2014 ASTD International Conference

Tips for the 2014 ASTD-ICE and a Peek at WCW’s Design Manifesto Session

Now that spring has finally sprung, my excitement for the 2014 American Society of Training and Development International Conference and Exposition (ASTD-ICE) on May 4–7 in Washington D.C is in full bloom. The event is a premier attraction for members of the training and development community that features hundreds of educational sessions, renowned speakers, a world-class expo, and cutting-edge information from industry experts. More than 9,000 people from around the world are expected to attend the conference, so it will be a great opportunity for members of the training and development community to share knowledge and build relationships.

Here’s a sneak peek at what topics Dr. Andy Hicken and Dr. Jon Aleckson of Web Courseworks (WCW) will cover during the Using a Design Manifesto and SME Collaboration to Create Engaging E-Learning education session on Tuesday, May 6th from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

At WCW, a primary goal of ours for any content development project is to design and create genuinely effective performance-based learning. That’ a high standard to meet, and it takes a strong message to unite a diverse development team around this broad goal, so we developed a more intricate organizational manifesto to ensure our team shares a common language and common instructional goals.

Our C.O.M.P.A.S.S. mnemonic is designed to ensure that all stakeholders (clients, subject-matter experts, designers, developers, and even learners) are pulling in the same direction to create engaging learning activities that are concise (C), outcome-oriented (O), metrics-driven (M), precise (P), appealing (A), significant (S), and social (S).

At our ASTD-ICE education session we will take you through the process of how we implement each element of the manifesto and develop effective performance-based learning. We sincerely hope to see you at our session, and we encourage you to think about what tenets would be included in your own manifesto.

The complete schedule demonstrates that the conference is jam-packed with enough options to overwhelm even the most ambitious attendee, so I decided to make a list of 10 additional sessions that eLearning managers and instructional designers should consider visiting while at the ASTD-ICE.

• The 7 Habits: The Most Influential Training Program of All Time | Monday, May 5th | 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
• Transforming Global Diversity and Inclusion Into Innovation at Kimberly-Clark | Monday, May 5th | 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
• Bleeding Edge No More! Time to Begin Training in HTML5 | Monday, May 5th | 3:00 to 4:15 p.m.
• Instructional Designs That Drive Results | Monday, May 5th | 3:00 to 4:15 p.m.
• SMEs From the Ground Up | Monday, May 5th | 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• One Person, Two Hats: Coaching SMEs to Facilitate Learning | Tuesday, May 6th | 1:30 to 2:45 p.m.
• Getting Serious About E-Learning | Tuesday, May 6th | 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
• Social Isn’t Something You Do—It’s Something You Become | Tuesday, May 6th | 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
• Rethinking Learning Systems: How the Tin Can API is Changing Everything | Wednesday, May 7th | 8:30 to 9:45 a.m.
• Convert Learning Content Into Stories That People Remember | Wednesday, May 7th | 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.