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Conference Preview - Meeting today’s challenges: World of Learning Conference 2009

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Leading experts on business learning and development (L&D) from major international and UK organisations will be among the world class speakers at the World of Learning Conference 2009, taking place at the NEC, Birmingham on 30 September & 1 October 2009.

Chaired by BBC news broadcaster and presenter Bill Turnbull, the agenda has been put together following extensive research and consultation with industry leaders on the issues affecting the L&D industry today. It covers the impact of the current economic climate on businesses, the role of L&D in contributing to business performance, and how L&D professionals can learn the necessary skills to face the challenges of today’s pressures and demands.

The keynote addresses are being delivered by: John McNamara, Chief Executive at the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, examining how L&D can contribute to better business performance; industry guru Nigel Paine, Managing Director of NigelPaine.com, sharing his views on engaging employees and learners; and Penny Tamkin, Programme Director – Management & Leadership at the Work Foundation, who will look at driving performance improvements through learning.

A further highlight is the Future of Learning Forum, which will feature a leading international panel of experts examining the changing face of learning in the current economic climate. The panel consists of Martyn Sloman, Visiting Professor at Kingston Business School, Penny Tamkin, Programme Director – Management & Leadership at The Work Foundation, Malcolm Pickup, Head of People Development at TNT UK, and Laura Overton, Managing Director of Towards Maturity. It will cover issues of how L&D should align itself with changing business priorities, the role of L&D in HR issues and how to maintain momentum in tough circumstances.

The case-study led conference programme will enable delegates to benefit from the opportunity to hear first-hand how a wide range of commercial, public sector and charitable organisations from a variety of industries including media, technology, retail and finance, have approached current L&D challenges. Among the high profile organisations speaking are Rolls-Royce, Marks and Spencer, Lloyds TSB, British Red Cross, BBC, BT Group, NHS Coventry and Sony Electronics Europe.

Highlights include:

Demonstrating the value of the L&D function
Stephen Mapp, Senior Manager – L&D Planning & Analysis at Lloyds TSB, will be examining how to demonstrate the value of the L&D function including presenting the business case for investment in staff development, contributing to critical business needs through L&D and determining the L&D contribution to performance improvement. The session will be facilitated by Chris Goodwin, Managing Director at the Results Driven Group.

Utilising coaching as a vital business tool
Jon Summerson, Career Planning & Development Manager at the British Red Cross, will be discussing the relevance of coaching in the current economic climate, how traditional approaches to coaching need to adapt and the role of coaching in up-skilling employees to respond to increased competition. He will also look at utilising in-house talent for coaching and how online coaching and mentoring can contribute to effectiveness and efficiency. Also joining in the discussion, which is facilitated by Tim Hawkes, Managing Director at Unlimited Potential, is Sue Liburd, Coach at Unlimited Potential.

Developing skills during organisational change
Chaired by Adrian Snook, Deputy CEO at the Training Foundation, this session will features two case studies from two very different perspectives with contrasting organisational drivers. From the private sector is Nicola Holmes, Global Director of Learning & Development at Rolls-Royce, who will be examining re-skilling in the workplace, including how to understand and enhance existing inhouse talent, the business case for re-skilling over replacing, how to identify new skills within the workforce and ascertaining what can be introduced, development or taught, updating old skills to respond to new approaches and how to access the funding available to help re-skill. The public sector case study will be presented by Jan Spalding, Head of Workforce & Development at NHS Coventry and Chair of Coventry and Warwickshire Leadership Management Group, who will discuss integrating learning strategy and talent management to enhance skills including developing a long-term flexible learning strategy around business drivers, identifying and escalating skills within the workforce and evaluating the outcomes from such activity.

Leadership development in a changing business environment
Sarah Henbrey, Director – People & Organisational Development at Sony Electronics Europe, will present a case study on developing leaders within Sony, which will focus on creating outstanding leaders in times of organisational change, refining leadership programmes in order to cope with today’s economy, the role of leaders in driving change and engagement and the leader’s role in creating an environment where innovation flourishes. The session is being facilitated by Simon Foster, Client Solutions Director at the Centre for High Performance Development.

Alison Church, Senior Conference & Marketing Manager at the World of Learning, comments: “The conference programme addresses the most pressing L&D issues facing businesses today, how L&D can tackle them and how L&D professionals can equip both themselves and the business with the skills to confront the challenges head on.”

Delegate incentives
To enable delegates to make their visit as valuable an experience as possible and maximise the return on their spend, there are a number of benefits on offer. These include a Continuing Personal or Professional Development (CPD) Certificate of Attendance, the facility to ask the speakers specific questions related to individual learning needs, and free access to LM Matters’ 50 Lessons and Harvard ManageMentor from the time of booking until the event. In addition, all delegates booking and attending the full two-day conference will receive a free Toshiba portable DVD player.

Generous early booking discounts apply with 30% discount for bookings received on or before 29 June 2009 and 20% for bookings received on or before 28 August 2009, with extra discounts available for membership of industry associations and returning delegates. All these delegate benefits are subject to terms and conditions – full details are available on www.learnevents.com

The World of Learning takes place in Hall 18 at the NEC, Birmingham and is open from 10:00-17:00 on Wednesday 30 September and 10:00-16:00 on Thursday 1 October 2009. Delegates who would like further information or to book conference sessions should visit www.learnevents.com or call +44 (0)20 8394 5171.