Skilljar CONNECTions: Carin D’Oliva, Customer Education Program Mgr., Asana Academy

Welcome to our series of Skilljar CONNECTions 2021!

As we count down to the fourth annual Skilljar Connect — Customer Education’s premier industry conference — we thought we’d ask some of our customers why they’ve attended in the past and what they’re most looking forward to this year.

View the full agenda for Connect 2021 and register now!

  Skilljar CONNECTor: Carin D’Oliva
  Role: Customer Education Program Manager,
  Asana Academy   Company: Asana
  Industry: Workflow software
  Favorite Thing About Connect: Learning from peers

We’re a motley crew—those of us working in Customer Education. We do a little bit of everything in so many different ways, but ultimately, we all love helping others learn. For me, finding this community eager to share and learn from one another started at Skilljar Connect.  — Carin D’Oliva

When Carin attended Connect 2020, she was only a few months into her job at Asana. She felt like she never had a connection to the customer education and training world beyond her job. That all changed at Connect.  

Skilljar: Can you tell us your biggest takeaways from attending Connect 2020?

Carin D’Oliva: My biggest takeaway was just how much I learned and how fun it was. The content was so diverse. Sessions weren’t just relevant to me, but also to my team. I remember conveying to them what I was learning — in real time! For example, the session, “Training a Global Audience” was something I wanted to share with my team. I also enjoyed the session on how LinkedIn collaborates across teams with three different product lines.

The interactive roundtables on topics including Analytics, Marketing, Monetization, Certification, and more were really engaging. Our group in the Certification roundtable session was really active and we kept the conversation going even after the event.

I made good use of the virtual chat function on Slack and ended up networking and talking to people in a way I didn’t expect to — and am still in contact with some of them today. — Carin D’Oliva

Another one of my favorite parts of Connect was the Customer Education Expo, a science fair style “show and tell” for insights into how your peers are building and running their education programs on Skilljar. It was also interesting to hear directly from Skilljar what’s coming up for the product, a working product roadmap.

Skilljar: What was the most actionable takeaway you were able to incorporate for your business right away?

Carin: I liked how the sessions were divided into three tracks — leadership, customer education management, and content — something I hadn’t seen at other conferences before. I followed the “Content” track and this is where I got the most actionable tactics. I picked up some new tips on instructional design writing, which is a pretty core skill we can all use help on. I also applied tips for creating content at scale and using the agile process to help streamline content updates over time.

I really enjoyed these tactical sessions and walked away with a ton of things to share with my team.  — Carin D’Oliva

I felt like the content was talking directly to me because at the time, I was in the discovery phase of considering what a certification and badging program would look like for Asana. Hearing from companies like Slack talk about how they built their program allowed me to leave with some really good ideas that I could action right away or in the future.

Skilljar: What are you most looking forward to at Connect 2021?

Carin: I think what I’m looking forward to most this year is all that networking again.

For me, Connect conferences are just like meeting up with friends. There’s a level of sharing experiences and learning together that happens, and it’s really valuable. — Carin D’Oliva

Skilljar: What would you say to someone on the fence about attending Connect this year?

Carin: I think that the relationships you can establish will help to elevate whatever you’re doing in terms of customer education, your program, and the management of your learning design. Learning from others, whether in sessions or through networking, is the reason to go.

When you meet someone who’s also doing customer education, you’re like —  I’ve found my people. They understand me. They speak the same language as me. And there’s a lot of happiness and a kind of excitement that goes with that. At Connect, you’re with a whole room of people that understand what you go through every day.

View the full agenda for Connect 2021 and register now!

Thanks Carin, we look forward to seeing you November 15 -18 at the Fairmont Sonoma for Connect 2021!