What am I up to at Learning Solutions 2021?

As much as it would have been nice to see everyone in person this year, I have to admit that Learning Solutions moving online for 2021 has one pretty fantastic benefit: lots of room to experiment.

My last few weeks have involved a ton of somewhat secretive preparation for the sessions and activities I'll be leading at the conference and I'm so excited that soon I'll finally be able to share them with all of you.

So if you're coming to Learning Solutions 2021 and are up for trying out some new conferences experiences with me, be sure to join me at the following sessions and activities:

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What Kind of Learning Solutions Attendee Are You Quiz
When: Right now! 
Okay, so the first thing on this list isn't something you have to wait for the conference to do. This Buzzfeed-like quiz was a fun piece of marketing I put together for the event that's both amusing and legitimately helpful for recommending sessions you might enjoy. If you're not sure what sessions to go to or just want a silly way to pass a few minutes, be sure to give it a try.

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Speed Networking
When: Twice a day from Monday, May 10-Thursday, May 13.

• 7:15-7:45AM Pacific
• 12:15-12:45PM Pacific

Speed Networking was a nifty new thing we started doing at DevLearn last year to help people get to know other attendees better despite us all being online. People seemed to love the opportunity to just casually chat with other L&D folks, so we're bringing it back for Learning Solutions.

​Each day has a discussion theme and you'll be randomly matched with other attendees for short, 4 minute chats about that theme (making it extra easy to get the conversation going for those of us that are on the shy side). I'll be hosting both the morning and the afternoon sessions for this.

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Game Night
When: Monday, May 10-Thursday, May 13. 2:00-3:00PM Pacific
I'm hosting all four Game Nights, which are an opportunity to play games online with other attendees. Each night we play a different game online together, with all of the games being ones that are easy to learn even for non-gamers.

I'm particularly proud of the Monday and Wednesday trivia nights as I researched all the questions for them myself and they're delightfully weird.

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Beta Spaces - Twisted Case Studies
When: Thursday, May 13. 1:00-2:00PM Pacific
You know how sometimes you're happily working on a project and then a stakeholder adds in a last minute new request for it into the mix? Well, this session is essentially a funny version of what it's like to pivot around a request.

In this activity you'll get a case study that you'll need to come up with a solution pitch for. After being broken into teams each group with get one additional bizarre request from your client. With each team getting a different new variable to consider, it'll be fun to see just how much everyone's proposed solutions will vary.

To keep things fun, I've been writing comically over-the-top scenarios and additional requests for the activity. So you'll be practicing real skills we use on the job, but in a hilarious way.

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Keynote: 10 Non-L&D Tools That Can Improve Your Practice
When: Tuesday, May 11. 11:00AM-12:00PM Pacific
This keynote has 10 speakers sharing 10 different tools that we find helpful for our work. So if you like exploring new tool options, you're going to love this.

I'm one of the speakers on this and without getting too spoiler-y I'm sharing a tool I find extremely helpful for working with photos.

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SpeakerChat with Mike Taylor and Bianca Woods _ How Do You Find and Test New Tools and Resources?
When: Tuesday, May 11. 1:00-1:45PM Pacific
This SpeakerChat is directly connected to the 10 tools keynote earlier in the day. It continues the conversation, with Mike and I chatting in even more detail about how we find and test new tools and also answering audience questions as well.

If you follow Mike online you know what a wealth of tools he regularly shares, so you're sure to discover something new and useful in our discussion.

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Those are the sessions I'll be running or sharing at, but I'll also be scampering around the conference platform checking out sessions, providing tech support, and posting pictures of my cats in the chat bar, so be sure to say hi if you're there too.