Six Visionaries Will Keynote Live Events at ATD's Virtual Conference

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Bestselling authors Nancy Duarte and Marcus Buckingham are the newest additions to the keynote schedule for the Association for Talent Development's Virtual Conference: Building Capabilities and Connection, June 1–5.

To support talent development (TD) professionals who play critical roles in helping organizations and employees upskill, reskill, and prepare for the future of work, ATD Virtual Conference offers more than 100 hours of content in 11 tracks that align with ATD's Talent Development Capability Model.

Thirty of the sessions will be translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. This conference, which will be hosted on the Social27 platform and is sponsored by UMU, will bring together the global talent development community to learn, collaborate, and network virtually.

Live keynotes from leading thinkers and visionaries in the TD community will join subject matter experts to discuss trends, strategies, and skills that will help TD professionals and organizations tackle the unprecedented challenges that the world is facing now and will face in the future.

"ATD is excited to offer our first virtual conference for our global community. In a time when many companies are innovating to help meet the needs of their customers, we are looking at this conference to bring our vibrant learning community together and offer sessions that will help people and organizations emerge from this crisis with new skills, understanding, and capabilities," says Apryl Savino, CMP, CAE, director of ATD conferences and events.

"Our research shows that organizations that embrace learning and foster learning cultures perform better in the market. Learning and skill development are critical at this time, and we're grateful to the many experts who've come together to help make this conference a reality," Savino adds.

Nancy Duarte—a bestselling author and communication expert who has been featured in Fortune, Time, Forbes, Fast Company, Wired, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Cosmopolitan, LA Times, and on CNN—joins Duarte, Inc.'s Chief Strategy Officer Patti Sanchez to discuss how to use storytelling principles to influence people in many ways, from giving others the emotional fuel to get through a day to pushing the narrative of your company into a new era. This session examines the power of a classic story structure, how story speeds up decision-making, how story mirrors the shape of change, and how to use stories to move others to action.

Buckingham, author of two bestselling business books, co-creator of the StrengthsFinder tool, and chief executive officer of the Marcus Buckingham Company, will give a talk entitled StandOut Teams: How to Build Strong Teams Through Strengths.

In his keynote, The Importance of Creating a Compelling Personal Vision Statement, renowned speaker Ken Blanchard will encourage people to start working on their purpose statements by answering these questions: Why am I here?, What do I really want to be in the world?, and How am I doing on that? He will highlight the importance of defining a picture of the future based on what you want to create, not what you want to get rid of, and focusing on the end result instead of the process to achieve it.

In his keynote Co-Elevation Kickoff: Going Higher Together, Keith Ferrazzi, author of the number 1 New York Times bestseller Never Eat Alone, will draw on more than a decade of research and more than 30 years of coaching executive teams to help TD professionals build high-performing teams and show how to turn colleagues and partners into teammates to truly reboot the way we work together.

Erica Dhawan, founder and chief executive officer of Cotential, co-author of the bestselling book Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence, and named by the Thinkers50 as "The Oprah of Management Ideas," is keynoting a session about how to master the art of digital body language as the key to collaboration success and leadership in the 21st century.

Live keynotes and live facilitated sessions will occur on a 24-hour cycle throughout the week to accommodate ATD's global community. The programming will include on-demand sessions with 24-hour access and live sessions where the speaker will facilitate discussions with attendees and answer questions within the virtual session room.

ATD conferences are known for world-class networking opportunities, and ATD Virtual Conference will provide opportunities for attendees to network in groups or individually.

Registration for the event is open online at virtualconference.td.org. Follow ATD and updates about the conference on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter (#ATDVirtualConference).

About ATD
The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world's largest professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees, improve performance, and help to achieve results for the organizations they serve. Established in 1943, the association was previously known as the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).

ATD's members come from more than 120 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD supports talent development professionals who gather locally in volunteer-led U.S. chapters and international member networks, and with international strategic partners.

For more information, visit td.org.

SOURCE Association for Talent Development