I looked at this about a year ago - and could not find anything very helpful on ASTD membership based in UK. There's just not the same focus over here, or anything similar.
I'm a member of my local U.S. ASTD chapter. I've been going back and forth with joining the national ASTD, but I don't know if I can convince my company to pay for it on top of the local membership. I just joined in November and have been happy with it, so far. I've heard from a few members locally that our chapter is pretty active, compared to some others nearby, so it might be worth finding out how active the group local to you is before investing. The only thing missing for me is some sort of forum for discussion after meetings. I feel spoiled by this and a couple of other non-professional boards I visit and would love to be able to talk more with members of my local chapter about training outside of eLearning.
The (original) issue here is that we are in the UK, and while there seem to be some vague rumblings that the ASTD has a presence here, I could not find anything that made it a "real" opportunity.
We have nothing similar in the UK to represent "learning people", and the HR-related groups often focus on training only as an afterthought.
Ah, I see. I just took a look at the website and noticed they break out the international segment and don't really have much going on as far as chapters. (Surely someone on this forum has the time and energy to take on starting up the first official UK ASTD chapter )
I know what you mean regarding HR groups - I had joined my local SHRM chapter before starting this job and it hasn't really been useful to me since because the presentation topics are so varied, understandably. They haven't had anything related to training since I became a member.
Basically, they are changing the whole way that the International divisions are working.
They are trialling some countries, and there is nothing specific in/for UK at the moment...but there may be in the future. It will be more based around "networks" than specific Chapters, which was tried once but did not really work out for a variety of reasons.
Will let you know more as and when I know anything more...
12 Replies
To add to that
I'd also be interested to hear from UK based CIPD and ITOL* member and their views on membership.
*Institute of Training and Occupational Learning
Thanks to all again.
I am a US based ASTD member.
I'm another ASTD member in the Phoenix, AZ area.
BTW - we had a WONDERFUL session with Tom today. Sure wish there were more PHX area folks there!
If you are in the area, and interested in getting a local users group together, please feel free to reach out.
Jerson, Duane, David & Monste are the only folks I know of in the area. Are there others?
I've been meaning to look into an ASTD membership.
I looked at this about a year ago - and could not find anything very helpful on ASTD membership based in UK. There's just not the same focus over here, or anything similar.
Thank you Bruce,
I'll stick with the CIPD but still check out the ASTD for resources and news.
I'm a member of my local U.S. ASTD chapter. I've been going back and forth with joining the national ASTD, but I don't know if I can convince my company to pay for it on top of the local membership. I just joined in November and have been happy with it, so far. I've heard from a few members locally that our chapter is pretty active, compared to some others nearby, so it might be worth finding out how active the group local to you is before investing. The only thing missing for me is some sort of forum for discussion after meetings. I feel spoiled by this and a couple of other non-professional boards I visit and would love to be able to talk more with members of my local chapter about training outside of eLearning.
Laura,
The (original) issue here is that we are in the UK, and while there seem to be some vague rumblings that the ASTD has a presence here, I could not find anything that made it a "real" opportunity.
We have nothing similar in the UK to represent "learning people", and the HR-related groups often focus on training only as an afterthought.
Ah, I see. I just took a look at the website and noticed they break out the international segment and don't really have much going on as far as chapters. (Surely someone on this forum has the time and energy to take on starting up the first official UK ASTD chapter
)
I know what you mean regarding HR groups - I had joined my local SHRM chapter before starting this job and it hasn't really been useful to me since because the presentation topics are so varied, understandably. They haven't had anything related to training since I became a member.
...and 25 minutes later..........
Just had a great conversation with ASTD.
Basically, they are changing the whole way that the International divisions are working.
They are trialling some countries, and there is nothing specific in/for UK at the moment...but there may be in the future. It will be more based around "networks" than specific Chapters, which was tried once but did not really work out for a variety of reasons.
Will let you know more as and when I know anything more...
Good news for the future and look forward to any more updates Bruce (Once ASTD develops more in the UK.)
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