The Learning Awards 2023 Opening Address

Good Evening everyone and welcome to the 27th Annual Learning Awards at the fantastic Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel!

I’d like to begin by extending a special warm welcome to our international guests and finalists who have flown in from all corners of the world to be with us tonight.

This is the biggest awards event in learning and development with 56 countries represented.

Our hashtag for this evening is #learningawards so why not get out your phones and share on social media who you are rooting for, wishing them the best of luck.

Now, tonight would not be possible without our amazing sponsors and partners so please join me in thanking Go1 for being our 2023 headline sponsor, our media partner Media Zoo, and the following companies who have supported each of our awards categories.

And, of course, in order for us to be here tonight, celebrating the best in learning, we heavily depend on our independent panel of expert judges. Please show your appreciation for our judges, and the chairs for all their hard work.

So, what does it mean to win a Learning Award?

Winning a Learning Award is about more than just the accolades.

Year on year, we witness people and companies go on to accomplish outstanding things on the back of their success at the Awards.

Behind me on the screen are just some of the hundreds of people who have won Learning Awards over the last 26 years...

And tonight, you have the opportunity to join these people and, we hope, go on to emulate or even surpass their success.

Hang on a minute – actually – what does it really mean to win a learning award?

Hey – Chat GPT – what does it mean to win a learning award?

Winning a learning award typically means that an individual or organization has been recognized for their excellence in the field of education or training. This can include being acknowledged for innovative learning methods, the development of effective learning materials, or making a significant impact on employee learning and development. Winning a learning award can be considered a significant professional accomplishment and can serve as recognition of the recipient's expertise and contributions to the field.

OK, great. Thanks. Well, it’s accurate but it’s pretty dry. Let’s see if we can do better, shall we…?

I'd like all of you to get out your phones and take a photo of the stage.

OK, you can put your phones back.

So, what just happened?

There are about 800 people in this room – and assuming you all took a photo – we have just captured around 5Gb of data.

If we were to fill those 5 gigabytes with text instead of pixels, we could hold 400 copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. And yet, those 5 gigabytes are a drop in the ocean.

200 times more data is uploaded to YouTube…every minute. That’s the equivalent of everyone in this room each taking 4 photos per second for the next minute.

So it’s no wonder they say we’re drowning in content!"

Now let’s say you share your photo online. It becomes forever part of the internet. Sure, it may only be a tiny dewdrop on one of the trillions of threads of the world wide web but, for you, it has a significance. It represents a memory – a moment in time - an experience you had at the Marriott Grosvenor House, in London, 2023, as you attended the Learning Awards.

Now imagine a family member sees that photo. It doesn’t have the same impact. Why? Because they weren’t here. They didn’t feel what you are feeling now. For them, it has no context.

When there is no context, content has little meaning. And yet we keep spending more and more money assembling gigabytes and terabytes of content because – well - that’s what we know how to do. What we don't know how to do, is take that content, produce context, make smart decisions, and measure the impact of those decisions. We spend a lot of time talking about the technology, but far less time figuring out what we’re going to do with the data it produces — and that's the only part that really matters.

And with recent advances in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence, we find ourselves not just swimming in a sea of data but drowning in an ocean of uncertainty; unsure of the consequences these new algorithms might have on us and future generations. Amid the splashing headlines and babbling hype around the potential of AI models like Chat GPT, Mid Journey, and others, we quietly paddle along, wondering where the shoreline is – looking for a safe place to land.

To survive, we must cast away fear and doubt and anchor ourselves within the bedrock that has driven the human species throughout history – and that bedrock is - innovation. Yes, Chat GPT may be good at gathering information and making it more accessible, but does it create bold, future-facing ideas? What we do know is that we need innovators; we need disruptors; we need the creativity and variability of human thought to get us to where we want to be as individuals, organisations, and, fundamentally, societies.?

So, let’s not shy away from AI. Let’s instead integrate this technology into our work and use it as a springboard to create a deeper, more meaningful learning experience.?

Now I get it - this may seem daunting but, if anything, we are an adaptable and tenacious community. L&D has successfully ridden some of the biggest technological waves of the past decade: social and self-directed learning, LXP’s, digital transformation, and virtual facilitation. And now, we face new challenges such as data privacy, sustainability, blockchain, and AI. We are, once again, on the crest of a wave that will change learning and society forever. But let’s not be afraid to plunge headfirst into these deep and turbulent waters.

As the physician, Thomas Fuller, said in 1732 – “All things are difficult before they are easy”.

My fellow learning professionals - this is why we are here tonight, in this room. To recognise those things that were once hard but are now easier. To celebrate how far we’ve travelled and to reaffirm our commitment to continue ahead. To acknowledge that - even though the roadmap is being redrawn – we are still willing to undertake the journey.

Along the way, we will be asked to do more. We will be expected to stretch ourselves beyond our job titles and to re-evaluate even the context of learning. For example – our profession is becoming responsible, more than ever, for employee mental health and well-being. The reason for this change in custodianship from HR to L&D is obvious. For years now, our vocation has been not just to enrich the learning experience of the human, but to enrich the human experience of the learner. What greater calling is there than that?

We do this already. We will continue to do this.

For those of you in this room who are finalists tonight, each and every one of you has shepherded employees through wave after wave of COVID, through business uncertainty and furloughs, through hybrid and remote working. And, even now, you prepare to navigate through a macro-economic downturn. You have proved your value over and over - both to your organisations and to the learners in your care.

You are finalists because you are the embodiment of resilience, agility, and leadership. You are finalists because you have demonstrated the value of collaboration, and of empathy. You are finalists because you have shown that challenge can be countered with creativity.

They say a week is a long time in politics. Well, I say it’s also a long time in L&D. So much is happening right now that it’s easy to become overwhelmed.

So let this be the night where you take a breath, relax, and look proudly back at the hard work you did last year. You are finalists…at the Learning Awards. You made it. You’re in the right place – you’re in the right context.

Good luck to you all.

Now go and share that photo on social!!