LDA conference

L&D as Ecosystem: Strategy, Science, and Organizational Dynamics

April 13 - May 8, 2026

OVERVIEW

Bridge the Gap between Principle and Performance

The natural complement to our Learning Science Conference, the L&D as an Ecosystem: Strategy, Science, and Organizational Dynamics conference explores all the practices around learning science that are useful for L&D practitioners. Our previous conference ‘the Evidence-Informed Practitioner’ focused on putting learning science into practice, but we want (and need) to go further.

In this new conference, in addition to continue exploring how to bridge the gap between principle and performance, we will also explore the question:

This includes evidence-informed practices and relevant approaches inspired by adjacent fields, such as marketing, improv, statistics, ethics, UX, etc.

What Learning Professionals can Borrow from Adjacent Fields to Improve their Impact

In practice, as an L&D professional, you often wear more than one hat. You not only design learning, but you often also need to make the case for your initiatives, manage stakeholders’ expectations, communicate the value proposition to learners, conduct evaluations, manage projects, and deal with internal politics and dynamics.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to borrow a bit of “marketing magic” next time you need to convey ‘what’s in it for them’ to your audience? What if you applied the sharp listening skills of improvisers to better communicate with all the different stakeholders involved in your initiatives? And developing your statistical literacy can strengthen your arguments, help you make better and faster decisions, and sort legitimate claims from snake oil.

These are just a few examples on how adjacent fields and approaches can be a great source of insights and inspiration for L&D practitioners. Our Spring 2026 conference is really an invitation to expand your thinking and ‘think like a…’ UX designer, improviser, philosopher, statistician, project manager, or marketer!

Develop your Impact and Achieve Sustainable Results: join the L&D as an Ecosystem Conference.

During this conference, we will continue to explore analysis and evaluation as valuable practices, and focus on how to apply knowledge in real organizational contexts. We are also adding in broader issues like systems thinking, communicating with stakeholders, marketing, communication, levering technology, and going beyond ‘the course’.

Focused on L&D as a practice, the goal is to help L&D professionals enrich their toolkit and improve their impact!

During the conference you will:

• Uncover the success factors necessary for improving performance in the workplace

• Gain readily applicable evidence-based tools.

• Network with leading thinkers and practitioners.

You will leave with actionable insight and renewed confidence in your L&D practice.

The L&D as an Ecosystem Conference is where learning professionals come together to expand their repertoire.

• 10 practical topics to level up your L&D presented by the expert speakers

• 5 special events to spark reflection and expand your perspective

• Asynchronous AND live, online sessions

• A dedicated forum to interact with speakers and fellow attendees

Our handpicked speakers will dive into different practices, covering: systems thinking, project management, communication skills, marketing principles, stakeholder management, vendor and partner selection, UX, thinking beyond the course, and more. You’ll walk away with the insights and tools you need to enhance your learning initiatives and improve your impact.

CONFERENCE TOPICS (SESSIONS)

Each topic below will have a video presentation and a live session (90 minutes long- unless otherwise indicated), repeated once to cover time zones as much as possible.

Topics will include areas such as:

• Leveraging Technology

• Systems Thinking

• Using Marketing Principles for L&D

• Listening Skills

• going ‘Beyond the Course’

• Project Management

• Stakeholder Management

• Assessment & Evaluation

Plus, you’ll be invited to five special sessions, including panel-style conversations and other curated gatherings, to explore ideas from multiple angles and connect with the community. Special sessions are only offered once and last 60 minutes. Please note that some of the special sessions are not recorded.

Additional details about session titles, formats, and facilitators will be shared very soon!

Conference Bundle: Foundations + Practice

For participants who want a more complete professional learning experience, we offer a bundle option that includes access to both of our 2026 conferences:

• L&D as Ecosystem: Strategy, Science, and Organizational Dynamics. (Spring)

  Focused on learning and development as a practice and ecosystem, including topics such as stakeholder management and communication, marketing, measurement, and building sustainable impact.

• Learning Science Conference (Fall)

  Focused on the foundations of how people learn and how learning science informs design decisions.

Together, these conferences support learning professionals in developing both sound learning judgment grounded in science and practical capability to apply that knowledge in real organizational contexts

The bundle is ideal if you want to move from knowing the theory to making it work in practice.

You can register for each conference individually, or choose a bundle option designed for learning professionals who want both strong foundations and practical impact.

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