Last weekend I flew up to Sydney on the kind invitation of Michelle Ockers from Coca Cola Amatil to attend the 2015 Australian Institute of Training and Development National Excellence Awards.  I worked together with Michelle on the Work, Connect and Learn Program which was part of the Supply Chain Systems Certification Program which was nominated as a finalist in the Best Social and Collaborative Learning Award.

To say that it was exciting to be nominated for this first time award was a bit of an understatement.  Upon arriving at the venue, you could see everyone’s anticipation and it was an opportunity to also catch up with some people whom I hadn’t seen for a while. To my pleasant surprise, my fellow ex-colleagues from the National Australia Bank were there who, I found out, were also nominees for the SAME award!  Oh, the friendly competition was now on!

In its 14th year, this year, the AITD introduced new categories which reflect the changing nature of learning.  For example, we saw awards for Social and Collaborative Learning, Gamification/Simulation in Learning as well as Learning and Talent Development programs.  It was also sad to hear about the passing of AITD Fellow Dr Alastair Rylatt whose legacy will now continue through a new award recognising individual achievement in the field of Learning and Development.  That prize was awarded to Dr. Denise Meyerson (@denisemeyerson) who is the Director of Managing Consultancy International and a global master trainer of the LEGO Serious Play process (I had to look this process up and anything with Lego and play, gets my vote)…

Did we win the prize for Best Collaborative and Social Learning?

Unfortunately no.  The prize was won by my friend Damian White (@damian_white) and his team who had created NED (Nimble Education Delivery) talks at NAB. (A spin on the well known TED talks which allowed people with a passion to share their expertise in a similar forum).  I was happy to see the NAB team (and chat to my old team mates) on the night and share their excitement and celebration!

My fellow @NAB colleagues!!! Good luck at the @aitd1 ping @damian_white pic.twitter.com/Gu906ZGtHw

— Helen Blunden (@ActivateLearn) November 27, 2015

We did however get a lovely certificate and some wonderful memories not only of the evening but a great working collaboration with Coca Cola Amatil!

Congrats to @CocaColaAmatil @ActivateLearn Highly Commended #AITDawards Best Use of Social/Collaborative Learning. pic.twitter.com/QrVudYAbTi — AITD (@aitd1) November 27, 2015

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