The fourth day starts with a rather unpleasant surprise: Uber shows us what dynamic pricing means. Ten dollars more for the same route due to heavy traffic. It is true, and we arrive at the convention center just in the nick of time. I manage to make it just in time for the workshop on chatbot design by Vincent Han, who, as I only realize during the event, is the CEO of Mobile Coach. He is a true chatbot expert.
At an early age, in 1980, he wrote his first bot, so to speak, in the computer program Basic (the older ones among us might remember) and tried to get his classmates excited about it. It didn’t really work out because it was about mathematics, his passion. I have something in common with the MIT graduate: not my math skills, but he also has difficulties with the user interface of Snapchat or Slack, for example, because it’s not necessarily intuitive for people of our generation. And that’s what matters in a good user interface.
Why am I telling you this? Anyone who designs a chatbot must know their target audience. In that case, a text-based interface reminiscent of a messenger service is often the more appropriate option. In this respect, we are on the right track with our Swiss partner Eggheads.
We receive twelve tips, which I won’t list all here, and we could even communicate live with the chatbot. However, my T-Mobile access prevents that. In any case, I’ve become much smarter, because in the end, a chatbot is currently always a pre-programmed campaign that is then delivered automatically and in many variations. Truly AI-based chatbots can only be used, if at all, with huge numbers of users. We’ll have to wait a little longer until something like this is offered for smaller training groups and is also affordable.
[custom_gallery source=”media: 10747,10748,10750″ link=”lightbox” width=”250″ height=”250″ title=”never”]
Two sobering workshops
Two other workshops fail to inspire me, so I leave the event early. One is about learning journeys for executives. I can confidently say that we are much further ahead here. What is striking, however, not only in this program but also in others, is that face-to-face training is almost always listed as only one day long.
The second workshop covers the topic of user-generated content and peer-to-peer learning with video. An international automotive supplier from Ireland shares its own experiences here. 70% of the videos are created by ordinary employees who are not subject matter experts, resulting in nearly 2,000 videos over the last two years. What was interesting—and something I hear repeatedly from other providers in the field of video peer-to-peer coaching—is that most learners create the video four to five times until they have a version they are satisfied with and actually upload. In this sense, producing a video is, of course, a wonderful learning unit with a corresponding number of repetitions.
What is the old saying? If you want to learn something, start teaching it. Or in modern terms: produce a video.
From a German perspective, there are naturally many questions here, once again concerning data protection and image rights. And the question: can every video simply be released? Jeff Fissel, who was responsible for the session, had a very pragmatic answer: videos are just new media types, just like PowerPoint. Do you check every PowerPoint that ends up on your servers? Probably not. An important trend in video: automatic translation, which is mostly based on Google Translate and is occasionally improved manually.
The exhibition has become noticeably emptier. Not only are we exhausted, but so are most of the staff at the booths. We have good conversations at Area9, a Danish platform provider for adaptive e-learning that impresses with a beautiful design, and Padcaster, a simple setup for producing videos with an iPad. You could put it all together yourself, but I’m toying with the idea of ordering the complete set.
Presentation training with VR goggles
I also tried out a VR application in the exhibition: presentation training with VR goggles. The audience is computer-generated and reminiscent of standard graphics from current games. I am asked to read a presentation from a teleprompter. I have to hold a microphone in my left hand and a very strange presenter in my right. I have my difficulties with both. In the subsequent evaluation, where I scored 76 out of 100 points, I am shown how often the microphone was too low and that I used my right hand too little for gestures. Makes sense when you’re holding so much stuff you don’t actually need. And the audience heatmap shows me that I was a bit left-leaning in my eye contact. Filler words are automatically detected and counted. And all of this happens virtually in real time. An interesting gadget that would require an investment of 5,000 euros to use in my training sessions. I probably won’t do that. And I confess, I think many others won’t either.
Canvas Design
My last workshop is actually a workshop. It’s about canvas design, and 34% of the participants in the room are already working with templates. There are plenty of participants here who are not only amazed by the templates but also by Stattys—the electrostatic notes that are now also available from Neuland under a different name and which surprise the international audience here.
Otherwise, the workshop confirms our approach, and I look forward to the email with the list of the 50 most used templates worldwide. I’m excited and will continue to work on making sure we end up on that list one day.
The closing ceremony takes place in the large hall. And after a completely failed and unnecessary moderation by an ATD board member dressed like a head waiter, Eric Whitacre takes the stage—an extremely likeable composer and conductor who ventured into a revolutionary experiment ten years ago that has been continuously developed ever since:
A virtual choir
Thousands of people around the world record passages of Whitacre’s compositions at home in front of their computers, guided by a silent YouTube video in which Whitacre conducts the piece he only hears in his head at that moment (shades of Beethoven). Then, after months of work, the whole thing is edited, spliced together, and finally performed, sometimes in combination with a live performance.
You can watch this on TED, where he gave a highly acclaimed performance when the whole thing even happened live and unedited with people from all over the world. An unusual conclusion that ended with exactly such an experiment live and created a real goosebumps feeling. A true highlight and worthy conclusion, which was unfortunately marred again by the ATD head waiter, who insisted on coming back on stage to say “Incredible” a few more times and wish us a safe journey home.
We’re not heading home just yet; instead, I’m staying in Washington for two more days to finally see what there is to see in this city. Don’t worry, I won’t be reporting on the tourist program here. Details on the individual topics can be found in the web talk (register now).
If you have questions about specific topics, you can of course submit them in advance by email.
See you soon, Albrecht
[mc4wp_form id=”10692″]
