ATD Footer Logo

ATD's professional development specialists are a free resource to talent development professionals committed to lifelong learning. Let them help you discover how to make the most of ATD learning opportunities.

Connect With a Professional Development Specialist

side of a professional looking office building. Simple, dark background photo.

 LED image background CTDO Landing Page

Professional development image - PDS how it works

ENT-Get-Advice-Rich Text

The ATD SELL conference focuses on bringing together the best practices and strategies across sales training, tools and technology, and processes needed to drive incremental sales performance. 

ATD SELL Registration

ATD OrgDev will provide you with the skills needed to develop employee programs at all levels and throughout their employment lifecycle. You’ll learn innovative methods at all levels to manage the ever-increasing rate of change in today’s workplace.

ATD OrgDev Registration

Apply the ABCs for your L&D career successThere has never been a better time to invest in your own L&D career.No matter where you are in your learning and development career—whether you are just beginning, ready to advance in it, or in need of a change—expert career coach and L&D luminary Sarah Cannistra delivers tactical and industry-specific advice for how to conduct and succeed in your next job search.With the perspective that there is no “one size fits all” strategy to career success, Sarah walks you through four L&D Career Success Codes, her ABCDs, that will help you achieve Alignment and get clarity on your career goals and your L&D Niche; create your personal and professional Brand; network intentionally and build your L&D Community around your L&D niche; and, identify your interests, skills, and belief systems, all key to building a Development plan for achieving your career goals.In this volume, Sarah dissects job application, resume and cover letter writing, and interview processes. She covers the hard-felt topics of rejection and job searches after layoffs and explores the mindset shifts and self-awareness needed to be successful to land a stable and fulfilling position. Follow along with stories of how Sarah has helped clients to secure their dream role. Take the next step on your own with more than 40 activities, reflection questions, and worksheets.A cover-to-cover resource for landing your next role while choosing your own path, this is a book you will turn to again and again throughout your career.

Land Your Next L&D Role

Your All-In-One Guide to ISDKnown as “the man who wrote the book on ISD,” Chuck Hodell offers a comprehensive and practical handbook on core instructional systems design (ISD) practices and principles with a practitioner’s eye. This updated fifth edition covers all the basics and many advanced tenets of ISD, walking you through each phase, including advanced concepts such as microlearning, social media, and leveraging technology. Stand-alone chapters offer crucial support to practitioners building foundational skills, while in-depth tutorials on subjects such as collaborating with experts offer rich insights to guide the credentialed designer. This fully revised and expanded volume offers new case studies, discussion questions, and sample design and lesson plans, ISD From the Ground Up demystifies the learning design process. Whether you are just getting your feet wet or have extensive experience in ISD, this industry staple provides the essential building blocks and more for ISD mastery.

ISD From the Ground Up, 5th Edition

Game On! Action-Based Training Designs for Better Learning Passive learning just doesn’t cut it in today’s evolving, competitive workplace. Research demonstrates that action-first learning works because it engages the mind immediately and makes sure that knowledge and skills will stick. With a more diverse array of action-based training designs, organizations can motivate learners, provide hands-on, collaborative practice, and drive behavioral change. In Action-First Learning, educator and tech expert Karl Kapp covers nine distinct types of learning experiences in one volume—from card and board games, escape rooms, and branching scenarios to augmented reality and AI-powered coaching. He explains why each design works and how to choose, plan, and execute the right kind of project for your goals.The book includes a chapter by instructional designer Amy Pape about how to improve action-first learning through accessibility and another by L&D expert Kevin Thorn on the use of comics in action-first learning. Each chapter includes a detailed case study, a design checklist, and tips on how to leverage AI in the creation of action-first learning.

Action-First Learning

Unlock the full potential of your employees with effective feedback.Providing performance feedback is one of the most challenging tasks leaders face. Feedback often sparks frustration and fear for both leaders and their teams. Why? Because there is a disconnect between what leaders think they are communicating and what employees receive. In this essential book, leadership experts Mashihi and Nowack offer leaders their four-part Performance Feedback Coaching Model, designed to bridge this gap. After over a decade spent developing, testing, and refining their model with leaders around the world, the authors offer this powerful framework based on research in neuroscience and psychology. The book equips leaders at all levels with practical strategies and tools to deliver tailored feedback that aligns with each employee’s unique skills and interpersonal strengths. By personalizing feedback, leaders can inspire significant improvements in employee behavior, creating a workplace where leaders achieve their goals and employees thrive—a true win-win situation. The authors share powerful stories, real-life examples, and user-friendly tips, as well as questionnaires, worksheets, and other tools leaders can apply immediately.With this book as your roadmap, you will have the guidance you need to improve your employees’ development, performance, motivation, satisfaction, and retention.

Performance Feedback Strategies

Get the Toolbox You Need to Design for All LearnersDesign for All Learners empowers instructional designers, trainers, and other talent development professionals to create learning experiences that are accessible to and inclusive of all people. Learn from practitioners’ vulnerable lived experiences, moving stories, and practical advice. Written with accessibility, inclusion, and L&D experts and edited by Sarah Mercier, this book will help you ensure that individuals can fully participate in the talent development and training programs you offer.Adopt a progress-over-perfection approach. Start with shifting your mindset to consider that all learners are people who have unique experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, and abilities—and that learning design should be built for people, not just to meet compliance standards. Find what you need to know about designing for the modality you’re using to reach learners—from e-learning and job aids to training in the physical and virtual classroom. Gain a clearer understanding of requirements and standards, and then explore strategies and tactics to foster an inclusive mindset throughout your organization.Anyone involved with the practice of design in learning and development will benefit from the wide range of perspectives and techniques offered, whether you’re a team of one or work in an organization with a variety of resources. If your goal is to become a better designer, developer, teacher, and leader, this book presents a packed toolbox to do so. It will change everything you think you know. Use it as a guide in your journey to accessible, inclusive design for all.

Design for All Learners

Core4 is the premier foundational training and development conference where you’ll learn the fundamentals of instructional design, training delivery and facilitation, evaluating impact, and learning technologies.

ATD Core4 Registration

Measure Learning Impact Despite Limited ResourcesYear after year, talent development professionals report that lack of time, lack of support or partnership from stakeholders, and limited budgets are key barriers to measuring and evaluating their learning programs. Measurement and Evaluation on a Shoestring offers TD professionals a process to measure what matters to the organization with the tools and resources they have available. M&E pro Alaina Szlachta applies the Build-Borrow-Buy approach to provide guidance, quick tips, and shortcuts for making measurement easier while still demonstrating the value and impact of organizational learning.With this book, you will learn to ask the right questions, brainstorm metrics to evaluate learning, and build a measurement strategy that fits your needs. It also guides you on integrating measurement and evaluation into your instructional design approach from the beginning as well as using and analyzing data sources you might already have. You’ll discover how to build stakeholder relationships to secure buy-in and when to look beyond your expertise for external support and technology.The Association for Talent Development’s On a Shoestring series helps professionals successfully execute core topics in training and talent development when facing limitations of time, money, staff, and other resources. Using the Build-Borrow-Buy approach to problem solving, this series is designed for practitioners who work as a department of one; for new or “accidental” trainers, instructional designers, and learning managers who need fast, inexpensive access to practical strategies that work; and for those who work for small organizations or in industries that have limited training and development resources.

Measurement and Evaluation on a Shoestring

When it comes to employee training, companies often face a tough decision: How do we ensure our teams continuously learn, develop skills, and stay engaged without overwhelming them (or ourselves)? If you’ve ever felt like you’re juggling too many pieces of a complex training puzzle, you’re not alone. The good news? An integrated learning system (ILS) could be the magic key to simplifying and supercharging your training program. Here are four ways an ILS can transform your employee training, making it more efficient, accessible, and engaging for your team.1. Centralize Your Training Content (Everything in One Place!)Picture this: You want your employees to access training materials, but half the resources are in email attachments, some live in a forgotten folder on the server, and a handful are buried in an external site. Not exactly the most efficient setup, right?An integrated learning system fixes this headache by centralizing all your learning materials into one easy-to-access hub. No more scavenger hunts for content—employees can access training videos, documents, assessments, and more from a single platform.How to Start: Organize your current training content into broad categories (for example, onboarding, technical skills, soft skills), then upload them to your ILS. Over time, you can add more specific courses based on employee needs.2. Make Learning Accessible (Anytime, Anywhere!)Today’s workforce is more flexible than ever. Between hybrid work schedules, remote offices, and mobile teams, training that fits into a rigid 9-to-5 window simply won’t cut it anymore. Employees want learning that’s accessible when and where they need it—and that’s where an ILS shines.With an integrated learning system, employees can access training materials from any device at any time. Whether at home on a laptop, on the bus with a phone, or during lunch with a tablet, learning becomes convenient and accessible.This flexibility not only increases engagement but also encourages self-directed learning. When employees can dip into training modules during their downtime, learning becomes less of a chore and more of an opportunity.Pro Tip: Communicate the benefits of “anytime learning” early and often to your employees and provide clear guidelines on accessing the system across devices.3. Track Progress and Measure Success (Say Goodbye to Guesswork)Measuring training effectiveness manually can feel like hitting a moving target. Did everyone complete the course? Are they applying what they’ve learned? How is it affecting the bottom line?With an ILS, you can track every step. Check course completion rates, pull up performance analytics, and make real-time adjustments. If employees are struggling, offer support or tweak the content. If a course is a success, expand it to more employees.Quick Win: Use your system’s analytics tools to create monthly or quarterly progress reports that show key metrics like course completion rates and employee performance improvements.4. Foster Collaboration and Engagement (Learning Is a Team Sport!)Training shouldn’t feel like a solo journey. With an integrated learning system, you can make learning a more collaborative and engaging experience. Many ILS platforms include features like social learning (think forums, chats, or discussion boards) where employees can share insights, ask questions, and collaborate with their peers.You can also create group challenges, reward participation with digital badges or points, and even host team-based learning events. This creates a sense of community and makes training feel more like a shared adventure than just another item on the to-do list.And let’s face it: A little healthy competition never hurt anyone. By introducing gamification elements (like leaderboards or completion badges), you can motivate employees to push themselves and stay engaged in their learning.Fun Tip: Launch a friendly competition among departments or teams to see who can complete the most training modules in a month. Offer a small prize or public recognition to the winners!Investing in an integrated learning system is one of the smartest moves for your employee training program. It simplifies content management, boosts accessibility, allows you to track progress, and makes learning a collaborative experience. Best of all, it does this in a way that’s both scalable and adaptable, whether you’re a small business just starting out or a large corporation expanding its offerings.

Get the Advice You Need