Skip to main content

XR for LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT: 2021

This event has passed, but you can access the content for free. Click below.

On-Demand Access ›

The XR Association’s first annual Limitless Future Conference > XR for Learning & Development is a half-day virtual event bringing together senior-level learning and development professionals to learn how immersive technology — virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality (XR) — is transforming the field of training, learning, and talent management. The Limitless Future Conference is being presented by the XR Association in partnership with Jobs For the Future, the Association of Talent Development, Greater Atlanta Chapter, and SHRM-Atlanta.

This program has been approved by SHRM and the ATD Certification Institute for a maximum of 4.0 CEU points through CPTD and APTD.

PARTNERS
CEU CREDITS OFFERED:

Learn

Learn about immersive technology and how it’s being used in leading learning and development departments.

Interact

Interact with twenty+ cutting-edge immersive technology companies focused on learning and development.

Network

Network with other L&D professionals who are interested in the next generation of talent development through XR.

Schedule

Join the leaders of the XR Association and its event partners for the opening of its first-ever Limitless Future Conference.

Speakers: Liz Hyman, CEO, XR Association; Cornelius Dowdell, Chapter President, Association of Talent Development, Greater Atlanta Chapter; Kristina Francis, Executive Director, JFFLabs

Speaker: Chike Aguh, Chief Innovation Officer, United States Department of Labor

Join XR industry leaders to explore the latest in immersive technologies and learn how it can propel more effective learning.

Moderator: Liz Hyman, XRA CEO
Panelists: Marc Metis, Vice President, Enterprise Software and Global Head of Vive X; Greg Sullivan, Director, Microsoft; Rori DuBoff, Managing Director, NA Innovation Lead & Experience Strategy, Accenture Interactive

XR opens new frontiers of economic opportunity, helping workers from all backgrounds strengthen in-demand skills and drive business and social impact.

Speaker: Kristina Francis, Executive Director, JFFLabs

Hear how XR can help develop essential soft skills, such as empathy, customer service, improving diversity and inclusion, and leadership.

Moderator: Audrey Mickahail, Senior Director of Corporate Solutions, JFFLabs; Panelists: Katie Booth, Corporate Social Responsibility, SAP; Cortney Harding, Founder & CEO, Friends with Holograms; Dan Guenther, Managing Director, Accenture Extended Reality (XR)

Connect with your L&D peers and hear about their direct experience working with XR technologies.

Understand the key steps -- developing a budget, determining ROI, finding vendors, and integrating your XR program into your LMS.

Speakers: Dave Beck, Founder and Manager Partner, Foundry 45; Kevin Marcum, Program Manager, Delta Airlines

XR provides new data to make it easier to determine program benefits, while also reducing costs. Go deep on how to prove the value of XR L&D.

Speakers: Lorne Fade, COO & Co-Founder, VR Vision Inc; Samuel Akey, Manager Renewable Training and Innovation, AVANGRID

How to build and launch XR L&D efforts that deliver on impact, equity, and learner experience goals.

Moderator: Alex Swartsel, Deputy Director, Acceleration, JFFLabs
Panelists: Clare Bertrand, Director, JFFLabs; Stacy Holliday, Associated Director, Digital Transformation, JFFLabs; Crystal Pena, YouthBuild Director, Quad YouthBuild; Eli Weisman, Chief Client & Growth Officer, Talespin

Exploring how inclusive design and accessibility can benefit employers and make XR-based training more usable for all employees in fast-growing jobs.

Speakers: Ashley Coffey, Consultant on Emerging Technology Accessibility, Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT), U.S. Department of Labor; Meryl Evans, author and digital marketing consultant on accessibility and disabilities

Connect with your L&D peers and hear about their direct experience working with XR technologies.

Exploring how organizations developing or adopting XR training can integrate best practices for accessibility into design, development and implementation processes.

Speakers: Bill Curtis-Davidson, Co-Director, Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT); Tim Stutts, Principal AR Product Designer, Vuforia at PTC

How Kellogg upgraded their sales onboarding program to reach learners across the country.

Speakers: Tomissa Smittendorf, Director Kellogg North America Sales Learning & Development, Kellogg Company; Nick Day, VP of Sales and Client Solutions, Roundtable Learning

Develop a deeper understanding of how core concepts of learning and training are enhanced through AR technologies.

Speakers: Walter Davis, Global Head of Talent & Learning Technology, Aggreko; David Nedohin, Chief Customer Officer, Scope AR

Learn about the benefits of implementing VR and AR job training solutions for improving safety and hazard awareness.

Speakers: Daniel Blair, CEO & Founder, Bit Space Development Ltd.; Chris Taran, Vice President/Education & Training Coordinator, IBEW 2085

Connect with XR companies focused on learning and development at the Limitless Future Conference’s Digital Exhibitor Hall

Hear about Walmart’s journey to VR-based training, key learnings from their rollout of the tech to 4,700 locations, and their future plans with VR.

Speaker: Ayreann Luedders, Senior Director II, Walmart U.S. Academies

Speaker: Laura Chadwick, Vice President, Industry Relations, XR Association

Take this last chance at the 2021 Limitless Future Conference to connect with XR companies focused on learning and development at the conference’s Digital Exhibitor Hall.

Exhibitors

Avatar Dimension

VOLUMETRIC capture at its best

Cognixion

Cognixion creates solutions that enhance the human experience

Foundry 45

VR training applications for global enterprise customers.

GameDriver

GameDriver. Better Testing, for Better Immersive Experiences

OVR Technology

Olfactory Virtual Reality – Better Virtual Reality, Better Reality.

Aggreko

Whatever your needs, our equipment will ensure your business is always on.

Bit Space Development

We Solve Your Business Needs With Interactive Innovation Solutions

Jobs for the Future

Driving Economic Advancement for All

Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology

Building a future that works

Roundtable Learning

Immersive Training that Drives Results

VR Vision

Harness the power of VR training applications for enterprise.

Speakers

Chike Aguh

Chike Aguh is the Chief Innovation Officer at the United States Department of Labor. He leads efforts to use innovative technologies, partnerships and practices to accelerate the Department’s mission of delivering a future of work that includes and dignifies every American. Previously, Chike was the inaugural Head of Economic Mobility Pathways at the Education Design Lab, Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Venture Partner at New Markets Venture Partners, member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Future of Work Taskforce, Lecturer at Columbia University and guest speaker at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.

Samuel Akey

Samuel Akey is the manager of renewables training and innovation at Avangrid, a global energy services and delivery company. He is an experienced operations training manager with a demonstrated history of working in the renewables and environment industry. Samuel is skilled in power plants, management, strategic planning, project management, and energy. He graduated from the University of Louisville, College of Education.

Dave Beck

Dave Beck is the founder and managing partner at Foundry 45, an immersive technology company that develops enterprise-level virtual reality training experiences. His company has built hundreds of experiences for notable clients such as Delta Air Lines, Chevron, and UPS. A passionate advocate of his industry, Dave is a frequent speaker on topics related to technology and the future of learning. Before starting Foundry 45, he held leadership positions in both training and technology. Dave also serves on advisory boards at Georgia Tech, where he earned his MBA, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and the MAK Historic District.

Clare Bertrand

Clare Bertrand is a director at JFFLabs. She leads efforts to integrate technology and innovative best practices to ensure that young people can make well-informed decisions about their education and career pathways. Clare focuses on innovating and scaling career pathway decision making for young people who are over-age, under-credited, and low-income. She leads a team that works with communities, networks, and districts to identify and take advantage of career pathways for young people using technology. Her achievements include launching JFF’s first web and mobile platform, MyBestBets.

Daniel Blair

Daniel Blair is the CEO and founder of Bit Space Development Ltd where he focuses on building innovation-focused research projects for clients exclusively from the planet earth. Daniel is an award-winning entrepreneur & software developer. Through initiatives and organizations, Daniel has been directly involved in the interactive digital media and entrepreneurship ecosystem by sitting on boards and committees that align with a singular goal, to create the best possible ecosystem for hacking and building. Daniel is well known for being a tinkerer, mad scientist, and lifelong learner.

Katie Booth

Katie Booth is based in the SF Bay Area, joined SAP North America in 2013, and now leads Corporate Social Responsibility for the region. In this role, she is responsible for bringing to life the three global CSR pillars: connecting employees to purpose, accelerating best-run non-profits & social enterprises and building digital skills for underrepresented youth. She works closely to co-innovate with education partners, social enterprises, collaboratives, and community organizations. She spent her early career working within large organizations where she mobilized 100K+ volunteers and managed multi-million dollar corporate donations to improve communities and schools across North America.

Laura Chadwick

Laura Chadwick serves as the XR Association’s Vice President of Industry Relations. In this position, Chadwick leads membership, member and partner development, market research and oversees marketing and event strategies. Chadwick previously served as a director of corporate member engagement at the National Restaurant Association and as a federal lobbyist within its government affairs department. Additionally, Chadwick worked for the Consumer Technology Association as a federal lobbyist, U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) and U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff (CA-28).

Ashley Coffey

Ashley Coffey is a Consultant on Emerging Technology Accessibility at the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT). In this role, she works to advance the accessibility of emerging workplace technologies to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities. She is an active member of the XR Access Initiative and collaborates with industry stakeholders to further the adoption of inclusive design for accessible technology.

Bill Curtis-Davidson

Bill Curtis-Davidson is a Co-Director and Sr. Emerging Tech Accessibility Consultant at the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT). In this role, he works to advance the accessibility of emerging workplace technologies, including XR and AI, to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities. He is a key advisor to XR Access and partners with the disability community, tech companies, and the public to advance adoption of inclusive design and promising practices for tech accessibility.

Walter Davis

Walter is the Head of Talent & Learning Technology and has been with Aggreko for 8 years and held roles based out of Aggreko Dubai, UAE and Houston, TX locations. He has more than 10 years’ experience leading teams with focuses in Learning Content Development, Translation/Localization, Technology and Innovation. Walter’s primary focus at Aggreko is in developing and implementing new technologies to support skilling and developing talent for key roles across aggreko as well as leading the strategy and deployment of Immersive Technologies such as Augmented Reality across the organization.

Nick Day

As the VP of Client Solutions at Roundtable Learning, Nick oversees the sales team's development and growth, including business development and account management. Nick works with learning and development leaders from Fortune 500 companies to solve their business challenges by redefining What's Possible in Learning with AR/VR. With a passion for learning technologies, Nick travels across the US as a featured speaker for VR training projects and meets with learning and development professionals about building blended learning programs

Cornelius Dowdell

Cornelius Dowdell is the President of the ATD Great Atlanta chapter; Talent Development & HR Strategist at The Nelius Strategy; and Lead Spice Curator for Nelius Spices. Cornelius has managed education and learning for institutions and collaborates with Fortune 500 companies over the past decade. In addition, he has more than 15 years of experience in leadership and managerial roles, encompassing operational and program management teams, human resources, corporate learning and career planning.

Meryl Evans

Meryl Evans is an author and a digital marketing consultant with over 20 years of experience who happens to be born hearing-free. Previously, she worked for two Fortune 500 companies and the FAA. She’s a highly regarded speaker on accessibility and disabilities. She has spoken at AccessU, ID24, Content Marketing World, Accessibility.com’s AccessibilityPlus, #A11yTO Conf, WordPress Accessibility Day, and others. Her most recent forays include delving into accessibility in virtual reality where she has recently joined XR Access and the W3C Immersive Captions Community Group.

Lorne Fade

Lorne Fade is an entrepreneur and co-founder for VR Vision Inc, a Toronto-based virtual and augmented reality technology company that enhances immersive training outcomes for some of the world's largest brands. He is also a partner in Reality Well, a VR platform providing bucket-list experiences for senior living, long-term care, and the healthcare sector. Additionally, Lorne is the founder of Fade Digital, a data-driven AI-enhanced digital marketing consultancy that provides a data-driven approach to digital advertising across all major platforms (Google/Facebook/Instagram/YouTube/Amazon/LinkedIn) as well as detailed conversion analysis to enhance ROI.

Kristina Francis

Kristina Francis is the executive director of JFFLabs. In this role, she oversees advisory, acceleration, data, and investing initiatives that connect traditional systems with systems disruptors to enable equitable economic mobility. Kristina has more than 20 years of experience in corporate operations and entrepreneurial ventures focused on management consulting, business development, software and data integration, and impact investing competencies. Before joining JFF, Kristina served in a variety of roles of escalating authority with EsteemLogic, Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, General Dynamics, and American Institutes for Research.

Dan Guenther

Dan Guenther is a Managing Director at Accenture and leads Extended Reality globally. He oversees Accenture’s extended reality business strategy and ecosystem relationships, and is responsible for incubating, prototyping and scaling extended reality solutions to help our clients drive continuous innovation at scale. Mr. Guenther has been at Accenture for more than 16 years and has extensive experience scaling digital technologies for our clients in Utilities, Health, Medical Technology, Retail, and Consumer Goods & Services.

Cortney Harding

Cortney Harding is a global thought leader, published author, and speaker on emerging technology and the role of virtual and augmented reality. She is the founder and CEO of Friends With Holograms, a transformational VR/AR agency focused on creating innovative, powerful, and effective experiences for training. Clients include Walmart, Verizon, Accenture, PWC, Coca-Cola, and Lowe's. She is also the winner of multiple awards, including “Best VR/AR” at Mobile World Congress, SXSW Innovation Award Finalist, and Top HR product by HR Executive.

Stacy Holliday

Stacy Holliday is an Associate Director at JFF who leads digital transformation initiatives for partner institutions and organizations, ensuring new technologies are implemented effectively and sustainably, aligned with JFF’s social impact goals toward the equitable success of learners and workers at scale. Her recent projects focus on implementation of innovative technology including immersive learning solutions at educational sites and small businesses, and institutional transformation through guided pathways as a strategic advisor for the national Student Success Center network.

Liz Hyman

Liz Hyman is the Chief Executive Officer of the XR Association (XRA), the trade association representing the technology manufacturers that power the virtual, augmented, and mixed reality industries. XRA is dedicated to the responsible development and thoughtful advancement of XR technologies across the globe. Prior to joining XRA, Hyman served as Executive Vice President of Public Advocacy at the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), where she led the association’s outreach to members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and other international, federal, state, and local government institutions that shape and influence public policies affecting the IT industry.

Ayreann Luedders

Ayreann Luedders is currently Sr. Director II, Walmart U.S. Academies. In this role, Ayreann and her team are responsible for the operation, communication and standards review for the 200 field-based training Academies which includes the training of associates from the role of hourly supervisor through market manager. The Academies were introduced to Walmart in 2016 and are focused on training Walmart associates to perform their roles using a hands-on approach along with integrating technology. She holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma and a Master’s in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Kansas State University.

Kevin Marcum

Kevin is the Program Manager for ACS Learning & Development with Delta Airlines. He began his career with Delta as a part time ramp agent more than 25 years ago, advanced into Airport Customer Service Learning, and later moved to the world headquarters operation in Atlanta taking on the challenge of Project Leader overseeing all of Delta's new station startups. Because of his longevity with the airline in a variety of roles, he recently designed the online mentor program in response to the safety needs of above and below-wing employees throughout the Delta system. In addition, Kevin conceptualized and rolled out the first-ever virtual training program for Delta below-wing ramp agents.

Marc Metis

Marc is an experienced senior executive in XR, software, mobile, and consumer electronics, working in general management, product, marketing, and investment leadership roles to drive innovation. He is Vice President of HTC’s Vive business unit, where he heads XR Enterprise Software including strategy and software development and founded and runs the industry leading Vive X accelerator. He serves on the Board of Directors of the XRA industry association. Previously he was CEO at Digital Chocolate. Prior to that, Marc headed marketing and ecommerce for flash memory leader SanDisk, and was VP of Global Brand Management at games industry leader Activision.

Audrey Mickahail

Audrey Mickahail is senior director of corporate solutions at JFFLabs. She is responsible for developing the strategy and scaling the impact of JFF advisory services for organizations looking to become impact employers. Before joining JFF, Audrey was a senior director at Gartner, a research and consulting firm, where she played many roles in a more than 20-year career. Most recently, she worked with multiple research teams to develop insights that she presented to clients globally at executive retreats and Gartner events. Before that, she led an advisory team. Earlier in her career, she led research teams at CEB and Meta Group, both of which were acquired by Gartner.

David Nedohin

David Nedohin, co-founder and Chief Customer Officer of Scope AR, brings more than 20 years of experience in business development and supporting customers at all stages of the customer journey to drive the company’s vision to revolutionize the world of industrial training, maintenance, manufacturing and field support with AR technology. In this role, David manages key relationships with industry partners and works with some of the world’s leading global companies including, Lockheed Martin, Johnson & Johnson, and Aggreko, among others. He also is an industry thought-leader, often presenting on some of the most practical use cases and AR success stories across industries at leading industry events.

Crystal Pena

Crystal Pena is the director at Quad YouthBuild. Through her work with Quad YouthBuild over the past 12 years, she has been able to assist underserved youth in reaching their full potential through education, training, and leadership development services. Crystal started her work in alternative education as a teacher. Since then, she has devoted the last 19 years working in various alternative education programs. Her experience includes grant writing, grant management, and contract monitoring with social service, state, and federal programs. This experience has been able to generate transformative and sustainable opportunities for underserved youth.

Tomissa Smittendorf

Tomissa is the Director Kellogg North America Sales Learning & Development at Kellogg Company and has more than 30 years of diverse experience in L&D, Retail Sales, Supply Chain, HR, Sales Finance, Customer Service and DSD. She created a high-performance team to build Sales Capabilities; developed a Sales Learning & Development Value Proposition; and designed, developed, and implemented a Customer Engagement platform, a 3-year strategic collaboration for mutual sustainable growth with priority initiatives and Customer engagement roadmaps. She has a passion for creating a culture of Learning, emphasizing capability building and collaborating across the organization to drive impact.

Tim Stutts

Tim Stutts (he/him) is a product design leader drawn to challenges involving interaction, user experience, prototyping, sensory feedback, data visualization and spatial computing. He is an ethical technologist who values data privacy and inclusive design. Tim is currently Principal Augmented Reality Product Designer for Vuforia Work Instructions at PTC. He previously served as Director of Product Design at Faceware, a leading developer of facial motion capture software and hardware. Prior to that he worked at Magic Leap and IBM.

Greg Sullivan

Greg Sullivan is director of communications and a 30-year Microsoft veteran who has been involved with XR since 2015. Sullivan works closely with the engineering teams building Microsoft HoloLens and mixed reality platform, along with the marketing and business development personnel bringing these technologies to market. Greg has held a variety of roles at Microsoft including network systems engineer, national account manager and product manager. He studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Illinois Chicago and lives in the Seattle area.

Alex Swartsel

Alex Swartsel is deputy director of acceleration at JFFLabs. In that role, she helps build and grow JFF’s emerging Impact Accelerator, which is transforming U.S. workforce and education systems by expanding access to innovative technologies that have the potential to revolutionize how Americans work and learn. Before joining JFF, Alex served as chief of development, finance, and external affairs for Teach for America’s Washington, DC, region, a role in which she oversaw fundraising, finance, and communications for a 22-person team supporting more than 3,000 educators and leaders.

Chris Taran

Chris Taran, RSE, started his career in the electrical industry in 1995. He obtained his Certificate of Qualification with Red Seal Endorsement in 2000. After several years working at his trade his focus shifted to teaching as a trade’s instructor and in 2012, he was appointed the Directors of Apprenticeship and Training IBEW Local 2085. As a leader in the apprenticeship field he is responsible for curriculum, training delivery, staff and organizational partnerships. He is a member of NETCO’s National Training Committee. Chris is a graduate of the Technical Vocational Teacher program from Red River College and is currently completing his Business Management degree from the University of Winnipeg.

Eli Weisman

Eli Weisman is the Chief Client & Growth Officer at Talespin. Eli pairs his deep understanding of our clients' businesses with key opportunities for transformation in the evolving spatial computing landscape. Eli’s current focus includes growth strategy and engagement with clients and platform partners. He brings 25 years of experience in client engagement, strategy, and technology delivery. Eli has led multidisciplinary teams to the successful launch of products for major brands such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Apple, RedBull, Microsoft, Facebook / Oculus, Google / YouTube, NBCUniversal, Sony, and Citi across the digital landscape.

Sponsors