Conference Daily interviews David Dec, trainer and software productivity consultant at KnowledgeWave.

Meet your fellow attendees as the Conference Daily interviews learning industry professionals at ATD24. In this fifth article in the series, we interview David Dec, trainer and software productivity consultant at KnowledgeWave.

On why he came to ATD’s International Conference & EXPO: I just love the conference. I’ve been coming for over 20 years. I think 2002 was my first one. It’s ironic that \[this year’s\] theme is Recharge Your Soul because I tell everybody this is how I get recharged. It’s already working and it’s only been a few days.

On what he’s enjoyed so far: I just learned a little bit more about mindfulness, which I’ve been practicing.

Earlier on, Eric Bailey—he’s actually signing books now—was talking about “dealing with stupid people” \[in a session called “The Cure for Stupidity.”\] He talked about that it’s not about “stupid” and the idea that truth is not the same as fact. It was an interesting perspective.

On artificial intelligence: I went to a session on AI. It was an interesting take because there was no lecture. The person running it just wanted us to talk about \[AI\]. I’ve been using it for a while, so I was able to talk with the table all about the good stuff.

I think \[AI is\] amazing. It’s a great tool for us as trainers to be able to use, not to fear. My personal mission is to stop fear. Just like we were afraid of cell phones causing cancer and that aliens were going to find us, right? It’s that type of technology. I mean, when trains first started—railroad trains, passenger trains—people were against it because they thought the body would melt at 30 miles per hour. We’re kind of in that same cycle with AI. People are scared to death, and hopefully that won’t last long.

What I’m hoping for is that my friends here at ATD get on board now and aren’t left behind. The best way to lead a parade is to get out in front of it. So, I’m trying to help everybody on it. And I teach courses on how to use it, especially as a trainer on the job.