10 Key Points I Got From The Learning Technologies Event in London (part 1)

Learning Technologies is Europe’s leading Learning and Development exhibition and conference, taking place in London around this time every year. This year’s numbers are impressive on their own: 150 free seminars, 70 conference speakers, 250 exhibitors and around 7,500 visitors.

It is always an eye-opener to attend events like this. You realize where you stand in the market and what the future trends are likely to be. Here are the 10 things you need to know if you did not attend:

1. LMSs are here to stay

If you are a business that takes its workforce training seriously, LMS is not something you can do without. It is simply essential. Trying to make a business successful without an LMS is like setting up a reception desk without a telephone device. An LMS not only records and tracks all the training activities your staff have completed, but it also allows you to produce a number of reports on them.

The variety is unlimited, ranging from solutions with free plans, like TalentLMS, to pricier but much more sophisticated LMSs, like eFront. It depends on the size of your company and the usage you accrue.

2. Show me the money

The big players in the market are investing more in learning technologies. This is not just my impression. It is a notion backed by the CIPD Learning and Development Survey 2015, where it is reported that one third of the organizations have already increased their investment over the last year.

Is this a trend that will surge? Over a quarter of the private sector say yes.

3. You get what you pay for

This is a rule that applies to wine, gems and well… learning technologies. You can’t buy the best LMS or a great authoring tool on sale. You need to invest a proportionate amount of money for maximum benefit.

What I see all the time is organizations with high training needs investing in the cheapest products of the market. The next thing they know is that they waste hundreds of work hours trying to rectify problems they would not have in the first place, had they invested in better technology.

4. Align your business and learning objectives

Commissioning training just for the sake of it may help your staff feel they are being cared for, but it does not help your organization. The training that you both need is the one that will boost their confidence in their work and will improve their performance.

For this to happen, the learning strategy has to be aligned to the business strategy. The outcome of any learning initiatives has to be measurable by business metrics and KPIs, otherwise your ROI will be impossible to calculate.

5. Continuity across multiple devices

We live in a busy, fast-paced and multi-device world, so what we always opt for is simplicity. Most of us already use two or three different devices every day to check our e-mails or manage our social media accounts.

Why should eLearning be different? Why be unable to finish a course on my mobile just because I started it on my work PC? Cloud computing is already available to allow continuity across multiple devices, so CTOs, L&D professionals and designers should take this into consideration.

You can find the Part 2 here!