Insights from ATD 2023

I can’t believe it’s already been a month since the annual ATD International Conference in San Diego, California. As a national ATD member, as well as a local chapter supporter, this is one of my favorite conferences to attend. It often feels like a reunion, seeing old coworkers and previous attendees. This year was no different, as I got to spend time chatting with customers and some of you, our content partners, at this event.  

For those who didn’t attend or those just interested in my thoughts, here were my takeaways from the event: 

• Gen AI has entered the chat. There were sessions on generative AI but even more conversations about what this means for the L&D space. I loved the robust conversations about Gen AI and am excited to see how it enables us to do our jobs better.  
• Skills are still top of mind. Whether we are talking reskilling or upskilling, L&D is still being asked to help their employees skill for their current and future roles. As off-the-shelf content providers, we play a critical role in making sure we offer the right content to help our customers meet these demands. 
• The Great Resignation may be over, but the aftermath still lingers. HR professionals are still working on ways to engage current employees and retain top talent. Even with layoffs happening, the risk of losing top performers is still high.  
• L&D professionals are busy and they need our help. In my conversations with prospects and customers a key message was that they don’t want to start from scratch. Whether that means pre-curated learning paths or content mapped to skills, L&D managers want a starting point when determining what the best eLearning content is for their organization.  

As always, I left the conference excited for what the year ahead of us brings. I’m looking forward to digging into the new content onboarded by our partners and continuing to help our customers create learning experiences that will have significant impact within their organizations.