Roll up your sleeves and engage with talent development peers to ideate new ways to look at your pressing workplace and workforce challenges. That’s what the ATD Forum is about. It is a consortium for senior learning practitioners and their organizations that connect and collaborate in a confidential environment. Throughout the year, Forum members network, share innovative ideas, and benchmark best practices through on-demand surveys. During Forum Labs, generally held at a member’s facilities, Forum members come together for hands-on, interactive sessions to talk through pressing issues members have brought forth.

A Forum Lab is considered one of the greatest Forum benefits. During ATD22, attendees have the opportunity to attend a Forum session that replicates the hands-on, lively discussions of common talent challenges that are typical of Forum Labs. Because these sessions are popular, pre-registration is required.

Sessions one and three—“Leadership Development Is Our Project. Why Is It Not Working?”—enable participants to take a deep dive into their leadership development programs and the aspects that are and are not working. They take place Monday 1–2 p.m. and Tuesday 10:30–11:30 a.m., respectively, in room 203. Register at td.org/ForumLeadershipDev.

Sessions two and four—“Staying Future-Ready One Trend at a Time”—help participants learn how to use design thinking to convert a training idea into a concept that they can share for feedback. They take place Monday, 3-4 p.m. and Tuesday, 1-2 p.m., respectively, in room 203. Register at td.org/ForumFutureReady. Check the mobile app for the speakers for all sessions.

Another Forum-sponsored session, “Learning in the Metaverse? It’s Happening Now!” will take place Wednesday, 10:30-11:30 a.m. It will provide attendees insight into Accenture’s use of extended reality in the onboarding learning processes.

On Saturday, Forum members gathered for the one-day lab, “Zeroing In on Data That Really Matters.” To start, they learned about the Center for Talent Reporting Executive Director David Vance’s Talent Development Reporting Principles Framework. They also heard more about event host Siemens’ learning data journey using the framework as well as Performitiv CEO Kent Barnett’s model for optimizing learning’s impact. Between speakers, participants reflected on presented information, had small-group discussions, and reported back to the larger group. They finished the day by completing a capstone project on how they could apply the framework to a talent development scenario.

Want to learn more about the ATD Forum? Stop by Room 203 during office hours on Monday from 4 to 5 and Tuesday from 2 to 3 and 4 to 5.

Determined to Become a Forum Member

Before becoming an ATD Forum member, Marie Wehrung—who in her role at Rice University oversees programs that enable organizational, team, managerial, and individual success—was a keen observer of Forum sessions that replicated the Forum Lab experience. As a member, she explains, “I learned about design thinking from these engaging sessions and have gained experience using practical design thinking tools and techniques. I’ve been able to apply these back in my organization, on projects big and small. I have had the opportunity to connect, collaborate, and share with other learning/talent development professionals, whether they were sitting at my table, facilitating the session, or sharing resources as members of the Forum.”

Wehrung summed up that attending the Forum sessions during the conference “quite possibly could be the most engaging, interactive ones you’ll attend during the entire conference. Seek them out, build them into your schedule, then throw yourself in and participate in your session(s) fully. You’ll be so glad you did!”