Revamping Online Learning at the Forward Trust 
| Claire Pulman

Claire shared how she transformed the Forward Trust’s elearning portal into a streamlined, automated, and compliant system. Facing low completion rates, duplicate content, and manual reporting, she stripped back the platform, rebuilt learning pathways, cleaned hierarchy data, and introduced automation for renewals and reminders. With Team Insights and a new booking system, managers now have clear oversight of compliance and training, boosting completion rates (e.g. data protection from 30% to 95%) and saving time while safeguarding contracts.

Top takeaways:

1. Clean, accurate hierarchy data and automation are essential foundations for effective reporting and compliance.

2. Simplifying pathways and using tools like Team Insights empower managers, improve completion rates, and reduce admin burden.

Prompt Engineering for L&D
| Josh Willcock, the Charity Learning Consortium

Josh, our Head of Technology, demystified how AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot work and explained why prompt engineering is the key to getting useful, reliable outputs. He showed how AI doesn’t “know” facts but predicts words based on probability, which is why poorly written prompts can lead to mistakes or “hallucinations.” By applying structure – task, persona, context, examples, format, and tone – users can design better prompts that save time, improve accuracy, and avoid generic or misleading results. Josh emphasised that prompt engineering isn’t new: it’s the same skill L&D has used for years in asking the right questions, just now applied to AI.

Top takeaways:

1. The quality of AI output depends directly on the quality of your prompt – structured, specific inputs produce better, safer results.

2. Prompt engineering builds on existing L&D skills: it’s about asking the right questions, providing clear context, and guiding the conversation to avoid errors.

Developing Your Staff Through Creativity
| Jemima Frankel, 64 Million Artists

Jemima shared how everyday creativity is a powerful tool for wellbeing, connection, and problem-solving. Through the January Challenge (31 days of simple, fun creative prompts) individuals, teams, and communities are encouraged to express themselves, think differently, and collaborate. With new charity-focused resources, the initiative helps organisations embed creativity into daily practice and strengthen resilience in challenging times.

Top takeaways:

1. Creativity is for everyone (not just artists), and helps unlock new ideas and perspectives.

2. The January Challenge offers accessible, practical ways for charities and teams to spark creativity, improve wellbeing, and build stronger connections. Find out more at the virtual training session on Thursday 23rd October.

Introduction to Accessibility
| Michael Osborne, Accessible Me

Michael highlighted that accessibility in learning isn’t just about meeting legal requirements, it improves experiences for everyone. By building in features like captions, clear structure, alt text, and flexible formats right from the start, organisations can create more inclusive, effective, and future-proof content while avoiding the higher costs of retrofitting later.

Top takeaways:

1. Accessibility helps all learners, not just those with disabilities.

2. Designing with accessibility in mind from the beginning saves time, cost, and ensures compliance.