Learning & Development Virtual Summit 2021

Speakers

All Times in EST

Virtual Welcome and Opening Remarks

Opening Keynote Presentation

The Future of Learning: Altering the Organizational Approach to Ensure Success of L&D Initiatives

The roles of L&D executives continue to expand, with many learning and talent leaders taking on new and critical responsibilities in helping to facilitate and support change initiatives in their organizations. These same leaders have been required to completely rethink how their functions and businesses operate, and now must find new avenues to reach organizational goals. As a result, this sudden and continued change has made it difficult to plan for long-term initiatives and growth.

In this engaging session we’ll discuss best practices in planning for the next chapter of learning, and ensuring the future success of L&D initiatives, such as:

• Evaluating which roles and positions throughout the organization can remain permanently remote, hybrid, or require a full-time return to the office
• Confirming that all aspects of training activities – from establishing processes and developing programs to accessing resources – are strategically aligned to where the business is going
• Deploying additional virtual skills and engagement training so that leaders are equipped with the required new skills to properly support, engage and communicate wit the workforce.
• Putting all of the systems, technologies and digital learning tools in place, in order to successfully execute all current and future initiatives
• Helping leaders to understand the challenges and advantages of virtual training and making the case for your future cyborg learning.

Keynote Presentation

The Human Side of Change Management

Confounded by the complexities of the global changes occurring and its impact to business, leaders need to be aware of the effect on their workforce.  How do you support your people on the human and business side of the change management equation? It is more critical than ever to be emotionally intelligent and build trust through clear communication to promote successful implementation of change.

In this keynote session, American Management Association (AMA) will address the human and business strategies needed for managing change today–how it affects your people, your awareness of it and the way to approach it while providing easy-to-understand insights on:

• Sharing what the need and the intended outcome of the change is
• Communicating change with your team and frequency of communication
• Establishing an environment of transparency and promotion of your authentic self

Keynote Presentation

Pivoting to Growth: Upskilling to Drive Action and Cultural Change in Your Organization

What is your biggest upskilling challenge? This session will explore creative ways to imbed the development of skills of the future within mission critical initiatives. Significant skills gaps and rapid strides in technology are shaping our world and forcing us to continuously advance, organizations realize the need to evolve their workforce to stay current and future-ready is no longer optional.

In this session we’ll discuss some of the key considerations when planning transformational upskilling, such as:

• Having candid conversations with key stakeholders; whether they are senior executives, HR leaders or the employees themselves, getting buy-in across the organization can create strategic efficiencies,
• Identifying the right skills to prioritize in order to effectively understand talent supply and demand for certain areas within the organization,
• Embedding personal coaching initiatives and individual skills development plans in order to effectively define the steps and training necessary to address new job requirements.
• The future of work is coming and the skills that employees need are impacted by both planned and unplanned events. The ability to rapidly deploy and reinforce just in time learning will be a market differentiator for companies that practice it now.

Keynote Presentation

Adapting L&D Strategies: Embracing the Continued Transition to Alternative Learning Modalities

Disruption and the “Next Normal” have become common themes that have intensified the corporate world’s need for developing new ways of learning. Companies are continually forced to determine the best methods to rapidly adapt existing L&D resources.

Join us in this highly interactive session as we discuss what L&D leaders should focus on when adapting new L&D assets, such as:

• Ensuring that L&D resources are easily accessible and efficient
• Making point-of-need solutions available to blend L&D in to the flow of work
• Concentrating on upskilling and reskilling to close skills gaps

Lunch & Learn

Meeting Learners Where They Are: Teaching and Training in Bite-Size Chunks

Today’s learners prefer remote-friendly training with courses that are accessible, engaging, and super effective. As such, it’s critical to implement text-messaging into your learning organization – with a 95% open rate, text message courses drive completion, engagement, and satisfaction rates that are far greater than other learning tools.

Join us in this highly interactive Lunch & Learn session as we examine cast studies that highlight the benefits and best practices for implementing text messaging courses, such as:

• Instantly reaching thousands of learners in just a few clicks, to eliminate video fatigue and reach even the busiest of learning recipients
• Building text courses with interactive questions, GIF’s and emojis that eliminates the learning curve and keeps learners fully engaged
• Providing meaningful outcomes that help shift behavior and improve knowledge retention

Keynote Presentation

Diversity in the Workforce: Becoming a Truly Inclusive & Equitable Learning Organization

Inclusion and equitable learning are critical components of a modern learning culture in the workplace, and improves performance outcomes. Without diverse and inclusive learning initiatives, the same practices are continually repeated in a cultural status quo. Even with new learning implementations, organizational culture needs to be constantly monitored and modified to reap the benefits of learning and workforce development.

In this session we’ll discuss best practices for developing and maintaining a truly diverse and inclusive L&D and Talent organization, such as:

• Driving and facilitating L&D based on the unique proficiencies and abilities of the diverse workforce – in order to meet employee needs across different jobs
• Revising workforce planning and development strategies to ensure alignment with future skill and talent requirements
• Utilizing innovative learning technologies to promote adaptive learning that is tailored to the unique needs and learning styles of the workforce
• Establishing learning content that is shared in flexible quantities so that employees can consume to their individual capacities

Panel Discussion

People Analytics: Leveraging Data to Optimize Employee Experience and Maximize Productivity

Organizations require data and information to examine and explain how they can utilize the current workforce in order to maintain business continuity. In addition, the ever-changing business environment creates an urgent need for better people decisions everywhere, and the volume of workforce data continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. However, merely having this data isn’t nearly enough to succeed. As such, it’s critical for L&D and Talent leaders to gathering real-time insights about training, performance, and engagement to better demonstrate what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next.

Join this interactive panel discussion to hear how leaders are:

• Analyzing data to understand the current state of the workforce, and inform discussions on talent and L&D initiatives that are needed to meet business objectives
• Highlighting successful data collection initiatives and strategies to make evidence-based decisions to cope with change
• Leveraging data and analytics to demonstrate real-time examples of how change and demand shifts are affecting training, performance, and engagement
• Linking recruiting to business outcomes and determining what candidate attributes are likely to produce quality hires in the workforce

Keynote Presentation

Is Your Organization Ready for Behavior Change at Scale?

We are now challenged to translate the fresh insights and good intentions from 2020 into new ways of working and being together. Whether your organization is grappling with creating a more just and equitable culture, transitioning to a hybrid work environment, or rethinking what good and effective leadership looks like now—you are faced with the prospect of initiating and supporting significant behavior change at scale. A holistic approach is needed to prepare your organization to come together and engage these challenges—and each other—in practical and productive ways. This provocative presentation will illuminate key leverage points to turn good intentions into great outcomes, in part by instilling a culture where people feel safe, seen and supported to realize their potential.

Fireside Chat

Accelerating Upskilling, Leadership Development and Culture Transformation

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.

Keynote Presentation

How Virtual Training Supports DE&I: 4 Must-Haves for Virtually Supporting DE&I

Inclusive and diverse workspaces are crucial to recruitment, employee retention, company culture, and revenue. A 2019 McKnisey study found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile.

As organizations build initiatives around DE&I and meld it with their existing Learning and Development systems, it’s critical to create lasting programs that enable top down culture change that employees can act on and find engaging.

Join Lamont Exeter, VP of TTEC Digital and Workstream Leader of Diversity Council at TTEC in a conversation about the 4 Must-Haves for Virtually Supporting DE&I.

• Hire Professional Help
• Leverage Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to Create Belonging
• Allow Self Expression
• Equip Managers & Leaders with Tools for Inclusion

Fireside Chat

Transforming Career Development and Upskilling to Support Talent Mobility

During the pandemic, employees and organizations alike had new needs arise and for many individuals this posed new challenges to day to day roles and responsibilities. That’s where the opportunity to focus on career development to mobilize talent across different sides of the organization became a key strategy for fulfilling talent and business needs.

Join us for this fireside chat as we discuss Unum’s evolving career development initiatives and how learning leaders are leading transformation.

End of Summit