Winning in a Skills-First Workforce: Rethinking Events, Content, and Learning for Today’s Professionals
Includes a Live Web Event on 01/20/2026 at 3:00 PM (EST)
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- Customers - Free!
The professional development landscape is shifting fast. In a skills-first workforce and an economically tight environment, professionals are increasingly prioritizing learning that leads to measurable, applicable skills over traditional information-based education. Meanwhile, younger professionals are turning to GPTs and AI-assembled knowledge to fill the gaps typically met through conferences, webinars, and informational courses.
Associations have a unique advantage: the ecosystem, the expertise, and the program portfolio capable of driving deeper learning outcomes. Yet many organizations haven’t unlocked the full potential of their events and educational offerings to deliver true skills development.
In this session, we’ll unpack the industry-wide challenge and explore two critical areas where associations can immediately elevate their value and impact:
- Integrating events into a cohesive learning portfolio to meet the rising demand for skills-based development.
- The role of accessibility and inclusion across learning and events—and what an organization’s level of commitment communicates to today’s learners.
Attendees will walk away with actionable insights to realign their strategy, deepen member value, and future-proof their education offerings.
Key Takeaways
- Understand the shift to a skills-first professional development model and why information-based learning no longer meets learner expectations—especially for Millennial and Gen Z audiences.
- Learn frameworks for integrating events into a unified learning portfolio, enabling stronger outcomes, greater engagement, and clearer pathways for learner growth.
- Recognize how accessibility and inclusion practices in learning + events shape learner trust, perceived value, and organizational credibility.
- Leave with practical steps to leverage existing resources and programs to deliver higher-impact, skills-driven professional development.
Tracy King, MA, CAE
Chief Learning Strategist & CEO
InspirEd
Tracy is the CEO and Chief Learning Strategist of InspirEd, a full-service learning and event-design agency that helps mission-driven organizations turn education programs from cost-centers into profitable, sustainable engines of workforce impact. With 20+ years in workforce development, Tracy is the award-winning author of Competitive Advantage: Create Continuing Education That Is Profitable, Sustainable and Impactful and a recognized thought leader whose insights on learning science, accessibility, and AI-enabled education have been featured widely. Tracy is also a neuroinclusion advocate and consultant, helping associations, corporations and training organizations design inclusive, high-impact learning experiences
Rachel Buczynski, M.S.Ed, CAE
Events Director
InspirEd
Rachel serves as Events Director at InspirEd, where she applies adult-learning theory and scalable event-planning systems to elevate educational conferences and forums for mission-driven organizations. With over 15 years of experience designing high-impact, inclusive learning experiences and a passion for lifelong learning as equity, Rachel brings strategic vision and hands-on execution to every gathering.
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