Richard Nantel

• Paying for the Luxury of Watching Content Offline [Read]
• Survey: Use of Social Media in Higher Ed [Read]
• The Multilingual Web [Read]
• Facebook’s Privacy Policy From 2005 to Today [Read]

I’m honored that I was invited to join the Research Advisory Board of AC Growth last week. The aim of AC Growth is to “provide the research and guidance you need to create and execute market-changing sales and marketing strategies to achieve revenue targets.” I accepted AC Growth’s invitation for a couple of reasons listed my Brandon Hall Research blog. The press release is here.

I’m increasingly interested in the sales and marketing business functions. I’m starting a number of Web-based companies this year. In February, I launched Petit Piot, an online jewellery boutique that features the work of some talented designers I know. Later this year, I’ll be starting a new software company in the HR/recruiting industry.

Starting a company is a quick way to learn that sales and marketing are crucial to success. If you think you can create a Web-based business and then sit back and watch the money roll in, you’re mistaken. Your sales and marketing strategies and efforts need as much attention as the site you’ve built.

I just published a post to my corporate blog listing the 100 commercial learning management systems covered by Brandon Hall Research. There are a couple of interesting observations about this:

• The long-predicted consolidation in the learning management system space isn’t taking place.
• New systems appear to be coming to market at an accelerated pace.
• Some people are predicting that learning management systems will soon be replaced with informal learning methods. Obviously, technology developers don’t seem to think so.  And, even in a slow economic climate, there must be a reasonably healthy market for this type of technology to support all of these products.

I received a nice e-mail from professor  William Caplin, the James McGill Professor of Music Theory at McGill University in response to a post I wrote on my corporate blog last week titled  Critical Skills We All Need Series: Writing.  As I mentioned in my post, Professor Caplin has turned out to be the biggest influence on my career and “the most important teacher I have ever had. ” I should not have let 20 years go by before telling him this.

I spent a fabulous week in Avignon last month. My days were spent cycling the country roads in Provence and visiting nearby towns. My photos have been uploaded to Flickr and can be viewed here.

For the last few days, I’ve been wearing my learning analyst hat and working on a number of reports about learning management systems for Brandon Hall Research. I’ve posted two articles to my corporate blog related to LMS pricing in 2009:

Average Pricing for Learning Management Systems in 2009

Price Ranges for Learning Management Systems in 2009

Later this week, I’ll be providing graphs that show how pricing has changed in the last few years.

One of the blogs to which I contribute daily, Workplace Learning Today, has been recognized to be one of the Top 50 Human Resources Blogs.

As of today, my colleagues Janet Clarey, Tom Werner, Gary Woodill, and I have collectively published 1163 posts to Workplace Learning Today since it was launched on August 12, 2008. We’re thrilled to have made this list after less than a year.

Dinner Conversation Turns to War

A recent dinner party I attended included three individuals who have given a lot of thought to the topic of war. Continue>

Beyond Dissecting Frogs in Biology With a Partner

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending my colleague Janet Clarey’s Webinar on Multi-Generational Learning in the Workplace. To illustrate the educational experiences of a person born on the cusp of the Generation X and Baby Boomer generations, Janet asked me to say a few words during her presentation about my formal education. Reflecting back on my grade school years, I realized that my time at school differed significantly from the education currently provided to my 10- and 15-year-old daughters. Continue>

This Blog Certified 100 Percent Economic Bad News Free

Saturday mornings are highlights of my week. I stay in bed with a pot of tea, the newspaper, and my youngest daughter cuddled up next to me watching cartoons.  Continue>

I’ve realized that I just don’t have the time to tinker with Drupal for my personal Web site. Drupal is a powerful content management system. I likely only scratched the surface of its abilities these last few months.

I’m reverting to Wordpress, which is fast, easy, and powerful. From now on, expect much more content and less tinkering with modules behind the scenes.

Life is too short.