All wise (and lasting) organizations realize the need to develop leaders. Whether at the frontline, leaders of leaders or even at the senior level, forward-looking organizations look for a variety of ways to develop their leaders.

Gone are the days of sending people to a single workshop and expecting great results. As good as those sessions can be, they always need something to supplement and advance those experiences. The greater exposure and diversity of insights leaders can get, the more effective they can become.

Enter Virtual LeaderCon, the most flexible cost-effective tool organizations can use to develop leaders.

What is Virtual LeaderCon?

Virtual LeaderCon is a live, virtual event where leaders from around the world will gather to learn from over 20 world-thought leaders over the course of 2.5 days. The Pre-Conference event (the afternoon of Sept 17 ET) will focus on the future of work in remote, remote and distributed working environments. The two following days (September 18 and 19) will feature discussions with experts on many aspects of leadership, team and individual development (see the full schedule here.)

These aren’t one-way lectures or presentations like you might expect at an industry conference or even a webinar. Our online platform, and my facilitation of each session, allows for conversation amongst the participants and with the speakers. In previous years, the best questions and conversation come from the learners. These are interactive engaging sessions with top world experts!

And during the sessions, we give away tons of books (both ours and those written by the speakers) and other surprises as well.

The coolest part?

Leaders – including yours – can attend and participate for free. The entire live event is 100% free. (If you want access to the on-demand recordings, transcripts and more, there are paid registration options as well.)

Would your leaders benefit from the chance to learn from the best in the world and ask their questions too?

How Can Organizations Use It?

Historically the bulk of participants in this event have been individual leaders who want to expand their skills, broaden their perspective and inspire them to greater success. This is certainly a great reason to attend (even if none of the ideas below appeal to you or work in your organization, you should still register yourself!) But if you’re thinking organizationally about how to develop leaders, “VLC” gives you plenty of options, including:

  • Help your remote and hybrid leaders. The VLC Pre-Conference session (September 17) is all about leading distributed teams and the future of work. Have your remote/hybrid leaders attend these sessions for specific help and guidance with the challenges of leading at a distance. If you pre-order copies of the new & updated edition of The Long-Distance Leader, each leader will get the recordings, transcripts and bonuses from the pre-conference too.
  • Give your leaders instant support. If you don’t provide much (or any) organizational training and development support for your leaders, you can start here! You will never find a higher value event at no cost to you or your leaders. Invite/encourage leaders to show up for as much of the event as they can, or for the one or two sessions they are most interested in.
  • Jumpstart new leaders. Want help for your brand-new leaders? Give them access to (or require them to join) one or more sessions to give them support, insights, and additional confidence as they lead for the first time. This may be the just-in-time boost they need.
  • Supplement your internal efforts. Even if you have great internal leadership development processes, you probably would love a supplement to it – or additional resources for your most eager leaders. VLC is a perfect solution to this need.
  • Invite your High Potential leaders. If you are looking for ways to support and encourage your high potential leaders (or team members), whether you have formal programming for them or not, this can be a great resource for them and your organization.
  • Pick a session. Looking at the full event can be overwhelming, and people’s calendars might not allow participation in the full conference. Perhaps one topic or one speaker speaks to a need in your organization. You can encourage people to attend that one session as a stand-alone event in your organization. It is more engaging and participative than most webinars and it is completely free (with no major pitch at the close).
  • Do a debrief. What if you encouraged a group of leaders to watch a session, and then did a post session discussion of the event? Or what if different people attended different sessions and you did a “lunch and learn” type of debrief where people shared their key lessons and ideas? You would get shared learning and build a culture of learning and support at the same time.
  • License the event. While live access to the conference is completely free (regardless of how many you invite), you can license access to the recordings, transcriptions and bonus content for yourself – or to load on your LMS for broader use. You can license the full conference or an individual session. You can license even if people didn’t attend live.
  • Shop for experts. Perhaps your organization is looking for experts for webinars, internal training or other events. This is a perfect way not only to experience these experts but gauge the interest from your leaders at the same time.
  • Create your own idea! Once you look at the program, you may find another great way this can help you develop your leaders.

We created Virtual LeaderCon to help support, inspire and develop leaders around the world with a low barrier to entry. We continue to create and promote this event because it does those things and can support organizations in growing all their leaders at the same time in a variety of ways.

You can learn more here and register or email us with any questions about what you’ve read here or anything else about the event.

Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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