Future-Focused with Christopher Lind

With little ones around our house, we are constantly on the lookout to make sure they aren’t chewing on any electrical cords. If they do, we are forced to ground them for conducting themselves improperly. I often remind my kids to take small bites when eating and focus on their chewing to help with digestion. I can’t help but draw a parallel between learning and retention. Consuming too much too quickly takes away from the enjoyment and leaves us feeling lethargic. The benefit of consuming information fast and slow in small and frequent bites largely outweighs the inefficiency of consuming everything at once. In this episode, bite-sized I'm talking to Eran Heffetz and Tal Almog from Bites about the platform they have created to help organizations create and manage bite sized content that can be scaled across an organization for effective learning that doesn't just focus on onboarding, but an unlimited amount of use cases in a wide range of industry application.

A few years ago, I had a colleague leave his position to play cello full time in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. I’ve been meaning to touch 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘴 with him. Learning leaders know that managing L&D operations is kind of like conducting an orchestra. The ensemble requirements for an effective department range from data to strategy that combine to meet objectives and keep organizations in rhythm. If you don’t have the right tools you might wind up playing second fiddle. In this episode, I have an arrangement with Stephan Pineau and Peter Olyarchuk to talk about their expertise in training management systems and how he has used his expertise to build Training Orchestra to be the go-to platform for managing instructor-led training to increase resource use and optimize the training investment for organizations so that they can train more with less.

“Good teaching is one-quarter preparation and three-quarter theatre” - Gail Goldwin I don’t know who Gail Goldwin is. Aside from this quote on loads of drop-shipped items, I don’t think this person even exists. Nevertheless, this quote struck a chord with me, as it confronted the often lack of organic theatrics in L&D and how that passion is necessary for effective learning. The workload of design and implementation often overshadows the key ingredient in an engaging blended learning environment. In this episode, I’m going back to college with Ewoud de Kok to learn about how FeedbackFruits is helping leading universities around the world take back their passion for teaching with their tool suite that organizes interactive and collaborative learning activities, enabling educators to focus more on meaningful interactions that activate higher learning and less on energy leaking tasks.

I recently heard that Elon Musk has plans to install a cell tower on the moon. Unfortunately, the service would only be 1/6 G. I’m sorry, I can’t help it if people gravitate towards my puns. Speaking of uncontrollable forces, the average time spent DAILY on a mobile device by users is OVER 4 hours. As a social critic, I find this incredibly alarming. Personal bias aside, I find it unusual with that information why most LMS solutions have mobile accessibility as a second-rate priority. With participation in an industry-wide problem, it would make more sense to meet users where they are already spending their time. In this episode, I’m talking long distance with JD Dillion, Chief Learning Architect Axonify about the time and investment of training and how Axonify is helping organizations give their frontline managers and learning leaders focused content as fast as possible so that they can stay safe, perform smart, and deliver standout experiences all while providing leaders with robust reporting to connect training with business results.

What do you suppose would happen if America switched from using pounds to kilograms as a unit of measure? Mass confusion! ‘What gets measured gets done.’ The L&D Industry’s most weighted secret. I wish I had found it earlier in my career.  It wasn’t until I understood the obligation to myself, management, and stakeholders to provide actionable insights and expectations within my role that I could flourish and succeed at doing my job to the fullest extent. It’s not rocket science, just often convoluted with trivial pursuits. In this episode of Learning Tech Talks, we are having a ‘mass’ive discussion with Peter Brown and Mark McDaniel, authors of “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning” joined in by CEO of Trivie, Lawrence Schwartz, to talk about how they are working in tandem with proven brain-science techniques and artificial intelligence to create and discover long-lasting and engaging learning experiences.

For years I've been navigating the stormy and ever-changing seas of learning technology. When many steered their ships back to the docks, I found myself pulling up anchor and heading out into the choppy water. Over time I  realized that the conflict in behavior wasn't only because I had a  personal affinity for tech but because many didn't feel comfortable or confident in their knowledge or skill in navigating the stormy seas. As a result, I decided to do something about it and demystify the learning and technology landscape for anyone who would listen. With the help of Christopher Rainey and the HR Leaders team, I streamed the first Learning Tech Talks two years ago today. A few months later, I started the Learning Sharks community to continue the conversation and foster an inclusive environment where the discussion around all things learning and learning tech is ongoing. Two years, 116 episodes, an active, online community later, the adventure continues. I have learned a great deal more than I ever imagined while simultaneously recognizing my knowledge quest is just beginning. Join me on Friday as I spend an hour sharing some of my most significant observations and highlight, amidst the noise, the things I feel every learning professional should consider in a special 2-year anniversary episode.

"You can't really know where you are going until you know where you have been.” Maya Angelou. It's interesting to think about how amazing podcasts like Learning Tech Talks didn't exist 20 years ago. Even within the last decade, we’ve witnessed tremendous growth in the industry.  While "audioblogging" has been around since the '80s and "internet talk radio" in the 90s, the technology was primitive, and its reach was limited. To those of you early adopters, what a time to be alive! In this episode, I'm podcasting a podcaster with Director of Communications of Podbean, Shannon Martin, and talking about their platform that hosts a wealth of opportunities for publishing and monetization for podcasters everywhere and provides an easy-to-use interface that includes analysis and insight to help businesses communicate their messages and build community.

Learning has changed and organizations need to adapt rapidly to ensure their current and future solutions deliver learning experiences that are effective and efficient.   Responding to these changes can be challenging, and can often feel like a lonely journey on a long road with no turning.   Having a partner to ‘leg it’ with on your learning journey makes the road go faster and FURTHER on our never-ending voyage on a pathway to create impact.  In this Learning Tech Talks, I’m going to hop over the pond to Gavin Woods, Director of Client Services at Aurion Learning to talk about Aurion’s new platform ‘ByteKast LXP’ that helps leaders address the change necessary for organizations handling post-pandemic learning. I’m going to dig into the rationale, intent, and purpose of ByteKast while highlighting the “new age” learning management platforms' intuitive design and its next-level features that create learning that works.

I recently read an article that robots have started exercising. To build endurance, they are doing circuit training. Chatbots have come a long way since my ICQ and MSN Messenger days. Granted, most of my conversations at that time with chatbots were juvenile jokes or existential concerns. "Are you real?" It has been fun to watch the technology advance and grow into something more than just a boredom killer to a real tool for organizations to disseminate information more efficiently and effectively. In this episode, I'm getting a chatbot workout with CEO & co-founder of Mobil Coach, Vincent Han, who created his first chatbot in the 6th grade and has continued to lift his skills to help companies create personalized conversations at scale that facilitate a multitude of critical frontline processes and provides insight to help drive action and give employees the personalized mental strength training they need.

You’ve got questions about #learning and #talentdevelopment; I’m hoping to provide answers or at least some valuable perspective.   Over the past few weeks, I’ve been collecting some of the top questions from practitioners globally.    In this unscripted Learning Tech Talks, I’ll be responding to some of the top questions while taking your questions live.