Here’s the first news from the most exciting week of the year in lifelong learning.
First Watch Party
Chicago Botanic Garden hosted the first ‘Watch Party.’ People gathered in-person to both watch the Live Online Conference, and then participate in informal discussions with others in the room. Chair of the LERN Board Beth Pinargote hosted the well attended event for practitioners in the Chicago area. The first Watch Party success will lead to planning more in several cities across North America for conference attendees.
More than 1,400 people attended
Some 1,452 people attended the 2025 LERN Annual Conference in November. At any given time, 1,259 attended the three concurrent sessions live. More watched after the live conference ended.
Pioneering Sessions on Digital KPIs
Pioneering sessions were held on what KPIs programs need for digital marketing and social media. The sessions were led by Jorey Scott of Concord, Cal.; Francesca Kelly, Pleasanton, Cal. and Melissa Baker of Laguna Beach, Cal. Watch for more news on KPIs on digital marketing specific to our field of lifelong learning programming.
Post-Conference Staff Meetings
Laura Stevens of Traverse City, Michigan, was just one of the program leaders reporting that her staff had met after the conference to discuss the conference ideas and specific actions for their program to take as a result.
“What we do with the information after the conference is equally important,” added Scott Cashman of Palatine, Illinois.
Attend a Conference Session
If you missed the conference, you and everyone else are invited to attend a live conference session. “AI: Latest for 2026,” with AI guru Dan Belhassen of Winnipeg, will be held Thursday, January 29, at 2 pm ET; 1 pm CT; Noon MT; 11 am PT.
The live conference session, which needed to be rescheduled, is free to all.
