My day at BETT

Spent all day Friday walking the exhibition at BETT and all day yesterday thinking about it.

A new venue, coincided with LT13 and for the first time to include workplace learning.

They called it a conference (that’s a laugh) thousands of teachers with little budget oo’ing at technology they probably can’t afford. Hundreds of kids milling around. Why?

A few stages dotted about, crammed to the gills with people trying to hear over the exhibition noise and about 1000 exhibitors trying to force their brochure in your hand. Everyone with multiple huge carrier bags full of them. I wonder how much ends up in the recycling by the end if this weekend!

There has to be a better design.

No roadmap to find your way around, no logical layout of the hall, no real colour scheme and a lousy map. I thought the iPhone app was cool till I tried to use it on site.

They set out the hall supposedly in areas but with little signage, I was, according to my badge, part of ‘workplace learning’ took me 4 goes round and I found something called workplace learning lounge. It was full of teachers eating their packed lunch. Not another workplace badge in sight. My pedometer reported 3 miles by the time I left.

Were there specific workplace vendors? If so I missed that entirely.

Networking was non existent. I had two conversations with vendors. One with the coolest overhead projector I ever saw making an Elmo look like a monster from an older era, I can’t wait to order one. And, a conversation with a guy with some animation software. Problem you would need a year to make a 10 minute animation.

I had a further two conversations with attendees who were willing to chat none who was confused like me and another when I stopped for an overpriced tasteless bagel. He was from Eastern Europe and was surprised that everything was video technology.

Lots to learn from this shambolic ‘conference’.

Maybe they will hire me to make it a real conference next year.

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Well it’s been two months since I blogged. Why? For the last two months I have been working on the London Olympics. Specifically I have been working contracted to LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) as a Field of Play Group Leader in the Modern Pentathlon team.

We delivered one hell of an amazing event, it was great over the last weekend of the games to get texts during the modern pentathlon to say, ‘just seen you on TV’. That was not the plan of course but some close friends and my kids were all watching carefully. During two months I created and read more spreadsheets that in the last 20 years, all for one weekend of sport!

It’s been some great highs and lows over the last two months, made some great friends and probably upset one or two along the way, oh well, those who know me know I don’t suffer fools lightly.

I have seen something first hand that I never expected and gained an experience like no other. For the last twenty years I have worked as a trainer delivering interventions both in the classroom and electronically to ‘fix’ many broken attitudes and skills. I have created some amazing events, (none quite the size of the Olympics) but during all that time I have always been on the outside looking in.

The last two months I have worked in a large team from the inside looking out. My experiences and what I have learned I will begin to write about over the next few weeks, but as a taster I can tell you I will be delivering team training in a different manner from today. Check out my new site http://www.neillasher.com

Tonight I meet with all the guys I worked with as TEV’s, training event volunteers for the team leaders of the London Olympics, we are working on collaborating for better team training in organisations.

Watch this space…….

Reflections from #LSCon 2012

I have had a short week to get my feet back under the desk after a whirlwind trip to Orlando.

Such a great week amongst some of the clever people in our industry, so much to listen to and so much to learn from other’s ideas.

Of course they tweet the same about being with me and listening to my presentations, I just get embarrassed in the normal way.

What was clear in this week and in reflection since leaving the hot sun in Florida is that there are a number of interesting changes taking place across the world in T&D. The first is that T&D is on it’s very last legs in large corporations. If you are still working in a department with this name or have a business title of L&D Manager, get ready as sweeping changes will knock you off your feet if you are not ready.

The changes are a distinct move towards the Business Performance Department, delivering a set of technologies that include training where required but more of acquiring and rolling out technology that assist your workers to make more money for the organisation. The talk in the back rooms and of course on the backchannel were about revenue and profitability, not about good LMS scores or completion rates. Jay Cross almost had it right last year with ‘Work Smarter’ concept but I think in times of economic downturn that we are all experiencing, Work Leaner may have been a better term. But I take my hat off to Jay as he was ahead of the game on this one.

Those who understand business and how to generate higher revenue through capability and capable staff certainly have the edge. (Check out my paper i2 that was launched at #LSCon which aims to replace ROI with an Incapabiity Index. Paper available at http://www.thelearningcoach.co.uk/media.html)

The tools being spoken of were more of performance support, remember how that came and went, it was just too early and is making a huge comeback. Other technologies in the frame are those that provide a social lounge for the workforce to talk about what is important to them, where they can dip in and out learning materials and use new concepts like IVR (see http://www.phone2know.com) to deliver contextual information in numerous ways.

New products were in the expo to deliver to mobile devices, the imminent product from Articulate, Storyline, is the first of a new breed of tools to help deliver this type of learning. I have used the beta of this product, the latest version includes mobile and html5, very exciting prospects for the future.

The second big thing to come out of #LSCon was the concept of Conversation in learning. I was not the only person presenting or talking of this. Conversation in communication is key to creating a platform where people can learn. The presentation I made ‘Conversational Learning’ is available to watch in a cut down form from http://bit.ly/HesHMt

I have come home very enthused about this coming year. I have launched a great service at Phone2Know using the latest technologies to add conversation to learning, eLearning, mLearning and delivered as an addition to face to face training. Some cool concepts that will grow over the coming months.

The next conference I attend is Congreso de Recursos Humanos in Mexico City later this month http://www.congresorh.com.mx/ where I will be presenting what can be achieved using conversation and mobile learning. Then I am onto mLearnCon in San Jose for June to host the Mobile Tools and Tech Stage. By this time we should be seeing some very cool additions to the mobile scene.

Do you employ your authoring tool vendor to teach your instructional design?

Why would you trust your authoring tool vendor to teach you instructional design? Would you not go to an instructional design trainer with a pre conceived plan to fit your instruction into their templates delivered with your authoring tool?

The problem with virtual training: instructional design, not distance http://smf.is/1FdgiQ (via @summify)

An alternative? Buy the tool you know will create your learning and attend independent training. http://tinyurl.com/7wmtpst

Live from Vegas

Arrived in Las Vegas for DevLearn. This week I will be live blogging as things happen.

If there are specifics you are interested in then leave me a comment.

Also watch twitter #devlearn

iSad day today.

“If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you will most certainly be right”

“Since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, ‘If today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today?’.

And whenever the answer has been ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I have ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die, is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked, there is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs. 2005

Thank you Steve you changed the world.

Is SoMe killing us softly with it’s words?

Struming my pain with his fingers
singing my life with his words
killing me softy with his song
killing me softly with his song
telling my whole life
with his words
killing me softly with his song

Notice I ain’t blogged for ages. I think I was suffering with what Cammy Bean highlighted this week as SoMeFat. Social Media Fatigue. or was it really SoMeBo? Social Media Burn Out?

It prompted me to ask myself some questions about my own changing patterns of use of Social Media in the last year.

In October 09 on this blog I asked ‘How many tweets make overload?’ How much are we actually learning or are we kidding ourselves that it is learning. Are we just spending every moment in the electronic Hyde Park Corner listening to others bleating on about what interests them? Or in real terms not even bleating about their likes, but the likes of others, the RT?

I took some time to recover from the shock of reality some time ago and realised I was spending far too much time blogging, tweeting and facebooking everything in my life that actually was none of your business. Did I need to share the fact I just had a great poop? (not that I shared that information) Why would I want you to know that i was stuck in traffic on the M4 and using my phone illegally? Why would I want to tell you that I was going to the theatre tonight. (only really interesting to you if it was your intention to burgle my holiday home in Wales… No I don’t have a holiday home in Wales and were you interested in that information?)

Hey, why am I writing this blog now? Are you interested? Will you comment on it? Do I care if you don’t… hell yes!

I think we are all suffering from a new form of hysteria, defined as ‘A mental disorder characterised by emotional excitability’. We all get excited when we tweet, blog or f/book and even more so when we are re-tweeted or commented on. And we are all doing it together all the time, while we pretend we are learning something, other than what time John on the next continent to us put his cat out!

The more we do this, the more we get into Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, we want to do it more and more until we actually are doing no work, have no real social ability to talk to one another unless it’s in 140 characters or are repeating someone else’s thoughts or views. Have you noticed the distinct lack of new papers being written or published on groundbreaking learning ideas? Its because we have no time.

So time to reconsider SoMe, how to limit how we use it, limit how we teach our children to use it. Watch the next time their phone goes ‘ding’, it is the new fastest thing known to man, the time it takes between phone going ‘ding’ and clicking send on a response to the sender.

For me the new So for 2011 is meeting people, chatting on the phone or in person and getting a real ‘Social’ back into my life. I will still Tweet and Blog but far less. Care to join me……

Shall I eat here

I am in Istanbul, came to speak at the HR Summit (more later) found a place next to the hotel to eat. Googled it with Google translation, question is, Should I eat here?

“In the summer outdoors in the winter when there is so much beauty in all of them will be deprived of if you have already stated he thought we’d be wrong.

Güzelli?ide winter weather is creating a separate restaurant. While watching a movie on TV, “Oh I wish it out of the snow in the mountains or at home if I was at the beginning of the fireplace when it rains,” said the dead?

If your answer is yes, we realize that your dreams are trying to care for indoors. Spell the beginning of this as I mentioned in the entire mountain house in the air is considered out for the snow or rain when you, like glass on the edge of the beauty of watching if you want the fireplace next to his firing from the crackle of meat you eat and wine you can sip.

Another feature of the interior of the hall is a twin. While sitting in a hall or across the room I wonder how I wonder if we sit across the tarafam? because I do not think the two sides to the table decor in the same sequence.”

Reckon they must sell kebabs!

Work life balance

Interested in some new research? read on….

My life has changed somewhat over the last year. The process of divorce, moving home and having a father who has dimentia has taken it’s toll on the stress levels.

It is very easy to bury yourself into your work, bury your head and hope it all goes away. To be honest it doesn’t.

However, I always said it would be good to get a work life balance. Like many however I never really understood what this meant or how to achieve it. Read the book, seen the video etc etc.

When you do finally find how, it is a revelation. So let me share some thought.

There comes a moment when you live on your own after having had a partner and kids in your house for 26 years, when you close the front door on returning home and realise you are alone, this is it.

I thought this would be a lonley place, turn on the laptop, work. However I set a rule when I moved in that work at home was only allowed during work hours. Force yourself to read books, listen to music, learn to cook better, blog loads of thoughts and Tweet, anything other than work.

Some time ago I met a person who has changed the way I think. They have made me consider what I have and what is missing. The time spent in the presence of this person is very challenging and has made me think inwardly. The challenges posed were not easy in the begining, I was pretty closed to new ideas or change. Over time I have seen the light. Seeing this person has become really fun.

Now this relationship has taken a very long time to flourish. I have always been a positive person viewing everything as a challenge in my work environment and with my clients. It is what my reputation is based on, however, how is this affected by what happens at home? Before the rumour machine gets going, this person is a theraputic professional.

At this time I am having a really good time at home, my social life is the best it has been for years, what I do outside of work is fulfilling and has become great fun. I do not have time to blog and Tweet as much as I would like. I do not have enough time to read all I want and the Sky box is filling quicker than I have time to watch it.

Sounds great no?

What I have realised is that this great time out of work has had a serious affect on how efficient and effective I am in the office. The better it gets at home, the more efficient I get at work.

So here is my challenge. I do not know yet how to research this so input from all is required.

My first thought is that we are training the wrong subjects in the workplace. Training people to be more effective in their work could be achieved better by training them how to have a good time out of work. Time management training could include how to stop at the end of the day.

The crazy first thoughts are that if we help our staff learn how to have a good time out of work, they will have a good time whilst at work and be more productive.

New course titles could include:

Cook your partner a great meal.
Understanding the difference between Merlot and Shiraz.
Making cleaning your house a fun experience.
and
Bringing your true self to work!

Do you carry a breifcase home every day? I do! Now I force myself not to open it at home out of work hours. But when I open it in the office, I get twice as much done.

What research is required here? Where do I begin? Interested in taking part?

Finally fixed my blog…

Oh boy, got hacked, lost a couple of posts and then everything redirected to a chinese website.

I am honoured that they thought my lille ol blog was worth hacking.

Back to blogging tomorrow….