to shake it off.