I am working on updates and will complete by tomorrow but there is too much going on...so stay with me and look for a full report by Thursdsay.
CDH
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday Lunch...
So through the social network system here at Learning 2007 I was contacted by a company called Video Arts...they make training and instructional videos that use high value production and comedy to tell corporate business stories. The company was founded by John Cleese (from Monty Python fame).
It sounded interesting so I agreed to meet them for lunch.
Suffice to say, there isn't that much to it...this is an OLD company that is trying to invent itself and find a market in the US Cleese doesn't even own the company anymore and they've been bought several times. They sounded a tad desperate.
I did run into Bob Islip again from Learning Guides...and Alfred Remmits...they are HARD selling at us. I also asked him if he had taken this to P&G directly and came to find out that yes, he has talked to P&G...but only to Linda Coffman...and he had no idea she was leaving P&G. He looked like he got punched in the stomach when I told him.
I did get a good look at their new interface for Learning Guides and its very nice...clean...easier to use. Impressive.
Good lunch...
CDH
It sounded interesting so I agreed to meet them for lunch.
Suffice to say, there isn't that much to it...this is an OLD company that is trying to invent itself and find a market in the US Cleese doesn't even own the company anymore and they've been bought several times. They sounded a tad desperate.
I did run into Bob Islip again from Learning Guides...and Alfred Remmits...they are HARD selling at us. I also asked him if he had taken this to P&G directly and came to find out that yes, he has talked to P&G...but only to Linda Coffman...and he had no idea she was leaving P&G. He looked like he got punched in the stomach when I told him.
I did get a good look at their new interface for Learning Guides and its very nice...clean...easier to use. Impressive.
Good lunch...
CDH
Monday AM Breakout III
The last AM session on Monday took me to a marketing and roll out session from a health care company called Marketing and Implementation: Cheap and Easy. This hospital consortium in Minnesota (Park Nicollet) rolled out a new LMS and the three women who presented managed the rollout.
First off, they were totally full of energy, at ease as presenters and very happy to be there. It's not so much that ideas for their rollout were so creative (they did giveaways and meetings with managers and some local marketing) but it was their attitude about it that I think made their work successful.
They had a total eye and ear towards marketing and communications that transcended their work as learning managers.
They also had a cool giveaway...a mouse pad with inserts that were standard size cards explaining how to use their LMS and when changes were made or updates to training plans happened, they could just print a new insert.
It really showed me how much more we can do in our own area and how we may really need to push back on communication limitations to reach our users.
Very impressive work by these women.
More later,
CDH
First off, they were totally full of energy, at ease as presenters and very happy to be there. It's not so much that ideas for their rollout were so creative (they did giveaways and meetings with managers and some local marketing) but it was their attitude about it that I think made their work successful.
They had a total eye and ear towards marketing and communications that transcended their work as learning managers.
They also had a cool giveaway...a mouse pad with inserts that were standard size cards explaining how to use their LMS and when changes were made or updates to training plans happened, they could just print a new insert.
It really showed me how much more we can do in our own area and how we may really need to push back on communication limitations to reach our users.
Very impressive work by these women.
More later,
CDH
Monday AM Breakout II
I bailed early on Linda's presentation/discussion crashed the Supplier discussion. Missed some of the business updates but here are some trends highlights:
--Significant movement with talent in the industry...many jumping from one competitor to another.
--Consolidation of the industry has likely peaked for now.
--The outsourcing curve has also peaked...and some companies are bringing outsourced services back in house. Expect there to still be a balance between outsourcing and maintaining services in house.
--Offshore development continues to wane as new tools and local companies become more price competitive in addition to being faster and better at customized development.
One key message we received in this session is that suppliers need to be BRAVE. We need to push our own companies towards better methods of delivery and fight the internal and external battle to widget everything. One new trend discussed in this session is that there isn't much that's exciting that is coming from suppliers in the industry...either in tools or services.
Be BRAVE. That's an important message.
Good session,
CDH
--Significant movement with talent in the industry...many jumping from one competitor to another.
--Consolidation of the industry has likely peaked for now.
--The outsourcing curve has also peaked...and some companies are bringing outsourced services back in house. Expect there to still be a balance between outsourcing and maintaining services in house.
--Offshore development continues to wane as new tools and local companies become more price competitive in addition to being faster and better at customized development.
One key message we received in this session is that suppliers need to be BRAVE. We need to push our own companies towards better methods of delivery and fight the internal and external battle to widget everything. One new trend discussed in this session is that there isn't much that's exciting that is coming from suppliers in the industry...either in tools or services.
Be BRAVE. That's an important message.
Good session,
CDH
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday AM Breakout I
Went to Linda Coffman's (from P&G) session on learning challenges in the consumer products environment. Ran into Bob Islip from Learning Guides there...he is a selling machine.
Linda co-presented with someone from SC Johnson and Nike. It was not terribly excited and didn't cover much new ground, though I did find out that P&G is using some new tools like Second Life with external marketing uses.
One thing I realized from this session is that we, as the HP Ed services partner with P&G, now have no idea what P&G is doing in many cases witgh respct to learning outside of the sandbox where we play. Linda is leaving P&G in December and no one is really taking up her work and her causes and I am not even sure who will manage P&G's relationship with events like this and the Masie Center.
This should be addressed.
More to come,
CDH
Linda co-presented with someone from SC Johnson and Nike. It was not terribly excited and didn't cover much new ground, though I did find out that P&G is using some new tools like Second Life with external marketing uses.
One thing I realized from this session is that we, as the HP Ed services partner with P&G, now have no idea what P&G is doing in many cases witgh respct to learning outside of the sandbox where we play. Linda is leaving P&G in December and no one is really taking up her work and her causes and I am not even sure who will manage P&G's relationship with events like this and the Masie Center.
This should be addressed.
More to come,
CDH
Monday Morning General Session Part II
The usual fineries of the conference start to build here. Elliot is in rare form and does a nice job laying out the theme of the conference, "Learning Changes."
Lots of talk about things like the real impact of new gaming technology, new learning technology (like mobile learning, which seems to be a huge opportunity) and the large impact of the aging workforce, especially in North America with the baby boomers.
There are 2100 folks here from places as diverse as the CIA and Veterans Adminstration, power companies, leaders like Intel, Apple, Microsoft, Johnson and Johnson and international companies like Dubai Airlines, the BBC, etc.
The first keynote is from Dan Pink, a noted author (best seller) of several books...he has a new one, " A Whole New Mind," which is based on the idea that the future world will be ruled by the right brain thinkers...the creatives and those tune to design and how that will change the world. His presentation was all of 6 minutes...short and sweet.
Next up is Jane McGonical, who is with the Institute of the Future. She spoke on gaming in an alternate reality...she created the World Without Oil game that was played in real time, over 32 days using current technology. The idea is that you can role play scenarios in a game situation and enable users to run their own game.
More on this later but I found this very provocative.
Jane is a 30 year old Ph.D. from Cal-Berkely who's real job is that of a game designer for Microsoft, etc.
CDH
Lots of talk about things like the real impact of new gaming technology, new learning technology (like mobile learning, which seems to be a huge opportunity) and the large impact of the aging workforce, especially in North America with the baby boomers.
There are 2100 folks here from places as diverse as the CIA and Veterans Adminstration, power companies, leaders like Intel, Apple, Microsoft, Johnson and Johnson and international companies like Dubai Airlines, the BBC, etc.
The first keynote is from Dan Pink, a noted author (best seller) of several books...he has a new one, " A Whole New Mind," which is based on the idea that the future world will be ruled by the right brain thinkers...the creatives and those tune to design and how that will change the world. His presentation was all of 6 minutes...short and sweet.
Next up is Jane McGonical, who is with the Institute of the Future. She spoke on gaming in an alternate reality...she created the World Without Oil game that was played in real time, over 32 days using current technology. The idea is that you can role play scenarios in a game situation and enable users to run their own game.
More on this later but I found this very provocative.
Jane is a 30 year old Ph.D. from Cal-Berkely who's real job is that of a game designer for Microsoft, etc.
CDH
Monday Morning General Session
Okay, first of all, 8 AM for the START of a general session is WAY too early...especially when I have a 20 minute drive.
So I got here at 8:05...not bad. The air temperature at 8:05 from the main screen in the Azera was 80 degrees...and very humid. My glasses fogged up fully as soon as the car door opened.
More later,
CDH
So I got here at 8:05...not bad. The air temperature at 8:05 from the main screen in the Azera was 80 degrees...and very humid. My glasses fogged up fully as soon as the car door opened.
More later,
CDH
Great Dinner...
One of the best places to eat at WDW, or anywhere in Orange County, is the Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney in the Marketplace. Small place and a smaller menu but the food is excellent.
I skipped out on the end of the General Session Sunday night for a BBQ Chicken Quesadilla and Butternut Squash Soup which was FABULUOUS. I could eat the soup every day.
I had that, bought my son a toy and hit the road for home just in time to see the BoSox clinch the AL pennant.
See you Monday.
CDH
I skipped out on the end of the General Session Sunday night for a BBQ Chicken Quesadilla and Butternut Squash Soup which was FABULUOUS. I could eat the soup every day.
I had that, bought my son a toy and hit the road for home just in time to see the BoSox clinch the AL pennant.
See you Monday.
CDH
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Keynote Two: Jenny Zhu from ChinesePod
Second keynote is Jenny Zhu from Chinese Pod, which teaches people from all over the world how to speak Mandarin Chinese using the web and podcasting.
She is from Shanghai and this is very interesting...a truly impactful way to deliver training.
We're learning some words in Mandarin.
Pijiu means Beer in Mandarin Chinese. There you go...that was worth the $1000 registration fee.
Jonathan from the CIA is brought up to interview Jenny. He lays out some serious Chinese chops and conducts a conversation with her that is garble to me. He is apparently asking her success tips for her podcasting efforts.
Her realization is that learning all happens differently for everyone. In the beginning, they tried to put too much information in one lesson and in one format and and all on one level. So over time, they changed this to make everything digestible in smaller doses.
She's very hip and young...this is a great example.
Mandarin is very tonal but supposedly very easy to learn to speak...I might check it out.
The CIA guy thinks they have created a best practice for language instruction. Jenny speaks to the structural choices users can select which has made a huge difference.
More Mandarin:
CDH
She is from Shanghai and this is very interesting...a truly impactful way to deliver training.
We're learning some words in Mandarin.
Pijiu means Beer in Mandarin Chinese. There you go...that was worth the $1000 registration fee.
Jonathan from the CIA is brought up to interview Jenny. He lays out some serious Chinese chops and conducts a conversation with her that is garble to me. He is apparently asking her success tips for her podcasting efforts.
Her realization is that learning all happens differently for everyone. In the beginning, they tried to put too much information in one lesson and in one format and and all on one level. So over time, they changed this to make everything digestible in smaller doses.
She's very hip and young...this is a great example.
Mandarin is very tonal but supposedly very easy to learn to speak...I might check it out.
The CIA guy thinks they have created a best practice for language instruction. Jenny speaks to the structural choices users can select which has made a huge difference.
More Mandarin:
CDH
Malaria No More
Learning 2007 is donating $25,000 to provide a mosquito net from each participant at Learning 2007 for people in Africa to stop the malaria pandemic. That's 2087 nets and they're taking more donations at the conference.
For more information, check out their site...I had no idea this was such a huge deal.
Malaria No More
There is also a nice example of a gaming as learning tool put on their site developed by folks from the conference.
CDH
For more information, check out their site...I had no idea this was such a huge deal.
Malaria No More
There is also a nice example of a gaming as learning tool put on their site developed by folks from the conference.
CDH
Keynote One...Dr. Butch Rosser
Our first keynote out of the gate is: Butch Rosser...Surgeon. Author, Playwright from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
He dresses well. Walks, talks and prances like a preacher.
Dr. Butch speaks to the idea that over 100,000 people die each year due to medical mistakes.
His idea was researching the idea that surgeons who warm up with video games or use video games prior to surgery actually improves a surgeon's ability to perform, especially with new surgical techniques, related to laproscopy.
His ways to succeed, especially with those that question what you're doing. His response is to crack the toughest nut possible. Find the hardest thing that has to get done and find a process to make it work. He took a 300 hour training process and moved it down to 12 hours. He just said it again...find the DARKEST CORNER. The thing no one wants to do...if you can do that and then show it off, you can also get buy in from others.
His research with training surgeons with a gaming process enabled all surgeons to succeed...no limit on age or knowledge level. Minimized failure rate because of design and use of gaming.
They bring out the Wii from Nintendo...oh, it doesn't work.
The session is interesting because of how it ties the idea of gaming to the idea of learning in a way that shows real efficacy and value.
CDH
He dresses well. Walks, talks and prances like a preacher.
Dr. Butch speaks to the idea that over 100,000 people die each year due to medical mistakes.
His idea was researching the idea that surgeons who warm up with video games or use video games prior to surgery actually improves a surgeon's ability to perform, especially with new surgical techniques, related to laproscopy.
His ways to succeed, especially with those that question what you're doing. His response is to crack the toughest nut possible. Find the hardest thing that has to get done and find a process to make it work. He took a 300 hour training process and moved it down to 12 hours. He just said it again...find the DARKEST CORNER. The thing no one wants to do...if you can do that and then show it off, you can also get buy in from others.
His research with training surgeons with a gaming process enabled all surgeons to succeed...no limit on age or knowledge level. Minimized failure rate because of design and use of gaming.
They bring out the Wii from Nintendo...oh, it doesn't work.
The session is interesting because of how it ties the idea of gaming to the idea of learning in a way that shows real efficacy and value.
CDH
Champlain Kids...
To highlight the connection between learning and gaming, Elliot has brought in four kids from Champlain College who are supposedly gaming experts...creating two games during the session. This is similar to other "ongoing conference" activities I've seen in the past.
CDH
CDH
Elliot fries an egg...
As a precursor to Bobby Flay's session tomorrow, our host Elliot Masie decided to fry an egg...he made a "frog in the hole," something I haven't eaten since I was a kid. Basically it's bread, butter and eggs fried in a skillet. I can still smell it.
This is supposedly a bridge to the idea that anyone can cook so anyone can create learning...not a bad metaphor.
CDH
This is supposedly a bridge to the idea that anyone can cook so anyone can create learning...not a bad metaphor.
CDH
Opening Session
Beginning precisely at 7:29 PM...and thank God there is better Wi-Fi at the Coronado Springs this year. It's light years ahead of last year.
The session kicked off with a weird introduction to the all countries attending.
The Veterans Administration is a key partner this year with the conference and they arranged a color guard presentation with a real military color guard marching in and presenting the US colors and then marching out. Weird.
More later,
CDH
The session kicked off with a weird introduction to the all countries attending.
The Veterans Administration is a key partner this year with the conference and they arranged a color guard presentation with a real military color guard marching in and presenting the US colors and then marching out. Weird.
More later,
CDH
Cathy Masie siting...
4:00 PM Sunday
Just got a nice hug and kiss from Cathy Masie, Elliot's wife. For some reason, she always remembers me and asks about work and kids and travel and what not. So nice. We sat together for one dinner and I've been to her house twice, but its always nice to be remembered.
On my way to registration and the annual Consortium meeting that I'm late for.
CDH
Just got a nice hug and kiss from Cathy Masie, Elliot's wife. For some reason, she always remembers me and asks about work and kids and travel and what not. So nice. We sat together for one dinner and I've been to her house twice, but its always nice to be remembered.
On my way to registration and the annual Consortium meeting that I'm late for.
CDH
Saturday night...in a nutshell.
Not to bore you (this is supposed to be about Learning 2007) but after the flight, I picked up a nice rental car (a Hyundai Azera--they're premium car), popped in my new Patton Oswalt CD and hit the road to Universal Studios where I caught "Super Bad," (very funny....very) and dinner at the Hard Rock bar (watching JD Drew crush the Indians).
Good night...then I hit the Wal-Mart for some supplies and on to bed.
More on Sunday,
CDH
Good night...then I hit the Wal-Mart for some supplies and on to bed.
More on Sunday,
CDH
No Secret...
Okay, I just landed and it's no big secret why Southwest Airlines both makes a profit, flies on time and gets such high satisfaction survey results from its passengers. They are fabulous...too bad the flight was so rocky we were seat bound for the whole trip.
But I'd drive 300 miles to take a Southwest flight any day of the week.
CDH
But I'd drive 300 miles to take a Southwest flight any day of the week.
CDH
Travel Out...10/20
Saturday...a nice drive from Cincinnati to Columbus to catch my Southwest flight to Orlando. Thanks to Delta Airlines for providing such high airfare that I actually had to drive 100 miles north to ride an airplane.
My trip to Learning 2007 has begun.
CDH
My trip to Learning 2007 has begun.
CDH
Friday, October 19, 2007
Conference Time
All,
I will do my best to update my experiences at Learning 2007 in real time fashion so you can keep constant tabs on my doings with the movers and shakers of the learning industry.
Stay tuned and come back...make sure to sign up for the updates.
See you (sorta) in Orlando!
CDH
I will do my best to update my experiences at Learning 2007 in real time fashion so you can keep constant tabs on my doings with the movers and shakers of the learning industry.
Stay tuned and come back...make sure to sign up for the updates.
See you (sorta) in Orlando!
CDH
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