Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. Last month, we took a look back at 2012. This month, I’d like to look ahead. So, what’s on the horizon for the Learning Technologies Community in 2013?

ASTD TechKnowledge 2013 is only 3 weeks away. Are you going? This will be my fifth time attending, but I haven’t been this excited to go since my very first time.  In November, I wrote a post describing some of the sessions I was looking forward to seeing, and my enthusiasm hasn’t waned. Aside from the more than 100 concurrent sessions, we have three great keynotes: danah boyd, Nick Bilton, and Rives. Just last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Rives about his closing keynote, and I can promise that it will be the most fun and entertaining closing keynote we’ve had at this event. We also have a diverse slate of pre-conference workshops, including the specially designed “Game Design and Gamification” workshop with Karl Kapp and Koreen Olbrish. I can’t wait to attend this event, and I hope to see some of you there.

Website updates are also coming (and some may be live by the time you read this). In 2012, ASTD redesigned its site to be organized around the various communities of practice. While it was a large improvement over the old site, we acknowledge that there is more work to make content and connections intuitive and accessible for all users. We’re continuing to listen to your feedback and make updates and improvements. In fact, email me with any ideas you may have.

More webcasts and events are planned throughout the year. The popularity of webcasts increased significantly in 2012, so we’re continuing to expand our offerings.  Without question, webcasts offer an easy (and free!) way to get up-to-speed about a new topic or hear from an industry expert. But we also recognize that sometimes you need more information than a 60-minute webcast can offer, so we are continuing to grow our Essentials Series Online courses. In February we are launching two new courses on HTML5 and Articulate Storyline. These courses are a great way to get up-to-speed on a new topic without leaving your desk.

More contributions from you. Last month, I tweeted a request for anyone interested in guest blogging to get in touch with me, and a surprising number of you did. But there are other ways to contribute, too. For instance, if you like an article (or disagree with one), leave a comment and start a discussion with the author. Your contributions—whether in the form of articles, blog posts, questions, comments, or feedback—make this community what it is.