DevLearn2006 - Recap

This is a post that is far overdue.  HUGE thanks to Heidi Fisk and the eLearning Guild for putting on such a great conference.  All handouts are located at the event archive.  The titles to my sessions below will take you directly to the PDF of my presentations.

Interactive 3D Simulation Training Using Macromedia Director
This is a fun session to do because I think many people still see interactive 3D as being out of reach, or "too hard".  Granted, it's not "rapid elearning".  BUT, it IS far more powerful and impactful as a learning tool.  You merely need to witness it in action, with learners, to be completely sold on it.  Microsoft was in the room and they are looking to create something in this space, so keep your eyes open for something VERY cool!

RSS:  The New Learning Pipeline
I modified my current Learning2.0 slideset to focus specifically on RSS for this presentation.  What I found interesting was that some people didn't understand the title, and others thought it was spot on.  It is simply amazing to me how the new information ecosystem is such a dynamic flow of conversations that anyone can plug into or out of  at any given time via RSS.  Hence, the pipeline analogy.  The flow of information is as critical as the actual information itself and has a huge impact on our profession.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games and Environments
This was truly an experimental session for me.  Not the content, but the execution.  I had a Dell XPS loaded up with World of Warcraft and Secondlife.  An Intel colleague in New Mexico was waiting for inworld in WoW, and Mark Oehlert gave us tour of his little virtual plot of land in Secondlife. 

e-Learning2.0:  The Next Great New Phase or Just Hype?
This was a fun session to do with my learning colleagues.  It was also great to meet Tony Karrer in person.  Our blogs connected us months ago and we've had some great, fun, discussions via the blogosphere.  I was very honored to be a part of the panel.  Greg and Simon were fabulous.  I hope we can all do it again.  Check out this post on one of the highlights of the session.

I loved Nick Bontis and Ze Frank. Here's Tony Karrer's take on Ze. They both touched on a similar theme of rapid change, technology, and user-generated content and conversations. Its what we are all struggling with and that's the chaos that I speak of regularly. Users Rip, Mix, and Feed! To the next generation consuming and creating multimedia content is as natural as dialing a phone number is to the rest of us.

I met so many people that I'm still going through the card stack and responding. Please accept my apologies if I haven't contacted you yet. On the flip side, please feel free to send me an email or leave a comment here. I've already recieved many emails from folks who are actually implementing wikis, starting blogs, and engaging with more social networks because of the conference. Its very nice to be a part of impacting change. I am looking forward to the follow up conversations next year, and hearing some successes AND failures.

Again many, many thanks to everyone at the eLearning Guild. I'm looking forward to next year!