News story

Learning Technologies adds The eLearning Guild and the DevLearn, Learning Solutions and Realities 360 events

LondonLearning NewsLearning Technologies

Learning Technologies has announced a significant expansion in the US with the addition of The eLearning Guild and its three events; DevLearn, Learning Solutions and Realities 360 to its portfolio. Learning Technologies owner, CloserStill Media, has acquired a majority stake in FocusZone Media, which operates as The eLearning Guild, for an undisclosed sum.

The eLearning Guild has a 40,000+ membership community of learning and development professionals in the United States and across the world. The Guild operates major conferences and exhibitions including DevLearn (Las Vegas, NV), Learning Solutions (Orlando, FL) and Realities 360 (San Jose, CL) and has a number of digital publications as well as research and online events.

CloserStill runs the world’s leading workplace learning event brand, Learning Technologies, with three market leading annual events in London, Berlin (with Online Educa) and Paris, a global digital community and the industry’s leading awards programme for corporate learning and development professionals. The London event in February is Europe’s largest annual exhibition and conference for the workplace learning sector attracting more than 8,000 attendees and over 200 exhibitors.

“This a very exciting moment for the Guild. Our vision has always been “Together we are better”, and this partnership with CloserStill empowers the Guild to connect to a broader, global community in new and exciting ways. We’ll be able to bring more international perspectives into the conversations we host and highlight solutions from all around the globe that our community can learn from. Connecting with the CloserStill network will enable the Guild to provide even more support to help our members grow in their professions and support each other in our work.,” said David Kelly, Executive Vice President of the Guild.

Commenting on the acquisition, CloserStill’s Learning Group Managing Director, Mark Penton, said: “We are delighted to welcome The eLearning Guild and their impressive event portfolio to our growing global network and are incredibly excited by the huge opportunities this will create. And most importantly, we look forward to enhancing the collaboration between our family of learning brands and their learning communities around the world.”

The Guild’s DevLearn 2018 took place at the Mirage in Las Vegas on October 24-26 with over 3,500 delegates and 150 exhibitors.

The Guild will continue to operate from its California base in Santa Rosa with the existing management team led by David Holcombe and David Kelly.

ENDS.

For more information, contact:

Mark Penton – CloserStill Media Learning Group. Tel: +44 (0) 1730 817601. Email: [email protected]
David Kelly – eLearning Guild(FocusZone Media). Tel: +1-707-387-1889.  Email: [email protected]

About CloserStill Media

CloserStill Media is one of the world’s fastest growing exhibition businesses, running best of class events in the technology and healthcare sectors. Over the last six years we have averaged over 40% revenue growth each year. We turnover almost £57 million and  have a team of 220 and offices in London, Paris, New York, Berlin, Singapore and Hong Kong. In our industry we have won over thirty major awards in the last seven years including the coveted Best Business Exhibition seven times.

  • Featured in the Sunday Times 2018 top 100 Best Places to Work

  • We have ranked in the top 100 in the last three Sunday Times International Track listings of Britain’s companies with the fastest growing international sales and in 2017 were listed in the Financial Times FT1000 Index as the fastest growing exhibition organiser and one of the fastest growing companies of any kind in Europe

  • The Financial Times FT1000 Index named CloserStill the fastest growing exhibition organiser in Europe, according to the FT1000 index report with revenue growth of 184% over the three years and a Compound Annual Growth Rate(CAGR) of 41.6%. CloserStill’s ranking is the highest of any exhibition organiser since the Sunday Times Fast Track series inception.

  • Voted by the Association Exhibition Organisers members as the Most Respected Company in the exhibition Industry.

  • Winners of over 30 major industry awards including Best Business Exhibition (x 7), Best Marketing (x8) and Best Sales (x4) Best Launch or Brand extension (x5) in the last eight years.