This document summarizes a conference on learning and development in the Middle East. It outlines the following: - The conference will bring together thought leaders from top companies like Emirates Airlines, Cleveland Clinic, Coca Cola, and Etihad Airways to discuss aligning learning with business goals, measuring the impact of learning, and developing leaders. - It will provide case studies from companies like Emirates Airlines and Sharjah Islamic Bank on justifying the value of learning departments and selecting effective metrics. - Experts will discuss transforming learning to blended and experiential models, leveraging new technologies, implementing successful e-learning programs, and building assessment and development centers. - Interactive roundtables will

1.  Align your L&D programmes with business goals
and strategic priorities to effectively link learning to
organisational performance
 Optimise the effectiveness of your learning
initiatives by benchmarking your practices with
leading employers such as Emirates Airlines,
Novartis, Jumeirah Group, Aramex, Cleveland
Clinic and Al Futtaim
 Demonstrate the value of L&D departments as
you walk away with practical tips and guidance from
live case studies
 Improve the retention of your learning
programmes by incorporating the latest trends in
learning such as e-learning gamification and brain
science into your learning interventions
HEAR FROM WORLD CLASS TALENT DEVELOPMENT THOUGHT
LEADERS INCLUDING:
EMIRATES AIRLINES
Brendan Noonan
Senior Vice President
Learning & Development
CLEVELAND CLINIC
Susan Ward
Senior Director
Learning & Development
COCA COLA
Waleed El Helw
Director of Human
Resources
ETIHAD AIRWAYS
Wissam Hachem
Vice President
Learning & Development
JUMEIRAH GROUP
Tara Cherniawski
Director of Learning & Development
Group and Corporate
AL FUTTAIM
Debbie Chatten
Head of Group Learning &
Development
GE LEADERSHIP VETERAN
IN THE REGION FOR
THE FIRST TIME
 Former Global Chief Talent Officer and VP People Development at HP
 Former VP for Organisation and Staffing at GE and VP for HR at GE Capital
 Established a Leadership Development Programme Named Best
Practice by Jack Welch
 Founding Member of The Marshall Goldsmith Group
www.talent-mea.com/learning
Book Before
28 December to save up to $2,390
22 – 25 March 2015
The Address Hotel Dubai Mall • Dubai • UAE #Learning15
LINDA SHARKEY
Innovation Partners Powered By Co-Located With
To Register contact Renuka: +971 4 4072731 / F: +971 4 3352718 / Email: renuka.sayyed@informa.com

2. www.talent-mea.com/learning
Opportunities to
Showcase Your
Learning and
Development
Solutions
The Forum is an exclusive platform to position
yourself as partner of choice among the Learning
& Talent Development executives in the Middle
East. There is a limited number of speaking
slots left, as well as branding opportunities. To
find out more on how you can raise your profile
and benefit from an early marketing campaign,
contact Faariss Khalil on +971 (0) 4 407 2516
or sponsorship@informa.com
Innovation Partners
The Talent Enterprise is the region’s leading ‘think’ and ‘do’ tank
dedicated to the elevation of human capital in the region. We
advise our clients on their most critical employability,
nationalisation, assessment, talent management, leadership
development, employee engagement and performance
opportunities. Our approach to human capital is fresh, evidence-led, innovative and
practical. Our clients include policy-makers, public and private sector employers as well
as educational institutions seeking to get the best out of their people and organisations.
For over 60 years, Pera Training has brought first-rate tailored
learning solutions to all areas of the UK economy and we are
now one of the largest providers of government funded and
commercially tailored training programs, offering
Apprenticeships, Higher Apprenticeships, Traineeships,
Diplomas, NVQs and Functional Skills. We identify the requirement for effective blended
vocational training, using ICT to provide certain functional aspects of learning. We have
developed our presence in the Middle East providing into-work, skill development and
capacity building programs through established partnerships.
LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN
THE MIDDLE EAST/ UNLOCKING
THE VALUE OF LEARNING TO DRIVE
GROWTH
In order to propel current and future business growth, business and HR
leaders must invest effectively in the development of their employees to
drive growth and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
The MENA Labour Market Confidence Index 2014, conceptualised by
Informa and the Talent Enterprise indicates that approximately 25% of
organisations increased their training budgets compared to last year. Whilst
investment in L&D is evidently on the rise, demand for a strategic approach
to learning & development, aligned with organisational strategy is becoming
the norm, rather than the exception.
Furthermore, as executive decision makers increasingly demand evidence
of a tangible impact of learning interventions on critical business KPIs and
performance metrics, leading talent development leaders are shifting away
from the reliance on traditional, classroom based training to workplace
and outcome focused learning. Such learning, along with a blended
learning approach lends itself well to establishing the direct link required by
businesses between development initiatives and increased organisational
performance.
However, in order for HR and talent development leaders to become
true learning strategic partners, strong business cases for learning and
development initiatives are increasingly imperative.
How do talent development leaders adapt to this ROI mandate for learning
currently prevalent in corporate boardrooms? What are the latest learning
trends that can be leveraged effectively to meet organisational objectives?
All these questions and more will be explored, debated and answered at the
Learning and Talent Development Forum 2015.
Dr. Sharkey is an internationally recognised
expert on global leadership and organisation
development. She has a wealth of practical
experience working with venerable organisations
as GE and HP where she established and
developed leaders for ever increasing global roles.
She not only has the hands on experience but uses
researched and fact-based approaches that take
the guesswork out of developing leaders.
Featuring a
Guru Morning
With
LINDA SHARKEY
To Register contact Renuka: +971 4 4072731 / F: +971 4 3352718 / Email: renuka.sayyed@informa.com

3. www.talent-mea.com/learning
Monday
23 March 2015FORUM Day ONE
08.30 Registration and Morning Coffee
08.55 Opening Remarks from the Chair
09.00 Attracting and Retaining the “Best and Brightest” with
a Winning Talent Proposition
Having great talent is essential to compete and
succeed in today's business environment. Top
notch talent and a winning culture are two
“musts” for your organisation to be seen as a
winning talent brand in the market. Without a
great internal brand you won’t be able to attract and keep the
“best and brightest”, but creating sustainable practices and
methods to build and retain talent can often be elusive to
many organisations. Linda will share with you the tested
approaches and real life examples that she has used in some
of the worlds best companies. During this session, you will:
ƒƒ Benchmark your talent practices to the best global
companies to devise a model that ensures you have great
talent over the long haul in your organisation.
ƒƒ Gain practical tips and tools to build your internal talent
brand and the impact this has on your external talent
brand
Linda Sharkey, Founding Member, The Marshall
Goldsmith Group
11.00 Morning Coffee And Speed Networking Break
11.40 Learning and Development as a Strategic Business
Partner: Aligning Your L&D Programme With
Organisational Strategy
ƒƒ How to devise a learning and development programme
aligned with the strategy of the business
ƒƒ The best strategies to assess which learning and
development gaps need to be bridged to achieve these
goals
ƒƒ Assessing your organisation’s learning-business strategy
alignment maturity in order to create an effective
alignment roadmap
Tracy Al Saidi, Director of Learning & Development, Emaar
Hospitality
12.10 Learning to Learn: How to Transform your Company
into a True Learning Organisation
ƒƒ How to integrate the five interrelated disciplines of Peter
Senge’s learning culture model into your organisation
ƒƒ The best methods to effectively shift the culture from
prevalent command and control systems of management
ƒƒ Creating value for your organisation by nurturing a double-
loop learning culture
Salman Shobaki, Chief Learning Officer, Aramex
12.40 Driving a Learning and Development Culture From The
Top: Senior Leadership as Champions of the Learning
and Development Component
ƒƒ The value of senior leadership buy-in to leveraging learning
and development to drive business growth and effect
organisational change
ƒƒ How to successfully engage business leadership with
learning and development
ƒƒ Strategies for senior leadership to empower front line
management to drive a learning and development agenda
which cascades through the organisation
Waleed El Helw, Director Human Resources, The Coca-
Cola Company
Brendan Noonan, Senior Vice President, Learning &
Development, Emirates Airlines
Christopher Lipscomb, Regional Head of Human
Resources, Al Tamimi & Company
Jane Lee, Performance Management and Career
Development, Emirates Global Aluminium
13.15 Networking Lunch
14.15 Learning Value Case Study Showdown: Assessing
and Measuring the Learning and Development Value
Contribution
Assessing the value of learning has increasingly become an
imperative for learning development leaders aiming to secure
executive sponsorship for their learning and development
initiatives. In this showdown of case studies, practical
guidance will be provided on the various ways the learning
value is being justified.
Justifying the Existence of Learning & Development – An
Emirates Airlines Case Study
ƒƒ How learning and development units justify their existence
ƒƒ Convincing the organisation on the value of Learning &
Development
Brendan Noonan, Senior Vice President, Learning &
Development, Emirates Airlines
Practical Application of Kirkpatrick Four Levels
ƒƒ Practical application of Kirkpatrick Four Levels® in the
hospitality industry
ƒƒ The focus on ROE (Return on Expectation)
Roberto Vizcaino, Vice President, Learning & Development,
Viceroy Hotel Group
The Most Effective ROI Measure for Learning &
Development – A Sharjah Islamic Bank Case Study
ƒƒ Determine which ROI measure is most effective for
learning and development
ƒƒ Selecting an ROI model which accurately captures the
value of intangibles
Sangeeth Ibrahim, Associate Vice President, Sharjah
Islamic Bank
15.15 Creating an Effective Competency Mapping Framework
That is Aligned With Business Strategy and Key
Performance Metrics
ƒƒ Competency selection: The importance of the identifying
the key competencies most valuable to your organisations
ƒƒ Post competency framework: how to secure buy-in and
implementation from senior leadership and the business
ƒƒ How to ensure top-down consistency on core
competencies and the impact of adherence on cascading
competencies through the organisation
Tara Cherniawski, Director of Learning & Development,
Group and Corporate, Jumeirah Group
15.45 Afternoon Coffee And Networking Break
16.15 Developing Great Leaders: Creating a Business
Oriented Leadership Development Programme For
Competitive Advantage
ƒƒ The critical components and characteristics of an effective
leadership development programme?
ƒƒ Strategically aligned competencies: How do you build and
select brand- aligned leadership capabilities that will drive
corporate performance
ƒƒ What works? What doesn’t? –the latest and most effective
tools and programmes for developing Leaders in the
Middle East
Claire Gearon, Head of Leadership Development, Emirates
Global Aluminium
16.45 Leveraging Analytics to Effectively Shape Your Learning
and Development Programmes
ƒƒ Using analytics to plan and create an effective programme
for your organisation?
ƒƒ When exactly to use analytics and the key insights you
should be looking for
ƒƒ Building analytics into future programmes to develop
human capital
17.15 Closing Remarks from the Chair
To Register contact Renuka: +971 4 4072731 / F: +971 4 3352718 / Email: renuka.sayyed@informa.com

4. Tuesday
24 March 2015FORUM Day TWO
08.30 Registration And Morning Coffee
08.55 Opening Remarks From The Chair
09.00 Transforming the Learning Experience: Moving from
Traditional Learning to Blended and Experiential
Learning
ƒƒ Traditional vs blended learning: Which strategy is most
effective in the Middle East
ƒƒ How to ensure alignment of learning & development
investment with organisational goals
ƒƒ Managing the shift from blended learning to experiential
learning
ƒƒ The impact of experiential learning and how it can enhance
productivity and ensure greater employee satisfaction and
retention
Wissam Hachem, Vice President, Learning & Development,
Etihad Airways
Jameela Korek, Head of Learning & Development, Middle
East Cluster, Novartis
Michael Burton, HR Strategic Adviser, ADNEC
09.40 Learning for Digital Learners: Leveraging New and
Emerging Technologies to Develop The GCC Workforce
of the Future
ƒƒ The latest emerging technologies trends in learning and
how they apply to the cultural variances in the Middle East
ƒƒ The main benefits from digitalisation in developing talent
ƒƒ The limits of technology for learning and development and
how they can be overcome to ensure a holistic learning
and development programme
Linda Al Ansari, Manager L&D - Learning Technologies,
Emirates Airlines
10.10 Best Practice Guidance on Avoiding the Costs and
Pitfalls of an Ineffective Onboarding Process
ƒƒ How to evaluate the efficiency of your current onboarding
process
ƒƒ The steps you must take to engage new hires during
the onboarding process and boost long term employee
performance and retention
ƒƒ The cost in numbers: the cost of an ineffective onboarding
process to your business and the impact this can have on
your bottom line
Susan Ward, Senior Director, Learning & Development,
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
10.40 Morning Coffee And Networking Break
11.15 How to Implement a Successful e-Learning Programme
in the Middle East and Overcoming Culturally Specific
Challenges to Adoption
ƒƒ Evaluating which approach is best to implement your
e-learning programmes and how to set the objectives and
metrics of success
ƒƒ The best strategies to market the e-learning programme to
employees to drive adoption
ƒƒ Displaying the benefits of e-learning and ensure employee
adoption and realisation of its value
Debbie Chatten, Head of Group Learning & Development,
Al Futtaim
11.45 Deploying Assessment and Development Centers for
Identifying Talent and Building Leadership Pipeline
ƒƒ How to design an assessment center to identify the right
talent
ƒƒ Utilising development centres to cultivate a talent pool with
the required mix of competencies
ƒƒ How to use your talent pool to ensure a continuous flow
in leadership pipeline
ƒƒ Best practice on how to link your leadership pipeline with
the succession plan
Khurshid Khan, Head, Talent Development, National Bank
of Oman
12.15 A Research Based Assessment of The Future of
Learning and Development
This practical presentation will launch the findings of a new
market study conducted to understand the future of learning
in the GCC region including:
ƒƒ Current trends in L&D
ƒƒ Use of gamification and technology in L&D
ƒƒ What practitioners believe learning and development could
look like in 2020
ƒƒ Potential growth areas
The session track will provide the participants with a
clear understanding of the current practice, immediate
opportunities and areas for innovation within Learning and
Development
Nicola Brown, Head of Marketing & Communications, PERA
Consulting
12.45 Lunch and Networking Break
13.45 Interactive Roundtable Discussions
This interactive session divides the audience into 3-4 groups,
each representing an industry and / or a hot topic ranging
from e-Learning to competency mapping. Delegates are
given the opportunity to vote on what topics to be discussed.
Each roundtable is tasked to come up with three practical
strategies related to their topic and/or industry. Discussion
will go on for 25 minutes and then each moderator will
present his or her table findings.
15.00 Afternoon Coffee and Networking Break
15.30 An OJT Roadmap to Success: Implementing an Effective
and Systematic Approach to OJT to Bridge Skill Gaps in
your Organisation
ƒƒ Unstructured approach vs. structured approach to OJT:
how to devise and execute a structured programme to
maximise the impact of OJT on business performance
ƒƒ How to effectively define the learning objectives of the OJT
programme and how to accurately track and measure the
progress and outcome
ƒƒ Coaching vs mentoring vs job rotation: the most effective
OJT methods effective to train and develop employees in
the Middle East
John King, Head of Leadership, Talent & Learning ,
Landmark Group
16.00 Building the “Middle Management” Edge: A Mashreq
Bank Case Study
ƒƒ Need for a competitive strategy and assessment of the
success profile of a middle manager
ƒƒ Developing a framework to support career progression
within the organisation
ƒƒ Evaluating competence and assessing potential for mid-
level roles
ƒƒ Building skills, knowledge and attitude to enhance middle
management capability
ƒƒ Strategies to fueling the leadership pipeline
Yuvakumar Ramchander, Vice President, Learning &
Development, Mashreq Bank
16.30 Closing Remarks from the Chair
www.talent-mea.com/learning
Book Before
28 December to
save up to $2,390
To Register contact Renuka: +971 4 4072731 / F: +971 4 3352718 / Email: renuka.sayyed@informa.com

5. www.talent-mea.com/learning
Sunday
22 March 2015
08.30 – 14.30
Pre Forum
MASTERCLASS
Developing and Implementing a Competency Framework for your
Business as a Strategy for Competitive Advantage
Competency mapping is an essential process of identifying the key knowledge, skills and attributes required for specific job functions to
execute organisational strategy. As organisations seek to achieve competitive advantage to drive growth, it is clear that the future will belong
to businesses that effect a fundamental organisational transformation into competency based organisations.
Given the complexity of creating competency frameworks that optimise the value of employees, join this workshop in order to:
 Learn how to develop an effective competency framework
 Understand how to define and identify core competencies required for superior performance
 Build competency models customised to the specific needs of your organisation
 Implement a competency framework aligned with business objectives and strategy
Are you an expert able to share valuable insights on designing and implementing competency mapping models to drive high organisational
performance and productivity? To contribute or lead this masterclass, contact Kenneth Mukasa on content@informa.com
Are you an industry thought leader able to share best practice methodologies on how to measure the return on investment of learning
& development to align learning with organisational strategy? To contribute or lead this masterclass, contact Kenneth Mukasa on
content@informa.com
Wednesday
25 March 2015
08.30 – 14.30
Post Forum
MASTERCLASS
Making the Intangible Tangible: Measuring & Assessing the ROI of
Learning & Development
Modern and savvy executives are increasingly aware of the key role intellectual and knowledge assets play to driving business results.
However, in order to effectively to manage their investments in human capital, accurate and reliable data is required to assess the extent to
which learning interventions are contributing to organisational performance.
For practical and systematic guidance on how to measure the intangible value of learning initiatives , join this workshop in order to:
 Learn how to align learning processes to organisational strategy and critical business KPIs
 Understand and utilise different methodologies to assess and evaluate the contribution of learning
 Select the ROI assessment approach most relevant for your organisation
 Learn how to pitch and sell ROI on learning to executive decision makers
The Learning and Development Forum is co-located with our Talent
Management and Succession Forum.The Talent Management and
Succession Forum brings talent management directors together to exchange
strategies on how to attract and retain talent, implement high potential
programmes, design effective succession planning programmes, develop
successful career development frameworks and leverage talent analytics to
transform your talent management strategy.
#Talent15
22 – 25 March 2015
The Address Hotel Dubai Mall • Dubai • UAE
management.talent-mea.com
Co-located with
Part of the REgion’s Leading HR Series
Lagos • Nigeria Riyadh • KSADubai • UAE
Dubai • UAEAbu Dhabi • UAE Dubai • UAE
To Register contact Renuka: +971 4 4072731 / F: +971 4 3352718 / Email: renuka.sayyed@informa.com

6. DELEGATE PRICE
Super Early Bird
Book Before
28 December 2014
Book Before
25 January 2015
Book Before
22 February 2015
Book After
22 February 2015
Forum + 2 Masterclasses $3,795 $3,995 $4,195 $4,395
Forum + 1 Masterclass $3,095 $3,295 $3,495 $3,695
Forum Only $2,395 $2,595 $2,795 $2,995
Any Masterclass $995 $1,195 $1,395 $1,595
For hospitality packages hospitality@informa.com
REGISTER TODAY
Go to www.talent-mea.com/learning
Call +971 4 335 2437
Email register-mea@informa.com
#Learning15
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BUILD A
LEARNING
CULTURE TO
OPTIMISE TALENT
PERFORMANCE
© Copyright Informa Middle East Ltd.
AZ3060
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Event at a glance
Sunday
22 March 2015
Monday
23 March 2015
Tuesday
24 March 2015
WEDNESDAY
25 March 2015
The Address Hotel Dubai Mall • Dubai • UAE
 Pre Forum Masterclass  Learning and Talent Development Forum  Post Forum Masterclass
CALL: +971 4 335 2483
E-MAIL: a.watts@informa.com
GROUP DISCOUNTS
AVAILABLE
Please choose the sessions you want to attend
For Group Discounts:
Contact: Renuka Sayyed
T: 971 4 4072731 II M: 971 529973540
E:renuka.sayyed@informa.com