With the slogan “Training between New Work and Real Work”, the practical summit for training personnel took place on May 9 and 10, 2023 at the Kaiserpalais Theater in Bad Oeynhausen. I was there with my two colleagues Eileen Zimbal and Steffen Engelhardt and for two days, we experienced a lot of interesting lectures and workshops and had many exciting conversations.
The program was diverse and offered information and inspiration on all aspects of recruiting and onboarding, the design of corporate learning, and the sustainable retention of trainees. There were inspiring keynotes, hands-on workshops, and BEST practices from training designers who shared their experiences with us. Here are some of the highlights that we particularly enjoyed:
- The keynote “Rock your Recruiting” by Martin Gaedt from Provotainment GmbH. He provoked and inspired us with 80 concrete examples of creative, extraordinary, and inspiring recruiting. He posed the crucial questions: what is attractive? What gets talked about? How can we secure the attention of applicants?
- The presentation “Ghost Hunters in Recruiting – Preboarding to Retain Trainees” by Antje Papenberg from GETEC Energie GmbH. She showed us how she has reduced ghosting by applicants with an innovative preboarding concept. In particular, she explained to us how she uses the time between signing the contract and starting the training to motivate, inform, and integrate the trainees.
- The workshop “Developing Creative Ideas in Recruiting and Onboarding Yourself” by Martin Gaedt. In this interactive format, we were able to actively develop our own ideas. We learned methods to find creative solutions and received tips on how to make our recruiting and onboarding more attractive.
- The workshop “Resilience for Trainers and Trainees” by Johann Weyer from INFO GmbH. In this workshop, we learned what resilience means and why it is important for training. We received tips on how to strengthen our own resilience and that of our trainees.
The German Training Forum 2023 was a very enriching experience for me. I got a lot of new ideas for my training work and was able to exchange thoughts with other trainers. Not only did I learn a lot, but I also had interesting conversations and made new contacts. I am thrilled with the variety and quality of the presentations, which were all very practical and applicable. I’m looking forward to implementing what I’ve learned at Arineo. I can recommend all trainers to visit the German Training Forum. It’s worth it and maybe we’ll see you next year!