#FestivalOfWork Day 1 reflections…

I came along today ready for something different… the inaugural CIPD Festival of Work. A new offering from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. During day one I attended conference sessions, walked the exhibition floor, chatted to folk, took part in seated yoga plus mindful colouring on a giant colouring wall. All in a days work at the new CIPD #FestivalOfWork.

Peter Cheese opened the event, welcomed the keynote speakers including a panel discussion exploring ‘Good work and the future of jobs in a changing economic landscape’.

The first conference session for me was A4: Data-driven learning – using data insights to design learning and measure effectiveness. Hearing from Catherine Pinchen from PwC who reminded us about the importance of remembering that data in business is not useful without insight.

Following Catherine, we heard from Mike Collins (River Island) who shared how the language in his team has shifted from learning and development to creating performance support tools. Finding data from a number of sources making sure they use business data to inform solution design. Creating well-designed content that is usable via mobile devices as this is how 48% of staff access learning currently.

The next conference session for me was B4: Tech-enabled learning cultures – using technology to enable collaboration and self-directed learning. Giorgia Gamba Quilliam (Content Manager, L&D at the CIPD) chaired this panel discussion.

Karen Lloyd (ONS) definitely has seen how using technology has supported and enabled collaborative and self-directed learning, and shared a good point “Tech is great, however, time and support are needed too”.

The view from Rob Alcock (BBC Academy) was that “learning is most effective when it just happens as part of every day”.

I made sure I explored the Wellbeing Village at the Festival of Work, I was so pleased to see the focus on this important topic. Across both of the conference days there was a timetable of activities for people to explore.

The Wellbeing Village gave people time to relax, rest, recuperate. To help you do this there were massages, seated yoga sessions, meditation music to listen to and space to relax in. The picture above shows a colouring wall, this was one of three available for attendees to use at any time. Also on the timetable was Nestle Purina Dogs, you could meet them and they were around to provide a calm atmosphere to help you relax. They were very popular!

Please do check the event hashtag to see more from the event and follow up on Day 2 of the #FestivalOfWork 2019. Add a comment below and share what you found interesting and useful from the conference.