What do you want at conferences?

[Kevin D. Jones]

What would you like to learn about regarding Social Learning at conferences?

There are many training and other conferences talking about social learning. If you were to go to one, what would be the headlines and content that would interest you the most?

[JHarlan]

Great question and one that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Here are a few top of mind thoughts in no particular order...

- Social learning and the management of content integrity
- Building a social network to supplement training efforts (who is responsible for building the networks, how do you do it, etc.)
- Knowledge management: how to store and facilitate quick and easy access to your workforce's knowledge
- The changing face of the workforce - etiquette around and integration of social networking tools into your corporate environment
- What affect (if any) social learning has on creating and managing project teams
- Designing a training program around the theory of social learning
- Subject matter expertise and social learning
- Social learning and the exit of the baby boom generation from the workforce (effective transfer of knowledge between generations) This one is very interesting to me.

Hope this helps.

[Sheri Kendall]

I am most interested in how to begin a social learning initiative. I work in an organization that could benefit from social learning but is reluctant to give it a shot. That would be the other topic - how to get buy in from the C suite.

[JHarlan]

Hi Sheri,

Are you attending this ASTD event?

Putting Learning Technology to Work for You
October 23, 2008
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Kaiser Permanente, Lake Oswego, OR
$60 for Chapter members; $85 for others (prices increase after Oct 14)
http://www.astdcascadia.org/programs/pdx2008/10-23-08.html

I'm wondering if this event will have attendees with similar questions. I don't work within an organization currently, but would like to some day be able to advise my clients on how to begin a social learning initiative as well.

[Christine Martell]

I'm one of the facilitators for the event. Our plan is to get a sense of who is coming (by communicating with people who have registered) so we can focus the content on what participants are interested in. We are bringing in Michele Martin from Philadelphia, and her focus is on getting people using social media both individually and in orgs. Kevin will also be talking about application across the enterprise.

Any ideas, suggestions, or requests anyone?

[Faraz Qureshi]

I think I would like to learn about specific companies (case studies) that are applying social learning in the corporate environment. Further, what tools are they using? What are the lessons learned? Are there certain types of content that lends itself to social learning?

Hope that helps!

[Ralph Hall]

Case studies from users at small to medium sized companies. Where is the most significant value at that level. The value propositions at large companies is fairly clear. What are easy, low-cost tools that are safe to use and a bit about how to use them.

Also, the time and consistency required to make these work can be demanding. What types of efforts could this replace - rather than just add a new thing to our plates? What is return for the time investment that is critical to business objectives and measureable?

[Chuck]

My biggest question is how to sell the concept of social learning, particularly to those who have not been exposed to the newer technologies. As both a trainer and OD specialist, the tools of social learning are exciting and incredibly useful to me, but if I am not allowed to get them out of my toolbelt, they do me no good.

[Lori Silverman]

I would appreciate national experts

[Luis Cuadros]

The October 23 ASTD program "Putting Learning Technology to Work for You" was terrific! I would like to hear more about specific strategies, methods, and lessons learned from people who are implementing social learning in their enterprise. A few weeks ago, I proposed a national implementation of a wiki for learning and development professionals in our company (we have 300 training groups across the nation) as a pilot project. I figured that if it did't work for the learning professionals, we would have a tough time selling social learning to our business units. My proposal passed the scrutiny of our VP and I have been asked to take it to the next level. Hence, why I'm looking for lessons learned. I have also started a wiki for my department and I'm getting first hand experience on what a great knowledge container a wiki can be!

[Christine Martell]

Thanks Luis for hosting us in such a wonderful space. We really appreciate your efforts to make sure we had what we needed for the program.

Here is a resource from the class wiki:
a presentation from the Brandon Hall conference that focuses on the business case for applying social media tools http://iil08.wikispaces.com/file/view/BH_092508v2.pdf

also, here is a long list of examples from companies who have used social media
http://www.globalsocialmedianetwork.com/?page_id=201

Hope you keep us updated with ideas and lessons learned.

[Luis Cuadros]

I will definitely keep people updated on this site. Thanks for the links!