More than 900 LTEN members came together June 12-14, 2018, for the 47th LTEN Annual Conference, taking advantage of the opportunity to learn and network together at the largest event LTEN has produced to date.
The conference offered more than 110 individual sessions, including more than 70 workshops in 14 tracks. The Learning Village exhibition hall had more than 70 supplier booths and displays and an expanded schedule of 20-minute Learning Lab presentations.
This year’s conference also welcomed members of several specialized communities of practice within LTEN, including a group of field trainers taking part in the new Field Training track, the non-commercial training track and an expanded medical device & diagnostics training track. In addition to taking part in all general session and networking activities, members of the communities of practice attended workshops and sessions designed specifically for their needs.
Many of the workshops at the conference were recorded and will be made available to LTEN members for post-event viewing or reviewing. Materials from conference workshop sessions are available on-demand for LTEN members at https://www.l-ten.org/page/2018_LTEN_Materials.
Other highlights from the 47th LTEN Annual Conference were:
- Presentations, discussions and demonstrations of technology in learning, including an opening speech featuring a humogram of LTEN Board President David Fortanbary, and Amazon Echo “Alexa” machines positioned throughout the conference for attendees to interact with.
- Inspiring keynote presentations from Connie Podesta, Chef Jeff Henderson and Lorella DePieri.
- Induction of early LTEN leaders Steve Rauschkolb and Bob Rodman into the LTEN Hall of Fame.
- An Augmented Reality Scavenger Hunt, innovated by Tipping Point Media. LTEN members Suzanne Grizzelle from Amgen, Vickie Yau from Gilead and James Mullen from Roche were the winners in the learning game. Each was given one of the Alexa units used at the annual conference.
- An LTEN Talk on virtual and augmented reality from learning technologies expert Anders Gronstedt.
- An interactive thought leader panel discussion featuring members of the LTEN Board of Directors discussing issues surrounding managing change and transformation. Audience members were able to use the Slido audience response system to participate in a poll and submit their questions to the panel members.
The 47th LTEN Annual Conference also included the presentation ceremony for the 4th Annual LTEN Excellence Awards. At that ceremony, LTEN gave a $1,500 donation to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, along with donations of 200 customized build-a-bears created by LTEN members volunteering in the annual charity team-building event. The charity event was sponsored by Scrimmage, with Bowen Search sponsoring the accessories used to customize the donations. The entire awards ceremony was live-streamed for LTEN members who couldn’t attend the conference, and can be viewed at http://www.softconference.com/WebcastSystem/Webcast.aspx?WebcastID=75&SessionID=411699#.
LTEN members who participated in the charity bear-building were also entered in a contest recognizing their creativity. The winners of the bear contest were:
- You Be You category: Tim Yi and Stephanie MacKenzie of Applied Medical.
- Heart Strings category: Marita Dazo-Janson, Michele Vitiello and Martha Fisher of Bayer HealthCare.
- Most Creative category: Marta Goldstein of Xentor Solutions.
LTEN members also networked with one another throughout the conference, including at a special Networking Reception sponsored by IC Axon, featuring a live band sponsored by Red Nucleus, games and refreshments.
Thanks to everyone involved in making the conference a success, including LTEN leaders, Preferred Industry Partners and event sponsors, all speakers and, most of all, the LTEN members who attended and participated.
Registration is now open at www.LTENconference.com for the 48th LTEN Annual Conference, to be held June 3-6, 2019, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, TX.
