Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

Instructional Designer & Consultant

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ATD TechKnowledge 2020 – I’ll Be There!

I know that it’s cliche to say, but this year is flying by! I can’t believe that next week I’ll be traveling to San Jose to participate in ATDTK. This will be my first TK, and I’m super excited to explore the new format. I’ll be speaking and doing a bunch of other events, so below I’ll outline a few places where you can find me. You will also likely find me catching many of the amazing keynotes and sessions, so if you see me in passing, make sure to say hi! If you aren’t attending, be sure to keep tabs on the blog, because I’ll be posting daily recaps!

February 5th

7:00am – 7:45am

Are you an early bird? Will time travel have you waking up at 1, 2, 3am? I’ll be right there with you, so come have coffee and chat with me! I’ll be facilitating a coffee chat in LL21A.

4:15pm – 5:00pm

I have spent many years of my life freelancing in many different combinations of my professional life – as a full-time student and full-time employee, as a full-time employee and full-time freelancer, as a full-time employee at two jobs and as a part-time freelancer (THAT was a lot), and as a full-time employee and part-time freelancer.

I have learned a lot of things, and within my session, Be Free, Lance, on the Advance Stage in the Playground, I’m hoping to bring you all of my tips, tricks, and recommendations. Should you follow them? Who knows. Will I have something for everyone? I’m sure that I will. For me, freelancing has been a definite ride, and as I’ve grown professionally, I’ve learned that freelancing has served different purposes for me at different stages in my life. I’m excited to share all the highs and lows with you!

February 6th

8:15am – 8:45am 

There are a handful of us doing author meet and greets at this time slot in Hall 1 Concourse. If you’ve ever been interested in getting your books signed, asking questions, or just saying hello, make sure you swing by. You’ll get to meet me and several of my very favourite people (Tim Slade, Hadiya Nurridin, and Karl Kap)!

3:30pm – 5:30pm

Come join me for a two-hour hands on learning session, Improving UI With a Customized Learning Experience in Articulate Storyline 360, in 211D. I’m super excited for this session! I’ll be walking participants through a custom player, how to program the player, and how to program interface elements. I will also be providing tips for where to find free (or affordable) UI elements. If you’ve attended the pre-conference certificate workshop on Articulate Storyline, this session will surely allow you to apply many of the basic concepts you’ve learned while moving you closer to pushing the limits of Articulate Storyline, and re-conceptualizing what a Storyline player needs to look like…plus, there will be cats!

February 7th

8:00am – 10:00am

If the create-a-cool-player-and-hang-out-with-space-cats session sounded rad (and it will be!), but you had a competing session to attend on the 6th, I’ll be doing an encore of Improving UI With a customized Learning Experience in Articulate Storyline 360, in 211D.

Again, I’m super excited to check out ATDTK, to facilitate some sessions, to experience the new format, and to meet tons of new pals! I’ll see you there (or here on the recaps)!

Day in the Life – Senior eLearning Developer

Several years back, I was asked to share what a day in my life looks like, and I did. However, it is still one of the most frequently asked questions I get, so I thought I’d share an update. I’m the Senior eLearning Developer at Traliant, where I spend my days building out different types of compliance training for various clients.

I work remotely, and I love it. I have a cozy home office, a space heater, and all of my pets to keep me company!

This time I’m sharing a Monday, which is one of my lighter meeting days. And wowee, it was a very productive Monday! Note: My days usually aren’t so translation heavy – a day like this happens every few months or so for me.

630am – 8am

I wake up at 630am, hop in the shower, and sift through my emails, and respond to some, while I eat breakfast. Breakfast is a smoothie. At around 715am, I dry my hair, get dressed, and hop in the car to take my husband to work. I drop Joe off, spin by a cafe on the way home to grab a latte, and then I come home to get settled into work.

8am – 930am

I fill all of my vessels (coffee, tea, water) and retreat to my office, where I get a jump on some translations before the rest of my team gets online. I manage to get through all of a French translation before hopping on a call with one of my coworkers.

We catch one another up on our weekends, talk about what we have to get done today, and then we get to work again.

945am – 1230pm

I finish a Hungarian translation and start a Norwegian translation before our weekly team meeting (we meet daily, but have a larger one on Mondays).

Our team runs through a deep dive of all the projects we’re working on and their statuses.

1230pm – 1pm

I get Oliver (our dog) ready for his lunchtime walk. It’s quite cold and salty out today, so he concedes to his nemesis – the booties, and we’re off. Lucky for him, there’s a lot of fresh, fluffy snow to rub his snout and body all over…I plan for a longer walk for this reason, even though it only takes us half an hour!

1pm – 230pm

I finish up with the Norwegian translation and start running through some test publishes for the next release of one of our courses. I come up with some findings, but they leave me with more questions than when I started. We’ll see what conclusions we reach tomorrow.

230 – 345pm

There are a couple of drag and drop interactions in the new release that I need to program, so I do that. Once I’m finished, I tackle my last translation for the day – Spanish. I upload the course file and send all published translations out for QA before heading out to pick Joe up from work.

430pm 

When I get back home, I fill out my planner with tomorrow’s tasks, and power down my office for the night.

Now that I’ve wrapped my Traliant work for the day, I’m going to make some dinner and settle in for some work on my ATDTK 2020 sessions.

Here’s a time-lapse of about 4 hours of work distilled into 5 minutes (don’t come for my posture…I KNOW!):

2019 Recap and 2020 Goals

For the past bunch of years I’ve done an annual recap and goal commitment (or…goal), and this year is no different. 2019 was a wild one for me. Things that I did:

  • Started a new job with Traliant as their Senior eLearning Developer;
  • Helped Traliant win Best Video Solution at Learning Solutions 2019;
  • Had knee surgery; and
  • Delivered several workshops and sessions.

Now, let’s see how I did with my 2019 goals:

Personal Goals:

  • Slow down and enjoy the present; –  I’m not great at this. There’s a theme.
  • Have knee surgery to repair the torn meniscus; – Had microfracture surgery in July to repair busted cartilage and a torn meniscus
  • Rehab the knee and then return to a maintaining a consistent exercise schedule; – Still doing this; the road to recovery is longer than anticipated. I’m in a nice fancy brace for the next 13 months
  • Make additional dietary changes (maybe get rid of dairy?); and – Definitely did not do this
  • Hit the cottage at least four times for max relaxing. – We only got here ONCE this year….waaaah!

Business Goals:

  • WORK LESS; – NOPE! Definitely did not do this.
  • Work smarter – implement processes that will make my work-life easier and more efficient; – Not really a process, but I did finally hire an accountant and it was glorious.
  • Hire an accountant (something that I’ve been long overdue for); – See above!
  • Maintain relationships with my existing clients; – Done! I worked with one primary client outside of my regular work.
  • Invest in sprucing up the blog; –DONE! I had my bestie, Erin, do this at the start of 2019, and AMEN!
  • Blog regularly; and – I published, on average, 2.67 posts per month.
  • Continue to grow Sprout E-Learning. – Also kinda sorta; Many folks signed up for existing courses, but I was unable to push out additional courses because I need clones.

2020 Goals

Now, my goals this year are pretty practical and light. They’re a bit repetitive, but this year I’m trying to take some of the pressure off myself.

Personal Goals:

  • Continue my knee recovery and get back to consistent exercise;
  • Cut out gluten, despite my love of pizza, for the sake of my migraines;
  • Plan an epic vacation with my husband; and
  • Hit the cottage at least 4 times.

Business Goals:

  • Give myself permission to say no and not feel guilty about it/reduce pressure;
  • Speak at, or participate in, at least 3 conferences;
  • Read at least 4 industry-related books;
  • Participate regularly in industry chats (e.g., lrnchat or guildchat);
  • Blog regularly; and
  • Continue to grow Sprout E-Learning.

Last Minute Holiday Gifts for the L&D Professional in Your Life

Every December I pull together some of my favourite holiday gifts for the Learning & Development (L&D) professional in your life. This year is no different!

Tech Gifts

  • Noise Cancelling Headphones – Last year I wrote about my love for my Bose QuietComfort noise cancelling headphones, and nothing has changed there. I still love these, and have since begun using them on my dog walks and to listen to podcasts before bed. These are great for helping you focus or if you work in a busier or shared office space.
  • Smart Speakers – Last year I received a bluetooth speaker and it revolutionized my bathroom relaxation routine. This year, we picked up the Sonos Beam and a couple of Sonos Ones, and boy oh boy does it make a difference. Our TV viewing experience has been greatly enhanced, but one of the things I really enjoy is that I have a one in my office, and now I can tell Alexa to pause whatever it is I’m listening to when a call comes through on Teams! I am fully aware that I am behind the times on this one, but it’s definitely worth investing in things that make your work life more efficient.
  • More Displays – One of my coworkers this year picked up a USB monitor, and it seems to have come in handy! This would be especially handy for anyone who travels a lot.

Travel

I’m a firm believer that you should invest in things you spend a lot of time doing, for me it’s sitting at a desk, sleeping, and traveling. Here are some of the best travel items I have come across that make my conference experience much better:

A Good Suitcase – Suitcases are a pain in the butt to purchase (because they’re not a fun purchase). I went through a bunch of suitcases that just didn’t survive my travels before I finally invested in Away suitcases several years ago. Now these are pricier pieces of luggage, but they might be the last suitcases I ever have to purchase! I have The Carry On and The Medium; the carry on is perfect for short travel (5-7 days) that doesn’t require a lot of packing, it fits on every single aircraft I have been on, and it has a charging pack so you can charge your devices without having to stalk down plugs or outlets in the airport. The Medium is great for travel of more than 7 days or if you’re doing a short trip with two people. Oh! And the wheels. are. heavenly.

Packing Pods – I’m a late adopter of packing pods, but they really do make all the difference. I can fit so much more in my suitcase when I use these things.

Universal Adapter – No real explanation needed here. Just an adapter to ensure that your devices work regardless of the country you’re traveling in.

Gaming Console – Several years back, I purchased the Nintendo Switch. It was a pricey purchase at the time, but IT HAS GOTTEN SO MUCH USE! I love having it with me when I travel as a nice way to bide time on flights or to decompress after a stressful day. I will caution you: make sure you purchase a nice case for it though. TSA once demolished the nubs of my joy con and I had to purchase a new one :/

Neck Pillow – Being comfortable when you’re traveling is essential. Especially if you’re traveling a long distance or you get stuck in the dreaded middle seat. The Trtl came to the rescue when I was stranded in the middle seat of a red eye flight from Vegas to Newark. I put the neck brace under my chin and was able to sleep without worrying about waking up on the shoulder of a stranger!

Books

I’m always asked about good books to purchase on L&D topics, so here is my recommendation for this year:

Subscriptions/Memberships

If you’d prefer to let your L&D pal choose their own gift, I’d recommend gift cards to places like Amazon, BestBuy, Apple, or Creative Market, just to name a few.