What I Love About #DevLearn: Jeff Batt

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 Jeff Batt, CEO & Head Trainer at Learning Dojo, as he shares his thoughts about the DevLearn.

I have been lucky enough to attend DevLearn for the past 8 years. For the first 6 years I attended as a vendor and the past 3-4 years I attended as a speaker. I can say without a doubt DevLearn is the best eLearning conference you can attend. If you are serious about eLearning and keeping up with the latest technology and trends then you don’t want to EVER miss DevLearn.

The eLearning Guild does a fine job hosting the event by making sure they have a good blend of topics that covers anything eLearning and mLearning related. One of my favorite things about DevLearn in the past couple years has been the B.Y.O.L. sessions. In these sessions you not only learn about the tool but you get your hands dirty by trying it out and walking away with a real experience. These are also my favorite sessions to teach because a lot of times people see that working with a tool was easier than they thought, therefore they are energized and excited to go back to their hotel room and keep playing with the tool. I am not really a theory guy; I like to see how something is done and then try it out for myself.  Then I can see the use of what I have just learned. So if you are coming to DevLearn be sure to check out the B.Y.O.L. sessions and actually get experience using the tools instead of just hearing about them.

As a vendor we always knew we would get the most bang for our buck at DevLearn. It was the right audience and the right venue. One of the coolest experiences was last year when I was working with eLearning Brothers and being part of the orange flood of shirts. Attendees would run up to me with such excitement and say “I got my bro band!”. I love to walk through the expo hall and see the latest technologies and tools and see how I can use some of the new tools or features for my eLearning development.

The other thing I love about DevLearn is the conversations I get to have with other attendees and speakers. These are people that are trying to do the same thing I am doing. They are in the trenches with me and I love hearing their perspectives on how they are approaching different challenges and love sharing what I am doing.  A lot of the times after having these conversations I come out energized with new ideas on how to approach some of my day to day eLearning challenges.

So those are just some of the reasons I love DevLearn.  I am super excited for this year, especially with it being at the Bellagio!