Learning & Development Virtual Summit 2021

April 2021 Speakers

Previous Speakers

All Times in EDT

Virtual Welcome and Opening Remarks

Opening Keynote Presentation

Implementing Virtual Immersive Continuous Learning to Engage and Build Skill Required Successfully Adapt to Change

Many organizations are reimagining learning across the organization to engage employees in learning experiences that continually develop their capabilities in this rapidly changing business ecosystem. And, that often requires reimagining the way L&D operates in the organization as well. This was the case for Merck (also known as MSD outside the US and Canada) whose Global Learning & Development (GL&D) function launched a major transformation, re-evaluating L&D’s operating model, learning model and skills. Based on research and experimentation GL&D used adaptive, immersive learning methods to prepare learning practitioners in their new roles and demonstrate the value of these methods. In addition to “testing and learning” to build capability within the learning and development teams, the same immersive virtual learning methods were used to solve a business challenge in one of their manufacturing sites. The embedded measurement provided insights in several areas.

Join us to discuss best practices that increased engagement, improved performance and enabled behavior change in significantly less time. Together, we will explore how immersive simulations captured valuable insights through data analytics such as:

• A realistic assessment of current state capabilities
• Competencies on critical skills for each role
• Where learners demonstrated behavior change and increased performance
• The level of testing and remediation required to meet the success criteria
• Engagement through uninterrupted, informative and constructive feedback

Keynote Presentation

DEI Learning and Development – A Roadmap to Accelerate Change and Adoption

The time is right to change the conversations your leaders and managers are having. Over the last five years there has been a 113% increase in the number of executives that hold diversity and inclusion titles. Organizations have listened to them and taken an active role in developing DEI strategies, policies, and learning.

Yet research has shown that little progress has been made. Training has increased awareness and sensitivity but had little impact on behavior change. Meaningful change happens when we practice having difficult and uncomfortable conversations. Practicing, in a safe environment, increases confidence, improves engagement, and accelerates behavior change.

Join us in the engaging session as we:

• Explore the role of L&D in implementing DEI strategies
• Examine the current state of DEI: what’s working and what has not
• Learn about obstacles, and the critical role of managers and leaders
• Learn how practice can move the needle forward

Fireside Chat

Trends 2021: Planning for the Future of Learning

The role of learning and development continues to broaden, with many learning leaders helping to facilitate and support change initiatives in their organizations. From the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the social and racial unrest across the country, L&D professionals have played an integral role in leading their organizations through unprecedented change. As we move forward, L&D must ensure employees have the skills they need to meet the evolving needs of the business.

Join us for this fireside chat as we discuss the trends shaping the future of learning and development, and how learning leaders are uniquely positioned to help their organizations achieve new levels of success.

Lunch & Learn

Join us for an informal and interactive group session where we’ll discuss challenges and strategy implementations that are top of mind for today’s learning and development practitioners

Building Microlearning into the L&D Strategy to Increase Engagement

The average employee can devote only a small percentage of their work week to professional development. In addition, attention spans are shortening and most learners are disengaging much quicker than in years past. As such, Microlearning has become an effective tool that addresses this bandwidth shortage with small learning units or short-term learning activities.

Join us in this interactive session as we discuss best practices for implementing microlearning platforms, such as:

• Using an action-mapping approach to focus on the activities that will help build competence, confidence, and skills
• Creating a learning “scale” to increase engagement by developing a single string of challenges that gets incrementally harder
• Sending out frequent challenge-based microbites to personalize the learning curve and create adaptive learning
• Building in incentives and creating milestones so the workforce feels a sense of completion and achievement

Keynote Presentation

How Workflow Learning Improves Productivity and Performance

Successful organizations have a system of learning that provides continuous feedback between the work, skills and learning that are required to succeed at the task at hand. Through the implementation of workflow learning, the workforce is given real-time access to critical information precisely when they need it. In addition, this leads to a significant increase in productivity due to a decrease in: frustration, mistakes, time searching for the answers, and time spent off the job and in training courses.

Join us in this interactive and engaging session to discuss best practices for implementing workflow learning and real-world success metrics; and we will learn:

• What workflow learning is, and what it isn’t
• What workflow learning looks like, along with the design considerations
• What is needed to get started
• Real-world examples of success

Panel Discussion

Optimizing the Value of L&D

For the past year, most organizations have focused on cost optimization to counter the global economic downturn. Often when economic uncertainty hits, learning and development is one of the first things organizations cut. In reality, L&D efforts should be prioritized when crises and changes in the business environment take root, as it enables organizations to maximize the contributions of their employees. In a post-pandemic world, learning and development will be even more important as business continuity and growth will become more dependent on a responsive workforce that is able to learn and adapt to meet fast-changing needs.

In this interactive panel we’ll discuss best practices for optimizing the value of L&D in the face of disruptive change, such as:

• Creating modules to train leaders on how to keep everyone up to date, set expectations and performance goals, and establish communication rules and channels
• Incorporating real-world applications into learning experiences, to provide opportunities for learners to apply their learnings to actual work submissions
• Embracing innovative virtual learning and collaboration platforms to foster interpersonal communication, collaboration, teamwork, and flexibility
• Utilizing social learning initiatives so that the workforce can learn from each other through formal and informal feedback
• Accelerating the adoption of design thinking and agile ways of working
• Creating a focused skills building organization in order to: address gaps in critical roles and workflows, become more strategic about mobility opportunities, and develop flexibility with assignments and staffing as skill needs change

Fireside Chat

Changing Skill Sets: L&D Leaders as Strategic Business Partners

The skills L&D leaders need to do their job are changing, as it’s no longer enough to oversee training agendas and run the learning management system. In addition to being involved in crafting the strategies needed to ready the workforce of the future, today’s L&D executive is expected to be a strategic business partner – with a strong vision and focus to execute a commitment to continuous learning. It’s critical for L&D leaders to understand how their learning agenda is helping the company meet strategic business objectives, and they also need to be prepared to use L&D to ready the company for future shifts and disruptions in the industry.

Join this enlightening session as we discuss how forward-thinking L&D leaders can establish and provide critical influence throughout the organization, such as:

• Developing consulting experience to help establish and implement strategies for achieving the organization’s strategic vision and mission
• Acting as an integrator across the C-suite, to develop a shared vision of how human capability will impact the future of the company
• Understanding the landscape and keeping pace with what’s happening within the organization, in the greater industry, and in the economy at large – to effectively anticipate what kinds of talent the organization will need
• Creating a culture of continuous learning throughout the company to provide in-depth knowledge of current issues affecting overall business
• Improving stakeholder engagement skills that allow the L&D executive to be on the front line when it comes to business objectives and strategy

Keynote Presentation

Enabling and Improving L&D through Soft Skills Development

When it comes to training in the workplace, soft skills are often overlooked because they’re not as tangible as something like project management or working with software. While technical skills obviously have importance, many organizations have been giving them disproportionate weight in job descriptions and training, but that’s rapidly changing. In these times of change and uncertainty, providing training content that helps your employees develop their soft skills proves you’re committed to seeing a bright future for your organization, and for them as individuals.

In this session we’ll review some key enablers that L&D needs to implement to make soft skills acquisition happen, such as:

• Defining upfront why the organization is targeting soft skills development and the goals they want to achieve
• Setting up a development team that involves leaders from each business unit, in order to validate the L&D strategy, determine strategic learning priorities, and prioritize soft skills training
• Conducting a performance needs analysis to identify capability demands at organizational and individual levels – including soft skills gaps
• Determining the soft skills that will be the most impactful for achieving the desired business needs, and planning your curriculum and delivery methods around these determinations
• Developing a catalog to track progress, results and feedback from program participants
• Ideas for measuring results of soft skills training and recognizing success

Keynote Presentation

Disrupting and Elevating L&D through Learning Technology & Digital Transformation

In learning and development, the urgency for digital transformation is being driven by increased demand for performance-based training and a shift in learner expectations. Today’s employees expect on-demand training experiences that help them achieve their goals within their day-to-day roles and their professional development. As part of this on-demand training, most employees prefer digital methods for learning and working, and most senior executives believe that emerging digital technologies will change the nature of work moving forward. It’s therefore critical to make the needed modifications to digital strategy to stay relevant.

Join this informative session as we review some of the factors to consider for a digital transformation, such as:

• Analyzing organizational goals and objectives that are needed in order to figure out how the organization should champion the digital upgrades for the L&D programs
• Developing a flexible infrastructure that enables employees to securely work where they want, whenever they want, and on any company-approved device
• Reviewing the training and skills that will be needed to fully implement and manage the digital L&D technology
• Collecting data about the business and priorities to inform how L&D positively impacts business performance, the capability of its people and their confidence to deliver
• Mapping out the organization’s top priorities to ensure that every technology the company deploys has a measurable, positive impact on employees and business outcomes
• Instituting monitoring and management protocols to ensure security, connectivity & fast issue resolution

Keynote Presentation

Skills of the Future & Today’s Talent

New technologies and evolving customer priorities mean businesses need to react quickly with new products and services, business models, and strategies. Key to this is equipping people with the skills they need to navigate uncertainty, meet today’s demands, and be ready for what’s next. Forward-thinking companies are, therefore, redesigning their approach to employee learning to understand what skills they need now and in the future, and continuously cultivate those skills.

Join us in this engaging session as we learn how to:

• Build your own incubator of emerging skills
• Define and measure what skills your business has now
• Identify what skills your business needs next (and the best way to cultivate this)

Panel Discussion

Leveraging Learning and Metrics to Support a Values Based Culture

Diversity, inclusion and employee wellbeing became a top priority for most organizations this past year, and will continue to be one for the foreseeable future. However, the well-being programs for many companies are simply not enough to support the growing need for diversity and inclusion assistance, and L&D leaders have to take the lead with the resources, tools, and proper training to provide the needed assistance and support.

Join us in the highly interactive panel as we discuss L&D and Talent’s roles and best practices for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace culture that improves mental health and well-being, such as:

• Providing employees with the tools they need improve their mindfulness, which leads to decreased levels of stress, higher levels of concentration, and improved multitasking
• Developing well-being initiatives that accommodate the needs of the diverse workforce and best supports colleagues
• Monitoring and responding quickly to challenges related to the delicate and diverse work-life balance
• Planning out communications effectively and efficiently to showcase available resources and support initiatives
• Expanding diversity, equity and inclusion training to reinforce mental health and well-being across the organization

End of Summit