That's a wrap! Sydney HR + L&D Innovation and Tech Fest  

We are so grateful to have been part of the HR + L&D Innovation and Tech Fest. The event was a blast, and we met so many inspiring people who are changing the way we work. Here's our wrap of the two days.

The Go1 booth 

With a halo glowing so bright above us we were impossible to miss. Across the two days, the Go1 booth facilitated a lot of meaningful conversations, giving us a chance to learn more about the highlights and challenges of L&D professionals.  

Go1 team having serious(-sly fun) discussions at the booth

The Go1 swag (we're looking at you, socks) was a hit. Many came back the second day wearing their swag! 

Speaking sessions 

Across the two days, we saw some fantastic keynote sessions from Penny Beecham, YMCA NSW, Michelle Ockers of Emerging Stronger, and Tim Teale & Natasha Dunn from Go1.  

Keynote session with Go1 customer Penny Beecham – YMCA NSW 

Penny Beecham talks about YMCA NSW's learning journey

It's always exciting when we get a chance to hear how our customers are using Go1 in their everyday work—and it's even better when they share insights into how they use it to improve their organisation.  

We heard from Penny Beecham, Lead Learning and Development Specialist as she spoke about YMCA NSW’s journey to embracing the digital age.  

Key takeaways:  

• Pivot, pivot, pivoooot - Global training expectations have shifted, and organisations need to keep up.  
• Embrace change (cliché, but a valuable tool in your L&D team arsenal)  
• Flexibility is a job requirement for L&D, not a nice to have

Penny is just one of the thousands of people who use Go1 every day to help them get better at their jobs. We're so grateful for customers like Penny who make our work feel more meaningful by sharing their stories with us!  

Go1 demo session with Tim Teale 

The crowd was captivated as Tim Teale delved into the ins and outs of Go1. He worked with spotty Wi-Fi, but that didn't stop him from making it a memorable event. 

Tim Teale presenting a live Go1 demo

---Day 2--- 

Breakfast event 

Michelle Ockers leading the breakfast session on day 2

On Day 2, we were excited to host a breakfast session with Michelle Ockers to launch our new L&D Playbook for enabling busy managers. 

Co-written by Michelle, Laura Overton, and Shannon Tipton, this playbook helps L&D tackle the challenge of working with managers and equipping them with tools to develop their teams. 

Thanks to all of you who came to the session. We hope that the conversation sparked some ideas and that you can put what you learned into practice. Here are a few takeaways from the session: 

• Michelle asked around the room—what are your biggest pain points? A common response in the room was time, or rather, the lack of. Other responses centred around opportunity cost, the implications of remote working in the modern workplace, and relevance.  
• There was some great conversation around the room about how to approach leaders who don't see L&D as a priority. Some of the recommendations from around the room included bridging learning, changing the mindset and language around learning, and making learning loud (social proof).  
• One piece of advice Michelle offered is to work like a high-performing learning team—they’re 62x more likely to equip managers with tools to support learning!  

Download our L&D playbook for enabling busy managers

L&D Tech Executive Panel | Exploring the New Frontier of Learning 

Natasha Dunn during the executive panel discussion

Go1 Head of Sales Acquisition Natasha Dunn joined a live panel and brought a unique perspective to the conversation. She spoke about adapting to change and how it all starts with leadership and management. Leaders must walk the walk and talk the talk for their businesses to be successful. 

When asked what those who are operating effectively at the new frontier of learning are doing differently, Tash highlighted that:  

• They're rethinking their talent recruitment and retention strategies, recognising that skill alone isn't enough in today's market. They're hiring for will and not for skill; we can train skills, but we can't train will.  
• They're considering how to best reduce costs while providing quality content to meet learners' needs. It all comes down to prioritising post-implementation actions just as much as implementing new systems.  

The packed audience during Natasha's presentation

Goodbye for now...  

From the halo glowing above our booth to the plethora of meaningful conversations we facilitated, all we can say is that this event was incredible!   

We were really impressed by how engaged everyone was during the sessions. Some attendees even planned on making changes based on what they learned on the first day alone!  

We want to thank everyone who attended our sessions, visited our booth and made this event such an amazing success! 

See you at our next big event coming soon!