Friday
Dec311999
124 - Summary from ASTD Expo & Conference - Atlanta, GA
December 31, 1999
TechLearn TRENDS --- Technology & Learning Updates
The MASIE Center http://www.masie.com Elliott Masie, Editor
(Summary from ASTD Expo & Conference - Atlanta, GA)
Hi TechLearn Trends Readers...
I know that it is impossible to get to every event in the learning and
training world, so we will attempt to bring you some highlights from each
industry gathering.
Today, I am writing this from the EXPO floor of the American Society of
Training & Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. There are almost
10,000 attendees for this event, including many day visitors from the
Georgia area.
Imagine an EXPO floor the size of two football fields (or pitches for our
European readers). There are acres and acres of booths and exhibits
targeted at the training buyer. This morning, before the EXPO opened I
walked around getting a sense of the products and services that were on
display and how they were being positioned. Here are a few of my notes:
* Technology delivery options are being offered in almost 85% of the booths.
These range from training programs that are now available via the corporate
intranet, to at-home learning from the public internet to even a few vendors
of handheld and wireless devices. The product development is clearly
following the trends towards technology delivery.
* Names are changing to sound more internet like. There is V-campus,
E-college, E-learning, Trainingmatters.com and almost every combo of the new
model of internet naming convention. In fact, I saw 15 vendors that had
changed their names in the last few months, as part of rebranding their
companies or getting them ready for IPO.
* More dialogue about systems and delivery capacities than new content
collections. We still seem to be seeing more systems and delivery
technologies than loads of new content via on-line. Major booths from the
makers of on-line learning delivery systems, training management systems and
ERP linked applications. While there were some new players on the content
side, more of the play seems to be in the systems.
* Pricing is still confusing when it comes to content! Wander around and
you get a sense of confusion about what happens to content as it moves
towards the web. Most suppliers were trying to avoid talking about price
and delivery in the same sentence. The approach is to talk about the value
of the content and then to offer it in any format available.
* DVD is popping up. A handful of content players are starting to design to
the DVD format.
* Training consultant, services and solutions companies had huge booths and
presence. Forum, DDI, Achieve Global, Franklin Covey, Blanchard, Richard
Cheng and others large players had massive booths ... with dialogues about
large scale interventions and outsourcing of complete training programs.
* The BIG 4 of management consulting and accounting companies are here, with
new offerings in the learning and knowledge management space.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte & Touche, Arthur Anderson and others are
all direct players in the learning services field, along with technology
companies like IBM Global Learning Services.
* TV to the desktop and business site was a hot topic, including ways of
blending satellite and on-line content delivery.
The dialogues amongst participants was focused on a lot of the key issues
involving the role of training in the changing business environment. Fewer
trainers see themselves as working in training departments for long, many
are already in roles that involve training but are in line operating groups.
How to BLEND classroom and technology was a hot topic at many of the
sessions.
Last night, I led a conversation with 100 training professionals about the
role of Digital Collaboration and the need for processes and focus on "how
we will be collaborating" not just on the latest tools or applications.
More to follow!
Elliott and Cathy Masie in Atlanta
P.S. TechLearn '99 Registrations have now topped 1,200. We are receiving
15 to 20 per day. Make your reservations for our Oct 31 to Nov 3rd event
featuring Dr. Bill Cosby and many other speakers. We are proud to have ASTD
as a co-host of the event and they will offer a series of sessions on
research and collaboration. Go to our new on-line information site:
http://www.techlearn.com
The MASIE Center http://www.masie.com Elliott Masie, Editor
(Summary from ASTD Expo & Conference - Atlanta, GA)
Hi TechLearn Trends Readers...
I know that it is impossible to get to every event in the learning and
training world, so we will attempt to bring you some highlights from each
industry gathering.
Today, I am writing this from the EXPO floor of the American Society of
Training & Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. There are almost
10,000 attendees for this event, including many day visitors from the
Georgia area.
Imagine an EXPO floor the size of two football fields (or pitches for our
European readers). There are acres and acres of booths and exhibits
targeted at the training buyer. This morning, before the EXPO opened I
walked around getting a sense of the products and services that were on
display and how they were being positioned. Here are a few of my notes:
* Technology delivery options are being offered in almost 85% of the booths.
These range from training programs that are now available via the corporate
intranet, to at-home learning from the public internet to even a few vendors
of handheld and wireless devices. The product development is clearly
following the trends towards technology delivery.
* Names are changing to sound more internet like. There is V-campus,
E-college, E-learning, Trainingmatters.com and almost every combo of the new
model of internet naming convention. In fact, I saw 15 vendors that had
changed their names in the last few months, as part of rebranding their
companies or getting them ready for IPO.
* More dialogue about systems and delivery capacities than new content
collections. We still seem to be seeing more systems and delivery
technologies than loads of new content via on-line. Major booths from the
makers of on-line learning delivery systems, training management systems and
ERP linked applications. While there were some new players on the content
side, more of the play seems to be in the systems.
* Pricing is still confusing when it comes to content! Wander around and
you get a sense of confusion about what happens to content as it moves
towards the web. Most suppliers were trying to avoid talking about price
and delivery in the same sentence. The approach is to talk about the value
of the content and then to offer it in any format available.
* DVD is popping up. A handful of content players are starting to design to
the DVD format.
* Training consultant, services and solutions companies had huge booths and
presence. Forum, DDI, Achieve Global, Franklin Covey, Blanchard, Richard
Cheng and others large players had massive booths ... with dialogues about
large scale interventions and outsourcing of complete training programs.
* The BIG 4 of management consulting and accounting companies are here, with
new offerings in the learning and knowledge management space.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte & Touche, Arthur Anderson and others are
all direct players in the learning services field, along with technology
companies like IBM Global Learning Services.
* TV to the desktop and business site was a hot topic, including ways of
blending satellite and on-line content delivery.
The dialogues amongst participants was focused on a lot of the key issues
involving the role of training in the changing business environment. Fewer
trainers see themselves as working in training departments for long, many
are already in roles that involve training but are in line operating groups.
How to BLEND classroom and technology was a hot topic at many of the
sessions.
Last night, I led a conversation with 100 training professionals about the
role of Digital Collaboration and the need for processes and focus on "how
we will be collaborating" not just on the latest tools or applications.
More to follow!
Elliott and Cathy Masie in Atlanta
P.S. TechLearn '99 Registrations have now topped 1,200. We are receiving
15 to 20 per day. Make your reservations for our Oct 31 to Nov 3rd event
featuring Dr. Bill Cosby and many other speakers. We are proud to have ASTD
as a co-host of the event and they will offer a series of sessions on
research and collaboration. Go to our new on-line information site:
http://www.techlearn.com
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