In May of this year I had the opportunity to attend the Association of Training and Development (ASTD) Conference in Washington, DC and what an amazing time I had! The ASTD conference is the largest international conference in the industry with over 9000 Learning Professionals from 87 countries in attendance! It truly is the premiere event for talent development profession.
I began my experience at 5 am on a Sunday morning, eager to get to DC and get started. But with over 400 sessions to choose from, my brain was on overdrive! Which ones do I attend? What will be most beneficial for me to bring back to Venterra’s training program? My mind was racing with excitement!
Once in DC, I went straight to the conference to begin my training. I attended 3 ½ days of back to back sessions. I listened intently to others’ experiences and best practices from their organizations and even attended a session put on by the training team leaders in Customer Experience, Disney! The most memorable moments of the conference were starting my days off listening to the outstanding Keynote Speakers. The presentations delivered by Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, and General Stan McChrystal, a four-star general and co-founder of the McChrystal Group,left me both motivated and inspired!
My last day of the conference was filled with so many emotions. I was sad for my experience to end, exhausted from filling my head with so much information, yet eager to return home and share my learnings with my team. I was ready to start implementing some of my takeaways into Venterra’s training program. The conference absolutely exceeded my expectations!
I thank Venterra for giving me this opportunity to expand my professional development through their Educational Reimbursement Program and give me the tools to be successful in my role as Senior Training Manager! It is yet again another reason I love Venterra!