GlobalEnglish Corporation and their partner in the Middle East, XpertLearning, held GlobalTalk, an exclusive invitation-only event (a part of their 2012 worldwide event series) in Dubai on May 9 at the Dubai Marina Yacht Club, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The theme of the event was “Leadership through Communication”.

39 delegates, all senior managers of reputed organizations, from the Middle East attended the event. The objective of the event was to get Senior Business Managers and Talent Development Managers to interact and share ideas on how communication and collaboration competency plays a pivotal role in the success of an organization – and how it is an imperative in a multi-cultural environment like the Middle East.

Mr. Julian Wragg, GlobalEnglish’s EMEA Regional Vice President, opened the event with a presentation on how global organizations are strategically shifting from traditional learning and development approaches to adopting the more effective 70:20:10 principle of learning. Mr. Wragg went on to explain how the 70:20:10 model, incorporating the various elements of experiential learning and formal learning, provides a more sustainable model for knowledge development within an organization and how this model can be adapted to address ever changing needs of an organization that needs to adapt to the speed of business.

A subsequent presentation by Mr. Brett Preston, the General Manager of Al Futtaim Training Center, the captive Learning and Development arm of the multi-discipline conglomerate Al Futtaim, covered aspects of Talent Development where the focus was on processes to identify the right talent, acquire the best talent, develop the most promising talent and retaining the talent with the highest potential. Mr. Preston went on to highlight the aspects of the Talent Development Framework, including metrics of measurement and the focus on business outcomes that Al Futtaim has put in place to help the organization achieve its strategic goals.

This was followed by a presentation by Ms. Maggie Williams, the Leadership Development & Capability Management Head at Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC). The highlight of Ms. William’s presentation was the criticality of communication competency development within the leadership of organizations, as much as the rank and file personnel, and how this will be a cornerstone in the sustainability of an organization as it grows and expands. Ms. Williams also highlighted the role of Emotional Management, how ‘all you need is love’ to get entire organizations move in a cohesive manner towards a single goal.

The fourth presentation, by Mr. Sagar Banjade, the SQHE Administrator at Brookfield Multiplex, took the delegates on a journey that outlined how Mr. Banjade who joined Brookfield Multiplex as a tea boy went on to develop himself and grow to the position of SQHE Administrator. The key message of Mr. Banjade’s presentation was to highlight how investment in talent development pays off and makes it a ‘win-win’ for the individual, the organization and the community. Elements of Mr. Banjade’s presentation covered how his own development and growth at Brookfield Multiplex led him to mentor and coach other employees, who subsequently have gone on to take up higher positions within the organization, how he has proactively involved himself in various organizational initiatives, how his growth encouraged him to contribute back to society and made him an individual invested in the greater good.

The last presentation of day by Ms. Vishakha Parvate, the Product Owner for GlobalEnglish Edge™ at GlobalEnglish Corporation provided delegates with a preview of the direction that the GlobalEnglish Suite has embarked on in 2012.

In conclusion, GlobalTalk 2012 Dubai was an opportune platform for delegates to network, get first hand information on how communication and collaboration competency plays a seminal role in the success of global corporations and understand how leading organizations in the region have adopted approaches to further these skills as a strategic business driver.

Visit some of the photos in our Facebook page here

What were the most popular Training/Learning topics in 2011?

Great Research in the field of L&D particularly in the Middle East region is scarce to say the least. In an attempt to formulate some indications of the common learning and development topic areas XpertLearning delved into its many portals that make up a support network for some of the leading corporate and government sectors in the region to try to find out

Bear in mind that although our study will be biased towards online learning many of our customers connect these learning initiatives both their in house and external training provision.

In a similar but more global perspective our partners SkillSoft have been evaluating the top courses books and simulations so it’s interesting to compare these against our Middle East based learning topics

Here are a few snapshots with 4 documents of the full results available to download here on our research at XpertLearning tab

 Top Books Titles across All Collections

The most popular title across all of the Books24x7 collections in 2011 was A Guide to the Project Management Body Of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Fourth Edition, followed by 175 Ways to Get More Done in Less Time!  Two of the new BusinessPro audio books also made it into the top 10, with a total of 25 audio books making it into the top 100 titles – a clear indication of the popularity of audio books! The most popular IT book of 2011 was Excel 2010 Power Programming with VBA.

 Here are the top 10 titles across all collections:

1. A Guide to the Project Management Body Of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)
2. 175 Ways to Get More Done in Less Time!
3. Audio Book – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
4. Better Vocabulary in 30 Minutes a Day
5. 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever, Revised Edition
6. No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline
7. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic
8. Audio Book – The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
9. PMP Exam Prep: Questions, Answers, & Explanations
10. Excel 2010 Power Programming with VBA

For more research from XpertLearning please visit www.XpertLearning.com

The popular Dubai Festival City Dragon Boat Festival, one of Dubai’s favourite events celebrated its fifth year on Friday

The event attracts thousands of competitors and spectators with teams lining up for an action-packed weekend. The festival was held on April 6-7 and was hosted by Festival Centre, Dubai Festival City, the UAE Dragon Boat Association, Siren Events, UAE Sailing and Rowing Federation, and Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City, in association with Mourjan Marinas IGY, the luxury marina developer and Management Company.

XpertLearning celebrated their 3^rd year participating in this great event in some style, as, for the first time they did NOT finish last. With only a bare minimum of paddlers as usual many of whom were in a dragon boat for the first time in their lives the Xpert team adorning the blue and green colours could feel very proud of the accomplishment as they finished 5^th out of 6

Jason Mackenzie, Technical Director of the UAE Dragon Boat Association, said: “This event is in its fifth year and has been more popular than ever. It is a fantastic sport and a wonderful day out for the family.

Paul Michael Gledhill Executive Director and Co-Founder said “The spirit and teamwork this year in particular was fantastic. We seemed to be much more in sync and moved across the water much easier than in previous years. It just proves to me the sport is as much about co-ordination and not simply brute strength”. He went on to thank some of the paddlers who joined the team from XpertLearning customers and friends. A special mention to Al Futtaim Supreme and Axiom for their endeavors

We look forward to being part of the event next year and invite our customers, followers, friends and families to participate with us next year

DubaiSME, the agency of the Department of Economic Development in Dubai (DED) mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, has announced the first-ever DubaiSME 100 ranking of companies in a ceremony held at the Dubai World Trade Centre today.  The companies that made into the first list of top 100 SMEs were honoured by His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Economic Sector Committee in Dubai, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group, at the ceremony.

Accepting the Award

Janine Croft and Paul Michael Gledhill Co-Founders of XpertLearning joined all of the top 100 CEOs on stage to celebrate the achievement at the ceremony. They both agreed it had been a fantastic achievement and worth the effort put in thought the rigorous application process. Hopefully we can continue to improve and grow as a company and represent the best of learning based technology in the future

Speaking at the ceremony, His Excellency Sami Al Qamzi, Director General of DED, said, “The Government of Dubai has launched various initiatives to promote entrepreneurship and SME development under its SME 5-year plan. This commitment to promote entrepreneurship and SMEs is in the DNA of Dubai, supported and led by our socio-economic stability, openness and visionary leadership. The DubaiSME 100 initiative will serve to inspire our emerging SMEs. It will encourage them to think outside accepted parameters, push their creativity and thus achieve their goals.”

The DubaiSME 100 initiative was launched by His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum on 14 Mar 2011. The initiative, aimed to identify outstanding SME performance and potential, forms a critical component of the DubaiSME five-year plan approved by the Economic Sector Committee in 2009.Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of DubaiSME, said, “Dubai has been the epicentre of global business opportunities and development for decades.  Many great companies and global brands have been built in Dubai over the last three decades.  Indeed, their story is the story of Dubai’s economic development. Moving forward, to sustain Dubai’s dynamism and the can-do spirit, we need a new wave of thinking, action and energy. We need new ideas, more innovations; we need new ways of doing things; we need to take more risks, stretch ourselves, and overcome challenges.  In short, we need to overcome all barriers to create new value for the economy. Dubai SME 100 is a major means to achieve this.”The SME sector in Dubai is a major driver of the economy, accounting for 95% of the enterprises and 40% of the workforce in Dubai and contributing 42 % of the annual value-add created by the emirate.  Many SMEs that originated in Dubai have grown on to become global enterprises. The SME sector, in addition to being a key source of innovations, new products, services, markets and new business models, also supports a whole business ecosystem and all parts of the industry value chain making up the economy of Dubai and the UAE

Dubai SME 100

The Dubai SME 100 ranking will act as a platform and catalyst to identify promising SMEs – to groom them to become bigger, better and sustainable enterprises; eventually graduating them to large globally-oriented companies. At its core, the ranking is aimed at:- Celebrating Dubai’s top performing SMEs - Creating greater awareness of the importance of SME development- Creating a national motivational psyche in the nation’s social and business community- Encouraging SME role models to share best practices.- Marketing the capabilities of Dubai’s SME’s to regional and global investors- Providing opportunities  for SMEs  to raise capital- Creating a base of SMEs for a potential secondary listing of SMEs (IPO) that can attract equity capital for growth.- Providing development path for SMEs to graduate- Creating a culture of transparency and corporate governance.Unlike other rankings which are based mainly or purely on financial indicators, the Dubai SME 100 ranking places a balanced emphasis on financial and non-financial dimensions that affect enterprise performance and development. The non-financial dimensions cover innovation, international orientation, human capital development and corporate excellence.  The ranking will also serve as a tool for helping SMEs identify capability gaps for improvement. This is the real value add of Dubai SME 100.Key facts and figures of the

DubaiSME 100 applicants and short-listed candidates are:

1. A total of 1092 SMEs registered for the initiative, of which 196 SMEs applied to move on to Stage 2 of the application and evaluation process.  From these 196 serious applicants, the top 100 were selected and ranked based on complete submissions of financial statements, supplemented by either a management interview or site visit to ascertain facts and evaluate the merits of each case.2. Of the 100 ranked SMEs, based on Dubai’s official SME definition, 15 % are classified as micro SMEs, 52% as small SMEs and 33% as medium-sized SMEs.3. In terms of sectors, 62 % are from the Services, 13% are from the Manufacturing and 25% belong to the Trading Sector.4. The combined turnover of the top 100 SMEs based on their latest financial records is estimated at AED 2.3 billion. Their estimate total assets are worth at AED 1.4 billion and the combined profit is AED 220 million.5. Together, the top 100 SMEs in Dubai have 4,319 employees.

For the rankings please click here

SkillSoft’s Flexible, Engaging Leadership Training Recognized as a Frontrunner in Leadership Development

Feb 3, 2012–SkillSoft announced today that TrainingIndustry.com has named the organization to its “2012  Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List.” This achievement further exemplifies SkillSoft’s leadership and influence within the training industry and touts its leadership training solutions. SkillSoft is a leading SaaS provider of e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small-to-medium-sized businesses.

“We provide our customers with innovative tools to help them develop their employees’ leadership skills and stay competitive in this market,” said John Ambrose, senior vice president, Strategy, Corporate Development and Emerging Business, SkillSoft. “Being named a ‘Top 20 Leadership Training Company’ is a great honor for all of us at SkillSoft and a testament to our commitment to providing some of the best leadership training in the industry.”

SkillSoft offers a variety of dynamic award winning resources to support leadership development including videos featuring world renowned business gurus in SkillSoft’s Leadership Development Channel, SkillSoft’s Leadership KnowledgeCenters, user-friendly learning portals that allows learners instant access to trusted and targeted content, and SkillSoft Leadership Advantage 2.0 (SLA 2.0), a leadership skills training and development program solution designed to make learning quick and engaging. SkillSoft’s leadership development solutions can also be accessed on-the-go with SkillSoft’s mobile learning solutions that deliver relevant content for mobile phones, tablets and other web-enabled devices, and on demand for the mobile worker.

“Service offerings vary so widely in the leadership marketplace that it’s important to find organizations that encompass all of the traits and services found in a great leadership training company,” said Doug Harward, chief executive officer of Training Industry, Inc. “We believe the companies on this list do just that.”

In selecting the top 20 companies, TrainingIndustry.com’s judges looked at the following criteria:

• Thought leadership and influence on leadership training industry
• Industry recognition and innovation
• Breadth of programs and audiences served
• Delivery methods offered
• Company size and growth potential
• Strength of clients
• Geographic reach
• Experience in serving the market  

About TrainingIndustry.com

TrainingIndustry.com spotlights the latest news, articles, case studies, and best practices within the training industry. Our focus is on helping dedicated business and training professionals get the information, insight, and tools needed to more effectively manage the business of learning.

To have a trial access to evaluate of any of the leadership solutions from SkillSoft contact marketing@xpertlearning.com

The 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon broke all records this year. With the wonderful backdrop of the Burj Khalifa and the temperatures perfect for the run the XpertLearning participants took to the roads.

Leah Quirente Office Manager at XpertLearning explains “It was my first 10km run as I only joined their 3km fun run last year. It was tiring but fun! I finished it in 1:49:48 which is nearly 11 minutes earlier than I thought my best time would be. Not bad…I think, for a first timer who didn’t have any training. It’s been 2 days and my legs are still sore but I will still definitely join next year’s 10km run.”

Paul Michael Gledhill Co Founder and Executive Director responds when asked about why he runs  ”There are almost as many reasons as runners for why people partcipate in these events. This year was really special and the venue spectacular, taking part in the Dubai Marathon for me is very personal but at the same time the emotional connections to all of the charities and wonderful stories are the motivating factors. For whatever the reason, I hope that even more people will run again next year to keep the record books breaking”

In an exclusive interview , Saba Al-Tukmachy, Career Development Manager at the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) and a speaker at the Leaders of the Future Summit: Bridging the Gender Gap in Oil & Gas, talks to Oil & Gas IQ’s Editor In Chief, Tim Haïdar, about the opportunities for a woman wanting to embark on a career in the Middle Eastern oil and gas sector. Saba made a successful career change into upstream oil and gas with the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Dubai, before transitioning to work in a mainly downstream environment at ENOC in 2009.

In the course of her interview, Saba touches on:• The best strategies for addressing the issue of career vs. life-style for females in oil and gas sector
• Best practices for ensuring personal satisfaction, professional growth and promotion of women within the sector
• The importance of implementing incentives to attract females into technical/engineering jobs in oil and gas sector
• Saba’s own personal journey in oil and gas and dispelling the misconceptions of prejudice in the MENA oil sector.
 

Download the full interview here.

SkillSoft Publishes New Infographic to Guide Companies As They Develop a Mobile Learning Strategy

Infographic Complements SkillSoft’s Mobile Learning Whitepaper, “Five Calls To Make When Developing a Mobile Learning Strategy”

SkillSoft, a leading SaaS provider of e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses, today announced the availability of a new infographic outlining best practices for companies developing a mobile learning strategy. As smartphone and tablet use in the workplace increases, many organizations are implementing mobile learning into their learning programs. To ensure success, companies need to fully evaluate the different aspects that make up a good mobile learning strategy. SkillSoft’s Mobile Learning infographic provides organizations with a visual tool to help them determine when to implement a mobile learning strategy and what that strategy should encompass. The infographic is available at: http://www.skillsoft.com/infographic/mobile-learning-strategy-infographic.pdf

The Mobile Learning infographic is based on SkillSoft’s mobile learning whitepaper, Five Calls To Make When Developing a Mobile Learning Strategy. The whitepaper aims to help companies overcome mobile learning’s challenges by outlining the top questions that executives need to address before deciding on their best strategy.

SkillSoft’s Mobile Learning infographic poses important questions organizations need to think about when developing a mobile learning strategy, including:

• What does mobile mean?
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• What devices will you support?
• Do you have the necessary organizational support?
• How does mobile fit into your existing learning strategy and ecosystem?

Mobile learning from SkillSoft turns e-learning problems into m-learning solutions by delivering relevant content optimized for mobile phones, tablets and other web-enabled devices, on demand, and in easily digestible pieces.

SkillSoft’s Books24x7 On the Go™ mobile-optimized platform provides subscribers with instant access to an online reference library featuring thousands of full text, digital titles by leading industry authors and publishers as well as access to its two video-based solutions, Leadership Development Channel and 50 Lessons. Both the books and the videos are thoughtfully organized into subject areas and special collections to browse and search. SkillSoft also offers Chapters to Go™, a portable content feature that enables Books24x7 subscribers to download chapters of leading professional reference books as a PDF, mobile, or ePub file compatible with many mobile devices including tablets and e-readers. Chapters to Go builds upon existing Books24x7® functionality designed to make trusted content available at the highest point of need, whether online or offline, in the office or on the road. Additionally, SkillSoft’s award winning e-learning courses can be downloaded for off-line play with results and other tracking data synchronized to the server later. Finally, SkillSoft continues to invest in research and development for mobile learning and within the next couple of months will introduce a number of additional solutions designed to help learning organizations address emerging mobile training needs.

XpertLearning hosted their 6th annual Café ME (Customer Advisory Forum Event) on 15^th November 2011. Attended by over 70  L&D, training and HR professionals from the Middle East have had phenomenal feedback form all atendees

With a mix of case studies, workshops and product demonstrations the audience engaged throughout with questions and interaction. XpertLearning recognised the achievements of thier clients through awards, shared best practice and explored the future of learning and technology

We look forward to seeing an even bigger and better event in CAFEME 2012.

To see photos from the event see our facebook link here

Some Comments from the event

John Quinn Presentologist and Founder of Satellite

 ”The use of the interactive electronic voting system worked well as not only did the audience engage but the collation of the information gained from this audience will provide essential research for the region from leading HR and L&D authorities

Tim Walker  SkillSoft Channel Manager for EMEA

” The customer stories throughout the day help to communicate the effectiveness of e-Learning in an environment that was friendly,exciting and fun”

Andrea Studlik Regional L&D Manager AXA Insurance (GULF)

“Thank you for yesterday, it was a good day and we got lots of ideas from it.  We enjoyed hearing from different companies and getting to meet different people. We’ll be there again next year!”

Somayeh  Abdulkarim HR Officer, National Bonds

“It was a great event ”

Shurooq Altaher Training & Development Manager SmartWorld

“The event was successful thanks Riham and the XpertLearning team”

Sunita Rodriques Training Manager Geant

“Thank you for having me and ur best wishes, it was a good day I got to see so many ppl n network as well. Congrats on yet another successful event.”

Shekhar Sawant Emirates NBD Head-Learning & Development

Many thanks and I enjoyed the session that I attended. I look forward to the exchange of ideas and ensuring that we implement these effectively within the organization. My colleagues benefitted from the sessions and the interactions

• Best IT Content for SkillChoice IT;
• Best Leadership Development Program for SkillSoft Leadership Advantage;
• Best Soft Skills Content for SkillChoice Business Collection;
• Best Social Learning Solution for inGenius; and
• Best Mobile Learning Solution for Books24x7 Mobile Edition.

The 2011 awards mark the seventh consecutive year that SkillSoft has been named a Best of Elearning! Award honoree. Additionally, SkillSoft is being recognized for the fourth year in a row as an honoree in the ‘Best IT Content’ category.

“It is always a great honor to be nominated for a Best of Elearning! Award, so to be nominated for five awards for a second year in a row demonstrates our continued commitment to delivering high-quality, innovative solutions to our customers,” said John Ambrose, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Corporate Development and Emerging Business, SkillSoft. “We strive to provide a comprehensive, effective collection of workforce development assets across a variety of verticals and are delighted to be recognized again for our accomplishments.”

SkillSoft’s SkillChoice IT is part of the SkillChoice platform that is designed to offer a vast array of learning options with instant access to thousands of learning assets. SkillChoice IT offers thousands of hours of course instruction and simulated practice in multiple solution areas. It also offers thousands of online books through SkillSoft’s ITPro Collection as well as online mentoring and practice certification exams for leading IT certification assessments. SkillChoice IT also incorporates SkillSoft’s award-winning SkillPort and inGenius platforms for a comprehensive learning management and social learning solution.

SkillSoft’s inGenius solution enables social learning by extending the value of expert information and infusing it with the knowledge and expertise of an organization’s own employees. inGenius is built upon a secure, trusted SkillSoft platform that draws upon SkillSoft’s award-winning content, including Books24x7 On Demand content collections containing more than 30,000 titles — digital books from leading publishers, analyst research reports, and white papers — as well as over 2,000 videos of leading thought leaders and practitioners.

Award winners are chosen by readers nominating products and solutions via online balloting from Elearning! Magazine. This year, Elearning! Magazine received approximately 1750 nominations, consistent with last year’s program, making each category very competitive. The November issues of Elearning! Magazine and Government Elearning! Magazine will also highlight SkillSoft’s wins.