To get up to spend with our “ASTD ICE 2014 – Now What?” series, start here.
Well it’s a wrap!
I want to take a moment to thank our participants for participating in this series. I appreciate your time.
- Valerie Noll
- C. Michael Ferarro
- Donna Phillips
- Tom Spiglanin
- Allison Michels
- Tricia Ransom (below)
This experience has been beneficial on so many points – not the least of which is the ability to share my experience, along with those above, with people who may not have been able to attend the conference. As any good L&D person will tell you, an important key to learning retention is reflection. When I reflect back I see how far we’ve come as an industry and see the path that still lies ahead.
I see L&D professionals who are turning with the road, understanding that being in L&D means not just classrooms or courses, but holistic performance support; instructional designers and developers understanding that it’s not about taking orders from SME’s but digging in to truly understand the learning need. I see the struggle with some who are trying to find where they sit with other business leadership. While it is easy to become discouraged and even frustrated with “trainers” who bury their heads in the sand, thinking that “this too shall pass” when it comes to all this social/informal learning stuff – I then see people like Donna Phillips. I feel her enthusiasm and her desire to take the conference by storm to learn new things and it’s all good again.
So to all my fellow Learning Rebels out there – Keep Fighting the Good Fight.
A few words about Tricia – full disclosure, Trisha was once a member of my team who abandoned me for a life of sunshine in California (I’m not bitter) and is now a person I consider to be a close and dear friend. She is a person who can find laughter anywhere; who can find a learning moment in any life experience; who has a curiosity about life in general that you only rarely see in adults. When I think Learning Rebel, Tricia comes to mind as always one to take any hair-brained idea I had and could make it a reality. You can find Tricia on twitter here (her feed is always an adventure) and her blog “Tree of Learning” here and if you are a photography buff, I highly suggest you check out her husband’s (Jim Watkins) website here. Excellent stuff.
With that in mind, I close this series with the thoughts of Tricia Ransom.
Shannon asked me to share my goal for attending ASTD/ATD ICE 2014. If I answered during April, I would have said, “connecting”. For me, conferences are more about the people I get to meet than the sessions.
I was so excited to attend this year because last year I had cancer (100% cured now) and couldn’t travel. Having cancer was scary, but more than that, it was a wonderful learning experience. Cancer clarified my life priorities: Jimmy (my husband), my family, my friends and my network. Arianna Huffington talked about thriving in her keynote speech. Cancer taught me that I need connections to thrive.
How eager was I to connect with my L&D network? As soon as my husband and I checked into our hotel (we opened our door, pushed in our suitcases, and headed back down the elevators), I was on my phone tracking down people. Thank goodness for Foursquare check-ins!
That night I caught up with old friends, finally met many of my virtual PLN in person and got to meet tons of other smart people. We laughed, talked, and shared our stories. It was wonderful. Because of cancer, I see and interact with my connections without an agenda. In other words, I can enjoy my friends for the simple fact that they are my friends.
As you can imagine, Arianna’s keynote speech about how she re-evaluated her life and priorities resonated with me. It was during Jane Bozarth’s session called “Share Your Work” that I realized what I want to do with my life. Today, if I were to answer Shannon’s question about why I attended ASTD/ATD ICE 2014, I would say, “sharing”. Let me rephrase that. My goal in life and work is to share. That is what I want to do. I believe that sharing is at the heart of what we do, and that by sharing with others we grow and learn.
So, today, right here and right now (to paraphrase Tony Bingham), I pledge that I will share my failures, successes, and what I’ve learned.
My mom always says, “You’re never told old to learn.” I say, “You’re never too old for Show and Tell.”
Thank you Tricia!
Now – take out those business cards you collected, open up the notebook with your session notes and reflect and refresh. I look forward to seeing everyone in Orlando!
Did you have a favorite story? Do you have one of your own you’d like to share? We’d like to hear all about it in the comments section below.
