Sponge is marking this special milestone with a free seminar at the event: the company looks back at the key developments in consumer trends and technology since 2004 and how they help shape the workplace and digital learning past, present and future.

Here’s where visitors will catch the Sponge team during the event:

Sponge free seminar: Theatre 4 at 12.30-13.00, 13 and 14 February
With fifteen years’ experience in digital learning, Kate Pasterfield, Sponge’s Chief Innovation Officer, is committed to driving innovation in the industry. Her pioneering work harnessing the latest technologies such as VR, AR, and interactive 360° video has won her several awards, including Learning Designer of the Year in 2016 and Learning Professional of the Year in 2017.
In her seminar, Shaping futures: how to engage tomorrow’s 'foraging learner' using insights from our past, she asks: "What can we do today to ensure that this new breed of learner is fully engaged and inspired as we venture into the future?"
The seminar also

• identifies key events in time that shaped learning’s past and present
• explores the ways in which these trends might influence the future of learning
• examines the concept of the ‘foraging learner’
• highlights stand-out examples of Sponge’s most creative work
• discovers actions L&D could take now
   

Sponge demo: Demo Zone at 11.15-11.30, 13 February
In 2017-18, Sponge developed an off-the-shelf learning game specifically for GDPR, called GDPR Sorted. Talking about the learning, Nicky Prangley, HR Services Manager at Krispy Kreme, said, "It took a boring topic and made it more engaging so that employees are quite happy to complete the training."

In this demo, GDPR Sorted game: The most fun you’ll ever have with data protection, Sponge GDPR specialist, James Foster, explains how game play is used to teach data protection principles. 

Attendees will get to

• play a "true" learning game based on gamification theory
• discover how familiar mechanics make the game easy and enjoyable to play
• understand how the game embeds good decision-making around GDPR policy
• challenge themselves on their own GDPR knowledge
   

Sponge clients in the Conference Hall: Royal Mail and AstraZeneca

James Barton, Online Learning Manager at Royal Mail, is amongst the speakers in the Virtual and Augmented Reality session that discusses how immersive technology has gone "from hype to reality" (T1S2, Conference Room 1, 13:55-15:05, 13 February). Royal Mail is piloting VR learning created by Sponge to deliver dog safety awareness training to its postmen and women. The talk also explains where AR and VR work well and offers practical tips on how L&D can include them as part of their learning offering.

In the Compliance session (T3S2, Conference Room 3, 13:55-15:05, 13 February), Louise Vamvoukaki, Global Sustainability Education and Engagement Lead at AstraZeneca, explains how the company worked with Sponge to implement a learning solution to transform compliance training from a "must do" to a "want to do" activity. This session aims to show how creativity and technology can be used to make compliance training innovative and motivating.

Check out the recommendations for seven conference talks at the show.

The Sponge stand: D50, Exhibition Hall

Visitors can meet with Sponge's friendly team on #standD50. Delegates can also

• don a headset to try out the Royal Mail VR dog safety awareness training
• test their knowledge of the past 15 years of learning technologies in a special timeline game designed exclusively for #LT19UK
• pick up a 15^th birthday party bag
• use their token from the conference bag to cast their vote on their top learning priority for 2019. The delegate with the lucky golden token wins a £200 voucher for a luxury break.