In this episode, I invite all of you to join the Useful L&D Community I launched back in September. I share a little bit about why I started this (global - as I forgot to mention in the episode) safe space for aspiring, new, and expert L&D pros to connect and working together to make learning more useful.

We are having great discussions, hosting events, and we're just getting started!

Join us here: https://useful-stuff.circle.so/join?invitation_token=729b68d43899a5f480ee11363cc12b7a9b766573-aea3a980-a69c-4a70-b0f4-8d3b27a526c4

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

In this episode, I chat with Fred Thompson, CEO of Thirst, about staying current in L&D and how he's managed to continue to take a modern approach to L&D, despite beginning his career with Flash.

Fred Thompson is CEO of Thirst and is a seasoned learning and development expert with over two decades of experience helping businesses create engaging learning environments that level up learner engagement.

Fred has spearheaded numerous initiatives that have empowered employees to learn and develop in the most intuitive way possible. His insights into the latest learning technologies and trends have been invaluable to countless organizations looking to turbocharge their learning cultures with game-changing learning platforms.

Fred has a passion for using AI and machine learning to create social learning experiences that meet the unique needs of each employee and help them enhance their skills and grow their careers.

Fred's suggestion for taking a modern approach to L&D:

• Look at what influencers and your favorite people on social media are using to create content, and try creating a prototype!!

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

Dinye Hernanda is a distinguished practitioner in Learning & Development, known for her bold, results-driven approach.

With a proven track record in building L&D departments for high-growth organizations, Dinye has made her mark across major corporations, tech scale-ups, and VC firms. Named one of the 'Thirty Under 30' in L&D in 2021, she is recognized for her unique ability to blend strategic vision with practical execution.

Honored as Mentor of the Year 2023, Dinye is committed to elevating the practice of L&D professionals across industries. A global citizen, she divides her time between Berlin, Dubai, and Jakarta.

https://www.dinyehernanda.com/

Dinye's suggestion for learning a tool that isn't specific to L&D? Learn Canva.

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

In this episode, I chat with my new L&D pal, Caner Akova, about how we learn in real life, how we can bring some of those best practices into workplace learning, and why it isn't happening more often.

Caner is an L&D expert with global experience in higher education and multinational corporations and he’s here to shake things up.

He’s passionate about cutting through the fluff, and uses real life learning to make workplace learning actually work.

He likes tackling the brutal truths about L&D, delivering practical, no-nonsense solutions that work without the need to invest in a ton of different software and hardware.

Connect with him on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/canerakova

Caner's advice for those who want to start making changes to learning at their organizations:

1. Watch how the people (and pets) around you are learning in real life.
2. Make one small change at your workplace (without asking for permission).
3. Assess the results, and add more changes or adjust accordingly.

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

In this episode, inspired in part by my new friend Molly's LinkedIn post about undergoing 10 job interviews for a contract L&D position, I talk about the dreaded job interview assignment.

This episode is both for job seekers and hiring managers because I give best practices for what you should be looking for in a job interview assignment, including the following:

• Every job interview should be part of a structured process that is clearly communicated to candidates. This is what we DO as L&D professionals, we should be clearly communicating up front how many interviews, if there's an assignment, and the goal start date of the candidate.
• If given, job interview assignments should NOT be arbitrary - the assignment should clearly align with its purpose and HAVE a purpose. Is the purpose to show proficiency with a particular tool? Then, it should do that. It shouldn't be "create a 30-minute eLearning module on the topic of your choice" because that's what their portfolio is for.
• If the assignment is going to take the candidate more than 3 hours, it should be paid. Also, you should never use a candidate's work or ask for source files.

If a job interview assignment feels icky, you should trust your gut!

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

On this episode, I celebrate the BLOC turning 4! Can you believe I started this podcast 4 years ago?

I talk about the origin story of the podcast, some of the tips I've learned along the way, and recap the most popular episodes!

Here's to more episodes of the BLOC! Thank you all so much for your support.

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

In this episode, I chat with engineer and founder of Teach the Geek, Neil Thompson, about how we can be better presenters as technical professionals or improve our training on technical topics, making them more useful for our audience.

After one too many failed presentations, Neil Thompson, an engineer who worked in the medical device industry, knew he had to improve. He did so, and now, via his company Teach the Geek, he works with technical professionals like himself to improve their presentation skills. He’s the creator of the Teach the Geek to Speak online public speaking course, geared towards those in the technical fields. He hosts a podcast, the Teach the Geek podcast, interviewing technical professionals about their public speaking journeys. He’s also author of the book, Teach the Geek to Speak: a no-fluff public speaking guide for STEM Professionals and the accompanying workbook. To get in touch with Neil, please visit http://teachthegeek.com, and to check out the podcast, visit http://podcast.teachthegeek.com.

Neil's advice for those who want to improve their presentation skills:

• Join your local Toastmasters

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff

In this episode, I chat with my brilliant friend, Dr Linda Berberich about AI, learning technologies, prototypes, and how you're never too old to learn something new!

Linda Berberich, PhD, is a behavioral scientist specializing in innovative, impactful, and immersive learning and intelligent, intuitive technology product design. With an extensive background in data analysis, technical training, behavior analysis, learning science, neuroscience, behavior-based performance improvement, and sport psychology/performance enhancement, Dr. Berberich consults with clients developing innovative learning technology products, projects, and programs, especially for highly technical audiences, using her proprietary Level-Up Learning Framework. Her focus is on learning innovation, product/program/project vision, learning strategy, leading team ideation, rapid prototyping, and roadmapping the path to a fantastic final product in record time.

LI profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-berberich-phd-3745004/

LI business page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/linda-b-learning/

Website: https://www.lindablearning.com/

Linda's advice if you want to get into AI and learning technologies?

• Find your favorite GPT and ask it to create a curriculum on any topic. Use that as a jumping off point to assess the quality of the AI, add and remove your own content, and create something amazing.

Thanks for listening to the BLOC! To learn more and get more great resources:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Join our global Useful L&D Community
• Work with me or see what I'm working on with Useful Stuff