How to get the most out of the LT Summer Forum
The Summer Forum is a free exhibition and conference for L&D professionals. How can you get the most out of this year’s event?
We highlight some of the interesting and useful conference and seminar sessions so you can start building your plan for the day. There's also a handy list of resources for you to use to continue your planning.
09:30 - 10:30
Conference Room 1
Opening address: Learning, your brain and the implications for effective L&D
Start out on the right foot with an opening session from Dr Itiel Dror. The leading cognitive scientist will outline how you can create more effective elearning by appealing to the way your learners' minds work.
One of the biggest reasons for attending an event like the Summer Forum is to challenge your way of thinking. Dr Dror will help you frame the rest of the event and give you the tools you need to assess a learning tool or service in a new way.
Once you’re primed and ready to take on the rest of the exhibition, we suggest continuing the focus on the learner.
11:00 - 12:00
Conference Room 3
Learning engagement: How to kick start your learner-centric strategy
Towards Maturity have been a long time advocate for putting your learners first. Towards Maturity CEO, Laura Overton chairs this session with Jane Daly, Head of Strategic Insights at Towards Maturity and Teresa Rose, Product Manager for E.On Group, so you’ll get an insight into the latest research and how it applies in the real world.
In their guide to the session, Towards Maturity point out that “96% of L&D leaders want to increase self-directed learning but we continue to struggle to connect and engage.” This talk will help direct you to practical ways to overcome these barriers.
If learner centricity is already a part of your learning strategy, there will be ideas and examples in this talk that will help develop it. If you want to start focusing on your learners more but need to win over other stakeholders, you'll come away armed with the evidence you need.
13:30 - 14:30
Conference Room 1
Microlearning - how it really works, and who's using it successfully
Microlearning was a hot topic at this year's Learning Technology exhibition, if you want to find out how it can help you provide more effective training this is the session for you.
With Barry Sampson and Clive Shepherd on the panel, the discussion will offer practical advice and examples for L&D professionals who want to use microlearning effectively and avoid the gimmicks.
If you’d like a primer on modern microlearning before the event, our ebook Forget everything you know about microlearning provides an up to date take on the subject.
13.15 to 13.45
Theatre 2
Back to the future! An invitation to workplace learning in 2025
Double award-winning learning designer, Kate Pasterfield takes you to the workplace of the future. We’ll see how roles and environments have changed in 2025 and discover the challenges L&D will face during the transition.
Discover which technologies will change the way we learn at work and what you need to do to keep up with the pace of advances.
Prepare to challenge your assumptions about technology and question your role in the new era.
15:00 - 16:00
Conference Room 3
Putting it all into practice: L&D professionals taking a 21st Century approach
The Learning Models session features top L&D professionals at high profile organisations and is chaired by Co-founder of the 70:20:10 Institute, Charles Jennings.
It’s a chance for you to pose questions to the panel and get some specific tips and advice to help bring together the different elements of learning strategy you've encountered during the day.
15:30 - 16:00
Theatre 3
Transforming talent in the modern workforce
This research backed talk from David Perring, Director of Research at the Fosway Group, will dive into the changes that are happening now in your workforce.
It’s a great way to pick up some stats to round out the insights you’ve gathered over the course of the day so you can make the business case for introducing the innovative learning technologies you’ve seen.
Attendee resources
There will be lots to see and do on the day that we haven’t covered, so here are the best places to find out more and round out your personal event schedule.
If you haven’t already registered you should head to the official website to sign up for the conference and exhibition.
You’ll find the full conference programme, a list of exhibitors and all the seminar sessions happening throughout the day. You can also read bio’s of all the speakers who will be in attendance.
The event app is usually released just before the event starts and it’ll act as a hub for the day for many of the attendees. Keep an eye on the official website for news on the app’s release.
Learning Technologies tweet from LT17UK and the hashtag for the Summer Forum is #LTSF17. Keep an eye on the backchannel for all the action from the conference, exhibition and free seminars.
#SpongeUK will be the home of all of our social content, so add the tag when sharing your favourite part of our stand.
If that’s not enough to keep you going until June 13, you can always watch some of the conference sessions from February on the Learning Technologies YouTube channel.
All the links curated for you: