It has been a week since the eLearning Guild's 2015 Learning Solutions Conference ended and life is not the same. Or is it? In this NOOB review, I give you my take on the conference as a learning experience and also a first-timer's overview of the GREAT and MEH moments of the event.

There are three pre-conference days filled with learning courses taught by eminent figures in the industry including Guild Academy blended courses. These courses are high quality and although offered as an extra cost, you get a full day of learning vs. the typical hour if you were to attend the same session during the conference. I had a blast attending Allen Partridge's "Create Interactive mLearning and Location-based Learning with Captivate 8". Allen is known as an Adobe Evangelist and he has been one of the elearning celebrities I was excited to meet. I got to test out Captivate's powerful responsive design features and I got "Certified"; just kidding folks, it's just a certificate ; )

There's not much to MEH about this except next time I'm doing more of these courses. Perhaps a great tip would be to do diligent research about the instructor and topic covered so you are ensured of selecting the best course for your needs. This one was easy for me because Allen's reputation is well, in my eyes, legendary.

Exhibitors (vendors) are always expected at this type of events and there were some awesome ones at the LSCON15 Expo floor. There were elearning platforms, Learning Management System(LMS), Learning Content Management System (LCMS), Learning Record Store (LRS), eLearning Developers and Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) vendors with excellent technology solutions. One of my favorites was GOMO a responsive design (desktop and mobile devices) LCMS with amazing HTML5 content creation for non-developers. There was also the ARTICULATE booth which gave users the opportunity to meet Tom Kuhlman and David Anderson, two great guys behind the success of their flagship software authoring tool Storyline2.

There were many of these vendors that wouldn't accept their product being labeled a LMS,LCMS or else. It seem just like another marketing twist for their sales reps to hook prospects with training buzzwords such as "gamification", "blended", "elearning", "micro learning", "html5", etc. I mean, what' the angle there, sell you a LMS and tell you is not a LMS? That's not a transparent practice. That's one of the reasons I really like talking to Mike Alcock from GOMO Learning (below)! No gimmicks and straight forward explanations of what GOMO can do!

LSCON implemented a great engagement strategy by implementing gasification and social media elements specific to conference events through a mobile app. I used the app throughout the whole conference, shared pictures and earn points while meeting many industry colleagues. At LSDemoFest I got to exhibit one of my elearning projects and share with visitors the work process behind it. It was definitely an exciting (and exhausting) time and I look forward to next year's conference.