Post by Melissa Milloway

The very best part of learning conferences are the friends we make and get to reconnect with. I had so many great discussions with folks at ATD and surprisingly not an overabundance of talk about AI. There were two big discussion areas I had with folks. One was about our own field including where are careers in learning heading or changing as well as the work third party vendors do that we partner with. And it also had me reflecting on my own career and what I want to do next. Also there was a lot of conversation going back to the basics around accessibility, scaling learning solutions as things are changing, evaluation of learning, and working backwards from the root causes of problems. Most notable was Sarah Mercier and I's discussion on the way to the airport on learning leadership. We reflected on why teams don't adopt accessibility standards or over index on new tools or "cool" ways to present learning over other things. And we talked about how successful teams have leaders who set a well balanced strategy and support their teams to build skills or adopt things like accessibility. I love getting to have these types of conversations because they remind me of what I need to advocate for in our work. I'm glad I got to see and chat with so many people and wish I got to meet up with even more! I forgot to get so many photos with folks! These are just a few I took or copied from others posting. I'm excited for ATD Boston next year to continue to reconnect with everyone. #eLearning #InstructionalDesign #ATD26 #ATD2026