Learning Technologies - the e-learning event of the year

Next week, as you probably know, is the most important event in the UK e-learning calendar and that is the Learning Technologies Conference and Exhibition. Each year this event gets better and better and if you have any interest in the subject and you only do one exhibition each year, then you should make it this one.

The Conference is a two day affair with plenary sessions from the likes of Chris Yapp and Donald Clark plus three tracks of other sessions – Technology in learning, Effective learning and Performance management. Under the hands of Don Taylor, the conference chairman and Mark Penton (who with Ian Smout runs the whole affair) the programme is carefully put together over months of consultation with a “band of brothers” who are the track chairs. I have been privileged to be a track chair at this conference each year almost from the start and it is an event I really look forward to. If you need to know more about how to use technology in learning and learning in general then you could do no worse than to attend this conference.

The exhibition is again sold out this year and with at least 120 stands to choose from you will be hard put not to find something of interest. As well as the exhibition there are the usual free seminar sessions but this year the organizers have added yet another presentation theatre in which will be several sessions which will be by invitation only. One of particular interest is the Balloon Debate being run by the eLearning Network - an organisation close to my heart having had the honour of chairing it for seven years up to May last year. Nine specialists in the field of e-learning (including myself!) will each plead with the audience to be allowed to stay in a mythical balloon which is sinking fast. The audience will be asked to vote on their arguments until the last three are left which is all that this balloon can sustain. They will be the most important specialists in an e-learning programme – now I wonder who they can be? There may be a few tickets left if you rush to the eLearning Network stand and beg for one but don’t leave it too long.

Further details from www.learningtechnologies.co.uk