Gaining insight from L&D professionals

Leading learning and development experts are set to share their knowledge at the illustrious World of Learning Conference & Exhibition, taking place on 19-20 October.

Leading learning and development (L&D) experts from the NHS, GSK, Travis Perkins Group, Marks & Spencer, KPMG, McDonald’s and more are set to share their expertise at the illustrious World of Learning Conference & Exhibition.

The well established event will take place on 19-20 0ctober at Birmingham’s NEC. Combining a comprehensive conference with an exhibition, a programme of free seminars and interactive workshops including Learning Design Live, the Technology Test Drive, the Mindfulness Zone and the Experiential Learning Zone, visitors will gain a clear understanding of universal developments affecting L&D across both the public and private sectors.

Positive business effects
Matthew Syed, best selling author of Bounce and Black Box Thinking will be opening the first day of the conference with a focus on how motivated learners drive a culture of high performance and optimal business results.

In his keynote speech ‘Driving learner motivation - the positive business effects’, Matthew will examine how to create a culture of performance excellence through continuous learning and growth. He’ll demonstrate how a positive learning culture, which reduces or eliminates the fear of failure by confronting and learning from it, can dramatically increase learner motivation and the willingness to try new things. These motivated learners are better able to drive performance excellence and so deliver maximum results for business.

In the bespoke presentation for the World of Learning audience, Matthew will share compelling examples from healthcare, aviation, business, sport and the criminal justice system to highlight how to drive learner motivation through a growth culture and the difference that that can have on performance and growth – both at an individual level and at an organisational level.

Matthew’s accomplished table tennis career, which saw him compete at two Olympic Games for Great Britain, gave him an early interest in performance culture. As well as authoring two acclaimed books, he is also an award-winning journalist who writes for The Times and is a regular contributor to radio and television. An experienced keynote speaker around the world, Matthew empowers teams and individuals to create a high performance culture in their organisations.

Making it happen
With more than 35 years experience in strategic performance improvement and capability building, Charles Jennings will deliver the closing keynote session ‘Integrating learning into work: make it happen’ on the concluding day of the conference.

Highly regarded in the industry he has spent many years investigating innovative approaches to learning and performance as a researcher and university professor, and has also held senior roles in the business world, principally as a chief learning officer and as a member of leadership and HR management teams in global companies.

He explains: “Most learning takes place in the workplace. Research suggests people spend far more time learning as part of their job than they do in classrooms or through e-Learning, and that this learning is more effective, and often more efficient, too. For L&D to play a role to help their organisation thrive, they need to step beyond a focus on formal learning and start to support effective workplace learning. If they don’t do this, L&D will become increasingly marginalised.”

As part of his session Charles will provide guidance on strategies and tactics that will help integrate learning with the current work in the audience organisations. He will explain the new roles L&D should adopt to apply the 70:20:10 model to extend the focus of learning into work, and the tasks needed to undertake for success. The audience will come away with tools and job aids they can use to help embed learning with work in their organisations. Not only will the tools and job aids help their workforce, they'll reflect well on the individuals putting them forward, too.

Inspiration Zones
Alongside the highly respected conference and free seminars are the Inspiration Zones - immersive areas where visitors can receive interactive and effective advice on best practice and new developments. The Technology Test Drive area and the Mindfulness Zone will enable visitors to both test the latest innovations and receive practical information in creating a growing and sustainable rise in employee productivity and engagement.

The Experiential Learning Zone offers a collection of specialised workshops on vital areas such as engagement, well-being and leadership development, including ‘Engaging millennials in modern workplace learning’ and ‘Realistic optimism and using positive emotions to increase resilience and productivity.’

There will be a host of free seminars including Learning Design Live, which is specifically for anyone involved in learning tech design. There will be an opportunity to get in-depth advice and share ideas with other design specialists. Topics include creating effective micro-learning, gamification – the latest and best techniques, rapid design and development, and enhancing the visual aspects of content.

With the government implementing the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017, World of Learning will be launching an Apprenticeship Zone this year. Visitors to the show will be able to engage with apprenticeship training providers to discuss the upcoming Levy. A dedicated free apprenticeship seminar theatre will cover everything from how the Levy works to structuring and delivering an apprenticeship programme.

Andrew Gee from the World of Learning concludes: “The World of Learning Conference & Exhibition is essential for anyone involved in the L&D, HR or leadership sectors. It provides a unique opportunity for visitors to become proficient in the latest trends, while networking and expanding their industry contracts.”

The World of Learning 2016 is held in association with the British Institute for Learning & Development.