Chris Benz grew up in Orchard Park, NY, a southern suburb of Buffalo. Chris attended St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, and after graduation, settled there for several years. After three decades of dealing with western New York winters, he and his wife decided to relocate to someplace warmer and settled in the Durham/Chapel Hill/Raleigh area of North Carolina.  The have been enjoying the mild winters and fantastic scenery for nearly 20 years.

If you plan on attending the Learning Solutions conference in Orlando next week, then you’ll easily be able to pick Chris out of the crowd since he typically towers over most others.

Chris, Besides this introduction, what else can you share about yourself?

Anyone who has met me in person knows that I am very tall: 6’7”; but not everyone knows I am only the third tallest in my immediate family. Speaking of family, a poorly kept secret is that one of my sisters, Karen Hyder (who is the fifth tallest within our group of six siblings) works with me at The eLearning Guild. You can see Karen’s interview at http://ldglobalevents.com/2013/01/13/meet-karen-hyder/ and you can meet her next week at Learning Solutions as well.

Chris’ dog Daisy Mae

One of my favorite activities is hiking with my dog along the Eno River, a local waterway that I have been somewhat active in helping to preserve. I’m also a beer connoisseur; I used to brew my own when I lived in Rochester, but I now enjoy microbrews. At last count, I had 33 different varieties of beer in my beer cellar.

Kat (my wife) and I are both animal lovers, and we currently serve every need of our animal family: a dog, two cats, a hamster, and a parakeet.  We live in a small house on a large wooded lot, and when I can tear my attention away from my smartphone, tablet, and three laptops (used to manage and view the Online Forums in multiple session views), I work on general home-improvement projects, gardening, and landscaping. On most weekends, I go hiking at least once.

Chris and Karen building the new office addition

I work from home in a new addition to my house that I, my wife, one of my sisters (yes, Karen), one of my brothers, and a friend converted from a screened porch. We did just about everything, including framing, insulation, siding, flooring, windows, and doors. It was a lot of work, but you can’t beat the commute!

How did you get started in L&D?

My first professional job out of college was in public relations at the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, where I was also the resident computer geek. One part of my job was serving as staff liaison for the Chamber’s Small Business Council, which is how I met Barry Keesan, then president of Logical Operations (LO), a training and curriculum-development company. When I mentioned to Barry that I was looking for a new opportunity after serving 4+ years at the Chamber, he encouraged me to apply for a curriculum-development position at LO. His company had traditionally drawn its curriculum developers from its training team, so Barry had me serve as a trainer for three months. Bob Mosher, who was also working for LO at the time, taught me how to train effectively, and I fell in love with the role. Even after I started developing curriculum full-time, I would teach a daylong class here or there as the need arose.

What challenges have you faced in your career?

My biggest challenge has been finding jobs that engage my wide variety of passions. My resume shows the result, with roles ranging from trainer to sales VP, from curriculum developer to operations director, from book author to event director.

What are you passionate about in L&D?

After leaving LO and writing several retail-market books on computer applications, I started working in technical communication, and served in local and international leadership positions for the Society for Technical Communication (STC) for almost a decade. As I straddled L&D and tech comm, it became clear to me that the two professions were doing a lot of duplicate work, so I started exploring and promoting the idea of sharing more content between technical documentation and training materials. That led me to single-sourcing and eventually, the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). I’m pleased to see that with the advent of mobile learning, L&D professionals are finally starting to embrace single sourcing and, in some cases, even DITA. If you’re unfamiliar with DITA, see my Learning Solutions Magazine article at http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/524/what-is-dita-and-why-should-you-care.

How does your job align with your passions?

As the Director of Online Events for The eLearning Guild, my job is a wonderful vessel not just for my passions, but also for my talents and experience, as well. My chamber job and STC leadership roles taught me about membership organizations and event management. My T&D jobs taught me how to design, develop, and deliver training. My book authoring and technical-communication jobs honed my writing and editing skills. And my jobs as manager, sales VP, and business owner taught me how to get the best work from others, sell ideas, and think like an entrepreneur. I can’t think of a better job for me!

How did you get involved with your current work role and what is your daily work life like there?

I am responsible for four series of online events—Online Forums, Thought Leaders Webinars, “Best  of” webinars, and sponsored webinars—and for the eBooks we have started publishing in support of the Online Forums. My daily life consists of keeping multiple plates spinning at the same time. For example, just yesterday, I sent formal acceptances to the presenters for the June Online Forum, sent invitations to and scheduled meetings with the presenter candidates for the July Online Forum, worked to recruit thought leaders for June and July webinars, recruited the presenter for our April Best of mLearnCon webinar, and started preparing for our inaugural Best of SolutionFest webinar. I spend a lot of my time reviewing presentation proposals, meeting on the phone with potential presenters, tracking the progress of my presenters and their coaches as they prepare for online events, supporting online events in real time, editing eBooks, tweeting about Guild events and other offerings, and looking for ways to improve or enhance Guild online events in ways such as finding a wider variety of speakers. I also have the pleasure of attending most Guild face-to-face events, where I get to run around for two-and-a-half days scoping out potential online presenters and meeting wonderful people.

Can you give us a brief overview of the webinars, online forums, and other resources you provide for The eLearning Guild?

• All the online events and eBooks I manage are designed to help L&D professionals learn and grow.
• Online Forums are two-day, 10-session, fully online conferences we hold 10 times each year. Each event focuses on a specific subject area such as instructional design, performance support, visual design, or mLearning. You can learn more about these forums at http://www.elearningguild.com/online-forums/content/1586/home. 
• Thought Leaders Webinars are monthly interviews of prominent individuals in our profession and/or authors who have recently published books of interest to L&D professionals. You can learn more about these webinars at http://www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.1289.
• “Best of” webinars are occasional events that feature the most popular sessions from our face-to-face conferences. This program also includes our very popular annual Best of DemoFest Webinar, which features the winners from our annual DemoFest event at DevLearn. This year, we’re also adding a Best of SolutionFest Webinar that will feature winners from that event at Learning Solutions.
• Sponsored webinars are online events we co-sponsor 6–8 times each year with clients such as Adobe and Citrix.
• Online Forums eBooks are PDFs of tips we have gathered on a specific subject area from the presenters for a given Online Forum. We publish these 4–6 times a year. You can download these eBooks for free from http://www.elearningguild.com/content/?mode=filter&source=publications&selection=doc.2587. (Look for the publications with “Tips” in the title.)

What do you appreciate most about working for The eLearning Guild?

I appreciate that my two bosses, Heidi Fisk and David Holcombe, are excellent listeners and value me for who I am and what I have to offer. They put Guild staff first because they believe, as I do, that the best way to drive long-term business success and client/member satisfaction is to make sure your staff are happy and have what they need to do their jobs well. Because of this, The eLearning Guild can attract and retain some of the best people in the industry, and I appreciate working with the best!  Plus, I am proud that we help make a difference in the lives and careers of those in our industry.

What is the accomplishment you are most proud of in your career?

First, I need to say that the proudest accomplishment of my life is my 25-year marriage to my lovely wife and artist, Kat. But professionally, it’s a toss-up between winning Best of Show for my retail-market book, How to Use America Online, in the STC’s International Technical Publication Competition and co-founding the Technical Communication Professional Certificate program at Duke University.

Which is your favorite eLearning Guild conference and why? 

The Online Forums are my favorite. They provide regular opportunities for L&D professionals to gather and learn from each other, all without needing to set foot in an airport. And because we record every session, they provide 24/7/365 access to the best, brightest, and most current ideas in L&D. I enjoy the other Guild online events for the same reasons.

If you’re asking about face-to-face conferences, I really don’t have a favorite as they each offer something different. Learning Solutions is a great opportunity to meet people who are relatively new to eLearning, mLearnCon is a more intimate gathering that lets me focus on just mobile learning, and DevLearn feeds my inner geek. I haven’t had a chance yet to attend the Performance Support Symposium, which debuted last year.

When you speak at conferences, what do you usually speak about?

My first Guild presentation was an introduction to DITA for L&D professionals. Since then, I’ve presented on cooperation and content sharing between training and technical communication, and producing successful online events.

How else do you contribute in the L&D community?

While it isn’t strictly L&D, I teach in Duke University’s Technical Communication Professional Certificate program. My most recent class was on software for technical communicators, but several of those packages were designed primarily for eLearning development. It just goes to show that the line between training and documentation isn’t as sharp as it might seem! I’ve also started organizing informal gatherings for L&D professionals in my area, and I occasionally present online and face-to-face for The eLearning Guild and other organizations.

Where do you find the most benefit for yourself in the community?

I like exposing myself to a wide variety of ideas, and boy does this job deliver! I really enjoy having a broad view of what’s going on in the industry, and working with our industry’s top experts.

Who are your favorite L&D role models?

At the risk of leaving out dozens of deserving people, I would say, in no particular order Bob Mosher, Ruth Clark, Thiagi, Connie Malamed, Saul Carliner, Jean Marrapodi, and Patti Shank. I also need to recognize my team of online presenter coaches: Karen Hyder, Melissa Chambers, Bill Bateman, Paula Cancro, Jennifer De Vries, Tammy Olson, and Karen Davis.

What advice can you give others to help them thrive in L&D?

I would give three pieces of advice:

1. Be open to new ideas. Realize that while your way of doing things works, it’s not always the best way, and you can always learn from others.

2. Know your audience. Really, know your audience. Don’t assume that every student is the same. Different people have different experiences and knowledge, and they learn differently. The better you can understand the needs and preferences of individual students, the better you can provide what each student needs.

3. Be loyal to your L&D peers. Jobs come and jobs go, but how you support and are supported by those in your profession lasts a lifetime. Feel free to take what you need, but remember to give back what you can. (Did I just hear someone offer to present at an Online Forum?)

What else would you like to do with your career and/or what would you like to do to improve yourself and your approach in L&D?

Even after 2+ years with The eLearning Guild, I still feel like I’m in absorption mode, and improving myself every day. Maybe ask me again in another year.

Where can others see examples of your work?

We record all The eLearning Guild’s online events, but access to those recordings differs by program:

• Live Online Forum and recordings are available to those who registered for any given Forum, and to Guild Member-Plus and Premium Members. However, we provide sample recordings at http://www.elearningguild.com/online-forums/content/1632/online-forums-sample-sessions/.
• Live Thought Leaders Webinars and recordings are available to all paid Guild members.
• Live “Best  of” webinars are available to everyone, and the recordings are available to Guild Associates (free) and all paid Guild Members.
• Live sponsored webinars are available to everyone, and the recordings are available to Guild Associates (free) and all paid Guild Members.

You can view the list of our online-event recordings at http://www.elearningguild.com/content/?mode=filter&source=olfarchives#facetednav.

How can others reach you?

I have listed most of my contact information at http://scan.me/0nw9zd/ or you can scan this code:

Thanks, Chris, for taking the time to do this!

Bill Brandon is a native Texan and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Texas in Austin.  Bill is also a Navy vet from the Cold War–Viet Nam era (1964-1978), and spent a lot of time at sea, in Asia, and in Europe. He has been a corporate manager of L&D, has worked in eLearning since 1984, is active in his church and community, and loves being outdoors when he can get away from the office.  Today Bill is the Chief Editor for Learning Solutions Magazine, a prominent resource for L&D professionals.  The magazine is a vehicle for the shared distribution of ideas, experience, and knowledge about eLearning. As the publication for the Community of Practice served by The eLearning Guild, it offers an insider’s perspective focused on supporting professionals who manage, design, develop, or implement technology-mediated learning and performance support.

I interviewed Bill to learn more about Learning Solutions Magazine and his passions.

Bill, how can an interested reader access the magazine?

You don’t have to be a Guild member to enjoy Learning Solutions Magazine — it’s completely free! For full access to the feature articles, we do ask that you subscribe; everything else — reviews, columns, tips, spotlights, and news — is available immediately. Subscription is easy. Just go to http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com.

Learning Solutions Magazine is an online publication. If a reader wants physical copy, we have a “Print” feature on each page of every article. The Magazine adjusts its display for mobile devices. Subscribers to the Magazine will receive one Learning Solutions Update email newsletter per week showing the current feature and other content of interest. If someone subscribes to the RSS feed, they can set up the number of emails they receive from their RSS reader; I would recommend one digest per week.

How much volume is contained in the online magazine?

We publish between 14 and 20 articles in a typical month: four to five features, at least two columns, a monthly news item focused on eLearning in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and a monthly software review, plus additional content of various types and lengths to make up the total.

At present, we have about 40,000 readers from all but a handful of nations.

All content in Learning Solutions Magazine comes from writers who are practitioners in the learning and support field. We do not use freelance writers, and (other than me) we do not have writers on staff. I sometimes assign articles to experienced practitioners with particular expertise.

Can you tell us more about your involvement with the magazine and the eLearning Guild?

My role with the Magazine is editorial, although I do write some of the articles. The role involves locating and working with writers; my goal is to be the easiest editor to work with that any of them will ever come across, while maintaining standards for accuracy and quality writing. Actual production of the Magazine is handled by staff in Santa Rosa, California. My office is near Dallas, Texas, in my home.

I have always enjoyed writing, and I have been working with computers and around technology since 1964. David Holcombe and Heidi Fisk, the founders of The eLearning Guild, and I have worked together in a variety of ways and on many projects dealing with eLearning and performance support, beginning in 1990.

What is the relationship between Learning Solutions Magazine and the Learning Solutions Conference and Expo?

The Learning Solutions Conference and Expo was originally The eLearning Guild Annual Gathering. The name change made it clearer that the Conference was not just for Guild members. Learning Solutions Magazine is the sponsor of the Conference. Generally it seems that most of the people who come to the Conference already know and read the Magazine. Those who attend who don’t already know the Magazine hear about it at the General Sessions and from their colleagues in the audience. We share a lot of links to Magazine content on social media as well, which has been a vastly effective strategy. The more we give away, the more people come to see the Magazine as an online destination. 

How do you strive to be different from other available publications in our industry?

Our key differentiator from other magazines in L&D and in education is that we focus very tightly on the use of technology to support learning and performance. Even when an article deals with instructional design or with management, there must be a clear connection to the challenges that practitioners face in eLearning, mobile learning, the use of social media, and performance support.

When I write, my greatest enjoyment is in helping readers learn how to do things, and in providing insight into the processes that result in learning and performance. My intent is to be pragmatic.

How can interested writers get involved with Learning Solutions Magazine?

If someone has a story to tell, or an interesting project, or lessons learned that they want to share, they should send me a short (two or three paragraph) summary of what they want to write about and who they see as the reader for whom they are writing it. Our author guidelines are pretty explicit. If someone has a passion for something, it will show in that short summary. I normally work with proposers to sort out content, angle, and treatment issues. My goal is to help writers tell their story. As I said before, I want to be the easiest editor to work with that a writer ever meets.

Which are some of your favorite articles in the magazine?

It’s not important which of the 850 articles are my favorites. What’s important is which articles are the favorites with the readers. On the Magazine, you can filter articles by “most appreciated” and “most commented.” That’s how I recommend new readers start to tackle the task of sorting through our curated content. They can also search by type of article and by topic, or by using the Search box.

We try to maintain a mix between basic topics in design, development, and management, and stuff that is somewhere right up near or a little in front of the leading edge of the state of the art. Right now, the latter category includes games, social media, video, experimental forms (such as MOOCs), and what we are learning from research, including neuroscience. We have also been expanding our news coverage and reviews of software tools, books, and media. This loosely relates to sessions at Learning Solutions Conference and Expo, and to our other Conferences and On Line Forums, but of course the Conferences each only happen once a year, and the Magazine (like the Forums) is a year-round effort.

Our aim is that every reader will find something of value on every visit to the magazine. We are building a publication that will not only be a destination, it will be the indispensable resource, the one that every professional in this field will feel compelled to check out at the start of every day.

What are you most proud of?

I’m really most proud of all the wonderful practitioners who have shared so much with their colleagues through Learning Solutions Magazine over the last eleven-going-on-twelve years. They, and meeting the readers at all of our Conferences, are my favorite memory and reflection. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve this community of practice!

Thank you Bill for taking the time to do this!

In addition to the Learning Solutions Magazine, the eLearning Guild is hosting the popular Learning Solutions Conference next month in sunny Orlando, Florida.  If you want to learn more about the confernce happening at the Hilton in the Walt Disney World Resort then take the time to read the 2/11/13 article found in the Learning Solutions Magazine titled, “Learning Solutions Conference & Expo 2013: Expanding Your Horizons“.

Ellen Wagner lives in beautiful wine country, Sonoma, CA and is a Partner and Senior Analyst for Sage Road Solutions LLC.  She has often been an influential speaker at our industry conferences and another wonderful contributor in our online community. I interviewed Ellen to better understand where her passions are focusing her intelligent energy.

“I started as a commercial photographer and multimedia developer. I became a tenured learning psychology professor and department chair with a specialty in ID. I was a central university administrator but learned quickly that the work didn’t interest me very much. I left university life and came out to the Bay area to join an ID start-up that developed an early LMS system back in the dot.com days. I helped that company get acquired at the height of the dot.com craziness. I was a chief learning officer for two companies. I helped take care of two publicly traded software businesses (Adobe Systems and Macromedia) that developed products including Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Acrobat, Captivate, Connect and others that are used by L&D professionals every day. My current employer has a client that has me running a not-for-profit organization that deals with technology, its effective implementation in post-secondary educational settings. The current work on big data with which I am involved is generating interesting results.  As you can see, it’s a real mixed bag. Wouldn’t even be considered very L&D by most.”

What challenges have you faced on your career journey?

Way too many challenges to try and answer this one. Basically, to quote my friend Stevie Rocco, the only way out is through. Every day brings some kind of challenge, each challenge becomes an opportunity, each opportunity demands a response, usually the best thing to do is to just work through it. And to and try and not get too emotionally involved in the roller coaster ride.

What is your most proud accomplishment in your career?

These days I’m excited to be part of a team working on a multi-institutional learning analytics project called the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework that most people said could never be done. Our big data work was cited by Gartner Research as a “tech trigger” in the 2012 Education Hype Cycle report. That pleased me greatly.

What do you enjoy about our L&D Conferences?

As an analyst, I attend – and present – at a lot of conferences as a part of my job. These days the conferences tend to be more around topics (e.g. analytics, higher educational reauthorization) or market sector (specifically education) events than about L&D. The best thing about learning industry events for me is that I have opportunities to see people from my personal learning networks.

It depends on the learning technology trend du jour.  These days people want to hear about learning analytics.

Probably the easiest way is to ask The Google for links. For academic publications I’d point people to Google Scholar. You can check out http://wcet.wiche.edu to see some of our higher education activities. In particular I’d point you to http://wcet.wiche.edu/advance/par-framework.

Thank you, Ellen, for allowing us to get to know you! 

And, if analytics interests you then here is an article that you might enjoy that also quotes Ellen:

http://www.informationweek.com/education/data-management/university-data-sharing-project-takes-bi/240148153

Ger Driesen lives in Nuenen, in the South part of the Netherlands.  Nuenen is a village made famous by the great painter Vincent Van Gogh who made many of his masterpieces in the village, including his first ’ The Potato Eaters’.  I asked Ger a few questions to get to know his passions in the L&D field.

Ger, what is it like living in Nuenen?

My home and home-based office is literally situated in between two Van Gogh monuments. Nuenen is part of the Brainport region with the city of Eindhoven as center. In 2012 the region was awarded as the smartest region of the world (despite my presence.)    It’s the region of high tech companies such as Philips and one of my customers ASML who makes the machines used to produce your computer chips!

How did you get started in L&D?

I graduated from Utrecht University in Education Science and Management and Organization. In my first job I started as an L&D consultant and TQM facilitator for an industrial Dutch company.  After six years I switched to become an internal management trainer and later a Manager in Training & Development at Fuji Photo Film and worked there for four years.

How did you get involved with your current work role and what is your daily work life like there? 

In 2000, the founder of Challenge Stretching Talent asked me to join as a partner which means I’m now a self employed entrepreneur… and I have really enjoyed the role!  Our company specializes in leadership development programs.  I support companies with the professionalization and development of their L&D department and Learning Strategy. Another big chunk of work is the design of  Leadership Development  programs to support  execution of the strategy.  I also deliver leadership training in these programs because I want to make the connection and take responsibility for alignment, design and delivery. Besides that I also enjoy combining these different roles and aspects of my work.

What are you passionate about in L&D?

I’m passionate about helping people with their personal growth and development and it’s really rewarding when people express their gratitude of being  more effective at work and enjoying their job. Of course this should be aligned with what is critical at organizational level. Sometimes it’s really a ‘Wicked Problem’ to find the approach, design and/or partnerships for an optimal solution but I like to be challenged by that.

Which is your favorite L&D conference and why?

Until now the ASTD International Conference and Expo and Learning Technologies in London. The ASTD conference is unique because of the possibilities to meet and learn from so many fellow L&D pro’s from all over the world,  really exiting and inspiring. Learning Technologies is also great. The program is always a very interesting blend of topics with focus on organizational learning, trends  and application of learning technologies and that is very valuable to me. The conference is very well organized,  the UK community is very professional and very friendly and London is only one hour flight from the Netherlands. Next February (2013) I’ll visit the World HRD congress in Mumbai, India  for the first time and I have high expectations about that event.

What is your most proud accomplishment in your career?

Well, the world HRD congress honored me with the Learning & Development Leadership Award which I will receive on February 17^th during the conference. I don’t have any details about the jury report yet but it is special and exiting. There are some other nice moments that come to my mind. In 2012 I was speaking for the first time at the ASTD ICE Conference in Denver. My session ‘Van Gogh on Learning’  was very well received. With 300 attendees I had a ‘full house’ of a great, active audience and received very positive comments, so I’m proud of that too. From our company Challenge, we worked intensely on the Management Traineeship of the company Stork and this program was rewarded as the best Management Trainee program of the year in 2009. Also in my first year as a working  L&D professional I won the ‘starters award’ of NVO2  (the Dutch ‘ASTD chapter’ ). But the most important of all, the most proud accomplishments are those occasions when learners and their managers tell me about the positive results and higher effectiveness they experience as a  results of my learning programs. I think that L&D professionals are in a privileged position to help others with their development.

Congratulations!  When you speak at conferences, what do you usually speak about?

I have some favorite topics. I already mentioned Van Gogh on Learning. Besides his paintings, the Van Gogh heritage also consists of a lot of (1000+) letters , mainly to his brother Theo. These letters are still available. I did some research on these letters to find out about Van Gogh’s own learning process and the stories behind his great works of art.  There are amazing stories to be found still very useful and applicable in L&D today. My other favorite topics are: The Future of Learning and Development, Strategic L&D,  Social Learning (Policy) and Reverse Mentoring.

When you blog, what do you usually blog about?

I’m a member of a community of Dutch L&D bloggers an initiative of Sibrenne Wagenaar. We write blogs with about 20 members on a blog of the NVO2 (Dutch L&D Community.) http://www.nvo2blog.nl/author/hrdmaster/

We have a ‘loose’ planning to be sure there will be a flow of fresh blogs from different bloggers with different perspectives. It works really nice. I blog about trends in L&D, strategic L&D and about the international community. Last year I started a blog where I will post  my most popular Dutch blogs, translated in English http://lndtrendcatcher.wordpress.com/

How else do you contribute in the L&D community?

I have a real nice contact with HAN University of Applied Science.  They provide a complete four year L&D curriculum at Bachelor level and it is really fantastic. The lecturers are very dedicated, a strong professional team. I’m a member of their advisory committee, guest lecturer and assessor. I also write for the two Dutch L&D magazines. For O&O magazine I write about L&D trends and congress reviews and for TvOO magazine I write about interviews with interesting people in and outside the L&D field. I interviewed Dan Pink, Jeanne Meister, Charlene Li,  Ira Chaleff, Tony Bingham, Chan Lee  and recently David Kelly.

Who are your favorite L&D role model(s)?

The stories of the people I’ve interviewed are very  impressive and valuable so these people are sure role models for me. I also like to mention Nick van Dam, my fellow countryman. He is the CLO of  Deloitte worldwide, writes L&D books and also is the founder and chairman of e-learning for kids. This is a nonprofit organization that provides free e-learning to help underprivileged children worldwide (though available for everyone, so also for your children or your school!). It’s a real cool initiative that our company supports and it’s really amazing what Nick achieves in his busy professional life and with this project . Be sure to check www.e-learningforkids.org and check out different possibilities to support them.

Where do you find the most benefit for yourself in the community?

Being engaged in the community as described before, in different ways, with many people from different perspectives gives  me a lot of benefits. The increased possibilities to connect with each other via Skype, LinkedIn or Twitter are also very valuable to me and great ‘superstarters’ to build professional relationships. They really help getting the best out of meeting people in real life. It’s so important that people create platforms such as LDGlobal Events to bring people together: so thank you!

Thank you for that Ger!  I think most of us in L&D enjoy our efforts in making a difference for others.  What advice can you give others to help them thrive in L&D?

The first one is: be proud on your profession and  be eager to be good at it. This will make you strong and self confident to create good partnerships with all kind of stakeholders: that is important.  Also invest in understanding the bottom line of the business you’re in and build as much organizational savvy as possible. Last but not least: enjoy the possibilities of meeting so many people in different organizational areas and helping them to grow.

What else would you like to do with your career and/or what would you like to do to improve yourself and your approach in L&D?

I have the feeling I’m just getting up to speed right now so there’s only one option: I’d like to accelerate!

Where can others see examples of your work?

Most visible are my updates, publications and blogs via my LinkedIn profile and of course in my tweets (@gerdriesen).

How can others reach you?

Call me +31651167606, email me gd@challenge-training.nl , send me a message on LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/in/gerdriesen , DM me via twitter @gerdriesen , visit me or send me a nice postcard: Beekstraat 29 -  5671CS  – Nuenen  -  The Netherlands

Thanks Ger for allowing us to get to know you!