Self Esteem: The Key to Productivity

Akira Furumoto
Management Consultant, Business Consultants Inc. | Japan

Mahamoud Dante
Management Consultant, Business Consultants Inc. | Japan

This session will help you understand how much your feelings affect your productivity. The happier we are, the more we do. Happy people simply do better jobs than unhappy people do. Apart from physical health, one of the key elements of our well-being is our self-esteem, or the feelings we have toward ourselves. People with high self-esteem are better leaders and have more energy to put in their work.

In this session, we are going to talk about self-esteem within the framework of the human element (THE) approach. In THE, an important element of self-esteem is whether there is a gap between “how it is” and “how I want it to be.” If there is a big gap, it causes distress and negative feelings. Our subconsciousness is trying to protect us from these feelings by defensive mechanisms. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of energy, and our productivity and well-being decrease. This session will take you through a journey that will allow you to:

• Understand the importance of self-awareness.
• Recognize the signs of defensiveness.
• Learn about the six types of defensive behaviors.

The Strategy of Talent Development in the Digital Age

Alan Lin
Partner and Managing Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan | Taiwan

Crystal Liu
Human Resources Vice President, HTC | Taiwan

Since the technology revolution changes and new uses of technology are both increase rapidly, the phenomenon has been reshaping people’s lifestyle in dramatic way. It’s also forcing a fundamental transformation of business – changing the relationship with customers, bringing new entrants and their disruptive technologies, driving new channels, products and services, breaking down the walls between industries and forcing a basic rethink of the business model. What skills should the company be looking for, and training their people for? Where will we find the people we need? Whatever technological innovations are ahead, it’s the people that will make the difference between eventual success and failure. That’s why CEOs need a people strategy for the digital age.

Effective Change Leadership Depends on Managing Employee Emotions for Well-Being

Charmine Härtel
Professor, University of Queensland Business School Executive Education | Australia

In this session, you will be introduced to the meaning and function of emotions in human motivation, adaptability, and well-being. The session will outline the connection between human emotions and responses to change. Then, you will discuss what managers need to know about emotions to be effective in supporting and implementing organizational change initiatives. You will learn about common myths about emotions in the workplace and their significance for successful execution of organizational change. You will become familiar with the acts of a healthy organization, the conditions under which emotional intelligence is constructive and destructive in organizations, and how to promote and maintain a positive work environment.

Eliminate Fake Training: Implement the 6 Paths to Sustainable Training.

Chuck Udell
Senior Partner, Essential Action Design Group | USA

Song Young-Hack
Associate Professor, SolBridge International School of Business | Korea

How often do we send associates to a training event, and they return to your workplace excited and ready to implement what they learned? Yet, after several months, nothing has changed. The reason you sent them to this training was to improve performance—but after they returned, performance did not improve. Unfortunately, this costs organizations significantly in terms of resources wasted and time lost. How can these situations be avoided? These instances are referred to as fake training. How can training programs consistently ensure that stakeholder demands for increased performance are met? Attend this session to learn how organizations are led to fake training, and find your way to real training. These steps include identifying performance gaps, what your associates must do close these gaps, and how to ensure that associates attending will apply what they learned so that the gap is closed. You will receive instruments so that you can determine how much fake training your organization has, and where in your learning process it is happening. Through a case study, you will learn how to assess the impact of learning on performance and how to apply this and the other steps to fake training in your organization.

The Best Practice of Talent Development in Response to Brand Strategy

Dai-fen Chu
Principal of McDonald’s Academy, McDonald's Taiwan | Taiwan

In this session, you will learn how a major, international restaurant brand integrated brand characteristics with instructional design to improve the skills of training teams and trainers, as well as talent analytics. In an industry where customer satisfaction is the ultimate make-or-break, personnel is a company’s greatest asset. Join this session to learn how to create comprehensive training programs oriented toward corporate growth.

L&D Best Practices: 5 Approaches to Be More Strategic

David Yesford
Vice President, Wilson Learning Worldwide | USA

Ensuring that organizations have the skills to execute strategy is a top priority for executives. This responsibility rests squarely with the internal learning and development function to create and implement talent development solutions for their organizations. Research conducted by Training magazine and Wilson Learning Worldwide examined what it means for L&D to be more strategic. The results clearly indicated there are specific actions that L&D can and should take.In this session, we will use the data to define what it means to be more strategic, and then go beyond the data to identify best practices. These best practices will create the backdrop for a discussion about what others are doing to make a difference. Learn from your colleagues and gain insights you can use on the job.
In this session, we will:

• Understand what the data say about strategic L&D efforts so you can benchmark your organization.
• Examine the five best practices to be more strategic in an L&D organization.
• Discuss what you can do now to start moving in a more strategic direction.
• Use an audit that will foster conversation during and even after the session.

Talent Management’s Role and Practices in Financial Transformation

Edward Chou
Senior Executive Vice President and CAO, Cathay United Bank | Taiwan

To achieve the vision to become the best financial institution in the Asia-Pacific region and the goal for business sustainability, Cathay United Bank has attached great important to talent training and development. In face of the emerging digital technology trend, all financial companies are thinking how to cope with the challenges brought by the financial technology (fintech) via transformation.Generally speaking, the impact and uncomfortableness are unavoidable for most transformation plans. However, Cathay United Bank has always upheld a “people” oriented mindset aiming to complete a pain free transformation among nearly 10,000 employees of the Bank through constant communication and training as well as the above mentioned four factors for agile talent management. In addition, the Bank hopes to become an agile organization that can attract young people to join in.

Learning Is the Only Way to Lead the Future: The Case for Corporate Universities

Edward Tu
Executive Director, AstraZeneca University, MNC | China

Learn how to build a development platform for future talents that meets the demands of business growth, especially focusing on professional compound capability, innovation capability, crossover collaboration capability, and leadership, from the president of a major corporate university. In this session, explore the future learning ecosystem through the three key concepts of open design, holistic thinking, and business growth, through case studies and best practices. You will learn how to forge a self-learning system that tightly links to business strategy and pain points to drive business growth.

Leading in the Digital Era

Elmar Kronz
Vice President, DDI (Development Dimensions International) | Germany

It is no secret that the rapid onset of the digital era has significant implications for all facets of the business landscape. Digitization permeates customer buying behavior and preferences, marketing, and product and service design, not to mention myriad internal systems. What is clear is that this trend will not reverse; in fact, it will only accelerate. Organizations that will succeed in this new era of digitization must demonstrate agility in adjusting their strategies accordingly. For organizations to survive and prosper, the question that must be answered is: Do we have leaders who are better suited to yesterday’s realities or tomorrow’s opportunities? In this session, the speaker will provide insight into the “success profile” of the digital leader and what role talent professionals must play in ensuring their organizations are building a pipeline of “digital-ready” leaders.

Virtual Reality and Talent Cultivation: An Exploration of Future Education Models

Emil Chen
Vice President, Elernity Education, NetDragon Websoft | Taiwan

The biggest problem facing every emerging industry is the cultivation of new talent. This session explores how one organization seeks to create a global lifelong learning community, and break the space and time limitations on learning to integrate learning into everyone’s life. 2016 was considered the first year of virtual reality (VR). The speaker will share how his organization has established complete curriculum systems; provided superior educational platforms, resources, and tools; and created a new ecology of VR talent cultivation to explore new models of future education. Join this session to learn how.

Designing Learning With Trahentem Canvas

Flora B. Alves
Founder, SG Tailored Corporate Learning | Brazil

There are some factors that are crucial when it comes to learning design. The first of those is the urgency of designing learning compatible with real life—that is, compatible with a “beta version” world, in which things change rapidly and we have to adapt in a way that is aligned with organizational goals. The second is the development of a design centered on human performance, and the third point, equally important, is simplicity. In this session you will learn about Trahentem, an innovative tool for learning design that has emerged in a context where we are asked to do more with less, better and faster. You will not only learn how to use this tool to align global training teams, eliminating barriers and overcoming challenges, but also learn what the tool is, what it is used for, and how to use it. You will learn how to create learning design in the real world. You will also leave the session with three Canvas models and a set of cards with instructions to apply what you learned.

How to Manage in Cross-Generation Workforce

Gerard Hei
CEO, Dale Carnegie Taiwan (Yu Lung Enterprise Consulting Co.) | Taiwan

Between 2008 and 2013, around 80 percent of Millennials moved up to midlevel positions from entry level. They began to take more responsibilities; therefore, corporate culture and management style began to change accordingly. The old management style appears to be less effective on Millennials. A leading research company undertook a sequence of studies to build a deeper understanding of employee engagement. This study showed that there are three important drivers of employee engagement:

• Satisfaction to immediate supervisor: 80 percent of employees who are dissatisfied with immediate supervisors cannot be fully engaged.
• Trust of senior management.
• Pride in their company.

Because Millennials grew up in a globablized world, being flexible is their advantage. Therefore, the key to make Millennials work with an “all in” attitude is to their use enthusiasm, so they can be more responsible for their own work while having fun. This session will share how to connect and understand Millennials’ uniqueness, and motivate them to engage at work.

Workforce Transformation in the Cognitive Era

Glenn Dittrich
Vice President of Watson Talent, IBM | USA

We live in dynamic times. HR is challenged with new mandates for talent transformation and improving business outcomes in a market filled with disruptive technology, massive data overload, and changing people expectations. Innovative cognitive technologies have the potential to transform the workplace as we continue to introduce and refine its capabilities. With this advancement comes the promise of more efficient and precise outcomes through HR analytics. Organizations are beginning to examine how cognitive solutions can be leveraged to redefine the employee experience at work. A new report defines the ideal employee experience and how organizations can use active listening techniques to help achieve business goals. Taking a real-life example, this session will demonstrate how cognitive computing capabilities have helped one client best leverage recognition data to improve employee engagement.

The Fascinating Future of Work: Education and Employment.

Ian Grundy
Head of Marketing and Communications, Asia Pacific, The Adecco Group | Singapore

This session will take a look at the future of work and what this means from both an education and employment perspective. The session will provide commentary on:

• the new skills that need to be developed to meet the challenges in the labor market and the new ways of working
• educational paths younger generations should follow, but for formal education and vocational training
• exploring how the future of work will look, such as how workplaces will change
• an overview of new jobs of the future
• how the work environment is changing, and how companies should change in terms of organization, relationships, and workspaces.

Play a Role in Connecting the World

Joanne Ko
Recruiting Lead, Facebook | Hong Kong

Facebook's mission is give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Leading into the next growth phase, there’s never been a more exciting time to set the future of Facebook in motion. In this session, the speaker will share Facebook’s unique culture and why they are passionate about and keen on connecting the world, and the key criteria and expectation for a potential candidate – no matter at which level, on which team, or in which part of the world they are hiring.

An Innovative Talent Development Model for the Digital Economy Era

John Liao
Director of the Innovation Learning Center, Digital Education Institute of Information Industry | Taiwan

The fast growth of technology is changing our world more than ever. Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, augmented and virtual reality, fintech, and all kinds of other innovative technologies have brought new opportunities and challenges to the development of enterprises. How organizations embrace technological innovation and incubate the new generation of talent for this new world will become the most crucial issue of the future. This session will share the successful experiences of one government talent program in developing young employees using innovative technologies in Taiwan.

The Leadership Factor: 5 Keys to Unleashing Talent and Innovation

John Ryan
President and CEO, Center for Creative Leadership | USA

When it comes to accelerating performance, there’s no substitute for effective leadership at every level of the organization. But many companies struggle mightily to align leadership development with their aspirations for innovation and growth, too often concluding that major breakthroughs are governed by chance. In reality, true innovation becomes less mysterious when the right principles are applied. It is equally critical to grasp the ever-changing context in which organizations compete and to nurture the leadership skills that are most important for bringing business strategies to life. One organization has found, through decades of global research and experience with hundreds of thousands of leaders, that humility, resilience, learning agility, and a deep understanding of the different levels of leader development are among the tools needed for success. Join this session for a conversation about the leadership keys to unleashing and sustaining talent and innovation in your organization.

Developing Employees for the 21st-Century Workplace

Josh Davies
CEO, The Center For Work Ethic Development | USA

No matter what industry you work in, or what part of the world you are from, there is one reality in the workplace today: the most in-demand skills for employees are no longer traditional technical skills. Work ethic, or soft skills, is no longer seen as optional. Nearly nine out of 10 hiring managers say work ethic is their most important factor in hiring. The challenge is that fewer than one in five candidates has these basic skills, and almost all job training is focused on academic and technical skills. However, new strategies in developing work ethic are making a huge difference in employee performance and retention.This session will highlight simple training and leadership approaches that everyone can use. By analyzing employer-based research, defining the seven behaviors of work ethic, and applying innovative teaching methodology, you will discover how to create lasting behavior change in your employees. Prepare your organization for the realities of the 21st century, and ensure that your employees have the skills they need to be successful.
By the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Understand the research around work ethic.
• See the impact of the work ethic gap on employees and employers.
• Apply at least three tactics to improve work ethic.

Learning Disrupted

Kelly Palmer
Chief Learning and Talent Officer, Degreed | USA

In this session, the speaker will talk about how learning in the corporate world is being disrupted in major ways and why there has never been a more exciting time to be in the learning field. She will discuss some of the trends that are causing disruption in the workplace and how these trends are changing and shaping the way employers need to think about learning and career development for the future. Traditional corporate training approaches have not adapted to the knowledge economy, and digital transformation is everywhere. The speaker will describe how she and others have created forward-thinking learning and career transformation strategies that incorporate digital transformation and help employees take control of their own careers and learning. She will also talk about the changing role of the chief learning officer and how roles in the learning organization need to change to adapt to both digital and workforce disruption.

Human Resources Strategy of Overseas Mergers and Acquisitions: Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong Cases

Kevin Chen
HR Senior Director, BOE Technology Group Co. | China

This session will explore how a leading technology company in China expanded through mergers and acquisitions in three other international markets (Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong), and how the company navigated the attendant talent development and management challenges involved in international expansion. You’ll learn how this company navigated cultural and core value integration, organization and business integration, and the full integration of its strategic plan during these international mergers. Situations discussed will include how employees from one nation transition into jobs in another country, how the company adjusted its performance evaluation system, and how it maintained the stability of its executive team, culminating in the creation of the Smooth Transition Program.

Machine Learning and AI: Will They End L&D as We Know It?

Koko Nakahara
President, Instructional Design Inc. | Japan

Until recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has been a part of robotic technology and the Internet of Things, which support productivity or improve the efficiency of human activities. However, the recent evolution of AI has many wondering about the future of workforce automation and whether human labor will be replaced by machines. According to a November 2015 Bank of America and Merrill Lynch report, within 10 years AI and robotics are expected to create an “annual creative disruption impact” of up to $33 trillion globally, including $8 trillion to $9 trillion of cost reductions across manufacturing and healthcare, $9 trillion in cuts in employment costs thanks to AI-enabled automation of knowledge work, and $1.9 trillion in efficiency. As the workplace automation changes our workplace, L&D professionals will need to be prepared with responses to the following:

• What would be the impact on human performance management?
• What would be the priority of learning?
• How will this change the existing learning deployment strategies?

This session will give you workplace cases of AI and robotics usage from around the world that may affect human resource development and learning in the future. You will be able to explore what challenges would be in your region or workplace, and what we need be aware of and prepared for regarding the future workforce.

BOE Human Resources Strategy of Overseas M&A: Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong Cases

Leichuan Chen
Senior Director, BOE Technology Group Co. | China

During the past decade, BOE expanded the main business of the TFT-LCD industry in great steps. Particularly, the cultural & core value integration, organization & business integration play the critical role for the success of M&A combined with the human resources strategy. The human resources strategy focus on the stability of executive team and adjustment of performance evaluation system along with the cultural & core value integration. BOE witnessed the past successful experience on three M&A cases in East Asia. But it still faced the great challenge on the continuous improvement of human resources management due to coming of more M&A cases in US and European countries.

Labor Market Disruptions, Skills Gaps, and Employability: Connecting Education and Employment

Lichia Saner-Yiu
Professor, Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development | Switzerland

There are three forces that have caused major disruption of the labor market: hyper-globalization, artificial intelligence, and aging demographic trends in most advanced economies. The results of these changes often lead to structural unemployment or underemployment of youth, skill deficits in the growth areas of jobs, and declining numbers in the workforce. These developments in the longer term negatively affect national competitiveness and productivity. In this session, a set of possible solutions will be proposed to resolve the tensions caused by the disruptive forces. They are: promoting a economy built on social solidarity in the form of cooperatives, establishing the institutional framework of skill needs identification, strengthening the proportion of the younger generation going into STEM areas of study through active career guidance programs, and creating experimental spaces for entrepreneurial initiatives in support of a sustainable development agenda with senior mentors as guides (intergenerational learning teams). Learn how to deploy these solutions at your own organization.

Ignite and Excite Me!

Marc Ratcliffe
Founder and CEO, MRWED Training and Assessment | Australia

This session will highlight seven key ways to ignite and excite learners to encourage them to be fully focused and work at their best. This will include sharing, modeling, and discussing more than two dozen techniques that can be immediately applied to your own environments (both face-to-face and online). While the focus will be on learning and teaching, there will be natural correlations for those leading teams of people in the workplace. As such, there will be ideas on how to connect more effectively during team meetings and tips on how to make your presentations more memorable.

Employing Technical Means to Build Corporate Learning Ecology

Mark Ma
General Manager, Training Culture, LeEco | China

In the era of Internet today, the developments in learning ecology exhibits 5 major trends: class ecology, dynamic knowledge management, comprehensive performance support system, scenario-based knowledge, and environmental engineer. New challenges are presented in learning ecology development with the passing of time, and we must learn how to reform in accordance with ecology. At the same time, new development needs in training also arise with changing times, such as the trends of product design training; diverse training mechanism; fragmentation learning; learning job aid, which involves the sharing of experiences by lecturers who are on the job; learning media, which emphasizes the brand operation of training; intangible learning, which stresses the seamless connecting between people; knowledge; resources, and scenarios. Over the last 2 decades, developments in IT, improvements in learning technology, students’ evolving needs toward learning, as well as the comprehensiveness and readiness of social learning have brought about profound influence on learning and social development. Looking ahead, we are full of optimistic anticipations because I believe that all ideas can be materialized. After all, the future is alive with boundless possibilities and uncertainties.

Systematically Grow Workforces, Influence Businesses, and Impress Leaders!

Michael Fors
Executive Leader of Learning, Microsoft Corporation | USA

Come learn how best practices applied at Microsoft, Intel, and the UN form a system for you! Many talent development professionals seek performance gaps and plug them, like holes in a dike. They create training, measure satisfaction, and hope leaders see the good work. Few can measure impact on business strategy. The result: Training functions struggle to show value, and are cut in hard times. But there is a better way! In this session, you will learn a practical, proven workforce performance system. In it, role performance specifications form the basis for hiring, onboarding, and leader-prioritized ongoing development. The system raises workforce performance so the organization can achieve its strategy. Measures of advanced Kirkpatrick levels and actual role performance define system success. You will assess how you develop their workforce versus the system, draft how you would implement it, and receive feedback on your plans.

The Secrets of Building a Smart and Healthy Organization

Ming Chou
General Manager, Vine Management Consulting | Taiwan

Confronted with severe market competition, businesses need to sustain their growth through market savvy and adaptability. However, many CEOs don’t realize that the biggest enemy is often within the organization. Organizational health is the most underestimated competitive advantage. Any organization that seeks to be sustainably successful must be two things: smart and healthy. Being smart means being proficient in all business practices, such as strategy, marketing, finance, research and development, and technology. The other key is being healthy: no political wrestling, clear rewards and discipline, high morale, and high productivity with low turnover rate. This session will explore how to ensure your business is both smart and healthy.

Talent Strategies in an Era of Disruption—Trends and Insights Across Asia

Puneet Swani
Talent and Rewards Business Leader, Mercer | Singapore

Technology is transforming the very fabric of our businesses and jobs. As an HR leader, you are expected to be at the forefront of change, ensuring your people processes are resilient and your businesses sustainable despite disruption. This session will explore a recent study with inputs from HR and business leaders in 37 countries. The study attempts to shine a light on what technological change has meant for business leaders, HR professionals, and employees around the world. You will discover some key highlights from this research and gain actionable insights on how progressive HR leaders can empower their businesses by cultivating a thriving workforce while building for an unknown future.

Close Critical Skill Gaps With Microlearning.

Parul Gupta
CEO, Kovim | USA

Advances in technology increasingly drive employees to acquire new skills quickly and put them to immediate use. Learning teams often struggle to close critical skill gaps to ensure company growth and competitive advantage. Microlearning can be key to rapid acquisition of critical skills. To be effective, microlearning needs to define and demonstrate the skill it is teaching. The “what” is only a small part of any successful learning experience. The “when, who, why, and how” are also key to learner comprehension and the ability to apply what they learn on the job. By definition, it is critical that any microlearning experience be short and targeted to be successful. In this session, you will learn how to design microlearning that helps learners quickly gain the skills they need to perform their jobs. You will walk through a design methodology based on solid theoretical and pedagogical foundations that increase learning self-efficacy through engaging and stimulating microlearning experiences. You will use six key design questions to create a short, specific microlearning experience that engages learners from start to finish, and once developed can be immediately applied on the job. A background in learning theory and instructional design and tools is helpful, but not required.

Building a Highly Engaging Work Culture: It's Everyone's Job

Rebecca Ray
Executive Vice President, The Conference Board | USA

Despite increasing investments in employee engagement surveys, programs, and solutions, fewer than a third of workers around the globe exhibit high levels of commitment and discretionary effort. Because engaged employees are more productive and innovative, this low level of employee engagement is troubling. Just who in the organization is responsible for creating an engaging culture: senior executives? Human resources professionals? Frontline supervisors? Employees? The short answer: everyone! In this session, we’ll explore what three years of research from the DNA of Engagement series of reports at the Engagement Institute tells us about how engaging cultures and leaders are forged, as well as what individual employees need to know about being part of the solution. Learn the eight critical elements highly engaging cultures have in common, the 12 behaviors highly engaging leaders consistently do effectively, and the six steps employees can take to engage at work. You will receive three diagnostic tools that can help create a holistic approach to leveraging high levels of engagement to drive business performance. Assess your organization’s journey to becoming a highly engaging workplace using a series of three diagnostic tools that allow you to chart the action plan to move from current to future states of engagement for your organization, your leaders, and your employees.

Be Bold! Build a Sustainable, Innovative Learning Culture

Rita Bailey
Founder & CEO, Up to Something, LLC | USA

Global changes are creating a demand to disrupt the way we hire, train, and retain talent. Technology advances, shifts in demographics, and constant competitive necessity to upskill are changing how people learn. Trends are pointing to platforms and programs that encourage and enable self-development and microlearning. Most CEOs report that their companies are not developing skills or leaders fast enough, even though mobile devices make learning potentially available anywhere, anytime. If your organization is not disrupting the way learning initiatives are developed, delivered, and supported, the chance of becoming irrelevant is high. You won’t develop agile, forward-thinking global workforces using obsolete methods. Information overwhelm is the new norm, so how do we engage learners when studies show that we spend up to five hours per day on our mobile devices? During this session, you will be inspired to challenge status quo practices and consider new, engaging ways to ignite extraordinary experiences that drive change and excitement for learning. Learn how to:

• Deploy disruptive tactics for learning.
• Redirect the distracted mind.
• Implement flexible learning options.
• Prevent the zone-out phenomenon.
• Explore experiential and immersive tactics.

The Innovator’s Advantage: Decoding the Hidden Link Between People and Process

Ron Price
CEO, Price Associates | USA

In this session, the speaker will share the philosophies, practices, and processes that will give an organization the innovator’s advantage. The session will be based on the speaker’s most recent book, and will include detailed insights into the six stages of innovation; the unique passions, talents, and skills ideal for each stage; and how to select and prepare innovation teams for superior performance. The speaker will share the processes and practices he uses in helping organizations dramatically improve their business results from innovation.

The 6 Most Important Things You Can Do to Increase Training Effectiveness

Roy Pollock
Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, The 6Ds Company | USA

In today’s rapidly changing business climate, learning is more important than ever. Companies with the most effective training programs enjoy a competitive advantage. In this session, you will learn the six practices that differentiate highly effective training programs from those that produce little business value. Based on Roy’s international bestselling book, this session will help you better align training with business objectives, enhance engagement of participants and their managers, increase learning transfer back on the job, and evaluate what really matters to the business. This content of this session will be of value for anyone responsible for designing, delivering, evaluating, or managing training. The key concepts of each practice will be explained, and you’ll receive practical steps you can take immediately to improve the effectiveness and value of training in your organization.

Talent in the Artificial Intelligence Age: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence, Social Media, Analytics, and the Internet of Things on Talent Development

Shakun Khanna
Senior Director, Oracle | India

As the world of work evolves, artificial intelligence and technology will begin to assume a front role in skill development, and in many cases skill replacement, of employees. This will also have an impact on the way organizations strategize to develop and manage their talent. This session will give a preview of the latest developments in the fields of big data, the Internet of Things, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, and their impact on talent development and management in organizations. The speaker will share strategies that organizations should embrace to survive in the competition for talent, specifically in Asian economies. The last part of the session will focus on what new skills and behaviors talent development professionals will need to develop to stay relevant in a world where technology will play a frontal role. This session will present a balanced mix of technology, science, and the behavioral aspects of talent development in the days to come.

Data Analytics on Social Media and Social Networks

Xue Li
Professor, The University of Queensland | Australia

Social media and networks are a popular place for people to express their opinions about consumer products, to organize or initiate social events, or to spread news. How can we detect and predict the emerging sensitive events? How can we predict the propagation patterns of online microblogs? How can we use social media to understand people's opinions about a current issue, a new product, or an important event? This session presents the systems and technologies that apply data analytics to social media and social networks to better understand what they can tell you about your audience. A few application systems and relevant algorithms will be presented for the case studies.

Codifying Culture: Innovation at Amazon

Zane Moi
Head of Business Development, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, Amazon Web Services | Taiwan

This session will explore how, at its core, it is the individual who is central and critical in an organization’s approach to technology. The session will discuss how recruitment, team structure, performance appraisal, and reward systems all connect back to innovation. Finally, for this to work globally and at scale, this session will discuss how to focus on ensuring you do not rely merely on good intentions but instead codify your approach and culture through mechanisms and procedures.

Establishing an IoT Virtual College for Cross-Discipline Innovations

Zsehong Tsai
Chief Human Resources Officer, Asian Silicon Valley Development Agency | Taiwan

The success of Internet of things (IoT) applications requires not only the integration and collaboration of multidiscipline researchers and entrepreneurs, but also an ecosystem that is friendly to innovation. To cultivate essential human resources in various IoT areas, a government-sponsored development agency in Taiwan is about to launch an IoT virtual college, featuring fundamental and advanced online courses developed by elite universities and industrial partners in areas such as IoT sensors and platforms, networking, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. This platform will provide links to various offline, short courses so that students of this virtual college can enhance their hand-on experiences. This platform will also provide channels for the sharing of supporting materials, such as open-source software. The creators of this program will soon form an e-learning alliance for interested industrial and NGO partners. In this session, the creator of the IoT virtual college will elaborate the design concept and operation philosophy of this alliance. For those who are planning an e-learning system with their enterprises, this case study in the creation of an innovative, multinational IoT virtual college can serve as a reference model.