Head of Learning Engineering, Kristin Torrence joins me to share her experience as a first-time presenter at DevLearn Conference and Expo in 2021. Kristin gives a play-by-play of her process, from submitting a proposal, to preparing her presentation, to delivering her presentation to a somewhat sleepy crowd. She also gives some tips for how to find resources if you are interested in speaking at conferences.  Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn.  Watch the video series "I Have Questions About...

Sara Johnston, Cofounder at motive.io, joins me to share tips and tricks on how to design learning for immersive environments. She offers some common mistakes, pitfalls, and traps to look out for to make sure the learner has a good user experience. Her biggest tip, keep things simple! More realistic isn't always better.  Connect with Sara via email (Sara at motive.io) or on LinkedIn. 

Instructional designer and eLearning developer, Asha Mohamud, joins me to talk about her journey into the field of L&D at such a young age. We also discuss the things that excite her about the field, and the ways in which her generation prefers to consume content, whether that be for entertainment or for learning.  Connect with Asha on LinkedIn. 

Instructional designer Mandy Brown joins me to share a little bit about her own journey of self-discovery as a woman on the autism spectrum. We talk about ways in which designers can keep neurodivergent learners in mind when designing learning experiences. Mandy shares the ways in which her own neurodivergence affects her learning, and offers some suggestions on different accomodations that can be made which don't just help neurodivergent learners, but neurotypical learners as well.  Connect...

Global Learning Partner and host of the "The Jr. High Dropout" podcast, Elizabeth Fine joins me to talk about the importance of messaging on LinkedIn. Elizabeth share a little bit about her own story and why she is so passionate about helping educators transition into new roles. She shares ways to optimize your profile and the ways in which you might be underselling yourself.  Connect with Elizabeth on LinkedIn. Listen to the "The Jr. High Dropout" podcast here. 

Voiceover Talent and Host of the "DIY Narrrator" podcast, Josh Risser, joins me to share some tips for getting the voice over narration that you need, regardless of your skill level. Josh shares pointers for absolute beginners and for those who might know a thing or two but still want to improve. He also gives advice on how to source VO talent for your A-list projects that require a higher production value. Connect with Josh on Linkedin. Check out more VO narration tips on the "DIY...

Instructional designer and founder of Teaching: A Path to L&D, Sara Stevick, joins me to talk about building a portfolio. Sara shares why a portfolio is important, how to come up with ideas for portfolio samples, and what you should be demonstrating to prospective clients or employers.  Join the Linkedin group "Teaching: A Path to L&D". Connect with Sara on Linkedin. 

Senior Learning Experience Producer, Destery Hildenbrand, joins me to talk about the differences between 360 immersive experiences and what most would consider typical VR (virtual reality) experiences. We also chat about some use cases for both types of learning experience, as well as where the technology might be going in the corporate workspace in the near-ish future. Learn more about CGI VR for learning at Motive.io. Connect with Destery on Linkedin. 

Instructional designer and podcast host, Amy Petricek, joins me to talk about needs analysis. Amy shares what the term means to her, how she and her team use it in their work, and the consequences of what can happen if this stage is skipped over in the design process.  Listen to the "Share Whatcha Learned" podcast at amypetricek.com.  Connect with Amy on Linkedin. 

That's Awesome ID! will be taking a break this summer. Therefore, to wrap up this season, I put together one more blooper real of some laughs from various episodes over the course of this past year. I've had so much fun talking with all of my awesome guests about all of their awesome ideas. Thank to everyone who has helped make this such a fun and rewarding process. Stay awesome! Connect with me on Linkedin. 

Director of Development and Innovation at RedSaberes, Emily Justin-Szopinski, joins me to talk about the overlap between digital marketing best practices and instructional design best practices. She also shares a little bit about user retention models that have been most successful for her company. Spoiler alert: let your learners know there is a human on the other side of the course! Connect with Emily on Linkedin.

Kate Udalova, founder of the micro-learning authoring tool 7taps.com, joins me to discuss the surprising and diverse ways in which 7taps is being used by course creators. We also take some time to answer crowd-sourced questions about microlearning from members of the Linkedin community.  Special thanks to everyone who submitted questions: Bhavani Nadakumar, Priyanka Wheatley, Chris Karel, Richard Mendoza, Diana Salazar. Try out 7taps at 7taps.com.  Connect with Kate on Linkedin. 

Training Manager Stacy Salinas joins me to talk about the ways in which instructional designers must navigate a lot of gray spaces to carve out a career path. Inspired by the article "61 Ways to Know You Are Talking to An Instructional Designer", Stacy talks about the ways in which careers in L&D often involve a lot of liminal spaces. We are always navigating the spaces between projects, clients, technologies. We also discuss how instructional design is a growing field and how we are...

Play and game consultant, Alyea Sandovar, PhD, joins me to talk about some myths around gamification. Alyea has done a lot of research around play and games, and provides consultation on gamification through her company tint hue. Throughout her career she has come across many misunderstanding about gamification, and she shares some of those insights with me. She also discusses the Playful Creative Summit, which is a virtual conference on the importance of playfulness and creativity to many...

Learning Experience Designer Kristin Torrence joins me to discuss stealth assessment, particularly within immersive environments. Kristin has designed learning solutions ranging from educational games, mobile applications, e-learning, Instructor-Led Training (ILT), and virtual reality (VR).  In this episode we talk about what stealth assessment is, the history of its development by Valerie Shute, and why it is the optimal form of assessment for learning within immersive environments. We also...

Project Manager Mark Cunningham joins me to share his thoughts on how to go about onboarding new clients to a project in a way that ensures a successful outcome and builds strong working relationships. Mark discusses some of his own process, which involves using empathy to understand your client's needs, and asking the right questions to get a better sense of what success looks like for your client. You can connect with Mark on LinkedIn. 

Andrea McEneaney and Parker Grant join me to talk about breaking into freelance instructional design. Andrea and Parker are the co-head honchos at IDLance.com, an awesome website dedicated to providing guidance to anyone looking to embark on a freelance ID career. They share some of the motivation for starting IDLance, which is that basically there really isn't another good place to find practical information all in one place. They also share the most beneficial tool a freelancer can have -...

Instructional Designer and founder of Learning Carton, Chris Karel, joins me to discuss communities of practice. We talk about what makes a community of practice and ways in which it might differ from a class or cohort. We also talk about how communities of practice might be used to describe different learning communities of the past, and think about how social media applications might enable the communities of practice of the future.  You can connect with Chris on Linkedin.

Senior instructional designer Mike Peacock returns to the show to talk about interactive PDF's. Mike shares what motivated him to want to get more out of the training manuals he was creating for his company, not just for his own satisfaction, but also because he knew he could better support his trainers. He gives recommendations types of interactive elements can be added, as well as tools you can use to create the documents. Mike loves his interactive PDF's so much he just got done presenting...

Instructional designer Brenda Peterson joins me to discuss how to respond to a layoff. She shares what that process typically looks like and walks through the emotions and considerations that come along with it. She also gives some pointers on how to prepare yourself for what most hope will never come, including building your network, growing your skill set and knowing how to ask for help. Connect with Brenda on LinkedIn, check out her blog at brendalearns.com, or find her at Condition...

Instructional designer and career strategist, Laura Hoyer, joins me to share her top 5 tips for writing an awesome instructional design resume. We talk about summary statements, keeping things measurable, and finding ways to keep your contact info simple and easy to find. If you'd like to get more career tips connect with Laura on LinkedIn or find her at The Right Fit Career Coaching. 

Story designer, author, and speaker, Rance Greene joins me to talk about instructional story design. Whether you are brand new to story design, or whether you've been doing it a while, Rance shares his tips for using stories to engage learners. He also shares reasons why stories are so engaging, and answers the question, in what learning situation would story design not be a good option?  Rance is launching the Instructional Story Design Roundtable where people can meet and discuss their...

Moe Ash joins me for the second part of our two-part series on gamification. In this episode we dive a little deeper in MDA, which stands for Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics. MDA is a formal way of thinking about game design, development, and criticism, and offers more depth and breadth to the gamification conversation, expanding it beyond the mechanics of points, badges, and leaderboards (PBL).  Connect with Moe on LinkedIn. You can also catch him at Gamicon21V this year, where he will...

Learning architect and gamification enthusiast Moe Ash joins me for a special two-part series on gamification. In this first episode we discuss what gamification is and isn't, and how it differs from game-based learning, game-based pedagogy, and serious games. Connect with Moe on LinkedIn. You can also catch him at Gamicon21V this year, where he will be presenting his project "The Oracle".