“flowers easter lilies daffodils” by Maria Godfrida is licensed by Pixabay.

April offers more than just the chance to admire the daffodils — it's also an ideal time to refresh your thinking. Embrace the spring energy with engaging, free learning opportunities. Whether your goal is to ignite your creativity, improve your business acumen or just acquire new knowledge, the webinars available this month have everything you need to get started. Set aside the garden tools and invest a few hours in exploring innovative ideas for this spring!

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Avoid PowerPoint Template Time Sucks
Do thorny template issues cross your desk on a weekly basis? In this session, Echo Swinford, Owner of Echosvoice LLC, will use case studies, some with major overhaul situations and others that maybe just need small tweaks, to talk about things that will cost you time, and as a result, money. Highlights include:

Naming and organizing layouts.
Performing a slide audit.
Recognizing when to just go with the flow.
Cooperating with PowerPoint Designer.

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: Killing Complexity — Why Simple Wins (Free for ATD members)
Unproductive meetings, irrelevant rules and reports, and endless emails keep people from doing the work that matters most. Even worse, complexity dampens morale and creates feelings of futility. Lisa Bodell, CEO of FutureThink, shows organizations how to unleash energy, collaboration, innovation and engagement by embracing a mindset of simplification. This presentation explores how small changes can have a profound impact on an organization’s people, competitiveness and ability to adapt. Lisa offers techniques used by the nimblest of companies to save time, kill rules and simplify everything.

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: The Relationship of the CLO to the CFO
Influencing the CFO is paramount, particularly for the Chief Learning Officer (CLO), whose initiatives often face scrutiny during cost-cutting measures. Proactive engagement is essential to demonstrate how Learning and Development (L&D) drives organizational success, aligns with key metrics and serves as a business catalyst. This webinar features insights from Lou Tedrick, Vice President, Global of Learning and Development for Verizon, who has proactively ensured that the CFO sees value in learning and development, and Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D., Chairman, ROI Institute and former L&D manager and HR executive, who spends much of his time working with top executives, including CFOs.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Beyond Basic Assessments in Self-paced Learning
Well-designed assessment methods provide valuable information about learning. They tell us what learners have learned, how well they learned it, where they struggled and how we can improve our courses. Artha Learning Inc.’s Garima Gupta, Founder and CEO, and Aamir Aman, Senior Instructional Designer, will highlight types of assessments, the rationale for each type and their use cases. You’ll explore strategies to enhance multiple choice questions, such as strong distractors, Confidence-Based Marking (CBM). You’ll discuss and explore creating valid and authentic assessments beyond multiple choice questions, using scenarios, branching and case studies.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, Elevating Leadership Development at PayPal: Strategies for Focused and Impactful Learning
The ongoing challenge for any learning organization is how to know what to spend your time on to make the biggest impact. Join Matt Pittman, Principal Analyst from Brandon Hall Group for a compelling discussion where Omer Glass, CEO of Growthspace, delves into an in-depth conversation with Kendra Goldbas, Global Head of Learning and Development at PayPal. This session is dedicated to exploring the strategic program design and execution of their transformative Managers in Transition Program (MAPS), where Growthspace is instrumental in facilitating personalized 1:1 development.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Five Characteristics of High-Performing Teams
Join Gil Brady, Author at Core Strengths, for a transformative webinar tailored for L&D professionals. Uncover the five key characteristics needed to unlock high-performing teams that yield exceptional results. Learn strategies to foster an inclusive, innovative environment where authenticity thrives, healthy debate sparks creativity, trust is foundational and relationships pave the way to unparalleled success. Explore how high-performing teams:

Harness individual strengths, roles and interactions to shape team dynamics.
Foster an atmosphere of inclusivity, diverse perspectives, mutual respect and active participation.
Apply proven strategies for enhanced team efficiency, communication and collective success.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: New Research: Training Strategies of Top Performing Sales Teams (Free for ATD members)
New research by The Brooks Group shows that setting up your sales team for success in 2024 lies in your company’s approach to sales process adherence, onboarding, sales training and coaching. In this interactive webinar, The Brooks Group President and CEO, Spencer Wixom, and VP of Sales Performance Research, Michelle Richardson, will share the compelling results of their latest sales performance research. Register today to learn:

How onboarding, training, and coaching strategies can influence revenue goals.
Why your sales team needs to follow a structured sales process.
Top sales skills your team needs to adopt to stay competitive.
Actionable tips to develop sellers who can sell effectively in any situation.

Thursday, April 4, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Five Fundamentals You Need to Master for Your LinkedIn Success
LinkedIn says that 98–99% of users don’t use it effectively. In this presentation, with Jon Keel, Founder and CEO of Improved Together LLC, you’ll learn the five fundamentals, long-standing principles, you need to master to move into the 1% of users who use it effectively. Techniques come and go, but fundamentals don’t change over time. Knowing and implementing these fundamentals can position you for success in 2024 using this fast-growing business-to-business (B2B) platform.

Thursday, April 4, 2024, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Navigating Workplace Conflict: How to Have More Influence, Less Drama and Better Collaboration
Conflict is hard. You weren’t born knowing the perfect words to say when you’re angry, dealing with a difficult stakeholder or when someone calls your game-changing idea “stupid.” Let’s Grow Leaders’ Founder and CEO, Karin Hurt, and President, David Dye, present this practical program that incorporates findings from the expansive World Workplace Conflict and Collaboration research. You’ll leave with the courage, confidence and competence to navigate even the trickiest conflict scenarios and build better, lasting collaboration.

Friday, April 5, 2024, 8 a.m.–9 a.m. PT: Community Discussion — Crisis Ahead: Navigating L&D’s Current Top Challenges
Join this webinar to discuss some of the issues reshaping L&D in a time of rapid change. In this Community Discussion, you’ll explore strategies for overcoming budget constraints, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for learning, and adapting to the demands of remote and hybrid work environments.

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Expert Facilitator Hacks to Create Engaging Virtual Training
Are you re-creating the wheel every time you facilitate virtual classes? Wondering how to save time while still creating an engaging learning experience? Wish you had repeatable shortcuts to help efficiently set up and deliver your virtual programs? Join virtual training expert Cindy Huggett, CPTD, Principal at Cindy Huggett Consulting, to learn tips, tricks and hacks that you can immediately use to simplify your preparation and get participants ready so that everyone can focus on learning. You’ll learn how to:

Use repeatable templates and layouts for engaging virtual training.
Ensure participants come to a virtual class ready to learn.
Jump into immediate interaction and collaboration.
Eliminate time wasters.

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Level Up Your Software Security Training by Building Skills That Stick
Simulation training and tying training to job function are among the most effective ways to help learners retain knowledge. The Base Camp training platform from Security Innovation combines micromodules, labs and realistic application environments to build skills that stick. Join Security Innovation’s Jose Lazu, Senior Product Manager, and Brandon Cooper, Solutions Engineer, who will walk you through customizable journeys and pathways for tailored training, assessing employee skills, ordered access to assignments and recognizing skill achievements with certificates of completion. Learn how Base Camp can help you upskill every role across your organization — not just those nearest to the code.

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Avoiding Handout Hell in Training
The biggest issue that PowerPoint users face is placing too much text on a slide and the primary reason that people do this is because they ask their slides to function both as the visual for the live presentation and as the printed handout. The frequency with which this strategy fails is breathtaking. This hour, Rick Altman, Director at BetterPresenting, will rescue you from this fate. You’ll learn a different approach to content creation, be delivered from this guaranteed-to-fail practice and distinguish yourself from 99% of people creating training and presentation content today.

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Improve Employee Engagement in Just 30 Days
Every year, organizations focus on improving employee engagement, and every year it’s the same story: they administer the survey only to see little-to-no improvement overall. And while there may be improvement in one area, another area inevitably falls short. It’s like playing a version of “employee engagement whack-a-mole.” The problem is that too many leaders are being asked to get their people “all in” when they themselves are checked out or are looking to leave. Join Paul Yoachum, Co-founder of FindMojo, where he’ll discuss a revolutionary new approach to employee engagement that transforms every leader in 30 days.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Strategic Growth: Implementing a Continuous Learning Culture with Adobe Captivate
Are you ready to revolutionize your organization’s approach to learning and development? Join Sharath Ramaswamy, Senior Elearning Evangelist at Adobe, for an engaging webinar on the implementation of a continuous learning strategy that drives innovation, fosters employee engagement and propels organizational growth. Sharath will guide you through the steps necessary to establish a dynamic learning culture within your organization. Discover how to create a supportive learning environment that encourages experimentation, collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: Building Agile Teams: The Power of Power Skills for Today and Tomorrow (Free for ATD members)
In an era where change is the only constant, keeping your teams agile has become imperative. Join Skillsoft’s Koma Gandy, VP of Leadership and Business Segment, and Leena Rinne, VP of Coaching Solutions, for a live conversation about the essential power skills your teams need to succeed in the era of generative AI. They’ll share actionable insights, real-world examples and proven strategies to help nurture these skills within your organization. Whether you’re looking to enhance your workforce capabilities, drive innovation or just stay competitive in your industry, this panel will cover something you’ve been looking forward to learning.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: AI Is Big. What’s Your Reskilling Plan?
The past 18 months have been dominated by AI headlines and developments. The actual development of AI reskilling programs hasn’t been nearly as robust. Organizations around the world are enamoured by the tech, but identifying practical applications — and the training programs required to implement them — has remained elusive. Where should learning and development professionals begin? In this webinar, Jaco Jansen van Rensburg, Ph.D., Vice President of Learning at Sand Technologies, will address:

Practical ways to identify where AI will be most effective for your organization.
Approaches to develop an L&D program that prepares teams to achieve the AI vision.
How to identify the resources required to begin your AI reskilling/upskilling journey.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: When Feedback Flops!
You’ve planned, set aside time for preparation and yet, your feedback session not only was ineffective — it flopped! It’s one of a manager’s greatest fears: a feedback session that flopped and set you back in your schedule and the relationship. Are you tired of ineffective feedback processes that seem to fall flat? Ready to transform your approach to communication and enhance your team’s growth? Join Marjorie Mauldin, President of Executive Forum, to discuss common factors that contribute to ineffective feedback.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: The Challenges of Scaling Leadership Training (Free for ATD members)
Do you find yourself struggling to deliver high-impact development opportunities to all your talent? HR and L&D professionals play an important role in equipping the workforce with the skills and tools needed to do their best work and be their best selves, but with so many leaders — each with varying needs at different levels — this can be a big ask. Join Center for Creative Leadership’s Mary Abraham, Senior Director of Programs and Products, and Stephanie Trovas, Global Director of Product Development, for a discussion about building a workplace culture that supports growth and development at scale.

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Elevate Your Training with Powerful Questions
Join Sheila B. Robinson, Ed.D., Speaker, Educator and Consultant at Custom Professional Learning LLC, to discover the powerful impact that effective questioning can have on training participant engagement and learning. Explore how good questions serve as both tools and fuel for participant engagement and learning. Journey through compelling real-life stories that showcase the transformative potential of well-crafted questions. You’ll come away recognizing the importance of asking good questions and the value of planning specific questions to use during sessions, along with a collection of good question prompts to use in almost any context.

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: Taking the Mystery Out of Generative AI and Prompt Creation
AI offers an exciting new approach to creating impactful learning. Many organizations are in the midst of evaluating how to incorporate AI into their organization. Please join Michael Rochelle, Chief Strategy Officer and Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, and Graham Glass, Founder and CEO of CYPHER Learning, for a workshop that walks you through a step-by-step approach to maximizing the use of AI in developing highly impactful learning. This workshop will culminate in showing you how to create a course. All attendees will receive a guidebook for leveraging AI in developing learning.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: No More Frantic Note-Taking: Create Learner-Friendly Handouts so Learners can L-i-s-t-e-n
When you teach and your trainees take notes, they miss a lot of what you’re saying. They’re so focused on writing that they don’t hear as much, and they don’t have time to think about your lesson. In this practical session, with Ellen Finkelstein, President of Ellen Finkelstein Inc., you’ll learn three techniques to create and deliver handouts so that your students can finally listen, digest and integrate your training.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT: How to Create Better Learning Experiences Using Generative AI Images
Over the past year, it’s been seen how using AI to create images can be a game changer for creative communication and storytelling — boosting the potential for activating learner attention and elevating overall training results. Join this webinar, sponsored by ttcInnovations, where Eric Berget, Creative Solutions Lead, will guide you in leveraging the power of generative AI image creation for learning. Dive into real-life use cases and gain insightful best practices along with a step-by-step walkthrough for seamlessly integrating AI into your content creation workflow.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT: Unlocking Potential: The Benefits of Skills-Based Learning for Individuals and Organizations (Free for ATD members)
Discover the shift toward lifelong learning in our fast-paced world. With careers lasting longer, individuals seek flexible, multimodal learning options with tangible return on investment (ROI) proof like badges and credentials. Join Melissa Loble, Chief Academic Officer at Instructure, to discover the concept of a credentials ecosystem, leveraging open badges for skill validation. Gain insights into crafting stackable learning paths for continuous expertise enhancement.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT: Creating a Master Plan for Leadership Development
Now’s a great time to re-think how leadership development is conducted in your organization. Many companies are restructuring thanks to shifts in the economy, the retirement of Boomers and a prevalence for work from home. All of these changes often mean new people moving into leadership roles — but are they prepared? In this webinar, with Nanette Miner, Ed.D., Managing Consultant at The Training Doctor, LLC, you’ll look at three ways you can approach leadership development differently and more effectively than sending folks out to classes and giving them Level 1 evaluations. The object is to create well-rounded business leaders that will help your company to achieve continued success.

Thursday, April 25, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: APTD or CPTD? Which Certification Is Right for Me? (Free for ATD members)
If you’re considering an ATD professional credential but can’t decide if the Associate Professional in Talent Development (APTD) or the Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD) is right for you, join ATD Certification Institute staff with a panel of APTD and CPTD credential holders to learn how they decided which program was right for them. During this webinar, hosted by Jennifer Witebsky, Associate Director of Credentialing at ATD, you’ll learn:

Basic information about each credential.
Types of candidates who choose each credential.
Factors certificants considered when deciding which one was right for them.
How certificants made their decisions.
Pros and cons of each credential.

Thursday, April 25, 2024, 9 a.m.–10 a.m. PT: Savvy PowerPoint Charting Tricks (From Investment Banking)
While investment bankers build lots of charts in PowerPoint and Excel, they don’t necessarily invest a lot of time creating them. Instead, they get the programs to do the heavy lifting for them. Join Taylor Croonquist, Founder, Chief Training Officer and PowerPoint Instructor at Nuts & Bolts Speed Training, to level up your charting skills with some savvy charting tricks that investment bankers use to automate and simplify their chart creation process. You’ll learn things like:

How to set and reuse your chart formatting (as opposed to formatting your charts individually).
How to bake callouts into your charts (instead of floating them over top of your charts).
How to hijack and customize your data labels (instead of adding text boxes).
How to create a dynamic line within a chart (that updates itself as your numbers are updated).

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Past Limestone webinars