Epic show report

Learning Technologies 2005

London Olympia, 26-27th January 2005
Report by Nick Timpson, Business Development Executive, Epic

The Learning Technologies exhibition this year took place on Wednesday the 26th and Thursday 27th January in Kensington Olympia.

Initial thoughts are that the show was a great success with a good turn-out of visitors and exhibitors alike. The general feeling for this exhibition from an e-learning point of view is that, as the name implies, the show is focused towards those individuals who have an interest in learning approaches from both an HR and technical point of view.

In contrast to the CIPD show (a more generic conference in terms of learning and Human Resources) which took place back in October 2004 in Harrogate, the Learning Technologies conference has a more focused theme and this is reinforced by the questions and general behaviour of visitors attending. For example, the majority of people who walked onto each stand had a specific reason for attending and a particular requirement or question that they wished to discuss whereas other shows have indicated that attendees are a little more "reserved" in approaching each stand and keep themselves at a 'safe distance' as they determine what each exhibitor is offering/demonstrating etc.

This therefore makes the Learning Technologies show an extremely interesting one to attend as there is no shortage of exhibitors and visitors happy to discuss ideas and approaches to learning which makes the whole atmosphere very stimulating and productive - which cannot be bad for the industry as a whole. We believe this is an accurate representation of the general direction that e-learning and blended learning is taking in this country within both private and public sector arenas. All in all, not a bad place to be for now and the future!