The second full day of C3 was packed with Litmos breakout sessions that both educated and entertained. I will not touch on each and every session in this post because there were so many in our two concurrent tracks, but here are some highlights.

We started out the morning with a lively talk from Learning Rebels founder, Shannon Tipton, “Simplicity in Learning for the Modern Workforce” which focused on strategies for creating a new blend of learning solutions to meet the complex needs of today’s mobile and dispersed workforce. I watched this very engaging presentation from the back of the room and was thrilled to see so many phones in the air, slide after slide, with attendees snapping pictures of her content so that they could take her advice home. There were even a few people with notepads taking pen and paper notes (yes, pen and paper!) throughout her entire talk. This was material that people did not want to forget!

At the same time in the other room, our Training Ops team shared solutions for turning training into a profit center, a subject of great interest for many of our larger customers. This session outlined the path to profitably scaling training operations through a combination of automation and optimization. Attendees learned how an end-to-end training ops platform can actually save time and money by automating back-office processes, such as complex scheduling and and e-commerce, enabling global companies to focus on making customers and partners more productive through learning.

Thanks to conference sponsor and partner, ADP, for their session on how to “Win the War on Talent.” This session offered eye-opening stats on how few employees are actually engaged in their work and how training and other tools can be used to counter that. Attendees learned a bit about behavioral economics and their day-to-day effect on an organization’s productivity and effectiveness. I’d be willing to bet that many of this session’s attendees, especially HR pros, will visit the ADP Marketplace to go check out its other solutions, like Litmos, that can be used to overcome challenges in attracting, engaging, and retaining talent.

The most uplifting and inspiring session of the day was clearly our Non-profit Panel, which featured PsychArmor CEO Marjorie Morrison as moderator, who notably, was also featured in the C3 CEO Keynote on Tuesday. She spoke with leaders from Guide Dogs for the Blind, The Human Rights Campaign, and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. These four discussed the unique challenges that not-for-profit businesses face in training their staff, volunteers, donors, law makers, etc. Their energy, insights, and commitment to such meaningful causes engaged our C3 audience for each and every minute of this session. It made me extra proud to be a Litmos team member. Because of the solutions and services we provide, these organizations are more equipped to make the world a better place. Now, that’s putting technology to good use!

Next, we switched gears to the mega-profit, mega-fast world of technology and how leading companies are creating learning programs that need to change at the speed of digital business. Leaders from FitBit, Gainsight, and SnapLogic spoke with Litmos CLO Mike Martin to discuss why tech companies must themselves leverage the best technologies in order to keep pace with the rate of product development. No doubt there was a huge turnout for this session as a result of Mike’s Dojo training sessions two days earlier. (As a side note and in case you didn’t hear, the fire marshal showed up at these trainings because we’d maxed out the room)! Anyway, the tech panel offered great advice to audience members on creating fresh content using easy tools like video and demo-recording apps. This session also drew distinctions between process problems, people problems, and technology problems, and how to know which one(s) you’re facing. The panel recommended good, old-fashioned relationship-building with peers and leadership as a way to overcome many perceived challenges, regardless of your industry.

A huge highlight of the day for our customers was the update from Sarika Khanna, SVP of Product and Services for Litmos, “Meet the Next Generation of Learning Technology.” She shared the market trends that have driven recent product enhancements, as well as how input from customers and analysts affect those important decisions. Customers hung on her every word as she revealed how we’re aligning with the CallidusCloud Augmented Intelligence strategy revealed the day prior in both the CEO Keynote and Litmos Keynote, in which she was also a featured speaker. Customers came out of this session fully energized and excited about the future of Litmos as it becomes increasingly connected, personal, mobile, and attuned to the learner’s experience.

Another packed session was our afternoon panel on “The Value of Creating a Culture of Learning,” which was moderated by Litmos’ VP of Marketing, Tim Duranleau, who spoke with leaders from DiscoverOrg, e-MDs, and Searchmetrics. This group addressed questions about how to leverage training to reinforce a company’s mission and core values. Each panelist provided insights on instilling a culture of learning to unite employees, customers, and partners around a common set of principles and practices.

Litmos guest blogger and industry thought-leader, Clark Quinn, challenged our thinking in his session on “Facing the Headwinds of Change in Learning.” He urged L&D professionals to leverage data and apply new approaches in order to make learning more relevant.

Cheers to the team from Litmos Heroes, who’d flown in all the way from England! They took the stage to “Save the world from boring learning” (capes and all)! In typical British style, they earned some good laughs with some cheeky humor, while still underscoring the growing importance of learner engagement and how content should be used to captivate the attention of today’s learners who’ve come to expect a compelling digital experience, not flat slide decks that put people to sleep.

Lastly, a huge thanks to our CallidusCloud team for all of the awesome employee-led sessions!!