What if better visual design could simultaneously boost learning outcomes and meet accessibility requirements? Visual design expert Connie Malamed, author of "Visual Design Solutions," reveals how strategic visual choices enhance learning for everyone — then shows how to make those same visuals accessible without compromising effectiveness.

We'll explore why visuals help people learn, characteristics of effective visual design, common mistakes learning designers make, and the crucial difference between visual design and graphic design. Then we'll dive into accessibility essentials: sufficient contrast, color combinations to avoid for color vision deficiency, best practices for alt-text and screen readers, and how to convey information beyond color alone.


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Connie Malamed is a learning experience design consultant, international speaker, and founder of the Mastering Instructional Design community. With over 25 years of experience serving corporate, government, and academic clients, she is a recognized authority in visual design and instructional design who was honored with the prestigious Learning Guild Master Award in 2018.

She is the author of Visual Design Solutions and Visual Language for Designers, and publishes The eLearning Coach website and podcast, which provides practical resources for learning professionals worldwide. Through her Mastering Instructional Design community, Connie mentors instructional designers at all career stages, helping them build skills and advance in the rapidly evolving field of learning experience design.

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Let's be honest — L&D teams are drowning in meetings that feel like productivity black holes. But what if those same meetings could become your secret weapon for driving real business results? Communication expert Mike Simmons has figured out how to transform meetings from time-wasting rituals into strategic performance engines, and joins our IDIODC session to spill the secrets.

Applying the battle-tested "Jobs to Be Done" framework in the context of meetings, Mike shows L&D leaders how to build communication systems that actually move the needle. We talk about the three critical meeting types every team needs, why your current agenda approach isn't working at scale, and practical ways to measure meeting ROI while streamlining content production. Get ready for actionable strategies to eliminate meeting waste, align teams faster, and prove measurable business impact through smart communication design.

Ready to turn your biggest operational headache into a competitive advantage? This conversation will completely change how you approach every meeting on your calendar.

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Mike Simmons is the founder of Catalyst A.C.T.S., where he helps technical SaaS companies scale from $2M to $80M ARR through strategic leadership development and operational optimization. With over 25 years of experience in high-growth technology companies, he has served as Chief Revenue Officer at CybSafe and Vice President at Safari Books Online (O'Reilly Media), working with enterprise clients like Intel, Microsoft, and MIT.

Mike specializes in transforming organizational performance through his "Jobs to Be Done" framework for communication and meeting design, helping companies achieve 2X ARR growth and multi-million dollar revenue increases. He hosts the "Find My Catalyst" podcast and co-leads the Leader Lab community, focusing on developing effective leaders through practical frameworks and performance-driven execution.

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The future of workplace training is arriving faster than anyone predicted, and Donald H Taylor has a shocking forecast: traditional training courses have just 2-5 years left before they become extinct. Drawing from his latest Global Sentiment Survey and decades of L&D expertise, Donald will reveal how personalization, coaching/simulation and learner expectations are dismantling the training models we've relied on for decades.

 As organizations struggle with "do more with less" pressures and employees demand Netflix-level personalization in their professional development, the question isn't whether training will transform — it's whether L&D professionals will evolve fast enough to remain relevant in this brave new world.

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Donald H Taylor has worked in learning and technology since the mid-1980s.

He has chaired the Learning Technologies Conference in London since 2000 and writes and speaks world-wide about Learning and Development (L&D). His annual L&D Global Sentiment Survey, started in 2014, provides a unique perspective on L&D trends from over 100 countries. From 2010 to 2021, he chaired the Learning and Performance Institute.

He chairs the Workforce Development board for VC firm Emerge Education, and advises several EdTech start-ups.
The author of 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦, Donald is a graduate of Oxford University and the recipient of an honorary doctorate from London’s Middlesex University

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L&D’s relevance crisis is here — and hope isn’t a strategy. Marketing expert Ashley Hinchcliffe flips the script on traditional learning functions with the People Impact Loop™, a bold framework to transform L&D from content factories to business-critical enablers. Discover why learner-centric buzzwords fall short, how to design initiatives employees actually want, and why marketing-led thinking is the key to driving real behavior change. Ready to stop shouting into the void and start proving value? This is your wake-up call.

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Ashley Hinchcliffe is the founder of MAAS Marketing and the creator of the People Impact Loop™ - a marketing-led framework transforming how L&D drives business value.
With a background in strategic marketing and a passion for disrupting the status quo, Ashley helps learning teams think more like marketers and product owners, and less like internal service providers.

Through bold campaigns, audience-first thinking, and unapologetic relevance, she empowers L&D to build initiatives learners actually want - and businesses truly need.
If you’re ready to stop shouting into the void and start driving real impact, Ashley’s your person.

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Immersive tech isn't just cool. It's useful. And more importantly, it fits right into the blended learning you're already building. In this IDIODC session, Destery Hildenbrand, a Learning Technology Consultant and Immersive Technology Evangelist, will walk you through integrating mixed reality, such as AR and MR, into your learning experiences.

We'll explore where immersive learning fits into the learning flow, how to get started even if you're not a developer, and how to make it stick with your audience. You'll leave with practical ideas, tool suggestions, and a solid starting point to take your blended learning to the next level using immersive technology.

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Destery Hildenbrand is a Learning Technology Consultant, Immersive Technology Evangelist and founder of Destery1Kenobi LLC, specializing in immersive learning solutions using video, 360 media, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). With a background in instructional design and emerging technology, he helps organizations integrate cutting-edge, accessible, and scalable immersive learning experiences that enhance engagement and increase retention.

A recognized industry thought leader, Destery frequently speaks at national events like ATD TechKnowledge, Learning Solutions, Augmented World Expo (AWE), and DevLearn, delivering hands-on workshops and strategic insights on immersive learning. His expertise in AI-driven learning experiences, no-code/low-code XR development, soft skills training, and blended learning strategies ensures practical, effective solutions for organizations embracing the future of learning technology.

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How do you move beyond endless checklists to bake quality into every layer of learning design? In this actionable conversation, Hadiya Nuriddin tackles this challenge head-on, drawing from her Quality Management in Learning and Development playbook and frontline experience. We’ll explore why “quality theater” fails, how to align standards with organizational DNA, and practical ways to transform reluctant teams into quality champions.

Expect real talk about overcoming stale workflows, bridging the gap between compliance and innovation, and turning quality systems into engines for learner impact—whether you're a solo developer or part of a large team. Bring your toughest QMS hurdles; this is about building resilience, not just fixing errors.

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Hadiya Nuriddin is the CEO and Chief Learning Strategist at Duets Learning, with over 20 years of expertise in L&D across corporate, non-profit, and academic settings. She holds an MEd in Curriculum Design, an MA in Writing, and multiple professional certifications including CPTD, CPTM, and CQIA.

Hadiya authored "StoryTraining: Selecting and Shaping Stories That Connect" and "Quality Management in Learning and Development," specializing in instructional design, story-centered learning, and quality management systems for L&D teams. As an award-winning talent development professional, she regularly presents at industry conferences on learning strategy and quality management.

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Danielle Wallace, Chief Learning Strategist at Beyond the Sky, merges decades of corporate marketing expertise with cutting-edge L&D innovation to tackle the crisis of ineffective training. In this episode, she dismantles why traditional content-heavy approaches fail to drive real-world performance, revealing how AI-powered role-plays, immersive scenarios, and precision feedback systems can transform skill acquisition.

Drawing from her Fortune 100 experience and recent breakthroughs in behavioral design, Wallace provides actionable frameworks to close the "knowing-doing gap" while exposing common pitfalls that sabotage even the best of well-intentioned programs.

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Danielle Wallace, Chief Learning Strategist at Beyond the Sky, combines 20 years of Fortune 100 leadership (P&G, PepsiCo) with learning science to engineer measurable behavior change. A CTDP-certified pioneer in AI-driven immersive scenarios and coaching systems, she hosts the You in 2042: The Future of Work podcast, helping organizations future-proof workforces through behavioral psychology and adaptive tech.

Her consumer marketing-inspired methodology creates sticky learning experiences, delivering 260%+ business impact for clients like Sun Life and Roche Pharmaceuticals.

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Join us for a captivating conversation with Margie Meacham, famously known as "The Brain Lady," a pioneer in applying AI to learning and talent development since 2013. Drawing from her hands-on experience developing educational chatbots, Margie will take us on a journey through the powerful intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence.

We’ll explore practical ways to enhance learning experiences using AI, uncover the benefits of integrating AI tools into talent development, and examine real-world examples. Plus, we’ll tackle key challenges, like AI hallucinations, that every learning professional should understand.

Watch the full video with slides
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Margie Meacham, renowned as "The Brain Lady," is a scholar-practitioner and Chief Freedom Officer of LearningToGo, where she pioneers the integration of neuroscience and artificial intelligence in talent development.

With a master's degree in Learning Technologies from Capella University, she has authored influential works like Brain Matters: How to Help Anyone Learn Anything Using Neuroscience (2015) and AI in Talent Development (2021), which demystify cognitive science and AI applications for learning professionals.

A trailblazer in educational AI, she developed her first chatbot in 2013 and later created award-winning tools like BrainyBot™ to personalize learning experiences. Recognized as a Top 100 Most Innovative Learning Professional, her work is deeply informed by her journey overcoming dyslexia, fueling her mission to make learning accessible through science and technology.

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Training content can only help create true change if it can help everyone in your organization. There is a whole range of reasons and circumstances why learners might find content inaccessible or exclusive, and it can seem very daunting to try and solve accessibility and inclusivity for all possibilities.

In this session of IDIODC, we’re talking with Sarah Mercier who has recently edited Design for All Learners, now available from ATD Press.
The book is a collection of essays and articles from accessibility, inclusion and L&D experts. We’ll be talking about some of the major insights the book has to offer, and some of her own lightbulb moments from the book and her own time focusing on accessibility and inclusion as an L&D professional.

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Sarah Mercier is the CEO and strategic consultant at Build Capable, specializing in instructional strategy and learning technology. With her talent for translating complex technical concepts into practical applications, Sarah serves as an international facilitator for the ATD.

Sarah is the author and editor of "Design for All Learners: Create Accessible and Inclusive Learning Experiences." She frequently speaks at industry conferences on instructional design, accessibility, data strategy, and learning ecosystems. Her insights have been published in numerous professional publications, including ATD's Trends in Learning Technology, TD Magazine, and CLO Magazine.

More info on her book: https://www.designforallbook.com/

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L&D teams face mounting pressure to prove engagement isn’t just a vanity metric. Join Becky Willis, learning strategist and co-founder of Tractus Learning, as she reveals how to transform engagement from abstract concept to measurable business driver.

Discover practical frameworks for connecting learning maturity to engagement strategies, including how to leverage modern ecosystems that blend AI-driven personalization with human-centric design. Becky will unpack case studies showing how aligned engagement approaches lead to 3x higher content adoption – and why the future of L&D hinges on making this critical connection.

Get the "5 Es of Learning Engagement" Playbook: https://tractuslearning.com/white-papers/#:~:text=The%20Learning%20Engagement%20Playbook

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Becky Willis is co-founder and CLO at Tractus Learning, where she architects learning ecosystems for Fortune 500 companies and mid-market innovators. With 25+ years experience spanning HP’s global learning innovation team and leadership roles at EdCast, she’s pioneered strategies blending LXPs, microlearning, and engagement analytics. A frequent ATD speaker and author, Becky’s work focuses on making learning measurable through what she calls “the engagement-maturity continuum.” Her insights have been featured in Training Industry Magazine and at DevLearn 2024’s keynote panel on AI-driven learning.

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