Managers and employees usually ask for it, and trainers have always been happy to deliver it - but is 'the course' the best means of delivering training? Donald Clark will argue that it may not be, and will lead a discussion around its alternatives. Courses were originally created as the best way to deliver knowledge, but what happens when the boundaries set by the classroom no longer apply?

• When courses work - and when they don't
• Do managers understand the alternatives to courses?
• Are delegates ready for self-paced learning?
• Helping people learn as people should
• How 'courses' fail the human mind

Following his well-received presentation at the Learning Technologies Conference in January, Patrick Dunn returns to discuss the key questions: What are the best ways to design effective, compelling e-learning, given the tools we now have, and are likely to have in the near future? How can you use appropriate tools to inject greater levels of creativity into your design process? In this interactive session, delegates will consider how their approaches to learning design could be improved:

• Understanding your current approach
• Understanding what users need - and what they want
• Building the right design team
• Getting beyond order taking
• Raising your professional standing and creativity

Virtual worlds are 'Marmite' technologies - you either love them or think they're a flash in the pan. This practical workshop is for those seeking to go beyond an immediate reaction and investigate what they can offer. Marco Tippmer of Capgemini will investigate where virtual environments can add value to learning, and delegates will get some hands-on experience.

• Technology and terminology introduction
• Setting up your avatar and navigating the virtual environment
• A guided tour across Second Life, focusing on Learning and Education
• An introduction to virtual world development
• Where might virtual worlds be useful in your workplace?

Drawing on research from eLearnity into current industry best practice, this workshop investigates how, practically, to demonstrate value. The workshop will include discussion of models including those of Kirkpatrick, Phillips and Kearns. Discussion will centre on sharing experiences and challenges between participants and establishing possible methods of demonstrating value within their own organisations.

• The range of existing value models
• What does current industry practice show us?
• Who sets the measure for value?
• Balancing quantative and qualitative measures
• Understanding the right approach for you

Large employers in the private sector have their own particular issues in learning and development. Whether dealing with multiple locations, legacy systems or negotating management hierarchies, the enterprise L&D function has its work cut out.

This conference meeting is a great opportunity to meet others in similar situations, to share experiences and information, and to build a group which will act as an informal support network during the conference and beyond.

Central and local government face similar L&D challenges, including implementing PSG, carrying out skills audits and demonstrating cost effectiveness. By attending this group, you will be able to meet others facing similar issues, and share your experiences in tackling them.

You will build a network of contacts for the future, and set an agenda for any future meetings (real or virtual). You will also act as a vital conduit to feed information and suggestions for future events back to the conference organisers.

In this interactive session, Jonathan Kettleborough will help you first understand what peak performance looks like in your organisation, and then consider how your L&D teams can best achieve it. In the world of e-everything a traditional classroom course may still be the best way forward, but how can you tell when?

• What does peak performance look like in your organisation?
• How do you train and support an organisation for sustained peak performance?
• Matching training interventions to performance areas - not the other way around
• Continuing support after training
• Focussing on performance issues not training fads

Creator of the now famous '100 best tools for learning' list, Jane Hart will introduce and lead this discussion on what tools you are using in your organisation, what others you might consider, and why. Share your experiences with fellow industry practitioners and learn how you might get more from other tools - or even the tools you are currently using.

• Why and how have you chosen your current tool set?
• What other tools are available?
• How can you get more out of what you are using?
• Is there a core tool set you should consider?
• What can we expect in 2008?

You don't always have time at work to try using collaborative technologies such as blogs, wikis and RSS feeds. This workshop gives you a chance to see how quickly and effectively you can put these tools to use, and discuss how you can use them to support learning in your organisation. B&Q's Barry Sampson will help you examine:

• Getting blogging fast
• Giving yourself a 'dashboard' view
• The benefits of wikis for business an learning
• Implementation - it's not about the technology
• How collaborative tools can support learning - and how they can't

How can you help classroom trainers become comfortable with technology-supported learning? Often they are unsure about producing materials for online use, and reluctant to interact online. In this workshop, online learning specialist Phil Green will explore how to draw on trainers' existing experience to:.

• Use familiar office tools to create credible interactive learning
• Create satisfying activities and user-controlled scenarios for learning
• Design assessments that go beyond testing
• Ensure learners receive meaningful, well-structured feedback
• Build trainer confidence

This Interest Group meeting is for those new to the world of technology-supported learning. Where - behind the hype - are the quick solutions and what are the common mistakes? The group will aim to uncover shared concerns and questions and to establish an informal support network, which will grow as new members join.

The aim of the group will not be to solve all questions immediately. Instead, it will aim to resolve any issues that can be tackled immediately, and to plan on answering the remainder as the group continues to collaborate after the conference.

This Interest Group meeting is for those that have been using learning systems of all sorts (LMS, LCMS, EPSS) for some time, and want to share experiences with others in a similar position. What works and what doesn't with these systems? What issues have members faced in implementation and in getting managerial and executive acceptance?

The group will aim to discover what common issues members have, and both to share possible solutions and to set an agenda for future meetings (virtual or real)

'Rapid e-learning' usually means CBT on speed: producing the same old interactive lessons, just faster. But the greatest benefits of rapid tools and processes come with a broader view of e-content. When used in blended solutions or for performance support, e-content nuggets provide the gain without the pain. And creating these nuggets doesn't always require media specialists - just versatile trainers and subject experts.

• Thinking beyond the CBT model
• Exploring the full range of e-content formats
• Making the best use of commonly-available media tools
• Enfranchising the whole training community in your e-learning strategy
• Generating content from the bottom-up as well as the top-down

'Build it and they will not come'. If that is true for a well-marketed commercial web site, what chance does your internal e-learning deployment stand? According to Laura Overton, though, there is plenty you can do to make it a success. In this session she will draw on her research into best practice in deploying e-learning, and facilitate a discussion in which delegates will learn:

• What turns learners off - and on
• Getting from managerial lip-service to buy-in
• Dealing with ill-wishers
• Gathering evidence to demonstrate your success
• A plan of what to do next

Jane Hart spends her working life examining learning technologies. In this workshop she reveals 25 tools that she considers essential for the learning and development professional - and they are all free! In this hands-on workshop you will get a chance to see all 25 tools, and to experiment with as many as you wish during the time available. The tools on show range from Wordpress to Moodle and include:

• Design tools
• Information sharing tools
• Productivity tools
• Collaborative tools
• Course management tools

In this workshop, Neil Lasher will explore how to explicitly build and entice the learner to create associations with your e-learning to ensure better understanding through using the brain's natural powers of association. Exploring how the brain forms associations through practical activities, the workshop will help you understand:

• Why association works for memory
• How associations differ between individuals
• Common associations that we share
• Building associations into your learning design
• Avoiding ' loving a no-hoper to death'

If you're working in L&D in the financial sector at present, you might want to talk to a friend. You can find one in this Sector Group meeting. The agenda will be agreed on the day, but will be likely to include issues from compliance training to ensuring that budget and jobs don't disappear in the next few months.

These groups aim to enable individuals to feel comfortable in sharing information and experiences, and to build an informal support network of like-minded colleagues that they can contact after the conference when needed.

The military and the emergency services share various L&D challenges, and this group offers the opportunity to meet and to swap experiences and hints and tips on how you have dealt with them. Delegates attending this group will also build a network of contacts, and can set an agenda for any future meetings (real or virtual).

You won't tackle all your issues by joining the group, but you may find some answers, and some friends that will help you in the future.

Bad news: better skills are almost never enough to improve organisational performance. Dealing with knowledge and skills alone fails to address what truly affects performance. To really make a difference, L&D needs to take a holistic approach. Join Charles Jennings, who is tackling these issues head-on as global head of learning at Reuters, to discuss:

• Is learning all that your L&D deparment aims to achieve?
• Six reasons training doesn't work?
• Do instructional design and delivery actually matter?
• Why memory is so important, and how most training ignores it
• How you can plan to work differently in 2008

How does the human brain learn, and does it differ when using technology? In this interactive follow-up from Itiel Dror's well-received keynote at the January Learning Technologies Conference, Tamas Makany (a member of Itiel's cognitive neuroscience team) will lead a discussion on how the brain works, and how it can be helped and hindered according to the learning technologies implemented.

• Types of memory
• Avoiding cognitive overload in interfaces
• Are you designing your learning for the brain?
• The importance of context
• Building navigation to enhance learning

At the Learning Technologies Conference in January all delegates received an iPod or a PSP. Great. But how do you actually use these devices for learning and development? In this hands-on workshop you can learn how to create and deploy effective mobile learning over these and other tools. (PSPs and iPod will be supplied for use during the workshop).

• Easy content creation based on normal office documents
• Working with authoring tools
• Video capture
• Online resources and other references
• Tips and tricks for successful deployment

Every organisation needs one, yet very few have one. If there is one way to make your mark professionally, it is to build a learning and development strategy for your organisation that helps it meet its goals. This workshop provides the ideal opportunity to share experiences and tips on developing a successful L&D strategy with fellow delegates and with Gordon Bull, who did this at both American Express and Vodafone.

• Why the 'good enough' strategy is best
• Identifying and targeting organisational goals
• Gathering political support for your strategy
• Presenting your strategy
• Next steps back at your desk

Understanding and deploying competencies is very often seen as 'dry stuff' in the 'difficult' box for busy people. This group is for people at all levels of experience who have a strong interest in using competencies to develop organisational and individual well being.

The group will include people who have successfully deployed competencies in their own organisations, and those who are contemplating it and want to know both how to ensure effective deployment, avoid the common pitfalls and maximise their potential . As with the other groups, the aim is that the group continues, informally, after the conference.

This group aims to help members discuss how the learning and development function can support and encourage 'informal learning', while still ensuring that it is aligned to organisational objectives. Members will include individuals who have made a success of supporting informal learning within their own organisations, as well as those just getting started.

Topics are likely to include 'building managerial backing for informal learning' and 'how to use technology to support informal learning'. As with the other groups, the aim is that the group continues, informally, after the conference.