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The learning event of the season: Docebo Inspire 2024 descends on Dallas.

Last updated September 20, 2024 · 9 min read

By Owen LeskovarSeptember 20, 2024 · 12 min read

As the saying goes, “Everything is bigger in Dallas.” That includes Docebo Inspire 2024 With over 700 attendees, more than 70 sessions, 10 incredible sponsors, 90+ speakers, 9 Inspire Learning Award Winners, and too many cowboy hats to count, this was our biggest event yet. We’re still reeling from the experience.

Over three impactful days, we witnessed the importance of leveraging cutting-edge tools and advanced analytics to drive powerful learning experiences. 

Here are the top 10 moments and takeaways from the event:

1: L&D professionals are excited about AI and want to prepare for the future, including innovations like VR and data analytics

The five most popular sessions of the event were:

  • Building Custom Widgets with ChatGPT 
  • Exploring Gamified and Immersive Learning Experiences on Docebo 
  • Analytics Strategies in L&D
  • 3 Different Approaches to Personalized Learning Experiences, and,
  • Automate Your Way to Better Solutions: Getting Started with Docebo API Explorer and Postman

It’s clear that learning professionals are hungry for real-world experience with AI. The popularity of the ChatGPT session—which focused on practical tips—shows how much excitement there is for this new technology. And the full rooms for sessions on personalization, social learning, and gamification demonstrated eagerness to take learning programs to the next level.

 Adopting new technology for the workplace and for learning is a marathon, not a sprint. And we’re not racing against AI, we’re running with it. At Inspire, L&D pros laced up their best sneakers.

This session on analytics was PACKED, with many attendees standing to listen.

2: Design and accessibility remain the foundation of learning platforms

The user experience (UX) impacts learning programs beyond how users interact with them. UX can make or break a program. 

Several sessions on accessibility, and user-focused design empowered admins to improve the user experience, including how to effectively deliver notifications to avoid notification fatigue.

3: Swag is out. Experiences are in.

Attendees couldn’t get enough of the rich experiences at Inspire. Rather than give out a bunch of swag people wouldn’t use, we decided to listen and give the people what they wanted. 

For instance, people really like goats AND yoga. So we put them together and boy did people like G.O.A.T. Yoga! 

Here’s what an attendee had to say: 

“G.O.A.T. Yoga was the best and most unique thing I’ve ever seen at a conference before, and I don’t know how you’re gonna top it!”

Challenge accepted.

G.O.A.T yoga kept us all entertained

4: We dove into the future of learning with L&D expert Josh Bersin, MIT researcher Manolis Kellis, and Khan Academy’s Sal Khan

Can we map concepts just as we navigate with Google Map? MIT researcher Manolis Kellis is attempting to do just that, as he unveiled Mantis AI to Inspire attendees.

In Greek, Mantis refers to the diviner that can see the future and beyond. This is what Kellis had in mind when he designed a cognitive cartography program to map “human language, human meaning, and human insight.”

Through Kellis, we got to witness a powerful knowledge engine that goes beyond clustering concepts to actually telling you how and why they fit together and who should learn them. 

Josh Bersin impressed our audience with predictive insights into the business of learning, which he posits will be autonomous. “I’m a very pragmatic, engineering kind of person. The reason I believe there will be level 4 and level 5 is that I was there for levels 1 to 3.”

At first (level 1), users passively consumed content through courses. But slowly, content became more personalized based on the user’s activity and needs (level 2). 

Progress is faster now. Today, we’re creating AI-generated content (level 4). And soon we’ll hit level 5: Where the learning and knowledge platform adapts to the user and personalizes the content and the experience. In other words, the user is in control of what they learn in a seamless way.

Khan Academy’s Sal Khan’s talk matched the tone of Bersin’s futuristic presentation: “We’re at the cusp of using AI for the biggest positive transformation that education has ever seen.” Sal Khan from Khan Academy energized the room with his endearing talk about technology and education. 

Using the story of the beginnings of Khan’s Academy, where he leverages digitalization to improve both students’ skills and disposition toward learning, he noted that “technology amplifies human intent.”

5: We’re entering a new era in learning: The Learning and Knowledge era

As Josh Bersin mentioned in his talk at Docebo Inspire 2024, learning solutions need to adapt to new trends like AI by transitioning from learning management systems (LMSs) to Learning and Knowledge Platforms.

Has he been spying on Docebo? Because that analysis is exactly why we’ve been building Docebo’s AI Knowledge Engine, which we debuted at Inspire.

Attendees flocked to Josh Bersin’s keynote, where he spoke about his vision for the the future of learning.

With a Learning and Knowledge Platform, users can do more than just take courses. Right from the platform, they can also access information from the organization’s shared knowledge.

The Learning and Knowledge platforms of the future are more connected and integrated, offering search and social-media-like experiences to empower users to learn more effectively. Add AI to the tech stack and you get something truly remarkable.

6: AI and technology are disruptive and will change everything. But this is still a human-focused game.

Learning is still a business about people. And if a low-tech solution is more human, don’t be afraid to use it. We learned from many sessions that human ingenuity and critical thinking remain very much at the forefront of L&D—with or without AI.

Sessions like “How to Deliver Personalization at Scale” and “Unleashing AI to Craft Personalized Learning Adventures” taught us that you need the human touch to think outside the box. 

7: L&D practitioners know how to party!

Learn hard, party harder? That seemed to be the mantra because the party was packed! With plenty of GuyKat’s cowboy hats, people mingled and danced the night away after a full day of learning.

Attendees rocked (countried?) the night away with glowing GuyKat cowboy hats.

8: Everyone is a leader in learning and has knowledge to bring to the table

It’s official. People love Leaders in Learning. If you haven’t checked out the first season, you’re missing out. (And you might be the only one!) 

Attendees were lining up at Inspire Dallas to get a chance to speak and share their learning nuggets with hostesses extraordinaire Shawna David and Samantha Murray. 

Google’s own L&D expert Ramkumar Venkataraman was one of the leaders who took a seat. He transitioned to L&D from the world of finance and spoke about the differences and challenges.

“Finance is easier,” he says. [With L&D], the challenge is: How do you motivate people to learn?” 

He also urged people to continue innovating and thinking of the outcomes and the audience before creating learning programs. His three big predictions for the future of learning were:

  • Learner personalization will skyrocket
  • More and more learning will be done by GenAI, and it will require a cultural change
  • We might not have learning programs, but rather autonomous, continuous learning

If you want to catch up with Leaders in Learning, you can subscribe to the newsletter or watch all the episodes.

9: Alessio Artuffo is officially Docebo’s permanent CEO!

Sporting a big grin (and an even bigger cowboy hat) and very much feeling Flo Rida’s “My House,” Alessio took to the stage!

Alessio was, to put it mildly, pumped.

It’s not every day you get to announce that your role is evolving from interim to permanent CEO. 

Alessio has been with Docebo for over 10 years. Docebians couldn’t be prouder of this moment.

In his talk, Alessio addressed the current L&D landscape. Did you know that 70% of learning happens outside work hours? “This is quite a paradox because at the same time, we are going through an upskilling and reskilling revolution,” he noted.

To bridge this learning gap, Alessio highlighted the importance of creating models that account for various customer profiles and continuously enhance the learning experience.

He also spoke about the power of AI, echoing the remarks of the keynote speakers. But he went further, speaking about the learning-specific considerations we should all keep in mind. 

Traditional LLMs are great at providing answers, but they’re not built for pedagogy. They’re not optimized for knowledge retention or for specific learning outcomes. And that’s what organizations need to think about if they want to be learning leaders. 

“AI is here to help us augment learning experiences,” he said. “And our belief is that it should do that with a strong foundation in pedagogy.”

10: Learning is a gift and L&D is an industry full of generosity

We kicked off Inspire with an invitation to make a real impact. And our attendees answered the call. 

Together, we stuffed over 200 backpacks with supplies for under-resourced schools in Dallas, giving future leaders the tools and support they need to thrive through the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ Stock the School Campaign.

We also surprised our Inspire Award Winners with an all-expense paid trip to Rome to attend Inspire Rome 2024.

For Jeremy, one of the award winners, this will be his very first trip outside of the US. He was so overcome with emotion, he could barely get a word out when the announcement was made.

An awe-struck Jeremy hears about his trip to Rome.

That’s a wrap!

Overall, Inspire Dallas 2024 was a smash hit. We learned that L&D people are the most creative folks in the business!

From incredible slides to puntastic presentation titles, we were dazzled by engaging talks all day long for three days.

There were some strong contenders, but this was our favorite pun.

From gaining top-expert insights in AI and learning in Dallas to exploring lifelong learning from none other than 3-Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura in Rome, Inspire is set to become the learning and knowledge hub of the industry.

We can’t wait to see what the future will bring, so we hope to see you next year in Orlando. 

In the meantime, get inspired at Rome. There’s still time to register!

 

Owen Leskovar

The Grand Finale of Docebo Inspire 2024: Day 3 Wrap-up

Last updated February 21, 2025 · 5 min read

By Owen LeskovarFebruary 21, 2025 · 7 min read

Sal Khan was in the house—so you know Inspire Day 3 was visionary. Here are the key takeaways and show-stopping moments:

1: AI can do much of the work of training. But it can’t replace humans.

Day 3 brought us into real-world applications of AI and how the world’s best practitioners are using it. It’s not just text and image generation: These superstars are using AI to build knowledge engines, upskill talent, and develop entire curriculums. 

But that doesn’t mean humans are obsolete.

In his keynote, Sal Khan shared his story, which began when he tutored a younger cousin in math. She was struggling but made it into advanced placements with his help. Soon he was tutoring over a dozen members of his extended family. That was time consuming, so he turned to YouTube to make his lessons more accessible. Then other people started watching and learning from those videos, and the nascent form of Khan Academy was born.

Years later, Khan Academy is one of the best and most influential educational resources on the planet.

But, Sal says, the presence of his YouTube videos didn’t replace his role as an educator. His cousins didn’t need him less because they had his videos, just like Khan Academy users today don’t need their teachers less. Khan Academy is a tool; not a replacement. And it’s a tool that can help people on a massive scale.

The parallels to AI are obvious. And after demoing some incredibly impressive AI instructional technology that can tailor instruction to individual learners, Sal tackled the AI question head-on. To him, the question isn’t if AI will be in our classrooms and boardrooms, but whether the AI that is there was built with the right intentions. And that’s a question we all have a say in.

“Technology amplifies human intent.”
-Sal Khan

2: Personalization and hybrid learning are driving learning effectiveness

Day 3 emphasized the need for adaptable learning models that cater to diverse audiences.

There’s no ‘one-size fits all’ for simple things like burrito orders. It’s silly to think there could be one for learning programs. Organizations are creating more tailored, impactful learning experiences that resonate across different demographics and regions.

3: Right now, L&D is out there impacting revenue and business performance! ??

Sessions like “Don’t Just Deliver Learning—Deliver Performance” and “ROI for L&D” highlighted the increasing focus on linking learning directly to business outcomes. Here’s a quote that hit hard:

“Make sure your team knows how to make money and how their role connects to that.”

L&D pros aren’t always locked in on revenue generation. But they should be—because their bosses are.

These talks emphasized designing learning experiences that are not just educational but are also strategically aligned to enhance performance and drive measurable ROI.

One talk on measurement strategy was so popular it was down to standing-room only:

How do you fill a room with L&D professionals? Tell them you’ll teach them how to build a measurement strategy.

4: There are innovations coming that most people haven’t yet heard of 

Of course, AI has the spotlight. But innovations in simulation, computer science, and knowledge mapping will revolutionize industries like L&D, medicine, genetics, and AI itself.

“Humans are starting to feel excluded. We’ve built a universe of data that we’re not suited for. In that universe of data, AI rules.”
-Manolis Kellis, Professor of Computer Science at MIT and member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

5: This is a beautiful and inspiring industry

When you’re talking about AI and data and engagement strategies, you can sometimes lose sight of it: Learning is about helping people become better. It’s about helping them grow skills, perform better, and achieve more.

Several presentations touched on this and had us feeling inspired. David Filar’s presentation on loneliness got us emotional and reinforced that leadership is about empathy and service. And Luke Goetting reminded us that younger generations deserve our empathy and made a case for doing the work required to engage Gen Zers at work.

A disengaged employee costs about $3400 a year for every $10,000 in salary. So working to engage younger generations isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s good for business.

Best session title

Our CIO, Claudio Erba delivered this incredible talk. Not only did his talk make us think about the future of L&D—his title sent us to the dictionary.

Best out-of-context slide

What does heartbreak have to do with learning? If you were at Inspire, you’d get it. #IYKYK

That’s a wrap!

We can’t believe Inspire 2024 in Dallas is over. It was a truly incredible (and inspiring!) event. But if you’re feeling the FOMO (or simply want more!), you can still register for Inspire Rome, happening November 19-21st.

We hope to see you there.

Inspire Dallas was an incredible time. Don’t miss out on Rome!

 

Owen Leskovar

Inspire Day 2: Key takeaways and big moments

Last updated February 21, 2025 · 4 min read

By Owen LeskovarFebruary 21, 2025 · 6 min read

Inspire is officially here and we kicked the full event off in style!

We had an incredible talk with Josh Bersin, learned from speakers at AWS, Google, and Accenture, and heard from over a dozen leaders in learning. Let’s dive into the big themes, takeaways, and moments!

 Key takeaway #1: Every conference should include goat yoga.

1: AI is transforming learning (go figure)

We can’t talk enough about AI.

Day 2 saw us get strategic in a heavy-hitting panel with Google and Accenture. Then we got tactical with practical sessions like “Enhancing Docebo with ChatGPT.” We even took a philosophical turn with a talk about how AI can help build human connection. 

The jist? Instead of becoming more mechanistic to interact with a machine, you need to bring your humanity to the AI. And as it turns out, AI is perfectly capable of optimizing for human connection (or anything else). You just have to remember to ask.

The fact is, AI can elevate everything from instructional design to personalized learning to whodunnit theme parties, making it a must-have tool in modern L&D strategies.

Josh Bersin talked about the future of learning (and AI plays a big role!)

2: Immersive experiences might just be The Next Big Thing™️. Again.

Intuitively, we all know that interactive, participatory learning is best. And yet we often default to isolated, observation-based learning, delivered 100% digitally. Nowadays, so much of our lives are digital-first and digital-only. Multiple sessions explored the power of immersive and gamified learning and how they can transform the learning experience. 

And get this: You can even blend offline techniques with online platforms to reinvigorate learner engagement and retention.

Chris Morton from AWS had a full room for his session on gamified learning.

3: Personalization and scalability are key

We got two incredible talks on personalization: How to Deliver Personalization at Scale and Unleashing AI to Craft Personalized Learning Adventures.

These sessions were incredibly fun, with one even taking the form of a learning adventure, with the audience getting mission objectives and passing different levels as the talk progressed.

Here are two tips to get you thinking: 

  • Personalization doesn’t have to be top-down. You can give learners the power to personalize their own experience—like by creating personalized course playlists or learning plans. And if you make these accessible to others, you’ll have a greater variety of tailored content without any added effort.
  • Personalization isn’t just about content. It can also be about the user experience of your learner platform, the modality of the content presented, and more. Get creative and think outside the box.

Your mission—should you choose to accept it—is to master the creation of personalized learning journeys.

4: If your organization excels at learning, you probably excel elsewhere too 

Here’s a stat that blew us away: If you’re a high-performance learning organization, you are 19x more likely to be using cognitive technology (like AI). Or, put another way: It’s almost impossible to be high-performing without AI. 

That must be part of the reason that 76% of HR leaders think they’ll be lagging behind if they don’t adopt Generative AI in the next 12 months.

Want to be a high-performing organization? Learn better, with better tools.

5: We’re makin’ it official: Alessio Artuffo is our permanent CEO!

 

After serving as our interim CEO since March (and being with Docebo for over a decade!) we’re thrilled to have this cowboy at our helm.

We are in the business of improving people. Our technology is in support of growing people’s life, skills, career, and their ability to better themselves.


Most popular session

Goat yoga. The most popular session was goat yoga. Is anyone surprised?

Best session title

Not only is the pun amazing, but this session was a conversation between experts at Docebo, Google, and Accenture all about the role of AI in Learning and Development.

Questions included:

  • What do you see from your unique perspectives as your work with AI?
  • What can AI bring to the table for learning technologies?
  • What’s the role of data?
  • What does future-proofing AI look like? What can organizations do today?

Best out-of-context slide

This talk wasn’t about science fiction. If you want to know what it was about, you should have been at Inspire 2024…

We’re not finished!

Love these lessons? Good, because we’ve got one more big day coming, featuring more amazing speakers and enlightening sessions, including a keynote by the legendary Sal Khan!

 

Owen Leskovar

Key takeaways and big moments from Docebo Inspire Day 1

Last updated September 10, 2024 · 3 min read

By Owen LeskovarSeptember 10, 2024 · 4 min read

Mind blowing, game changing, adjective stretching. We just wrapped Day 1 of Docebo Inspire. 

Day 1 was focused on pragmatic, hands-on training. And it proved you can be both visionary and practical. After all, what’s the point of understanding future opportunities if you don’t have the skills to seize them?

Here were some of the key themes and learnings:

1: Practitioners are starving for help with AI and automations

The most popular session on Day 1 was Building Custom Widgets With ChatGPT. 

This session taught people how to build web pages (and web widgets) with ChatGPT, including prompt templates and direct examples. 

We hear about AI every day, but beyond generating images and text, it’s hard to know how to use it. This session’s popularity shows that L&D professionals have an appetite to get more out of AI tools.

Huge shoutout to our speakers:

Day 1’s most popular session featured a robot guest.

2: Learner engagement is still king

There’s an arms race in L&D between distraction and learner engagement. Day 1 tackled this arms race with sessions on gamification and personalization to make learning more fun, relevant, and effective.

These sessions continued the trend of having something for everyone. There were step-by-step technical demos on how to create a personalized learning journey as well as fun philosophical tangents like “what is a game?”

What’s the point of understanding future opportunities if you don’t have the skills to seize them?

3: Design and accessibility are more important than ever

Apps today are designed to exploit our attention. This means user-focused design isn’t just important to get people learning; it’s a moral imperative. Sessions like “Level Up Your Page Design” and “Experiencing Inaccessibility” put the spotlight back on user-focused design. 

Designing with empathy and inclusivity improves accessibility and creates a smoother, more intuitive experience for all learners.

Are you designing learning with everyone in mind?

4: Social learning and knowledge sharing are powerful tools you need to be using 

Social learning is the only learning paradigm that has increased in popularity since 2021. And that’s because it works. 

We all want to feel connected and we learn most effectively from each other. But there are technical challenges, like capturing that shared knowledge and making it searchable.

Sessions included talks on how to manage knowledge and create repositories that fit your audiences. You want learners to discover the content they need, not drown in a deluge of information.

Best session title

The average person gets 46 notifications each day on their phone, plus over 100 daily emails. It’s a recipe for nagification. This session shared best practices around when and how to push notifications to people, as well as tips to get people to attend to your notifications rather than just dismiss them.

Best out-of-context slide

‘Nuff said

We’re just getting started!

Day 1 is a wrap, but Inspire has a lot more to come. We hope you’re warmed up, because tomorrow is going to be even bigger.

Owen Leskovar

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