Next Manager Up: Rethinking Development for Frontline Leadership
Wednesday, September 9, 2026 @ 3pm ET

“Here are the keys.”

For too many frontline managers, that’s the entire leadership development experience. The manager leaves, the top performer gets promoted, and they’re expected to figure out the rest on their own. With little time for formal development, it’s no surprise that 67% of frontline managers say they’re making it up as they go and 41% question whether accepting the promotion was the right decision. Traditional leadership development simply doesn’t fit the realities of frontline operations.

Join JD Dillon as he explores a new approach to developing frontline leaders based on research from his new book, The Frontline Enablement Playbook. You’ll learn how to empower the frontline managers your operation depends on today while building systems that help future leaders step into their roles with confidence.

It’s time to rethink frontline leadership as its own discipline, with an approach that reflects the realities of leading in the flow of work.

L&D Talks is a two day international learning and development conference that brings together L&D professionals to learn from global experts through masterclasses, keynote presentations, discussion sessions, and networking. The event focuses on practical ideas and emerging trends in workplace learning, while creating opportunities for attendees to connect directly with speakers and peers from across the international L&D community.

A Future Without L&D? 

For decades, Learning & Development has struggled to clearly define its value. Too often, we’ve measured success by courses completed instead of business outcomes achieved, leaving stakeholders to question where L&D fits within the organization.

Now, AI is accelerating a new wave of workplace transformation. As organizations look to intelligent tools to answer questions, build content, and enable performance, they’re asking an even bigger question: Do we need an L&D function at all?

Join JD Dillon to explore why this moment is both the greatest challenge and opportunity our profession has ever faced. We’ll examine how the workplace is changing, why defending traditional approaches won’t secure our future, and how L&D can evolve into the function that powers the future of work. Spoiler: it’s never been about learning.

Every Shift Counts: Strategies to Make Sure Nonprofit Deskless Workers Can Learn and Serve
Tuesday, November 17 @ 1pm ET

Your mission depends on the people delivering services, supporting communities, and solving problems every day. Yet many employees and volunteers work in fast paced, deskless environments where training alone isn’t enough to prepare them for the realities of the job.

Join JD Dillon, author of The Frontline Enablement Playbook, to explore a proven framework for building capability, confidence, and readiness across your deskless workforce. Learn how understanding the work, the environment, and the people doing the job leads to practical solutions that fit naturally into the flow of work. You’ll leave with actionable strategies to better support your frontline teams, strengthen everyday performance, and create greater impact for the people and communities you serve.

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This session is part of the annual Learning That Sticks Fall Series hosted by the Nonprofit Learning Center.  My book includes a contributed section, “Helping the Helpers: How to Design for Nonprofit Frontline Workers,” written by series moderator, Nancy Bacon.

The Training Conference & Expo is the training industry’s leading conference. For 50 years, the annual Training Conference has given attendees the very best in skill-building content, covering train-the-trainer essentials, eLearning, behavioral analytics, emerging technologies, and more.

Stop Leaving Frontline Job Training to Chance

Hands-on training is the most important development tool in the deskless workplace. From restaurants and hotels to retail stores, manufacturing lines, and healthcare facilities, frontline capability is built alongside peer trainers and managers every shift. In fact, 95% of organizations rely on on-the-job training to build frontline skills. Yet while L&D chases the next big technology, OJT continues to be overlooked, leaving frontline employees’ success dependent on which trainer they happen to get.

The result? Employees get thrown into the job before they’re truly ready. Confidence drops. Performance suffers. Turnover rises. And companies continue wasting time and money on training that doesn’t stick.

It’s time to fix OJT. Join this practical session on improving hands-on job training in fast-moving frontline environments. You’ll discover how leading organizations create more consistent training experiences, prepare field trainers for success, build stronger peer connections, accelerate employee readiness, and reduce quick quits by helping employees feel confident and supported from the start.

Your business relies on your frontline. Don’t leave their training to chance.