I was so excited to be able to attend the TechLearn 2023 Conference in New Orleans with Evolve’s Chief Learning Strategist, Alex Ryan. This year, Alex presented a session on Drip Learning, and I was able to come along to assist and learn!

Many of the sessions were focused on Gamification and/or AI which of course was great since Artificial Intelligence is everyone’s favorite topic lately, even here at Evolve. I loved hearing from Destery Hildenbrand about Augmented Reality, and Phylise Banner and Hector Valle on the kinds of AI tools they’ve been trying out and how they’ve been incorporating them into their work and businesses. I learned some interesting insights on more traditional learning design and useful tools for tracking ROI from learning. There was also a wonderful session by one of the Training Labs about accessibility in eLearning which I am so passionate about. Even the Hands-On Clinics were a great way to sharpen up on some skillsets. We also bumped into Betty Dannewitz from her “If You Ask Betty Podcast” which Alex appeared on a few months ago.

Alex’s session “Drip Learning: Extending the Learner Journey with Spaced Microlearning” was very well-received and I could tell it really had people’s minds thinking about how they could incorporate drip, spaced and microlearning into their organizations. To get access to her presentation and receive our own version of “drip learning about drip learning,” sign up here.

One of our favorite parts of the conference was the Augmented Reality artist, Marcus Brown, and the Keynote Speaker Vivienne Ming. Dr Ming is a theoretical neuroscientist, inventor, and entrepreneur and spoke about AI and responsibly using it to better yourself and humanity, not to replace it. Alex and I agreed we could listen to her speak all day and we still would be just scratching the surface of hearing all her experience and knowledge.

And, because we were in New Orleans, of course we ATE! We had a delicious crab broil meal our first night. Bourbon House is always a don’t-miss, we got our coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde and had oysters in many forms. We went to Redfish Grill, Birdy’s, and had an AMAZING brunch at Antoine’s, exploring its many historical dining rooms. We also enjoyed checking out the many art galleries and talking with the artists and taking a walk around the Garden District neighborhood and discovering some famous houses while we were there.

Overall, we had a fantastic time and we’re looking forward to next year’s conference!