What I Love About #DevLearn: Koreen Pagano on Something New

To help celebrate the 10th Annual DevLearn Conference and Expo, we’ve invited members of the Guild community to share what they love about DevLearn, and why they return to the conference year after year.

Today we welcome Koreen Pagano, Senior Product Manager at lynda.com as she shares her thoughts about the DevLearn.

Something new…

My husband and I have a tradition we call “something new,” where we look at all of our choices in a situation, whether it’s choosing where to go out to eat or finding something to do on a Sunday afternoon, and we intentionally pick something we’ve never experienced before. Consciously choosing something new means that we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones to continuously learn and grow. Sometimes, something new doesn’t turn out so well, and sometimes we discover something we love.

Even though this will be my 7th DevLearn, what keeps bringing me back is that it is a showcase for something new. It was at my first DevLearn in 2008 that I joined Twitter. It’s where I had the opportunity to design, run and debrief my first alternate reality game. It’s where I’ve met some of the smartest people I know, who I know am lucky to now call my friends. It’s where I get to see the great things that my peers and colleagues are doing to exemplify what good looks like. It’s where I go to push myself to think bigger, to explore and to learn.

It’s easy in the day-to-day of work and life to fall back on what you know, what you’re comfortable with, how you’ve always done it. DevLearn helps you break out of the monotony and gives you the resources and inspiration you need to improve and evolve. Maybe social learning is intriguing, but your organization has been hesitant to jump in. Come learn from experts and those who have successfully made it happen. Have you tried Google glass? Have you ever designed a game for learning? What the heck IS immersive learning? Is the future going to be printed in 3D? Could drones be used for learning? DevLearn is where you get answers, where new questions emerge and where curiosity is sparked.

Whether you’re new to training and development or have been in the trenches for a long time, come to DevLearn and learn something new.