I’m Starting to Learn

Scott LaPoint
Senior Training and Development Manager at Sundt Construction
Tempe, Arizona

On his role: It’s on the administrative side for a construction company. We train everybody from engineers all the way up to the C-suites.

On his conference experience: I’ve been to these probably six years now. We’ve been to a few different kinds of conferences, of course, and this is one where everything’s in one place.

On what he’s looking forward to this year: You know, I’m a skeptic when it comes to artificial intelligence and all that stuff, but I’m starting to learn. I’m all about authenticity, and what I’m seeing, what I’m hearing about it, is actually pretty cool. It’s saving us some time and money, so I’m looking to see more tips and tricks.

On AI’s effect on his field: You can either take it one way or the other, right? You can let it do your work, but that’s not authentic. And people are making a lot of mistakes because they’re not checking the data the tools come up with.

We’ve got a team of 10 on our side, and how much time it takes to develop content, to come up with different ideas, to freshen things up to make things fun—just asking AI to give you different ideas just saves you a lot of time. Writing a five-minute script for a video used to take a full week. Now, you can get it done in a few hours.

On his colleagues attending the conference and helping him get around (he recently had surgery to repair a broken heel and is using a steerable knee scooter): We’ve got nine of 10 members here. It’s going to be tough [getting around]. They’re walking stairs, I’m taking elevators. [laughs]

Read more about ATD25 at conferencedaily.td.org.