• Executive
• Director/manager
• Internal practitioner
• External consultant
• Designer
• Facilitator/trainer

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Tracks and Topics

In order to create a well-rounded conference program and respond to feedback from attendees, ASTD conducted a survey of attendees to plan the 2010 conference education program. The topics listed within the tracks are a result of this survey and committee input.

ASTD is seeking proposals to cover most of these topics. Proposals for topics outside this programmatic framework will only be considered if the content substantially supports the overall program.

International submitters: Please ensure that your presentation of the topic includes the perspective of your own country/region.

There are nine tracks which are matched to the Areas of Expertise per the ASTD Competency Model. Click here to view all track descriptions and requested topics. Click on each track title for that track only.

Facilitating Organizational Change

Leadership and Management Development

Learning as a Business Strategy

Learning Design & Facilitation

Learning Technologies

Measurement, Evaluation, ROI

Performance Improvement

Personal Development
Talent Management

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Learning Approach

You will be asked to select a Learning Approach which most closely defines your session proposal. This layer is designed to focus the program at a greater depth within each track. ASTD will select proposals to ensure that all Learning Approaches are covered by the offered sessions. If your proposal fits into more than one Learning Approach, please select the one that is most relevant. See below for detailed descriptions of each.

Case Study

Experiential/Interactive Learning

International Focus

Industry Leaders
Innovation/Trends

Session Format and Duration

The Call for Presentations focuses on two primary areas: Pre-conference Workshops which precede the start of the conference and the Concurrent Sessions which feature a range of subjects grouped by track. Concurrent sessions include 75 and 90 minute sessions, panels, Innogizers and View from the CLO.

When you enter your proposal you will be asked to select a Format from a list of choices which will include:

Half-and One-Day Pre-Conference Workshop
75 and 90 minute Concurrent Sessions

Innogizer

Panel

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Session Development

ASTD conference session are first and foremost, learning experiences.

This means:

• Content that is informative and relevant, with clear and immediate application to the learner’s work
• Minimal use of PowerPoint slides
• Includes interactive and/or hands-on methods to support the learning
• Corresponds to the Learning Objectives
• A session design that supports Learning Transfer 
• Materials which reflect the content and are a resource for later use.

Your primary goal should be the learning of the participant rather than a showcase for your ideas, products, and services. You will gain exposure for those things by doing a good session with something tangible for the participants to take away. The more you can put yourself in their place in developing your session, the better your chances will be of being selected and of receiving good evaluations from participants who attend your session

Session Description

Please write your description clearly and concisely making sure to include all necessary information. The focus of the description should be on the content that will be delivered, not an editorial on the topic or an advertisement for the speaker or topic. Please write in the second person (you) and avoid references to the speaker and his/her published work by title. Good content with clear, learning objectives showing application to the job will “sell” the session, not a sales pitch. Please support your statements with appropriate citations of published works or studies.

Commercial presentations for products or services may be delivered as Expo Demo and Lab sessions. For information on exhibiting click Here.
 

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Learning Objectives

The reason ASTD puts so much emphasis on how you write your learning objectives is to strongly encourage you to think deeply about the session you are proposing. We want these sessions to be top-of-the-line in terms of content, delivery, and applicability for the learner. Session participants evaluate sessions positively or negatively according to how much they can use the information back on the job. If you follow the tips below for writing your learning objectives and develop your session accordingly, you will have a premier offering! Your learning objectives will be a key factor in evaluating your proposal.

Make sure that you can deliver on the objectives you choose! We are expecting you to deliver a deeper level of knowledge/skill to ASTD learners.

Sample Learning Objectives (PDF)

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Delivery Methods

How you plan to deliver your session is as important as the content. ASTD is the leader in workplace learning and performance and we want the conference education program to reflect that leadership. Therefore, all speakers are being asked to partner with us to raise the bar on the quality of both content and delivery of sessions. Remember that this is a learning experience. Even if you aren’t a seasoned trainer or facilitator, you can still meet this requirement by researching and practicing some of the key strategies for facilitating learning. ASTD offers many publications such as Training for Dummies which can assist you.

This means:

• Limit your use of PowerPoint as a delivery method.
• Instead, design interactive means to engage with the participants and have them engage with each other.
• Make sure that your content supports the Learning Objectives 
• Model as many of the concepts you are delivering in the session as possible and practical.