ASTD TechKnowledge 2008? Anyone?

February 15, 2008

Is anyone going to TechKnowledge in San Antonio this month (February 26-28)? I’ll be there. I’ve been to several eLearning conferences in the past and have yet to come away impressed. My general opinion of the events I’ve attended thus far is best summarized by my thoughts on the most recent event I attended:

Several months ago I attended an eLearning development conference, and unsurprisingly, most of the sessions were filled with examples of the type of eLearning I loathe - sterile, unimaginative stuff that hit all the essential “adult learning theories” (ugh) yet exhibited absolutely zero emotional appeal. You know, just like 95% of the eLearning you see every day.

I’m crossing my fingers that this event will be the one that really makes an impact on me. I’m not optimistic, based on my TechKnowledge 2007 experience (Las Vegas - ugh, crumbling Riviera Hotel - double ugh, and I won’t even talk about some of the horrific eLearning I witnessed), but hope springs eternal, so I’m going in with a positive attitude. The workshops I’ve scheduled to attend look interesting. And David Pogue is a keynote speaker, so at the very least I’ll come away with that.

Watch for me - I’ll likely be the one with the dazed look of dismay and hopelessness. Wait, there I go with the cynicism again.

I am looking forward to Tom Kuhlmann’s (VP of Community at Articulate) presentation. If you haven’t seen Articulate in action before, be sure to catch this one. How about a sneak peak at AP 6, Tom?

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