The following post is by Diane Fox (ATD Detroit President Elect), sent live from the ATD International Conference and Expo (ICE) in Atlanta, Georgia.

The ATD International Conference and Expo has begun with 10,000 professionals descending on Atlanta!  Where else can you find people more dedicated than to give their time a weekend to learn and grow?

Five board members (Diane, Laura, Kristy, Valerie, and Tarnisha) started their morning with Chapter Leader Day meetings, where sharing best practices gave our leaders awesome ideas to bring back to the chapter. We also learned about the strategic side of things by thinking about ways we can run the chapter more like a business, and how to make strategic business decisions for the best outcomes for the chapter and its members. We rounded out the morning with a ton of networking and celebrating our fellow chapters with awards.

CPLPs had a CPLP breakfast this morning where we were the first to learn of a new framework that ATD and ATD-CI have developed to give L&D professionals a clear and progressive learning path for themselves. It will also help professionals better understand their own career development paths. This path could start with taking an ATD education program and might end all the way with earning the CPLP credentials.  More to come soon on this as ATD works with chapters and employers to roll this out.

Last but not least, the concurrent sessions have started.  With hundreds of options each day it's hard to chose a session, but ATD has a great app that keeps our sessions planned.  Pro tips for future conference attendees: talk to others to find out whothe "can't miss" speakers are, and divide and conquer among your team. You can always listen to sessions you miss after the conference ends through the ATD website.

There's a loud buzz in the air for participants that will last for the next fun filled days to come!  

The following post is by Diane Fox (ATD Detroit President Elect), sent live from the ATD International Conference and Expo (ICE) in Atlanta, Georgia.

The ATD International Conference and Expo (ICE) pre-conference programs have started with excitement in the air and a peachy Atlanta, Georgia welcome to pre-conference attendees.  

As Atlanta reaches record temps for this time of year - topping out over 90 degrees - 800 attendees are heating up their excitement in the classrooms. ATD offers almost 50 choices for attendees who want to make the most of their conference experience and join the excitement early. If attendees want a deep dive into content, certificate programs that range in length from 2 to 4 day programs, including 4 master certificate programs.  Nine different 1-day or 2-day workshops are also offered.  

The pre-conference option offers flexibility for everyone by giving the option to either attend independently or accomplish two goals at once by staying for the full conference. A majority of attendees do end up staying for the full conference.  

The wide range of topics meet a variety of Talent Development professionals needs, with all the learning offered in one easy place. Experts in the industry such as Jack and Patti Phillips share how to measure ROI, and Mason Holloway continues to share his knowledge on Human Performance Improvement.  

As it’s already hot outside, the passion for learning with our peers keeps our inner-selves ignited!  

Have you considered attending an ATD education program?  Even if it’s not during a conference ATD offers online and in person options in a variety of locals helping expand the knowledge of Talent Development professionals everywhere

Next month, ATD Detroit will hold a free raffle for the choice of a free 1-year individual membershipor an awesome gift card to the ATD store!

The contest automatically includes anyone who comes to the Top Trainer Throwdownevent on June 13^th. But if you bring a friend, you’ll triple your chances to win!

How to enter the raffle:

1.     Everyone - regardless of membership status - who attends the Top Trainer Throwdown on June 13^thwill get one (1) ticket for the raffle when they visit the check in table.

2.     Any member who brings a guest will get two extra raffle tickets, tripling your chances to win! Bring more than one guest and get even more tickets!

To get your bonus tickets, just register your guest(s) as part of your event registration (click on the “Add Guest” button to add it your registration). If your guest(s) register separately, just let us know who you brought at the check-in table at the event.

Registration for the June 13^thTop Trainer Throwdown event is now open at https://www.detroitatd.org/event-2534313

Guests must be registered as non-members to count towards the promotion. Raffle will take place at the event on June 13^th. One winner will be selected at random from the raffle tickets.

ATD Detroit has formed a Chapter Team for the ATD ICE International Conference & Exposition (ICE) in Atlanta in May. The Chapter Team registration rate offers a savings of $625 off the regular online registration rate.

Pricing details can be found at http://www.atdconference.org/Register under Group Registration and Conference Teams.

Once there, select REGISTER NOW, look for the Conference Team Code dropdown menu, and select the Detroit chapter, OR contact ATD Customer Care Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, at 800.628.2783 or 703.683.8100. 

Already registered for ICE? Contact customer care and let them know you’d like to join the Chapter team.

There’s still time to get your training game on with a FREE (for Members) Gamification webinaron Wednesday, April 12^th, Noon – 1 pm. Jonathan Peters, Chief Motivation Officer for Sententia, will be leading an online training session teaching participants the basics of how and why we should gamify our training programs.

What is Gamification? 

Think about all the fun we have playing board or card games with family and friends. Now think about those occasional training sessions where we struggled to keep our participants energized throughout the course. Imagine if we could combine our training tactics with entertaining game components to create a fun, engaging learning experience. That’s gamification!

It’s the biggest trend in training right now, and it’s time that you got on (the game) board! Gamification will create lasting learning experiences through captivation and charm.

The April 12^thwebinar serves as an introduction to the Level 1 Gamification Certificationcoursetaking place on Friday, May 12^th. Even if you don’t think you’ll want the certification, come see the webinar for some great info on this cutting edge training technique!

Congratulations ATD Detroit! We've achieved 100% of the Chapter Affiliation REquirements (CARE) for 2016! 

That means that the chapter fulfilled ATD's 18 rigorous organizational standards, and was recognized as offering quality, consistent services to chapter members!  Only 48% of ATD chapters achieved this level of quality in 2016, and ATD Detroit is proud to be among them!

Additionally, ATD Detroit was awarded Silver Membership Status for maintaining 45% joint chapter/ATD membership in 2016! This is a HUGE honor, and shows that our chapter members are committed to taking an active role in the talent development field!

If you're not an ATD national member yet, contact Michael Haynes, VP of Membership (mikehayneslaw@gmail.com), today to learn more about the great benefits of POWER (joint) membership!

Congratulations everyone!