There were some pretty exciting things happening in the expo hall at this conference, and there were lots of good opportunities for networking. I was lucky enough to have a few friends and acquaintances present, which made the conference a completely different experience for me. You all know who you are… It was wonderful to see you in person!
The reception on the opening night of the conference gave attendees a chance to meet each other and vendors in a socially lubricated environment. L-R: Stevie Rocco, Kevin Thorn, and Jane Bozarth
In general, I have been really pleased in the last few months with the number of vendors producing improved tools for elearning — tools that either facilitate creating a richer learning experience or push the envelope toward more standardized delivery or both. I was happy to see that the response to my “Which new tools do you want?” query pretty much mirrors my own, because I think IDs are really starting to be smart about what they want in authoring tools, and they’re being heard. Here were the things that excited me most:
Articulate Storyline
I was waiting for an education session to start when Twitter started exploding with Storyline buzz. It continued through the rest of the conference, and from what I can see, the excitement seems to be well warranted. This is definitely a tool I’ll be following as closely as I can in the coming months, as I’m sure many other elearning bloggers will, as well. Maybe we’ll even hear from my coworker and own personal Articulate guru, Tanya Coomes.
In the meantime, here are a few ways to get info on Storyline.
OpenSesame
These guys have been making a big splash with their “unlock an iPad” game at the last few conferences I’ve been to, and I’m glad, because their business model kind of depends on them getting a lot of elearning producers and buyers aware of them. Their elearning marketplace now has over 1400 courses… pretty impressive!
I had thought for a while that the only company with more clever marketing than OpenSesame was BlueVolt, with their LMS voodoo doll…
…but it turns out BlueVolt is actually Open Sesame’s LMS, which they license to the public in addition to using it for their marketplace (as I understand). Correction: My understanding was incorrect. BlueVolt is a separate company. Please see Kelly Meeker’s comment below.
Well played, OpenSesame. Even though I didn’t win an iPad.
Zebra
No Zebra Lounge or huge announcements from Allen Interactions this time, but I did enjoy learning more about the software with the developers and product manager, and that’s always exciting.
As I’ve shared before, I think this is amazingly promising software, and if you haven’t had a chance to see it or play with it yet, I encourage you to sign up for the public beta. Here’s why: I’ve been to webinar after session after course on elearning design in which participants are encouraged to make better elearning… more interactive, more exploratory, more game-like, and it frequently seems to devolve into a gripe session on how we don’t have good enough tools to do all of those things… or at least, to do them easily. I think there’s some validity to that complaint, but I also think it’s frequently an excuse for lazy design. We’re going to start seeing that excuse become less valid when Zebra launches.
Anyway, more on that to come. 
All in all, this was a great conference! Thanks to the e-Learning Guild for a well-planned, fun, and educational event.
Oops! I almost forgot… Again, for more Learning Solutions recaps, be sure to check out David Kelly’s Misadventures in Learning!
I posted that last from PDX. Now I’m at PHX, on my way to Learning Solutions 2011, and thinking more about the Morning Buzz I’m facilitating tomorrow.
A few weeks ago, 
For some reason, I’ve had this and other posts sitting in my drafts for a couple of weeks. Sorry about that.
I’m not a good artist, but over the last couple of years I’ve started sketching to help me work out ideas, present them to stakeholders, and communicate them to developers.