4 Big Takeaways From the Learning Technologies Conference & Expo 2025

“Learning and development is at a crossroads—now more so than ever. We're entering an era of profound change. AI will radically alter how we approach learning and development at every level, and L&D professionals must adapt.”

This was the overriding (and much-repeated!) message across the 2025 Learning Technologies conference and expo, which took place in London on April 23rd and 24th. Europe’s largest L&D event boasted 200 L&D seminars on learning trends and topics, over 200 exhibitors of best-in-class learning technologies—including Open LMS’s open-source learning platform—and more than 11,000 L&D and HR professionals in attendance.

We attended the two-day event, including many of the thought leadership sessions across the conference, to gather insights into how L&D practitioners can help their organizations achieve new levels of success. And we’ve gathered some of those helpful takeaways here for you.

1) Yes, AI Is Everywhere (And No, It Isn’t Going Anywhere!)

The AI ‘elephant in the room’ is simply unavoidable these days. Like it or hate it, AI is everywhere and everyone seems to be talking about it—even the conference sessions that weren’t about AI (more on those later).

LT was buzzing with optimism as well as some apprehension about the opportunities and potential pitfalls this new-ish technology represents. Whether you’re just getting started, are far down the road of using AI, or aren’t even sure where to begin, one thing's for sure: L&D and our colleagues in HR are expected to evolve our workflows, processes, and learning philosophies to meet the AI changes, or fall behind if we don’t. As Professor Joseph Devlin, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said in his session, ‘Learning and the Mind’, “AI is here to stay. The technology is not going anywhere. The question is, what will we do about it?"

David Kelly, former CEO of The Learning Guild, echoed this sentiment in the first keynote session of the conference, ‘Learning, Technology and Change.’ The question isn't if AI will change L&D, he said, but if we'll be able to change to keep up with it! David urged the audience to get better at asking questions to navigate technological changes in the industry.

David focused on the concept of asking the right questions in order to help you reframe challenges in terms of opportunities. Here are some of his recommendations for questions to ask on the implications of AI or other new technologies:

• How do I do what I do with this new technology?
• How does this tech enhance my team’s learning programs?
• What makes my work uniquely human?

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2) To Demonstrate ROI, L&D Needs to Be More of a Strategic Collaborator

While it may often feel like we’re being asked to do more with less, businesses also still expect L&D teams to deliver measurable value. In fact, business impact may matter now more than ever. From tighter budgets in the current economic climate to changing workforce needs, and even the impact of technologies, L&D remains under pressure to demonstrate ROI.

In his session on learning evaluation, Kevin M. Yates, an L&D consultant who’s worked for brands including McDonald’s and Meta, argued against L&D using “one-dimensional metrics” like:

• Hours of training completed
• Learner satisfaction scores of individual courses
• Volume of modules offered

Instead, he proposed identifying the metrics that will prove business impact before undertaking any new training initiatives. To do that means casting a wider net, one that extends beyond L&D and HR into the wider business. Before undertaking any new learning efforts, consider collaborating with stakeholders across your organization to learn about the metrics that will be most salient for their business functions. Depending on the nature of your organization, these could include:

• Productivity or efficiency KPIs
• Individual performance scores
• Customer satisfaction scores
• Sales targets reached
• Fulfillment targets reached
• Staff engagement

Behave like a detective, he urged, and ask the right questions across your business to ensure you discover the metrics that matter. Once you’re armed with this info, you’ll be able to present yourself as a strategic partner who always keeps the organization’s interests top of mind.

KEEP READING | ‘8 Must-Ask Questions Before Investing in Your Next LMS Platform’

3) “Boring Mandatory Training? No Thanks!”

"Mandatory training is the shop window of L&D—it’s how they judge what we do." – Donald Taylor, Chair of Learning Technologies conference in his opening address.

The problem, of course, is that mandatory training is often dry, boring, and overly long. Caroline McCarthy, Senior Manager of Learning and Change Design, and Jonathan Gray, Change and Design Manager—both from Lloyds Banking Group—addressed this in their conference session, ‘Mandatory Training’.

Their advice? Offer concise, unbloated learning experiences that motivate learners to actively engage with compliance courses instead of avoiding them or worse, rushing through without retaining any of the content. Here’s how:

• The more the merrier: Always make training available on multiple device types: laptops, desktops, tablets, and the big one, smartphones. This gives learners the freedom to complete their training wherever they are.
• Don’t let them drown; cut it down: Be ruthless about brevity—nobody wants to open a training module only to be confronted with a ‘wall of words’. As Jonathan put it, “If it's not a legal requirement and if it isn't necessary for safety, remove it.”
• Keep courses to 20 minutes maximum: Your people are probably time-poor and distracted by multiple competing demands. However, when you use microlearning principles and then make it clear that training can be completed in 20 minutes or less, you’re allowing them to more easily set aside the time needed to complete the course.

Compliance training also doesn’t have to be boring in order to be taken seriously. Professor Devlin explored this principle more in his session but looking at the role of dopamine, the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter’. Dopamine is released when we experience something as enjoyable, meaning that it’s a signal to the brain to keep us coming back to whatever that activity is. Therefore, when learning is fun and engaging, it can motivate employees to keep coming back—even to their mandatory training.

RELATED READING | ‘3 LMS-Enabled Steps to Take When Creating a Strong Compliance Training Program’

4) Make the Most of Data to Take Learning to the Next Level

You’re already a coach, content creator, and learning strategist, but are you a data analyst? If it’s not yet on your list of skills, Derek Mitchell, People Analytics Lead at Novo Nordisk, argued that it should be, especially in a world where there’s so much data available to us.

In his session, ‘Data and Analytics’, Derek echoed Kevin M. Yates’ plea to look outside of L&D and HR for data when designing effective training programs. He points out that collecting data from across your entire business ecosystem could provide a better picture of the kind of training your employees actually need. For example, productivity data reveals whether employees are staying on after hours and at risk of burnout, while workplace systems like SharePoint reveal whether or not employees are educated about protocols and adhere to them consistently.

Harnessing and then analyzing employee data—so long as you’re compliant with data privacy laws like GDPR—is an excellent way to understand where skills are lacking in your organization, so you can then design training to bridge those skills gaps. In other words, data is everywhere in your business so why not use it strategically?

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Dani Johnson, co-founder and principal analyst at RedThread Research, echoed this in her keynote session, ‘Learning, Technology and Change–a New Roadmap for a New Era’ but took it one step further. L&D also needs to educate itself, she argued. “AI doesn’t just change L&D, it changes everything,” she said. L&D’s job is to ensure a skilled workforce and that includes L&D itself. So what will L&D be doing in the future if, thanks to AI efficiencies, we’re no longer focusing on the course/program/platform as the building block of our work? The answer means a complete rethink of how L&D operates.

She cited RedThread research that looked at what L&D pros believe the top 10 skills needed to work in the field will be. Interestingly, only one so-called traditional skill made the list, learning design. They are (in alphabetical order):

1. Business acumen
2. Communication
3. Consulting
4. Critical thinking
5. Data and analytics
6. Flexibility
7. Human skills
8. Learning design
9. Tech literacy
10. Using/applying AI

“Which leaves us at a crossroads. Adapt or get left behind,” Dani said. Her one key message to L&D leaders? “Find the aspects of the business where we add value and dive deeply in there.”

DISCOVER HOW OPEN LMS CAN HELP | ‘How Sodimac Colombia Overcame an Unexpected LMS Migration and Boosted Training Delivery by 25%’

The Open-Source Learning Platform You Need to Stay Ahead of Change

Staying on top of the latest learning tech is important but you also need to put that theory into practice. And the right platform can help! Open LMS is an open-source, Moodle-based learning platform supported by Amazon Web Services that allows organizations all over the world greater flexibility in their LMS, without breaking the bank.