This isn’t just a keynote; it’s a live-action masterclass in redefining high performance.

What does it really take for hospitality teams to perform under pressure? To adapt, recover, and deliver service excellence again and again?

You’ll find out live, as two elite athletes tackle a Ninja Warrior-style course right on the CHART mainstage. Every leap, slip, and recovery becomes a metaphor for how high-performing hospitality teams move, learn, and adapt together.

With experience as a successful entrepreneur and CEO, as well as more than 2,000 presentations delivered worldwide, leadership expert Ty Bennett will use a powerful live demonstration to challenge the old “grind harder” mindset. You’ll walk away with a new perspective of what performance looks like in training rooms, on the floor, and across every guest interaction. Real-world strategies backed by proprietary research will leave you prepared to train smarter, lead better, and perform higher.

This will be a high-energy, full-body lesson in what high performance looks like when it’s not just talked about, but lived. Come and learn what it really takes to elevate people, performance, and purpose in hospitality.

Key Takeaways:

• Lead for Lift: Discover how the best leaders create momentum to energize, empower, and retain top talent.
• Train for Agility: Design training that builds adaptability and accountability, not burnout.
• Perform with Purpose: Learn how values-driven teams sustain excellence, even when conditions change fast.
• Stay on Course: See how focus, resilience, and recovery—demonstrated live on the Ninja course—mirror the skills your teams need to thrive under pressure.

Most teams don’t stall because of skill — they stall because people are waiting for the perfect moment instead of owning the one in front of them. Real momentum isn’t built in the easy moments… it’s built in the ones that require you to act with deliberate intention when it would be easier to step back.

In this high-energy session, best-selling author, former rock star, and Apple Top 15 podcast host, Brant Menswar reframes ownership as something bigger than personal performance — it’s about choosing to show up in service of others in a way that lifts the room, strengthens the culture, and creates movement where others would have paused. Because the moment you own isn’t just yours — it becomes fuel for everyone around you.

Participants will learn how to:

• Build trust by showing up for people, not just beside them
• Master the KPI of hope by balancing desires, expectations, and actions — the true metrics of momentum
• Turn uncertainty into a catalyst by discovering the opportunities hidden inside disruption
• Apply the BUMP Framework to turn any moment into momentum

When you own your moment in service of someone else, you don’t just change the outcome — you change what’s possible for everyone watching.

Brant will also join us at the New Orleans conference in February 2026 to double the impact with The Influence of Purpose, exploring how leaders can influence their teams in a way people feel, trust, and follow. Together, these sessions move from inspiration to implementation — from understanding what drives team engagement to owning the moments that bring it to life.

Chad Moutray, Ph.D., CBE 
Senior Vice President, Research and Knowledge, Chief Economist 
National Restaurant Association
LinkedIn

Hiring isn’t just a necessity; it’s one of the most important investments your operation can make. The right people, supported by strong management and the right technology, directly impact your profitability, productivity, and long-term success. Drawing on national data and frontline industry insights, Chad will give an insider’s perspective and high-level look at the labor trends reshaping the industry and what they mean for your bottom line.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from one of the most influential economic voices in our industry as he connects labor market realities – from recruiting and retention to productivity and efficiency – with practical strategies for success. From smarter staffing models to technology-enabled solutions, you’ll leave with a clearer understanding of how to build a stronger workforce and a stronger business.

Turn Insight into Action: 

• Gain an insider’s view into today’s restaurant labor market and staffing trends.
• Learn about data-backed strategies to improve hiring and retention.
• Discover practical ways to leverage technology to achieve workforce efficiency.
• Walk away with a clearer understanding of staffing as a driver of financial success.

It’s a community brain trust of more than 250 top hospitality trainers together, in one room, rapid-fire sharing solutions from our industry. Always a highly popular session, LAMP is an interactive roundtable version of our online discussion forum offering best practices in crucial areas identified by trainers, such as implementing recruitment and retention strategies, using artificial intelligence and technology, creating high-performing teams, delivering training and certifications, and crafting effective instructional design.

(CHART Members have access to the online Ask My Peers forum 24/7/365! Log into our member site to join the conversation!)

This session is for those who want to gain a deeper understanding of mental health drivers (e.g. PTSD), body language, brain science, common mistakes, and effective, respectful tactics to effectively handle this issue at your establishment without incident. 

Learn proven tactics for effectively managing problematic behaviors like panhandling, rummaging through trash cans, loitering, and aggressive behavior towards staff – without conflict. Understand the brain science and mental health drivers and triggers of individuals suffering from homelessness, mental illness, substance use, and trauma to better train your teams to defuse conflict before it escalates.

Participants will:

• Learn the 4 most common mistakes employees make in managing problematic behavior.
• Learn how to use effective body language and non-verbal communication to avoid conflict.
• Gain a deeper understanding of the mental health drivers of problematic behavior and how their staff’s actions exacerbate them.
• Develop an appreciation for how a sensitive topic can be taught respectfully without downplaying difficult realities.

Having run a large homeless shelter outside of Chicago for 20 years, Ryan Dowd has a deep understanding of the cause of conflicts and how to handle it safely. Ryan has presented on the topic around the world and has developed the training used by thousands of organizations, including the McDonald’s Corporation.

This session is for training professionals who are ready to stop asking: "Can AI do this?" – and start asking: "What could we create together?"

This isn't just a tech session; it's a reinvention story – and an invitation to start your own. There will be no tech jargon, and no borrowed ideas. Just real results when curiosity, technique, and imagination meet – and become possibly the most powerful creative partner you've ever had.

You'll leave not just informed, but invigorated, confident, and ready to create:

• Discover why imagination is your greatest AI asset, and why the question "Could it...?" may be even more powerful than any prompt you'll ever write.
• Learn elevated prompting techniques that transform good results into great ones – and feel unmistakably like you.
• See what's actually possible through real projects that started with "what if we tried this?" and ended with gasps, a few misty eyes, and one VP of Ops saying "Holy $#!t, that was fast!" 
• Dive in with a live activity that might surprise you, and almost certainly will unlock something special.
• Walk away with real tools in hand, including a custom prompting guide and curated AI resource list built specifically for hospitality training professionals.

Three years ago, Jim Rich proudly raised his hand at a CHART conference when asked “who isn't using AI?” What followed was one of the most energizing professional reinventions of a 38-year career – and the reason he's back in Boston to tell you about it.

After 27 years at California Pizza Kitchen and 11.5 years as VP of Training at Mendocino Farms – helping grow both from a handful of locations into category-leading restaurant brands – Jim founded JimRichHospitality, a selective consulting practice built on a simple but powerful conviction: imagination, in addition to technical skill, is the real unlock with AI.

Fellow AI travelers, and those still thinking about becoming one, come get invigorated!

This session is designed for trainers, L&D professionals, and people leaders who want to expand their impact beyond content delivery and become more strategic, visible, and influential within their organizations.

Come for a forward-focused exploration of what it means to transform your role from delivering content to shaping culture, driving performance, and inspiring meaningful change. This new perspective positions you not just as an expert in learning, but as a strategic partner who aligns talent development with organizational goals. You become a catalyst: someone who anticipates needs, influences decisions, builds relationships across teams, and champions growth at every level.

By embracing the power of influence, you move from simply facilitating learning to forging connections, guiding transformation, and ensuring that every training moment becomes part of a larger narrative of success. This is your pathway to greater leadership, visibility, and impact – within your organization and in your professional career.

Your key takeaways:

• Understand how to anticipate needs, influence decisions, and build cross-team relationships.
• Learn how each L&D initiative can contribute to a larger narrative of organizational success and your own professional growth.
• Move beyond content delivery and actively shape the broader environment in which learning happens.

This session is for trainers and managers at any level who are responsible for developing people and want to build stronger belief in their teams.

You train the people. Which means the belief you build, or break, doesn’t stop with you. It multiplies through every person you develop.

This hands-on workshop will start where all lasting change begins: with you. You’ll identify your Black Sheep Values – the non-negotiables that define how you make decisions and how you lead – using a live, research-backed assessment built from more than half-a-million data points. Then you’ll apply those values as a diagnostic lens across the four locations of the Magnetic Field: The Plan, The People, The Purpose, and The Possibilities.

You’ll uncover where belief is breaking down. And, which of the 4 Cs – Courage, Connection, Contribution, or Commitment – is missing. You’ll develop your one specific move to make this week.

Leave with a completed Belief Blueprint and a clear action plan. Not a concept. Not a framework. A move.

Participants will: 

• Identify your top Black Sheep Values and understand how they shape the way you lead and develop others  
• Pinpoint exactly where belief is breaking down across your team using the Magnetic Field diagnostic  
• Identify which of the 4 Cs is the missing ingredient driving disengagement on your team  
• Complete a personalized Belief Blueprint with one specific, executable move for each location of your Magnetic Field  
• Leave with a single high-leverage action you will take within seven days of this conference 

James Frank
Manager, Field Training & NROs |
Dine Brands Global
LinkedIn

This session is for hospitality trainers, field training leaders, and learning professionals who are navigating how to advance inclusive leadership development in today’s evolving workplace landscape.

Though language around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) continues to shift, the need for effective, people-centered leadership has not gone away. For hospitality trainers, the challenge is finding ways to keep developing inclusive leaders while ensuring programs feel relevant, practical, and aligned with current business priorities. This breakout explores how DEI work has evolved in terminology, but not in purpose. And why it remains a critical driver of team engagement, retention, and performance in hospitality environments.

Participants will examine how inclusive leadership behaviors already show up in their training programs and day-to-day operations, even when the label “DEI” is not used. Through practical discussion and real-world examples, you will learn how to frame inclusive leadership concepts using role-safe, business-aligned language that resonates with operators, leaders, and frontline teams in a shifting climate. The session emphasizes action over theory, helping trainers move beyond intent to implementation.

Gain clear strategies to reinforce inclusive behaviors through training, coaching, and reinforcement without adding complexity or risk. Each participant will identify at least one concrete, inclusive leadership action they can immediately integrate into their training practices or leadership development programs.

You will leave with:

• A clearer understanding of how inclusive leadership supports engagement, retention, and performance in hospitality.
• Practical ways to reframe DEI principles into business-focused, role-safe language that connects with today’s leaders.
• Strategies to reinforce inclusive behaviors through training, coaching, and on-the-job learning.
• One actionable commitment you can implement immediately with leaders or frontline teams.

This hands-on workshop is for professionals at any level who create and deliver presentations, and want to elevate their slides and storytelling to drive clarity, credibility, and action, regardless of the platform they use. 

Do your presentations inspire people to action? In this fresh take on a PowerPoint workshop, you’ll learn to think outside the traditional slide format across different slideshow builders, including PowerPoint, Keynote, Canva, and Prezi. Gain small, but powerful, techniques that will instantly elevate the look and clarity of your slides. Apply creative strategies so that your presentations stand out, regardless of what platform you use to build it in. This hands-on workshop reinforces essential presentation skills so that the slides support the speaker, not compete with them. The result is a slideshow presentation that drives buy-in and moves audiences to action.

Participants will:

• Discover how small slideshow adjustments and built-in tools can dramatically improve the visual impact and professionalism of your slides.
• Learn how to design and adapt presentations for different audiences, environments, and objectives to maximize engagement and clarity.
• Upgrade your slides to transition seamlessly, whether you’re delivering a keynote for hundreds or presenting to your executive team.
• Build essential presentation and facilitation skills so your slideshow supports your message and delivery.

This session is for learning leaders at any level who are seeking to navigate feedback conversations more effectively and create team environments where clarity is the standard and growth is the outcome.

Feedback is one of the most essential, and most avoided, leadership skills. Too often, it’s softened into confusion, delayed until it’s irrelevant, or delivered in a way that creates defensiveness instead of growth. This practical session reframes feedback as a leadership behavior rooted in clarity, care, and accountability. You will explore why feedback can feel difficult to deliver, and how common emotional triggers and communication habits can derail even well-intended conversations.

Through a repeatable framework, you will learn how to deliver feedback that is specific, actionable, and grounded in real impact – not just intent. Just as importantly, you’ll build the skills to receive feedback with openness, separate signal from noise, and turn it into meaningful action.

The session goes beyond the conversation itself, and will equip training leaders with strategies for what comes next: how to reinforce expectations, support behavior change, and ensure feedback leads to real progress. Through real-world scenarios and guided practice, you’ll walk away with the confidence and tools to navigate feedback conversations more effectively and create team environments where clarity is the standard and growth is the outcome.

Participants will:  

• Understand why it’s difficult to deliver feedback.
• Master a clear, repeatable framework for delivering feedback that drives behavior change.
• Take back tools to receive feedback without defensiveness and turn it into action.
• Learn how to move forward after feedback has been given.

This session is for those who want to better understand the current economic outlook, how it impacts operations, and how to better react and anticipate opportunities.

Chad is bringing the data, the context, and the perspective you won’t get anywhere else. This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from one of the most trusted economic voices in our industry! Operators face mounting challenges as rising costs and more cautious consumers put pressure on profitability. Meanwhile, the broader economy and consumer spending reflect a mix of resilience and uncertainty. Hear a data-driven analysis of current trends shaping the restaurant and foodservice industry and get an insider’s view of what lies ahead. This session will help you stay ahead of the curve, better anticipate opportunities, and prepare for potential risks in a rapidly evolving market.  

Participants will: 

• Gain an insider’s understanding of the current economic outlook.
• Learn about current restaurant labor market, sales, and traffic trends.
• Delve into the key issues facing the industry today, and learn how to spot potential opportunities.

This practical session is for hospitality trainers, instructional designers, and learning leaders who want a clearer, more intentional way to design training that aligns to real job performance, regardless of delivery format.

Most training conversations begin with the “how:” let’s create a video, guide, or e-course. But effective training design starts earlier. Come and explore the importance of identifying the “who," "why," and "what" before jumping to the how. Drawing on principles of instructional design and Bloom’s Taxonomy, you’ll examine how different roles require different levels of thinking and performance.

Participants will:

• Learn a simple framework for identifying job‑based learning priorities before selecting training formats. 
• Use Bloom’s Taxonomy as a practical tool to align training to the level of thinking required for different hospitality roles. 
• Practice translating job expectations into clear, observable “I can” learning targets. 
• Leave with a repeatable process they can apply to any role or training format. 

This interactive session is for trainers, facilitators, managers, and operations leaders that are seeking a way to connect their teams with hospitality that consistently exceeds guest expectations.

When guests have endless options, the organizations that stand out are the ones that make people feel something. Come and learn a dynamic, experience‑driven approach to hospitality inspired by the “Fans First” philosophy popularized by the Savannah Bananas. This approach is rooted in the belief that “Nothing matters more than making people feel like they matter.”

You’ll examine what truly creates unforgettable moments in hospitality, beginning with a simple but powerful question: What is the best experience for the guest? Through guided reflection and facilitated discussion, attendees will identify the emotional drivers behind memorable experiences and explore how to design them with intention.

The session introduces the Savannah Bananas’ 5 Es of Fans First Leadership and how these principles can serve as a relatable framework for today’s workforce to elevate service, strengthen team culture, and create environments where both the team and guest feel energized and valued. Each “E” is unpacked through real-world scenarios, collaborative activities, and opportunities for participants to apply the concepts to their own operations.

You’ll walk away with:  

• A deeper understanding of how emotional connection drives loyalty.
• A practical framework for building a Fans First culture.
• Tools to reduce friction for teams and guests.
• Creative ideas for energizing shifts and elevating the guest experience.
• Strategies to empower staff to take meaningful action on every shift.

This session is for training program leaders and Instructional Designers who want to create learning and development that drives results faster.

You’ll gain a new, performance-based perspective by taking a "Systems" approach to operations and learning how to embed it into training and development. Often, training and operations teams work towards the same goals and vision, but do not cohesively connect, which can create confusion and inconsistency that negatively affect results. You’ll explore how to effectively drive a company vision, utilize Systems/Processes and Tools, and connect the training and coaching environment to the Systems that drive success. By understanding that every action ties into a System, you’ll learn how to achieve breakthrough results faster and lead a high-performance L&D culture.

Participants will learn:  

• Systems, Processes, and Routines that drive organizational success metrics and/or KPIs.
• How to gain alignment in training by tying this approach into L&D plans and initiatives.
• How to tie direct coaching, at all levels, back to the Systems for clear and concise tools/processes to correct or improve results quickly.

This insightful session is for trainers at all levels who want to benchmark their budgets, priorities, and metrics that help advocate for better resources and smarter strategies.

Training spend is back. Confidence is up. So why don’t things feel easier?

That's the central question in the 2026 Hospitality Training 360 Report, published by CHART and Opus Training. We surveyed 190+ hospitality trainers to find out what's actually shaping decisions right now. The short version: time pressure now outranks budget as the top constraint; managers are absorbing training ownership without the support to do it well; and the industry still hasn't built proof that training delivers.

You’ll dig into the findings with a panel of CHART member experts who live this work. Come and learn how to build systems that work within the constraints that aren't going away.

You’ll find out: 

• If training is moving into the field, how to move the systems that support it.
• Why training vs. enablement is more than semantics, and is critical to success.
• How to connect training to business outcomes to advocate for larger budget.
• Current data and trends around these topics: how time pressure outranks budget constraint as the factor shaping training decisions today, how training teams are investing in ongoing training versus new hire onboarding, how managers are increasingly absorbing training ownership without the necessary operational support, how AI is going mainstream alongside a demand for human connection, and more.

This session is designed for trainers and L&D leaders who work with frontline employees through executive teams, and are actively seeking ways to improve engagement, retention, and skill transfer.  

The moment participants hear the words “role-play,” tension rises, energy drops, and learning shuts down. Yet interactive practice is essential for skill-building at every level of hospitality. This fun and fast-paced session replaces traditional role-play with game-based training built on improv principles that reduce resistance while increasing engagement and skill transfer.

This session is fully interactive and co-created with the audience. You’ll address real training challenges – service recovery, coaching conversations, leadership presence, communication breakdowns – and be guided to the right improv-based game to address each scenario. You will leave energized, inspired, and equipped with tools you can immediately use in any training environment. Come ready to play!

Get excited to take home:   

• A curated toolkit of improv-based games mapped to common training and leadership scenarios. 
• A decision framework for selecting the right game based on skill level, audience, and objective.  
• Techniques for facilitating interactive training that feels safe, playful, and effective – without scripts, forced acting, or performance pressure. 

This session is designed for trainers and L&D leaders who are ready to move beyond understanding game-based learning and begin applying it with intention and confidence.  

Building on the principles introduced in Part I, this session shifts from concept to creation. You will work in small groups to design training solutions for real-world challenges you bring to the table – ranging from frontline service scenarios to leadership development and executive communication. Using a curated toolkit of improv-based games, each group will select, adapt, and facilitate the game that best fits their training objective.  

This is not about performing; it’s about practicing how to design meaningful, engaging learning experiences. In a safe, structured environment, you will actively facilitate games, observe others, and receive guided feedback on how to refine your approach for different audiences and skill levels.  

By the end of the session, you won’t just have ideas – you will have trainer-tested, adaptable training designs and the confidence to implement them immediately. Expect high energy, collaboration, and practical application throughout.  

Get excited to take home:   

• A repeatable framework for designing your own game-based training experiences – plus a fully built activity created during the session as a working example. 
• A practical approach for adapting games across frontline, management, and executive audiences. 
• Increased confidence in replacing traditional role-play with engaging, skill building alternatives. 
• Peer-driven ideas and solutions that can be immediately applied in your own organization. 

This practical session is for Operations Leaders, Field Trainers, and L&D teams in restaurant and retail organizations who want to improve execution and reduce admin work.

How many times have you left a store visit with great insights, only to delay or forget writing the recap? And when you do sit down to write it, how long does it take to turn scattered notes into something clear and actionable?

Field trainers are constantly balancing observation, coaching, and follow-up. But the process of turning store visit notes into structured recap emails and action plans is often manual, inconsistent, and time-consuming – leading to missed opportunities and lack of alignment across teams. Come and learn a smarter approach. You’ll leave with a practical, easy-to-implement system that helps field teams move faster, stay consistent, and ensure every store visit leads to action.  

Discover how to:  

• Capture quick, structured notes using pre-set topics before you even walk into a store. 
• Automatically transform those notes into clear, actionable recap emails and action plans using Google tools + AI. 
• Have AI-generated, send-ready outputs delivered straight to your inbox for quick review. 
• Reduce admin time and increase follow-through across stores. 

This interactive session (bring your tech) is for hospitality training professionals at every point on the AI journey; whether you’ve never opened an AI tool or you use one regularly but can’t quite explain why some days it’s brilliant and others it misses completely.  

You have more AI knowledge than you think. What you may not have yet is the foundation that connects all the pieces – a clear, confident understanding of how AI actually works, how to direct it, and how to make it a real partner in your work and in your team’s work. Most AI sessions are either high-level concepts without practical application, or tool tutorials that assume you already have the mental model. This session is the important middle ground: building understanding that is both technical enough to demystify AI and conceptual enough to navigate the pace of change with confidence. When AI evolves again next month (and it will), you’ll be ready. Bring your tech!

Participants will:   

• Build a durable mental model for how AI works.  
• Practice directing AI effectively through hands-on activities.  
• Shift your relationship with AI from tool to thinking partner, and understand how that shift applies to your and your team’s daily work. 
• Navigate the AI tool landscape with confidence: understanding what ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini each do well and how to choose without analysis paralysis.  
• Leave with one specific, concrete next step – so this session changes something in your work before the week is out. 

What if your training programs are solving the wrong problem? For years, L&D has focused on what employees need to know and how quickly they can learn it. But across hospitality, a persistent gap remains: employees may complete training and appear “ready,” yet struggle to perform when it matters most; in real life with the customer.

This session explores the critical shift from knowledge transfer to behavior change. Drawing on new industry insights from Attensi’s latest frontline research, the Motivation Report, you’ll uncover what truly motivates today’s workforce – and why building confidence and skill mastery is essential to closing the gap between training and real-world performance.

You’ll learn key findings that challenge traditional training approaches and reframe how we think about readiness. Two expert CHART members bring these ideas to life, sharing how they’ve applied this thinking, leveraging advanced AI to design training programs that drive measurable results – from stronger customer experiences to increased sales.

You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of how to move beyond “check-the-box” training and create learning experiences that actually change behavior at scale.

You’ll learn how to:

• Identify and close the gap between “trained” and truly “ready” employees. 
• Shift from knowledge-based training to confidence and skill mastery.
• Apply new insights on frontline motivation to design more effective programs.
• Leverage AI and data to reinforce behavior and drive performance at scale.
• Connect training outcomes to tangible business results like sales and customer satisfaction.

If you are ready to upgrade your career, there is no better sign of a pro than the CHT achievement. Sign up for this review and exam for the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) Certified Hospitality Trainer Certification. In order to attend this session, apply directly to AHLEI. Apply by July 5 to ensure that your application is approved on time.

All study materials are provided online in advance. Study on your own in advance, attend the review session Sunday morning, August 3, and then sit for the exam Sunday afternoon.

The review session will help you learn how to: assess training needs, apply training tools and techniques, design instruction, measure and evaluate training, develop supervisory and management personnel, and outsource. Then, take the exam with the new knowledge and confidence to succeed!

Go to CHT®: Certified Hospitality Trainer Application, Online Study Guide and Exam (ExamFlex) to register. If you have already completed the application process and are currently enrolled in the CHT program, contact the Certification department at 407-999-8195 or email [email protected]. When registering, enter coupon code CHARTCHT26 to receive 15% off the $530.50 AHLEI price - only for CHT participants taking the exam at the CHART Conference.

Are your presentations driving the desired results? If not, this workshop will teach you the behaviors that will enhance your ability to prepare and make a quality presentation that will more effectively drive your company's sales and build profits. 

This workshop focuses on the need to:

• Be organized and prepared for training sessions
• Possess a reasonable knowledge of the subject matter
• Connect classroom content to participant's job responsibilities
• Demonstrate a participant-centered approach
• Provide an interactive learning experience that encourages learner involvement

It is critical that managers oversee projects but determine which ones take higher priority and which ones meet objectives and provide the best ROI.

The workshop will teach you how to:

• Identify corporate development needs based on strategic objectives and goals
• Prioritize training development based on a criteria of projects most likely to positively affect the business
• Review projects based on a return on investment model, approving those that deliver positive value
• Coordinate efforts of developers to ensure that projects address training needs and are developed on time and within budget
• Coordinate workflow of designers / trainers to maximize team's focus on key business objectives
• Frequently review training curriculum to ensure that the right programs are being delivered to address company's changing needs

We’ve been in the AI tool era. You’re about to enter the agent era.

You asked for more on AI, and here it comes! In this hands-on workshop, you won’t watch a demo, you’ll build something real. Led by expert facilitators, and working alongside fellow CHART members, you’ll design and deploy a real AI agent: a Conference Companion that captures your notes, ideas, and key takeaways throughout the event, and generates a polished executive summary you can use the moment you return to your organization.

Chatbots respond. Agents act. You’ll understand the difference because you’ll have built one yourself! No programming experience is required. Bring a real problem, a laptop, and your curiosity. Leave with a working agent and a framework for building the next one on your own.

Note: You’ll build using Claude and Claude Cowork, and you'll leave with a framework that works in whatever AI environment your organization already uses.

Participants will leave able to: 

• Explain what AI agents are and how they differ from standard AI chatbots.
• Apply a simple design framework to map a workplace problem to an agent solution.
• Build and deploy a working AI agent using no-code tools.
• Use the Conference Companion agent throughout the event to capture learning in real time.
• Generate an executive summary from their captured notes to share with their organization.
• Identify at least three additional agent use cases within their own training function.

Fee: $49 - you can sign up to attend this session when you register for the conference. If you have already registered and would like to add this session, please email Susan (chart[at]chart[dot]org). Space is limited, and we will have a waitlist if slots fill up.

This hands-on two-day workshop is for: Instructional designers and training professionals ready to build more engaging and interactive e-learning using Articulate Storyline 360. Ideal for those with beginner to intermediate experience looking to apply best practices and create with confidence.

Master the widely recognized and popular e-learning tool of Instructional Designers, Articulate Storyline 360, in this complete two-day workshop at a vastly reduced price for CHART. Articulate Storyline 360 is known for its flexibility and user-friendly design—and this two-day interactive workshop is your chance to take full advantage of what it can do. With expert guidance from a certified master trainer, you’ll walk through how to build and publish an e-learning module from start to finish. From syncing audio and animation to building interactive layers and quizzes, you’ll gain practical experience in the features that matter most.

You'll also explore how to make your content accessible with tools like closed captioning, and how to publish your finished module for use in an LMS or Review 360. You’ll leave ready to apply what you’ve learned to your own training programs immediately.

Learn how to:

• Use the core building blocks of Storyline 360 to design effective learning experiences.
• Sync audio and animation for dynamic slide design.
• Add interactivity through states, layers, and triggers.
• Build basic quiz questions to check learner understanding.
• Incorporate accessibility features like closed captioning.
• Publish your finished module for LMS or Review 360 use.

Technology Requirements: A WiFi-enabled Windows laptop (or Mac running Windows), with Storyline 360 or Storyline 3 installed and active. Trial versions expire after 30 days—download one week before the session if needed.

Cost: $595 with conference attendance (includes lunch both days), $1095 with no conference attendance. You can sign up for this workshop when you register for the conference. If you have already registered and would like to add this session, email Susan.
Discounted introductory rate for CHART: Don't miss this amazing rate. As part of our new partnership with Articulate, CHART is offering this workshop at a special rate; more than 50% off what other learning organizations charge for a two-day Storyline workshop.
Note: Pre-registration and proper software installation required before session starts.

Most L&D teams aren't overwhelmed because they're bad at their jobs. They're overwhelmed because nobody handed them a system for deciding what actually gets done.

That's what this workshop fixes.

Bring every project your team is currently working on – the full, unfiltered list. In three hours, we're going to sort it, sequence it, and turn it into an annual learning plan you can walk back into your organization and use on Monday.

This isn't professional development. It's a working session. You will be doing actual work on your actual projects. You'll leave with a drafted annual learning plan and a tool that makes this process repeatable – so next year's planning conversation starts from a completely different place than this one did. Come ready to work, and have a little fun too!

Here's what we’ll be working through together:

• Building a prioritization matrix calibrated to your organization's goals; so when someone questions your decisions, you have data, not just instincts.
• Mapping every project through a RASCI framework so you can see exactly where your team is overextended before it becomes a retention problem.
• Sequencing your year strategically by front-loading the work that matters, consciously deferring what doesn't, and building in the margins that keeps a good plan from falling apart in Q2.
• Bringing other departments into your planning process in a way that turns stakeholders into advocates.
• And, we'll close with the hardest skill in L&D: making the call between what you care about building and what the business actually needs right now.

Fee: $49 - you can sign up to attend this session when you register for the conference. If you have already registered and would like to add this session, please email Susan (chart[at]chart[dot]org).