Attending a conference is the best way to meet professionals from your industry, learn the newest trends and take some tips home with you. Hundreds of e-learning and education related conferences are held nationwide every year in the United States and many more are organized around the globe. Even though half of the year is already gone, there is still time to include a few such events on your calendar. As a professional in the e-learning sector you will benefit from listening to the keynote speakers, participating in workshops with peers and facilitators, and exchange ideas about anything related to your work. A conference is the best place to learn about the top trends for creating e-learning content, the newest technologies utilized in the virtual classroom, or finding efficient localization resources. Since there are many options to choose from, we have selected four popular conferences to attend in the US. We hope that you will find at least one that fits your schedule.

Best 2017 Events for E-Learning

BbWorld 2017 is the most next event that you can mark on your calendar. Held in New Orleans, LA from July 25 to July 27, the conference promises inspiring speakers, sessions, networking, and more. Lifelong educator Dr. Jill Biden will open BbWorld 2017. One of the interesting speakers at the event is NASA astronaut and science literacy advocate, Dr. Mae Jemison. BbWorld is a platform to exchange ideas and meet with professionals in the industry with more than 2,000 attendees, 150 speakers and 50 exhibitors.

4th Annual Online Learning Conference organized by Training magazine from September 25 to September 27 in New Orleans, LA is a face-to-face gathering where you will collaborate to solve e-learning challenges. The conference also includes two co-located events – the Allen Experience and Innovations in Training. Participants will have the opportunity to build skills and knowledge in spheres like e-learning, mobile and social learning, instructional design, virtual/augmented/mixed reality, and many more.

iNACOL “Personalizing Learning: Equity, Access, Quality” Symposium is the leading event dedicated to K-12 competency-based, blended, and online learning. Experts, practitioners, educators, policymakers, and researchers will gather on October 23-25, 2017 at the Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida to discuss topics such as K-12 online learning, quality assurance, competency-based pathways, etc. The symposium will include over 200 sessions and expects to bring together more than 3,500 attendees.

The third annual WordCamp US event will be on December 1-3, 2017 in Nashville, TN. WordCamp US showcases the best of WordPress and the WordPress Community and presents the perspective of developers, content creators, designers, etc. Would you like to participate more actively than simply attending and share your view? If you would like to be one of the inspiring speakers you still have a chance to apply since the call is open till June 23 at 11:59 EST.

Hopefully, one of these events has peaked your interest into the broad and varied world of e-learning conferences and will make it into your busy schedule. For the more active travelers we will also compile a list of the most interesting events that you can visit abroad.

Worth Planning for Next Year

We would like to share what you have just missed this June. If you like these, you can put them on the calendar for next year.

Learning DevCamp is an event dedicated to teaching , discussing and collaborating in areas of content creation, tools usage, and platform creation. The conference was held in Salt Lake City, June 5-8 and was hosted by the University of Utah. It featured sessions on practical field knowledge and skills for e-learning, mobile learning, online instruction, instructional design, etc. There were workshops and “lectures” by experienced instructors.

, discussing and collaborating in areas of content creation, tools usage, and platform creation. The conference was held in Salt Lake City, June 5-8 and was hosted by the University of Utah. It featured sessions on practical field knowledge and skills for e-learning, mobile learning, online instruction, instructional design, etc. There were workshops and “lectures” by experienced instructors. Oeb MidSummit – Shaping the Future of Learning was a two-day, Mid-Atlantic event held in Reykjavik, Island on June 8-9. Its main focus was to explore the digital era through multidisciplinary perspectives. It featured participants from North America and Europe with keynote speakers Nell Watson (Poikos, Ireland), cognitive science and machine intelligence entrepreneur, Audrey Watters (Hack Education, USA), education technology writer, and Donald Clark (PlanB Learning, UK), blogger and EdTech entrepreneur and others.

through multidisciplinary perspectives. It featured participants from North America and Europe with keynote speakers Nell Watson (Poikos, Ireland), cognitive science and machine intelligence entrepreneur, Audrey Watters (Hack Education, USA), education technology writer, and Donald Clark (PlanB Learning, UK), blogger and EdTech entrepreneur and others. FocusOn Learning 2017 Conference and Expo will be held in San Diego, California this week from June 20 to June 22. Unfortunately it is already too late to join in. What you will miss is the focus on trends and technologies that are changing the approach to training and the best practices on how to harness them. The keynotes include Stimulating Creativity and Innovation in Your Organization with Liza Donnelly, Cartoonist at The New Yorker, The Psychology of Online Engagement with Nathalie Nahai, Web Psychologist, etc.

Now as a conclusion we would like to suggest one more interesting conference to visit. It presents a new perspective to learning and that is learning through games. Serious Play is a leadership conference for people who design, manage and implement serious game programs. The idea behind the 6th edition of this event is that game-based education can revolutionize learning and it aims to offer tips on how to move the concept forward. Participants from around the world will share their ideas and experience how games can be used in the classroom, healthcare institutions, government, military, and corporations. Among the key speakers on this year’s forum are Nolan Bushnell, Atari founder, Carole Bagley, Technology Group, Inc. and University of St. Thomas, Rob Dieterich, Skyboy Games, Evert Hoogendoorn, IJsfontein, Spencer Frazier, Lockheed Martin, Rotary & Mission Systems – ASC, etc. Serious Play will be held on July 26-28 at Gorge Mason University, Manassas, Virginia, near Dulles Airport. Enjoy!