Cracking the C-Suite Code: Elevating L&D as a Strategic Partner

Angelina Sabatini // Manager of Training, Live Nation Entertainment | Venue Nation

Let’s be real — getting a seat at the executive table isn’t always easy for L&D. The C-suite speaks in ROI, outcomes, and impact, while we’re often talking engagement, skills, and performance. The truth is, it’s not about working harder — it’s about communicating differently. In this session, I’ll share real-world strategies (and a few lessons learned the hard way!) for showing leaders how training directly connects to business results, and how to shift L&D from “nice to have” to “must have.”

Key Takeaways:

• Speak executive language to clearly show L&D’s business impact
• Connect training initiatives to measurable outcomes and ROI
• Gain confidence and build influence in advocating for L&D as a strategic, must-have business partner

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Designing Learning For the Brain – Part 2!

Lauren Waldman // Learning Scientist, Learning Pirate Inc

Think you learned everything about the brain and learning design in last year’s session? Not even close.
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This year, Learning Scientist Lauren Waldman — one of the leading voices in scientific learning design — is taking you deeper inside the brain. Get ready to explore how the brain’s functions connect directly to the way we facilitate, design, and ultimately change the brains of others through learning.

Don’t know what a schema is and how it can work against you? You will by the time this session is over.
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Want a better understanding of memory and how the process of creating one impacts our designs? Bring your brain, we’ll put it to the test!
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Curious about the underlying neurological components that make habit and behavior stick? This is where you’ll want to be.
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If you had FOMO from missing Lauren’s highly interactive, brain-activating, surprise-filled session last year, this is your chance to catch the experience everyone’s still talking about.
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Unlocking the Real Potential of AI in the Enterprise

Curtis Jones // SVP, The Academy at Bank of America, Bank of America

Despite the bold AI visions companies hold, the path to meaningful adoption is often slower and more complex than anticipated. Organizations face not only technical hurdles but also deeply entrenched legacy systems and cultural inertia. This session will explore how to move beyond pilot projects to truly reshape the way work gets done.

Key Takeaways:

• From Deployment to Invention: Discover the stages of AI maturity—from initial implementation to transformative innovation—and how organizations can evolve through each phase.
• Reinventing Work and Workforce: Learn strategies to redesign workflows, roles, and team structures to align with AI capabilities, ensuring that technology augments rather than replaces human potential.
• Human-in-the-Loop—The Secret Ingredient: Understand why human oversight, judgment, and creativity remain essential for successful AI enablement—and how to embed this principle into your AI strategy.

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The Next Challenge: AI, Jobs, and the Great Reset

Chris Whitlock // Partner, aiLeaders, LLC

Driven by AI, the external environment is poised to change substantially within five years to ten years, impacting customers, competitors, and investors. But experts are divided on how this will unfold.The torrent of media reflects the division and variety of expert views. Leaders need to rally to prepare for this uncertain, potentially jarring future.

“The Coming Shock” provides a clear structure in four likely scenarios every organization should be prepared for. Each scenario presents different challenges. Organizations need to build a shared understanding that leads to the identification of risks, opportunities, and safe plays. From this strategy, companies and organizations can take action to prepare and posture for success. This session provides insight into the education challenge.

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PENTA: It Takes 5 to Ideate a Learning Game

Moe Ash // Learning Architect/Founder of The Catalyst, The Catalyst

In this session, we unpack how any learning designer can structure a meaningful, behavior-focused game idea without needing to become a game designer. We’ll explore how five categories help map learning problems into playable systems. Expect real examples, some light disruption of gamification clichés, and a design method grounded in systems thinking and behavioral science.

Key Takeaways:

• Learning games aren’t built, they’re mapped. Mapped from behaviors, not content.
• You already have the skills. PENTA just gives you a lens and a language to make it actionable.
• You don’t need to be a game designer. But you do need to think like one.

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From Overwhelmed to Impactful: How to Build a Scalable Learning Culture

Jean Eckhoff // Training & Organizational Development Manager, Conversion Logix

Ready to transform your organization’s learning, even as a team of one? This session is your secret weapon, packed with field-tested, plug-and-play ideas to cultivate a scalable, impactful, and exciting learning culture that people actually want to be a part of. Get ready to be inspired by a real-world story of a single-person L&D team achieving outsized impact, and leave with action items you can use to start, build, or improve your own learning culture.
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Key Takeaways:

• Build a “want-to-do” culture, not a compliance program: Set the tone in onboarding with microlearning + gamified, social experiences, and secure at least one exec champion so recognition and momentum come from the top.
• Treat your LMS as a strategic partner and single hub: Choose a platform (and people) that can scale with you, integrate broadly, and support many formats—then use a must-have vs. dream-feature checklist to guide selection.
• How to create content quickly and without stressing: Attack the biggest pain point first, launch V1s with tools you already have, use AI to speed production, gather quick feedback, and showcase simple metrics (NPS, time saved, lessons launched) to fuel buy-in.

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From Micro to Masterpiece: Integrating MicroBuilder® with Lectora® for Fast, Accessible eLearning

Chris Paxton-McMillin // President, D3 Training Solutions

Discover how to combine the rapid power of MicroBuilder with the flexibility and accessibility of Lectora to streamline your eLearning workflow. In this session, Chris Paxton-McMillin will demonstrate how to create microlearning modules in MicroBuilder, bring them into Lectora for enhanced interactivity and compliance, and publish content that’s both efficient and inclusive.

Key Takeaways:

• A practical integration workflow
• An accessibility checklist
• And design tips to make your next course faster, smarter, and learner-friendly

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Karl Kapp & Company: Showcasing Innovative Applications of ELB Tools

Karl Kapp & Company // Professor, Commonwealth University

Learning and Development teams face the challenge of integrating new tools into instructional design while keeping solutions innovative and learner-centered. In this session, Karl Kapp & Company showcases graduate students who demonstrate how they use ELB tools to design engaging and effective learning experiences. Attendees will see examples of emerging designers applying technology to solve instructional challenges, and they will walk away with inspiration and strategies they can adapt to their own contexts.

Key Takeaways:

• Explore practical strategies for overcoming common L&D design challenges using ELB tools
• Gain fresh insights into how to leverage ELB tools for outstanding outcomes
• Identify actionable ideas for applying ELB tools to your own projects

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Leaders Who Carry Chairs: Designing Pipelines that Reward Service, Not Status

Matt Mason // SVP, Director of Talent Operations Office, Truist Financial

Who gets tapped for leadership—the loudest voice, or the person who quietly makes everyone better? Many pipelines still reward polish and visibility over service and impact. This fast, practical session shows instructional designers how to build leadership development that also yields succession evidence HR can use, so the right people are seen, not just the most visible. We’ll map the two jobs every new leader must master—serving people and driving business performance, and introduce a third, often invisible ingredient that turns good managers into trusted, culture-aligned leaders. You’ll leave with a clear blueprint, a compact toolkit you can put to work next month, and a shared language to partner with HR so selection decisions are anchored in real contribution, not airtime.

Key Takeaways:

• Audit current leadership pipelines for status bias (tenure traps, top-performer fallacy, charisma proxy).
• Design practice that produces proof—experiences that generate assessable evidence of servant leadership and business impact.
• Stand up a succession assessment kit and a one-page Succession Packet for HR; facilitate a de-biased calibration using anchored rubrics and a simple peer pulse.

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