I was in Orlando last week for Learning 2023. It was a brilliant event with a real breadth of topic and conversation. I was most interested that the conversation WASN’T dominated by AI. Of the 111 sessions, only 11 were about the apparent hot topic in learning.

I had ChatGPT look at the session titles and themes and it thought these were the 10 most represented areas of discussion:

• Leadership Development
• Technology and AI in Learning
• Learning Strategies and Culture
• Inclusion and Diversity
• Professional Skill Development
• Personal Growth
• Innovative Learning Methods
• Employee Performance and Engagement
• Agile Learning Practices
• Experiential Learning and Gamification

I’ve loads to take away and think about from the event and, if you’d wanted to, you might have been able to do the whole event assuming it was about AI.

We need to understand the context better in L&D. If everyone is talking about something it means there probably IS something there to look at. But stop being led by who shouts loudest. At the core of people development is people and we often forget our role is to use tools to help improve them and not to just use the tool because it’s there.