Meet the DevLearn Docents—Shawn Rosler

What follows is an interview with Shawn Rosler, a lead analyst and project manager for Geisinger Health Systems and upcoming docent at DevLearn 2016 Conference & Expo.

Have you attended DevLearn before? If so, what made you come back? 

More times than I care to admit—and, I must admit, it was Jane Bozarth that made me come back. Well, that and the fact that it’s the best large-scale eLearning conference going on in the industry today.

Have you been a docent before? (For any program.) 

That I have not.

What made you decide to be a docent?

I’ve been a presenter, a panel host, a Morning Buzz facilitator, stage host… but never a docent. I figured I wanted to use all that pre-existing experience and share it with as many people as I could!

What are you most excited for/hoping to get from being a docent?

More giving back. I’ve presented on “Community Has Its Privileges,” and I believe it to be true 100 percent. Fact of the matter is, we really can’t receive until we really give—and taking the time to make what for some can be a “big, scary first-time conference” fraught with “eLearning personas they’ve only read about” to show them we’re all people, we were all here the first time once before. It’s super rewarding.

What are you hoping to provide attendees as a docent?

Oddly enough, comfort. Comfort that you can talk to anyone, regardless of what they’re presenting on, where they work, or who they are. Comfort in the fact that, despite our varied backgrounds, we’re all here for very similar reasons. Comfort in knowing that not knowing things is okay (and admitting that is even better). Comfort in a friendly face that they can ask whatever they need to.

How did your career lead you to being a docent at DevLearn?

I wouldn’t say my career has, so much as the people who I’ve gotten to know through The eLearning Guild/DevLearn and who have encouraged me to be involved. When I realized that it was beneficial to share my work, maybe even Show (My) Work, that’s when I realized being a docent was very, very important to others, as well as to myself.

If you switched careers today, what would you choose to do? 

Be a full-time culinary podcast host. (Those of you who know me understand…)

If you could only give one tip, what advice would you give to a new DevLearn attendee? 

Connect. Do. See. Talk… all of this via connecting with the conference, its speakers, your fellow attendees.

Why do you think it’s important for learning professionals to attend DevLearn? 

It has, to date and based on my experience, continually brought together the movers, shakers, and thinkers of the highest order together under one roof, and I see no reason to question whether it will continue to do that.

Meet Shawn at DevLearn 2016, November 16 – 18 in Las Vegas. Click here to learn more about the DevLearn Docent Program!