To Learning and Beyond

Sunday, June 11th, 2023

2:35 PM

"To Learning and Beyond"

Whoa.

Holy Moly.

I had zero idea it would be something of this magnitude.

These were some of my first thoughts walking in to ATD23 a few weeks ago, my first ever professional conference.

ATD, or the Association of Talent Development, is the world's leading organization for all things Learning & Development. (Similar to PMI and Project Management.)

ATD holds a yearly conference for Learning & Development professionals around the world to attend.

Folks come for a number of reasons - to network, learn for themselves and share knowledge, learn about new technology in the field, sell their products, see what other companies are doing, etc.

This year, ATD23 was held at the San Diego Convention Center in downtown, maybe 30 minutes from my home.

This couldn't have come at a better time for me, as I was laid off a few weeks prior. And this just so happened to be the industry's biggest event of the year in my hometown.

I had an idea of what to expect - it was at the convention center, so it was going to be fairly big, probably use a few of the halls.

I had zero clue that they were utilizing every square inch of the convention center.

I can't lie, walking in to the Monday morning keynote was a very overwhelming experience. It kicked off the main 3 days of the conference, and walking in was very reminiscent of leaving a sold-out Padres game at Petco Park - like a sardine in the flow of hundreds, thousands maybe. (Although, much more tame than the end of a Padres game.)

It was incredible to see all these people here for the same event, but it was intimidating.

(^ And this was just the front quarter of the room - there were easily more than a few thousand people behind me.)

As I walked in by myself, feeling very out of place, like an outcast as if I didn't belong or I wasn't good enough to be here - life works in unexpected ways. It's as if the universe (or in my personal opinion, a few people up above looking out for me) knew how I was feeling, and granted me a gift.

Two minutes into the convention center, I walked straight into a former vendor and colleague. Like literally, almost walked in to her.

"...Andrea?"

A blank stare I saw as I looked into her eyes, watching her piece the puzzle together.

A second of silence, then the lightbulb went off. Like a dog seeing its owner for the first time in days.

"...SEAAAN!!"

What a warm welcome I needed.

I've never met her in person, only through Zoom as we worked a few timezones away.

It was great walking right in to a familiar face as we chatted for a few minutes and caught up on what we were both doing here. As I walked away, I could feel myself ease up - again as if the universe was saying, "Don't worry, bud. Have some fun."

After the keynote was the opening of the main hall - the Expo Hall.

It was what I thought Coachella would be like for Corporate America. I'm kicking myself because I didn't take any pictures of the Expo Hall, I was just so shocked to be walking around in it, amazed in its size and beauty.

To paint the picture, the main Expo Hall by itself, was the size of four halls - think four Costco's in one room.

Thousands of companies talking about their solutions, whether it was software like learning management systems, or content creation tools, pre-created content, coaching solutions, etc.

Now, I'd consider myself to be one of the most extroverted introverts there are. When I need to be social, especially in work settings, I have no problem talking to people. And more often than not, I usually enjoy being social in work settings, because I find it fun and a bit out of my ordinary, because in my personal life, I tend to be introverted. (Except with my very, very close friends, who couldn't pay me to shut me up.)

Let me tell ya - it was tough trying to network on the floor. The Expo Hall was all about sales. Not a lot of wiggle room to network for a new job.

But, I did have my old team with me. I met up with them for the first keynote and we walked around the hall together, and spent most of our time at the conference together. It was nice being with them, seeing familiar faces so I didn't feel alone in the vastness of the conference.

While I didn't network for a new job as I well as I had hoped, it was great exposure into seeing the industry as a whole.

Now, would I say that the conference was a bust?

Absolutely not. Not even close. It was hands down a phenomenal experience that I would go to every year if I could.

While I walked in with one particular goal to accomplish in mind, in which I failed to accomplish, I walked out feeling accomplished in a number of different ways instead.

The weekend prior to the conference, I attended a Project Management certification class that ATD hosted.

This course, taught by the lovely Nancy Mikkelsen, was fantastic and I know that wherever I end up next for work, I'll be able to lead projects with command and confidence. And if there was anywhere I did network well, it was in this class of like-minded professionals, all here to learn and share best practices.

(Pay no attention to my goofy grin.)

Accomplishment #1: I'm now certified in Project Management by ATD, and feel much more confident in my ability to navigate and manage projects.

We all had sample projects that we were working on in real life that we used throughout the class, so while I was a free agent, I used a previous project of implementing my previous company's first centralized LMS.

And did I get some kudos (and a unicorn!) when I told some of my classmates that I had already completed it, and in less than 5 months.

Accomplishment #2: I've networked with a number of new colleagues in the Learning & Development industry. (While I was unsuccessful in networking for a job, it's so cool to me that I met so many like-minded professionals and I'm now seeing a few folks post on LinkedIn about their daily lives.)

Accomplishment #3: I learned so much, both in the certification course, and in the educational sessions throughout the main conference.

Adam Grant, Monday morning's keynote, taught about the power of re-thinking, challenging yourself to re-think what you know, to find a network of people you can challenge yourself and your thoughts with, and to not wait to act on something.

The way he said "If you're going to do something, what are you waiting for?" I will never forget. (Huh, weird how I started this blog right after this conference?)

Challenge, change and growth does not happen without risk. I also loved his humor and this visual of different types of personalities that play into conflict.

Priya Parker, Tuesday morning's keynote, talked about the importance of gatherings and what they can do to cultivate, or destroy, psychological togetherness. I loved the takeaway of setting a purpose for a gathering, whether it be for work or in our personal lives. (Now I get why everyone loves those themed birthday parties!)

I discovered Ken Blanchard and Scott Blanchard, the dynamic duo behind the company Blanchard, who talked about the importance of servant leadership and what it means to be a great leader.

I did not know of Ken Blanchard's legacy prior to this conference, but had heard of the Situational Leadership Model and the concept of servant leadership, to which I was surprised to learn Ken created, and was even more pleasantly surprised to learn Blanchard is based in San Diego. (Unfortunately not hiring right now - already checked.)

Man, if I could talk to Ken and Scott Blanchard all day, I would. Ken was an absolute goldmine - he's the definition of someone who can literally make you rethink everything you've ever learned with a single sentence. (As he did, multiple times over.)

A few of those one-liners in real time:

"Leadership isn't something to do to people. It's something you do with people."

"Catch people doing things right."

"Love is the answer, but what is the question?"

Yes, he talked about love in the workplace - love in leadership and everything that you do.

And the father-son duo was hilarious - a number of times Scott would lead with, "Dad, do you remember this time when..." only for Ken to reply, "...No?"

A big shoutout to my former team, Beth and Juliet, on convincing me to go to that session.

Erik Palmer discussed the essentials for Performing a Speech and how you can present your speeches better.

Cliff Goldmacher discussed the power of songwriting and its ability to engage teams.

It was the Wednesday morning 8 AM session as the keynote was at the end of the day to close out the conference. I honestly was debating on sleeping in and skipping this session, but I'm very thankful I went. A really good team building session that's going to make me take a stab at songwriting again sometime soon.

Tim Hagen taught about the ABCD's of Coaching, the QALMS method, and a boatload of other great coaching one-liners like Ken Blanchard.

Andy Storch and Sarah Cannistra both talked about taking ownership of your career and finding your next career move. While in different sessions on different days, I could tell they're friends as they both sat in on each other's sessions.

Plus, Tim Hagen from the ABCD's Coaching session sat in on Andy's session too! Really cool to see different thought leaders in the industry supporting one another.

Andy and Sarah's sessions really made me feel the most comfortable and confident out of any at ATD23. Since I'm a young professional looking to figure out where to go next in my career, it was right up my alley of what I was needing.

Case and point for both their sessions- you need to find a vision on where you want to go. You need to have a target to aim at, and it's up to you to find that target.

In these two sessions, I met folks that were young like me, or even younger fresh grads really trying to find some footing in what they want to do as a career.

I met folks that were in their forties and fifties that had been in the industry for a few years like I've had or for 10+ and were still unsure of what they wanted to do.

If there's anything I learned, it was from these sessions - that I did deserve to be here at ATD23, because most of us are still trying to figure out what we want to do next with our lives.

I've realized since coming to this conference that I've accomplished some professional feats that not many 25 year olds my age have done, and now I'm really proud of that.

I used to think that I didn't know a lot about the Learning & Development field, but I know now that I do. I laughed right along at the inside jokes the speakers made, that I had great conversations with the folks I met on this journey.

I know people and what makes them tick. And while I don't know everything, I'm willing to put the effort in to learn anything I can.

And, I'm not alone in this process of trying to figure out what I want to do next for myself.

I don't know where I want to go next, or what's in store for me.

And that's okay.

Because ultimately what matters most, is your mindset and how you approach it.

You don't have to know what you want your next 5 years of your life look like. As long as you have an idea of where you want to go, and work towards getting there, it's about falling in love with the process.

So do I want to stay in Learning & Development? Am I destined to go somewhere else?

To be honest, I don't know.

But I'm not scared by it - in fact, I'm excited by it. Knowing that there's things out there for me to find.

I know that at my core what I love to do is help others - it brings me joy getting to see people I care about grow and succeed.

So anything I do next is going to focus around people and seeing them succeed.

Or, as ATD put it, creating a world that works better.

The conference closed out with Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. singing a few songs - a GREAT way to end!

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Song on the Mind: "Cornfield Chase" by Hans Zimmer (Theme from Interstellar)

P.S. - A number of speakers talked about not being afraid to fail and to take risks.

At the end of the conference Wednesday, on my way back home on the train trolley up north, while I felt rewarded from everything I took away from the conference, I also felt a bit defeated as if I hadn't done a good enough job of trying to network during the main conference.

"Take a risk," the words rung in my head.

So I hopped off the trolley, got right back on the opposing train and headed back downtown. I though there's gotta be some folks grabbing drinks at the bars in the Gaslamp Quarter that I can chat to. Maybe there's someone I missed that I was meant to find right now.

I walked up and down the main drag of Gaslamp, hoping to find folks from the conference sitting at a bar or a table. (For non San-Diegans, the Gaslamp Quarter is a street in downtown that's literally lined with bars and restaurants and nothing else for a few blocks.)

I couldn't really tell if these folks in the bars were just locals or the conference attendees. We all had bright orange lanyards with badges for the conference that were easy to spot, but I couldn't find any.

So, to try to-rethink my positioning, instead of trying to find attendees, I plopped down in the middle of a bar with seating on both sides of me and wore my lanyard. Maybe someone would spot me instead and would want to chat.

After about thirty minutes there wasn't anyone around that was wanting to talked, so I paid my tab and this time actually headed home.

Yeah, I didn't find anyone, but at least I went out of my way and took the chance to try. And I'll keep on trying. If you keep throwing darts at a dartboard, you're eventually going to get one to stick.