The organisers of the Learning Technologies conference, being held in London’s Olympia on 26^th and 27^th January next year, have now announced the topics and speakers for the event.

Although there are a number of ‘new’ names appearing on the speakers list, there is still a preponderance of the well known and established (some might say ‘old guard’) learning technologies’ specialists. Most of these – the exception being Dr Itiel Dror – will be speaking on the first day of the conference. They include: Roger Schank, the learning theory and cognitive science specialist; learning technology market analyst and founder of eLearnity, David Wilson; former industry ‘user’-turned-pundit David Perring, also of eLearnity; the ubiquitous Charles Jennings (formerly of Thomson Reuters) and Nigel Paine (formerly of the BBC); Tim Drewitt, now an e-learning specialist with Eversheds LLP, and e-learning consultant, Cathy Moore.

Comment: If you’ve never heard these specialists speak, it will probably be well worthwhile going along to hear them at Learning Technologies. If you have heard them speak before, there should be plenty from the other speakers to interest you – along with some high quality session chairing from industry doyens Clive Shepherd, Nige Howarth, Phil Green, Denise Hudson Lawson, Alan Bellinger, Vaughan Waller, Laura Overton and Kathy Morris, all co-ordinated by the man who has been variously described as ‘e-learning’s Simon Cowell’ or, recently by Donald Clark in his blog, ‘the James Bond of e-learning’: Donald H Taylor of Infobasis.