DevLearn 2014 Recap

Last week, I attended the DevLearn 2014 conference sponsored by the eLearning Guild in sunny Las Vegas. Held at the Bellagio, there were close to 3,000 attendees, with a mix of instructional designers, content developers, and training managers from all over the country. Overall, it was one of the best organized and most interesting conferences I've ever attended. 

Photo by O Palsson / CC BY

Key Themes

With a focus on self-paced eLearning, there were many exciting discussions. But a few key themes really stuck out to me: 

• The emergence of video for learning
• Application of agile techniques to instructional design
• The rise of informal, experiential, and social learning in the corporate context
• Excitement about the new xAPI standard, combined with uncertainty about how to use it
• An increasing need for L&D organizations to report data and demonstrate ROI

An Exciting Program

There was so much to see and do! I attended the keynote presentations from Neil deGrasse Tyson and Beau Lotto. Both sessions were entertaining, using lots of fun and engaging neuroscience-based exercises. Each talk was absoutely a highlight of the conference for me. 

Unlike a lot of conferences, the sessions at DevLearn are highly attended and are the main reason why many people attend. I was happy to attend a mix of sessions on topics ranging from video creation to Google Glass in elearning. 

I was excited to speak on the Management Stage, a new addition this year for DevLearn. The Management Stage provided some great insight into the challenges facing eLearning professionals, and approaches for solving them. 

The Expo

The expo featured over a hundred vendors related to learning technologies. From authoring tools to consulting services, and LMS vendors to online education programs, it was a great opportunity to explore the newest learning tools, products and services. 

DevLearn 2014 was an incredible experience. I'd recommend it for anyone in the elearning industry, and it's a must-attend for instructional designers. A special thank you to everyone who attended the Skilljar session, or stopped by to say hello. If you missed my session, you can access the presentation on "Using Online Training to Generate Leads" here: devlearn.skilljar.com.