ASTD EXPO: COMING IN MAY

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) is the largest training society in the world and, in a bit more than a month (May 19-22), in excess of 8000 people from nearly 100 countries will be attending the annual ASTD International Conference & Expo in Dallas.

While the actual conference sessions may be useful to some of you — it is the EXPO, held in conjunction with the ASTD Conference, that is the real feature. The ASTD EXPO is, easily, the largest collection of training vendors and suppliers gathered under one roof — this year nearly 400 training vendors from around the world.

Those of you contemplating training initiatives have a single chance each year to see (and, kick the tires) of almost all training products and services currently available. Training vendors know that this is the one tradeshow they cannot afford to miss — so, almost all of them will be there.

And best of all, if the ASTD EXPO is of prime interest to you, it is not necessary to pay the conference fee. Just send me an e-Mail (bwalton@itclearning.com) and I’ll supply you with a link to a free EXPO pass. Then, if you choose, you can wander the large hall all day. In fact, it’s possible to make it a day trip, with your only significant cost involving transportation.

That free EXPO pass will give you the best value of the year — assuming that you are tasked with either making your current training initiatives work better or developing new training initiatives for your organization.

And, if you do come, please stop by and say “hello.” I’ll be in Booth 861.