Agenda

Speaker:

Ashley St. John, Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer, Chief Learning Officer

Explore the transformative power of skills with Kason Morris as he unravels their role as the new currency in today’s dynamic work environments. In this keynote, Kason will share strategies to integrate robust skills development with business objectives no matter the company size, ensuring organizational agility and success. Drawing from his current role as Global Director of Future of Work and Skills Strategy, he will provide actionable insights on creating systems and a culture that prioritizes continuous learning and skills utilization. This session will empower attendees to align their L&D efforts with emerging business trends, helping their teams thrive in a continuously evolving marketplace.

Speaker:

Kason Morris, Founder / Head of Future of Work and Skills Strategy, Morris Business Education Ventures Int. LLC / Merck

Learning and development (L&D) plays a crucial role in equipping employees with the skills they need to succeed. However, many organizations struggle to demonstrate the true impact of their L&D programs on business goals.
In this interactive session, we’ll explore strategies for aligning L&D programs with your organization's strategic priorities. You will discover:

• How to overcome common L&D challenges such as fragmented teams and disconnection from HR.
• Strategies for connecting L&D programs to key business objectives.
• Effective methods for measuring the impact of L&D initiatives on performance and ROI.
• Practical tips for building a culture of continuous learning and development within your organization.

Join this session to learn how to bridge the gap between L&D and business needs, ensuring your training programs deliver measurable value and contribute directly to organizational success.

Speaker:

Biba Beckwith, Senior Solutions Consultant, Torch

Many organizations still use outdated talent models that focus on employees as resources to meet business goals. This approach misses the opportunity to tap into employees' full potential, including their resilience, agility and desire for growth. To stay competitive, companies must embrace more inclusive, skill-centric talent strategies that balance corporate outcomes with employee development.

This workshop will outline the need to change the framework to a skills-first approach and provide attendees with actionable steps to reimagine talent, unlocking the potential of their organizations' workforces.

The workshop will be divided into three sections to explore:

• Developing skills and attributes for a dynamic workforce.
• Balancing professional development with personal growth.
• Leveraging automation and AI to redesign work.

Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with experts and take away actionable steps for enhancing skill and attribute development, guidelines for thoughtfully integrating technology into work design while supporting employee development, and strategies for implementing balanced development initiatives in various organizational contexts. The result: a durable, agile workforce that thrives on continuous learning, trust and collaboration.

Speaker:

Eric Dingler, Retired CLO, Deloitte

As the movement to a skills-based organization accelerates, a question worth pondering is: “What are the implications for business-centric learning that focuses directly on business outcomes?” Are the two approaches compatible? Many organizations believe they are strategic because they address skills that are related to business outcomes, but does that make them strategic and is that the best way to achieve business outcomes?

Join Dave Vance to explore these questions and consider the extent of strategic learning in your own portfolio.

Speaker:

Dave Vance, Author and Educator, Former CLO of Caterpillar, Manage Learning LLC

• Practical insights on how AI can elevate L&D efficiency and personalization.
• Key examples of AI already in action, transforming traditional learning approaches.
• How to ensure your organization stays ahead by adopting these trends now.

Sourabh Bajaj, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Uplimit

In this immersive session, Baker Tilly’s Liz Poeschl and Abilitie’s Megan Fanale will share the organizational impact of simulated learning and AI when combined with hands-on practice, personalized feedback and repeatable exercises that sharpen managers’ skills. At Abilitie, we believe that AI has the potential to transform the way we deliberately practice to become better leaders and we’ll uncover how we’ve integrated AI into new manager programs and our simulations.

We’ll also demonstrate how organizations can empower professionals to sharpen leadership skills by coaching, directing and influencing simulated employees and colleagues. This session is designed to encourage discussion around how organizations can empower professionals with scalable, personalized learning experiences that enable learners to continuously practice their leadership skills and adapt their communication style. Attendees will also gain insight into a client’s L&D journey and how they utilize experiential learning programs to help their teams build competence, boost confidence and connect within their community.

Speakers:

Megan Fanale, COO, Abilitie

Liz Poeschl, Enterprise Learning Manager, Baker Tilly

Details coming soon.

Speaker:

Ashley St. John, Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer, Chief Learning Officer

Join Lois and Gina as they share their journey of transforming their business through strategic skills mapping. In this interactive session, you'll learn how they tackled real challenges by breaking down roles, identifying gaps and aligning skills with business goals. Discover how they developed ideal personas for each role and level, and walk through the steps they used to create meaningful change. Ready to roll up your sleeves? Bring your own challenges, and start building solutions you can apply to your organization!

Speakers:

Lois Harrison, Chief Operating Officer, Ease Learning

Gina Limperis, Chief Learning Officer, Ease Learning

In today’s rapidly evolving skills landscape, organizations are racing to keep pace. Navigating the intricacies of modern skilling demands a strategic and agile approach that embraces organization-wide innovation and collaboration.

Join CLO for an insightful panel discussion exploring the critical aspects of this ongoing challenge. From identifying emerging skilling needs to implementing scalable training programs, this session will reveal valuable insights, share best practices and offer actionable next steps for cultivating a resilient and future-ready workforce.

Key discussion points and takeaways:

• Internal talent mobility and the use of skills data for career mapping.
• Selecting and implementing skills technology.
• Cultivating a “talent-first” mindset and culture from the top down.

Speakers:

Moderator: Diane August, Chief Learning Architect, Nationwide Insurance,

Cole Bastian, Sr. Director of Learning and Culture, Hooters of America

Catherine Hebert, Chief Talent Officer, InterRent

Kris Zilliox, VP, Global Institutional Training, Ecolab, Inc.

1:15 - 1:30 PM: FASTtalk - A New Model of Higher Education: A Coalition for Your Workforce

Traditionally and historically, colleges and universities have created programs and simply hoped graduates would have the skills employers need. Those days must end. The Coalition for the Common Good seeks change that builds bridges between current and future workforce needs and America's undergraduate and graduate student population.

Speaker:

John Comerford

President

Coalition for the Common Good | Otterbein University

1:30 - 1:45 PM: FASTtalk - Engaging the Human Behind the Learner

Designing and developing content is only half the  battle when creating an effective learning event. Behind every learner is the human who, regardless of their willingness to learn, will have to fight through pre-occupied minds, exhaustion, and a dose of skepticism during their training experience. These unavoidable distractions and more can be circumvented when the human behind the learner is considered in the design. In this FASTTalk, discover how CrowdStrike enhanced the human experience to ensure the learning content successfully connected with their learners.

Speaker:

Lowell Doringo

Director, Leadership Learning & Development

CrowdStrike, Inc.

1:45 - 2:00 PM: Online Exclusive - FASTtalk

Details coming soon.

2:00 - 2:15 PM: FASTtalk - The ISO Standard for L&D Metrics - Its Importance for the Profession

Dave Vance, team leader for the new ISO standard for L&D metrics, will share what is in the standard and why this new standard is so important for our profession.

Speaker:

Ashley St. John, Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer, Chief Learning Officer

Join Chief Learning Officer’s editor-in-chief, Ashley St. John, and 2023 CLO of the Year Michelle Braden for an inspiring conversation about Braden’s career and her journey to winning last year’s top honors at the annual Learning in Practice awards.

Speakers:

Michelle Braden, Vice President, Global Talent Development, WEX

Ashley St. John, Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer, Chief Learning Officer

This presentation explores the transformative journey of leadership development at University of Alabama at Birmingham amidst evolving health care and global challenges. We'll delve into the contextual overview of UAB and the emergent challenges it faced, followed by the vision that led to the creation of a new pivotal role — the Chief Leadership Development Officer. Central to our discussion is the establishment of a comprehensive strategic senior leadership development program, spanning three distinct entities, encompassing both formalized curricula and organization development engagements. We will showcase the tangible outcomes and organizational impact of these initiatives, underscoring the personal and professional metamorphosis of our leaders. Concluding with a compelling argument for the indispensable role of a Chief Leadership Development Officer, we underscore the strategic advantage of aligning this position with the CEO and the Dean of the School of Medicine, fostering a culture of visionary leadership and sustained excellence.

Speaker:

Jean Ann Larson, Chief Leadership Development Officer & Senior Associate Dean of Leadership Development, The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System & Heersink School of Medicine

We’ve all heard of the trendy acronym “VUCA” - volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. It effectively describes the constant state of change in which we live and work in 2024. Personally, I like this Harvard Business Review article that refers to VUCA as a catchall for, “Hey, it’s crazy out there!”

It sure is. But, as the article goes on to describe, while the term VUCA is certainly useful as a sort of all-encompassing term for our changing environment, it also can be “easy to use VUCA as a crutch, a way to throw off the hard work of strategy and planning — after all, you can’t prepare for a VUCA world, right?”

As it turns out, you actually can. And in this session, we will talk about ways to not only survive, but thrive in a VUCA world - namely, by building resilience through training and internal programs. Building your organization's soft skills (or durable skills, or people skills) is absolutely necessary to prepare for today's changes and those that lie ahead.

In this session, we will:

• Explain how to build resilience, a key foundation for learning to thrive in VUCA, through training and internal programs. Building resilience is a process, a learned skill that takes practice.

• Analyze ways to implement proactive skill building and learn skills that can be applied to many situations that impact responsiveness to change, including emotional regulation, flexibility and adaptability, self-awareness, EI, inner determination and more.

• Discuss mental health considerations and cognitive agility to prepare for the unexpected.

• Evaluate the role and efficacy of internal programs to address VUCA.

• Focus on the human aspect of change and anticipate possible reactions to VUCA.

Speaker:

Jennifer Sutherland, Global Leader, Culture and Learning & Development, Trustwave

12:15 - 12:30 PM: FASTtalk - FASTtalk: Your Learners’ Potential: The Future of AI in L&D

Join Souabh Bajaj, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Uplimit, to explore AI's transformative impact on L&D. Discover how Uplimit's AI platform efficiently personalizes cohort-based learning at scale and why teaching AI literacy is crucial for workforce success. 

Speaker:

Sourabh Bajaj, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Uplimit

12:30 - 12:45 PM: FASTtalk - 3 Powerful Decisions to Accelerate Your Learning Leadership

This fall, we launched the new Chief Learning Officer Accelerator program, designed to prepare the next generation of learning champions. This session, presented in a dynamic FASTtalk format, will provide HR learning leaders at all levels with powerful insights from the latest CLO research. Guided by experienced faculty, including several "CLOs of the Year," we will explore the critical decisions that today's, and tomorrow's, CLOs must make to drive success in their roles. The program will return in 2025.

Speaker:

Kevin Wilde, Executive Leadership FellowCarlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

12:45 - 1:00 PM: FASTtalk - Using Coaching to Overcome VUCA and Strengthen Strategic Leadership

The concept of VUCA—Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous—describes the challenges of strategic leadership today. This presentation engages the audience and challenges them to be proactive in the face of VUCA by implementing a coaching program for their organizations’ leadership. It examines the concept of VUCA, describes the coaching process, provides the advantages in implementing a coaching program for their leadership and suggests next steps. At the end of the presentation, participants will understand the challenges of strategic leadership and how coaching can help their leaders thrive. 

Speaker:

Richard Douglas, Executive DirectorBellevue University's Human Capital Lab

1:00 - 1:15 PM: Online Edition Exclusive Session: FASTtalk

In his keynote address, “Gold Medal Mindset: The Blueprint for Peak Performance,” Ryan Millar, an Olympic gold medalist, acclaimed leadership coach and culture management expert, will share the foundational strategies that drive the world’s top athletes to victory — and how these same principles can be applied to propel leadership and organizational success. Drawing on his illustrious career in competitive sports and extensive experience in cultivating high-performing teams across Fortune 1000 companies, Ryan will outline the simple yet critical elements of a winner’s mentality that lead to exceptional performance in any individual, team or organization. Attendees will gain invaluable insights into building an environment of progress, the power of cultural data points and embracing ownership to reach new heights of achievement.

Speaker:

Ryan Millar, Founder, Gold Medal Mindset, LLC