First Ever Connect Workshops Announced: Sascha Evans and Kurt Ewald Lindley to lead hands-on sessions in an event first
The Learning Network is delighted to announce a brand-new addition to Connect 2026: for the first time in the conference's history, delegates arriving at The Eastside Rooms in Birmingham on Friday 27th November will be able to take part in expert-led workshops, with Sascha Evans and Kurt Ewald Lindley leading the first two.
The workshops come as a direct response to what the Learning Network has been hearing from its members and from past Connect delegates. Year after year, people have left the conference buzzing with ideas and asking for the same thing: more time to dig into a topic properly, and the chance to roll their sleeves up and work with it before heading home. The workshops are the Learning Network's answer to that request.
Each workshop gives delegates extended time with an expert in the room, space to explore new ideas in depth, and the opportunity to work out how those ideas could take shape in their own organisations. They are a chance to get beyond the headlines, test thinking with peers who face similar challenges, and leave with a clearer sense of the next step for their own work.
The first workshop, Neuro-Inclusive Learning Design, will be led by Sascha Evans, founder of We the Creators and creator of the Neurocolours methodology. Sascha is a learning designer and facilitator with more than 20 years' experience of creating learning experiences, and she works with businesses, universities, trainers, and L&D teams to design learning that works for neurodivergent and disabled learners.
Accessible learning design has long been a priority for the Learning Network, and the community has spent years supporting members as they work towards it. Increasingly, though, members have been telling the network that they want help going further, so that the learning they create is inclusive as well as accessible and works for the full range of people who take part in it. Sascha's workshop offers delegates time to explore what neuro-inclusive learning design means and how it could shape the experiences they build for their own learners.
The second workshop, Don't Outsource the Thinking: AI, Cognitive Offloading and the Human Work Worth Keeping, will be led by Kurt Ewald Lindley, founder of Be More Learning & Development and The Learning Scientist magazine, who works with organisations across learning, organisational development, the science of learning, and executive coaching.
As the initial shock of generative AI fades, it is fast becoming an everyday tool in most organisations, and that brings a new set of questions for L&D. When we hand thinking over to AI, something can be lost along the way, and the effects of that cognitive offloading on how well people learn, decide, and perform at work are only beginning to come into view. Kurt's workshop gives delegates the space to think clearly about when, where, and how they want AI to do the heavy lifting, and where human effort needs to stay firmly in place to keep the workforce sharp, capable, and effective.
The two workshops sit alongside keynotes from Donald H Taylor and Susi Miller and a packed programme of panels and sessions, with plenty of time between them to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and connect with the wider L&D community.
The Learning Network would like to say a huge thank you to the sponsors making Connect 2026 possible: headline sponsors Comtec and Evolve L&D, and sponsors L&D Free Spirits and Personal Strengths Coaching. Thanks also go to The CPD Group, which has accredited the conference, so every delegate can claim CPD points for the day.
With hands-on workshops joining the line-up for the first time, Connect 2026 offers more ways than ever to get stuck in, and tickets are on sale now.
Date: Friday 27 November 2026, all day from 08:00 to 17:30
Venue: The Eastside Rooms, Woodcock Street, Birmingham, B7 4BL
Tickets: On sale now at The Learning Network website thelearning-network.org/event/connect-2026-building-the-future/