Lessons from Learning Technologies Autumn Forum 2022: Curiosity

The Learning Technologies Conference in London (LT) is a huge exhibition and conference with thousands of learning professionals, exhibitors and conference speakers in attendance. May 2022 saw this back in person for the first time since COVID-19.

It was exciting and a little cautious all at the same time. I presented a conference session about my book, The Learning and Development Handbook and realised just how much I’d missed the vibrant and lively discussion of a live event. There is a vibe, an energy at a conference, and for LT, this was so raw and real it was palpable.

The Learning Technologies Autumn Forum is a smaller sister event to the main conference. Held in a more compact venue, the intimate setting is designed to encourage deeper conversation and better cross-fertilisation from the exhibition to the conference sessions, with the physical flow of the two spaces much more interwoven.

I love the music, lights, and action of the main LT event, but there is something really special and memorable about the forum follow up too. There is more time between sessions for the wonderful serendipity of human connection. There, conference sessions are much more audience participative, with smaller numbers and real stories shared. Back in person again, what I noticed when I first arrived at the forum venue was how I was suddenly transported to the last one in 2019, recalling the quality of the conversations; I was instantly set up for a great day of learning.

What happened? Who did we hear from? What was the vibe in these closer, more honest conversations? In a series of short blogs, I will be sharing some of what was experienced from sessions I chaired or attended.

Part one: Curiosity

I chaired Stefaan van Hooydonk from the Curiosity Institute talking about Curiosity, the key ingredient for winning L&D strategy.

What struck me from the off is that Stefaan didn’t stand on the stage! He was down in the audience. I loved how this in itself created curiosity and got people interested. I reflected on how we learning professionals get people interested in our projects – do we ‘stand off the stage’ often enough for people’s learning curiosity to be ignited?

So often organisations, consciously or unconsciously, kill off curiosity. Curious people are proud of asking stupid questions, yet we brush off stupid questions with an eye roll. Eventually people stop asking any questions.

In times of turbulence, argued Stefaan, we need to be more, not less, curious. We need to feel able to ask anything, seek new information, and look for innovation. Who knows where the next best idea will come from?

In a crisis, it can feel difficult to take the necessary time to think curiously. Allowing ourselves the space and peace to sit with our thoughts, to follow a trail of curiosity, is often the biggest barrier to entry. Yet curious thinking is where the answers lie.

It is a false economy to not ask enough questions before acting.

Stefaan described how culture plays into curiosity – asking questions in some hierarchical cultures is not acceptable, and this can stifle curiosity unless it is invited through collaboration. Knowing your culture, like the root of many things in business, is crucial to empowerment.

Stefaan gave us three key objects for a curious culture: creativity, empathy, and resilience. Thinking, empowering and inviting creativity comes from understanding things from others’ perspective, then the ability to pick yourself up when that perspective totally differs from your own, or your curiosity leads you to failure.

In the learning world, curiosity through creativity, empathy and resilience is a fine blueprint for effective, engaging, enjoyable and efficient learning programmes.

Innovation is everywhere – the forum exhibition hall was full of shiny new platforms with people in shiny suits keen to sell them to us – so knowing what to offer in learning will only come with curiosity. I think we start in the wrong place looking at the solutions before we look at our business problems. Stefaan’s presentation confirmed for me that advocating for evidence-based, data-driven, stakeholder-engaged learning solutions really is the only way forward.

I will leave you with a question Stefaan asked the audience: “What does curiosity mean to you?”

• Twitter thread live tweeted from the event
• Stefaan van Hooydonk The Workplace Curiosity Manifesto New Degree Press 2022

Michelle Parry-Slater is learning and development director at Kairos Modern Learning

Note from the editor: To read more about the Learning Technologies Autumn Forum 2022, part two is at: Lessons from Learning Technologies Autumn Forum 2022: Learning in a hybrid setting and part three is at Lessons from Learning Technologies Autumn Forum 2022: Sustainability in learning