The learning event of the season: Docebo Inspire 2024 descends on Dallas.

As the saying goes, “Everything is bigger in Dallas.” That includes Docebo Inspire 2024 With over 700 attendees, more than 70 sessions, 10 incredible sponsors, 90+ speakers, 9 Inspire Learning Award Winners, and too many cowboy hats to count, this was our biggest event yet. We’re still reeling from the experience.Over three impactful days, we witnessed the importance of leveraging cutting-edge tools and advanced analytics to drive powerful learning experiences. Here are the top 10 moments and takeaways from the event:

1: L&D professionals are excited about AI and want to prepare for the future, including innovations like VR and data analytics

The five most popular sessions of the event were:

• Building Custom Widgets with ChatGPT 
• Exploring Gamified and Immersive Learning Experiences on Docebo 
• Analytics Strategies in L&D
• 3 Different Approaches to Personalized Learning Experiences, and,
• Automate Your Way to Better Solutions: Getting Started with Docebo API Explorer and Postman

It’s clear that learning professionals are hungry for real-world experience with AI. The popularity of the ChatGPT session—which focused on practical tips—shows how much excitement there is for this new technology. And the full rooms for sessions on personalization, social learning, and gamification demonstrated eagerness to take learning programs to the next level. Adopting new technology for the workplace and for learning is a marathon, not a sprint. And we’re not racing against AI, we’re running with it. At Inspire, L&D pros laced up their best sneakers.This session on analytics was PACKED, with many attendees standing to listen.

2: Design and accessibility remain the foundation of learning platforms

The user experience (UX) impacts learning programs beyond how users interact with them. UX can make or break a program. Several sessions on accessibility, and user-focused design empowered admins to improve the user experience, including how to effectively deliver notifications to avoid notification fatigue.

3: Swag is out. Experiences are in.

Attendees couldn’t get enough of the rich experiences at Inspire. Rather than give out a bunch of swag people wouldn’t use, we decided to listen and give the people what they wanted. For instance, people really like goats AND yoga. So we put them together and boy did people like G.O.A.T. Yoga! Here’s what an attendee had to say: 

“G.O.A.T. Yoga was the best and most unique thing I’ve ever seen at a conference before, and I don’t know how you’re gonna top it!”

Challenge accepted.G.O.A.T yoga kept us all entertained

4: We dove into the future of learning with L&D expert Josh Bersin, MIT researcher Manolis Kellis, and Khan Academy's Sal Khan

Can we map concepts just as we navigate with Google Map? MIT researcher Manolis Kellis is attempting to do just that, as he unveiled Mantis AI to Inspire attendees.In Greek, Mantis refers to the diviner that can see the future and beyond. This is what Kellis had in mind when he designed a cognitive cartography program to map “human language, human meaning, and human insight.”Through Kellis, we got to witness a powerful knowledge engine that goes beyond clustering concepts to actually telling you how and why they fit together and who should learn them. Josh Bersin impressed our audience with predictive insights into the business of learning, which he posits will be autonomous. “I’m a very pragmatic, engineering kind of person. The reason I believe there will be level 4 and level 5 is that I was there for levels 1 to 3.”At first (level 1), users passively consumed content through courses. But slowly, content became more personalized based on the user’s activity and needs (level 2). Progress is faster now. Today, we’re creating AI-generated content (level 4). And soon we’ll hit level 5: Where the learning and knowledge platform adapts to the user and personalizes the content and the experience. In other words, the user is in control of what they learn in a seamless way.Khan Academy’s Sal Khan’s talk matched the tone of Bersin’s futuristic presentation: “We’re at the cusp of using AI for the biggest positive transformation that education has ever seen.” Sal Khan from Khan Academy energized the room with his endearing talk about technology and education. Using the story of the beginnings of Khan’s Academy, where he leverages digitalization to improve both students’ skills and disposition toward learning, he noted that “technology amplifies human intent.”

5: We're entering a new era in learning: The Learning and Knowledge era

As Josh Bersin mentioned in his talk at Docebo Inspire 2024, learning solutions need to adapt to new trends like AI by transitioning from learning management systems (LMSs) to Learning and Knowledge Platforms.Has he been spying on Docebo? Because that analysis is exactly why we’ve been building Docebo’s AI Knowledge Engine, which we debuted at Inspire.Attendees flocked to Josh Bersin's keynote, where he spoke about his vision for the the future of learning.With a Learning and Knowledge Platform, users can do more than just take courses. Right from the platform, they can also access information from the organization’s shared knowledge.The Learning and Knowledge platforms of the future are more connected and integrated, offering search and social-media-like experiences to empower users to learn more effectively. Add AI to the tech stack and you get something truly remarkable.

6: AI and technology are disruptive and will change everything. But this is still a human-focused game.

Learning is still a business about people. And if a low-tech solution is more human, don’t be afraid to use it. We learned from many sessions that human ingenuity and critical thinking remain very much at the forefront of L&D—with or without AI.Sessions like “How to Deliver Personalization at Scale” and “Unleashing AI to Craft Personalized Learning Adventures” taught us that you need the human touch to think outside the box. 

7: L&D practitioners know how to party!

Learn hard, party harder? That seemed to be the mantra because the party was packed! With plenty of GuyKat’s cowboy hats, people mingled and danced the night away after a full day of learning.Attendees rocked (countried?) the night away with glowing GuyKat cowboy hats.

8: Everyone is a leader in learning and has knowledge to bring to the table

It’s official. People love Leaders in Learning. If you haven’t checked out the first season, you’re missing out. (And you might be the only one!) Attendees were lining up at Inspire Dallas to get a chance to speak and share their learning nuggets with hostesses extraordinaire Shawna David and Samantha Murray. Google’s own L&D expert Ramkumar Venkataraman was one of the leaders who took a seat. He transitioned to L&D from the world of finance and spoke about the differences and challenges.“Finance is easier,” he says. [With L&D], the challenge is: How do you motivate people to learn?” He also urged people to continue innovating and thinking of the outcomes and the audience before creating learning programs. His three big predictions for the future of learning were:

• Learner personalization will skyrocket
• More and more learning will be done by GenAI, and it will require a cultural change
• We might not have learning programs, but rather autonomous, continuous learning

If you want to catch up with Leaders in Learning, you can subscribe to the newsletter or watch all the episodes.

9: Alessio Artuffo is officially Docebo's permanent CEO!

Sporting a big grin (and an even bigger cowboy hat) and very much feeling Flo Rida’s “My House,” Alessio took to the stage! Alessio was, to put it mildly, pumped.It’s not every day you get to announce that your role is evolving from interim to permanent CEO. Alessio has been with Docebo for over 10 years. Docebians couldn’t be prouder of this moment.In his talk, Alessio addressed the current L&D landscape. Did you know that 70% of learning happens outside work hours? “This is quite a paradox because at the same time, we are going through an upskilling and reskilling revolution,” he noted.To bridge this learning gap, Alessio highlighted the importance of creating models that account for various customer profiles and continuously enhance the learning experience.He also spoke about the power of AI, echoing the remarks of the keynote speakers. But he went further, speaking about the learning-specific considerations we should all keep in mind. Traditional LLMs are great at providing answers, but they’re not built for pedagogy. They’re not optimized for knowledge retention or for specific learning outcomes. And that’s what organizations need to think about if they want to be learning leaders. “AI is here to help us augment learning experiences,” he said. “And our belief is that it should do that with a strong foundation in pedagogy.”

10: Learning is a gift and L&D is an industry full of generosity

We kicked off Inspire with an invitation to make a real impact. And our attendees answered the call. Together, we stuffed over 200 backpacks with supplies for under-resourced schools in Dallas, giving future leaders the tools and support they need to thrive through the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas' Stock the School Campaign.We also surprised our Inspire Award Winners with an all-expense paid trip to Rome to attend Inspire Rome 2024.For Jeremy, one of the award winners, this will be his very first trip outside of the US. He was so overcome with emotion, he could barely get a word out when the announcement was made.An awe-struck Jeremy hears about his trip to Rome.

That's a wrap!

Overall, Inspire Dallas 2024 was a smash hit. We learned that L&D people are the most creative folks in the business!From incredible slides to puntastic presentation titles, we were dazzled by engaging talks all day long for three days.There were some strong contenders, but this was our favorite pun.From gaining top-expert insights in AI and learning in Dallas to exploring lifelong learning from none other than 3-Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura in Rome, Inspire is set to become the learning and knowledge hub of the industry.We can’t wait to see what the future will bring, so we hope to see you next year in Orlando. In the meantime, get inspired at Rome. There’s still time to register!