Hello there, learning leaders and development directors!
Welcome to the new Chief Learning Officer events blog. Come here for the latest on Symposium news, speaker and agenda updates, contests, insider info, and general awesomeness.
Today’s topic: how your feedback from our Fall 2014 event will affect the Spring 2015 Symposium.
It can be problematic when an event ignores attendee feedback and refuses to put even the most minor attendee suggestions into play. Our Fall 2014 Chief Learning Officer Symposium received a ton of feedback, and as we’re setting up for the next symposium, we’re taking it all into account.
Agenda Under Construction
Here are a few of the improvements we’re making to the Symposium, because you asked so nicely.
More Advice from Practitioners
Due to its popularity, we are expanding the Voice of the CLO talks in our agenda for Spring. What’s ‘Voice of the CLO’, you ask?
Our ‘Voice of the CLO’ sessions give the stage space to actual Chief Learning Officers, who discuss the trials and tribulations they face as a CLO, as well as their successes and failures in implementing L&D within their company.
These talks have proven particularly popular because they both reinforce the L&D community the Symposium is built around, and they address real-life problems that many of our attendees are handling on a day-to-day basis at work.
Changes reflect the following feedback:
“The tweaked format – bringing in voice of the CLO, for example – was a notable improvement”
Ode to Orientation
We were wowed during the Fall 2014 Symposium when we found the room for our CLO Orientation was packed from wall to wall. This year, we will be expanding the First Time Attendee Orientation into an opportunity for everyone to A) learn more about the event and B) get to know their fellow attendees.
Expect more networking time, and more in-depth explanations of how to access our online agenda, submit session surveys, and more!
Changes reflect the following feedback (emphasis ours):
“This is my first time at the CLO conference. I expected to have an opportunity to get connected with people as well as get some information about the conference. Would have been better to do a longer session and arrange for us to have the opportunity to meet people. Typically there are some exercises and some time so you get a chance to meet some people who are also new and don't know anyone. It is hard to get connected five minutes before a session. So nice to get some familiar faces that you can join over the next few days….”
Power Hour Permutation
Our most recent format for the CLO Power Hour Plus was an hour and a half of straight content, featuring six rapid-fire15 minute sessions with six different CLOs. Each 15 minute session is an enlightening L&D story, told by leading practitioners of Learning & Development. While the stories themselves have proven to be very successful, the hour and a half of sitting hasn’t been our most popular feature.
In order to satisfy our attendees’ desire for tales from the practitioner trenches, we have split the Spring 2015 Power Hour Plus into two separate sessions.
Each power hour will feature 3 CLO stories (each 15 minutes in length) and a 15 minute break at the end for Q&A. We’re hoping the shorter format will allow each individual story to stand out more, and we’re glad to offer our attendees the chance to stretch their legs and reboot between the Power Hours this time around.
Changes reflect the following feedback:
“The power hour was fantastic. The last presenter was too long…”
We’d like to hear your thoughts on the changes to the CLO Symposium event format. Is there anything you think we missed? Let us know in the comments. We take all feedback into account as we plan each year’s events.
