Back in SLC
In June 2018, I had the honor of presenting at Learning Dev Camp 2018 in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah. This was my 2nd time to visit SLC and it was just as scenic as I recall.
My topic, “Get Graphic: eLearning Tips from Comic Book Theory,“ focused on how we can communicate better, become more efficient storytellers, & create visual interest in our eLearning, training, and applications.
The slides for my comic book presentation have been uploaded to LinkedIn’s SlideShare. You can also view the slides below:
In addition to interesting keynotes, LDC18 offered so many great sessions that I can’t cover them all here. However, here are a few stand-out sessions I attended and enjoyed in SLC.
Topic Highlights
“The State of Authoring Tools Today” – Joe Ganci, @elearningjoe
With a vast depth of experience in the eLearning industry, Joe is a phenomenal resource and has a wealth of knowledge on various eLearning authoring tools.
Building on his expertise and his personal use of hundreds different authoring tools, Joe discussed the various types of tools and what to consider when choosing one.
“Instructional Design for the Global Learner” – Mary Cropp, @Squiddel
There are a multitude of elements to consider, plan, and execute when developing content for a global audience. In her session, Mary discussed global considerations and provided real-world examples on how to address these needs. Attendee discussion was encouraged. These discussions included:
- localization and translation
- regional and local customs
- visual representation of culture using stylized, cartoon-like avatars
- regional differences in physical/hand gestures
“One Size Won’t Fit All: The Future of Personalized Digital Learning” – Jeff Batt, @jeffbatt01
Flexing his xAPI knowledge, Jeff demonstrated how to create learner-centric content, customized and tailored based on learner interaction.
Jeff’s company, Learning Dojo, is no stranger to custom content and attendees gained a deeper understanding of development and working with xAPI through his expertise.
“For Cheap! – How I Built My Online Courses Website using WordPress & LearnDash” – Joe Casabona, @jcasabona
Building from direct experience, Joe outlined his own journey into hosting and providing content on a WordPress site. Joe’s presentation provided insight on what worked and what didn’t and responded to various questions with thoughtful and frank explanations of his processes. As someone that has considered levering WordPress to deliver online eLearning content, Joe’s session was especially interesting to me.
“The Conflict Journey” – Katie Stroud, @KatieStroudPro
Katie’s company, Incremental Success, provides products and services to help individuals, companies, and other entities achieve success one step at a time.
In her presentation, Katie described eight phases groups go through in the midst of change and how to plan around that. Attendee discussion was lively and Katie through a journey through the art of storytelling, provided deep insight on conflict and change.
You Build It Sessions
“Augmented Reality 101” – Debbie Richards, @cre8iveii
Pulling from her vast knowledge of the subject, Debbie’s session was well-attended and provided a great primer for those looking to get started in AR. Debbie also provided unique AR handouts and demonstrated various tools and apps participants could use to create augmented reality content.
“VROOM! Rapid VR Development for Learning Practitioners” – Myra Roldan, @myramade
A crowd favorite, Myra provided a fantastic hands-on session on how to quickly develop virtual reality content. Attendees were walked through 3 different ways to quickly create VR content and Myra demonstrated her expertise during a lively question and answer period.
LDC Socializing
Most importantly, there were many opportunities for eLearning professionals to network, discuss, socialize, and feast together. Good food, good drink, and good discussions – few things can beat this combination. See the image gallery below for some of these outside-the-conference moments.
