In the L&D industry, there are a few events that feel less like conferences and more like homecomings. They’re places where handshakes turn into hugs, and the collective hum in the hallway is one of shared purpose and familiar faces. DevLearn
For us at iSpring, DevLearn is one of those special occasions where the entire eLearning community comes together. We get to listen to and to learn from everyone: longtime users, those familiar with our work, and professionals that we’re meeting for the first time . We discuss their victories, their daily hurdles, and the “Wouldn’t it be great if…” ideas that linger after a long workday.
These conversations tell us what truly matters to the professionals in corporate learning. They directly influence how we improve our product and create resources that hit the mark.
There’s a warmth at DevLearn that’s hard to describe but easy to feel. If the eLearning world has a family reunion on the eve of the holiday season, this is it. It’s where you see peers you’ve known for years and newcomers who instantly feel like part of the community. Everyone is united by a drive to make learning better.
A strategic pit stop for L&D This year, our iSpring team revved up for DevLearn with a theme of speed, precision, and high-performance teamwork: Formula 1.
We started with a pre-party on November 11th, a perfect warm-up where we connected with the community in a relaxed, celebratory gear. When the main event kicked off at the MGM Grand on November 12-13, our F1-styled booth #403 turned into a strategic pit stop for L&D professionals.
Just like in racing, the right pit stop is where strategy meets action, refueling and changing tires for the next lap. That was our goal. And it worked. The booth was buzzing all day — a hive of conversation and collaboration.
Our crew of nine iSpring teammates was on the ground, including Anna Poli, our Senior eLearning Developer, and Maria Starling, iSpring’s L&D Community Lead.
The energy was truly remarkable. As Maria shared, she could not remember the last time she had seen so many motivated people together in one place.
What stood out most was the mindset shift in the conversations happening around us: people were talking less about tools and slide design and much more about actual business impact, team needs, and positioning learning as a true ecosystem.
For too long, corporate training has been defined by a simple metric: the completion checkbox. Did everyone finish the course? Great. But what did it actually change? Did it improve performance? Boost confidence? Enhance a business metric?
We believe that learning must prove its worth. It needs clear, measurable results.
The response was overwhelming. Every professional we spoke to agreed. L&D managers, instructional designers, and training directors all feel the same pressure. They must prove the value of their programs. They need to show actual business impact.
The central question: Proving ROI in eLearning One of the clear highlights at the conference was a session in the Expo Hall. James Gilchrist, a longtime friend and partner of iSpring and founder of Lighthouse L&D Consulting, delivered the presentation, “L&D ROI in 2025: The Crisis, the Shift, and the Way Out.”
His talk focused on the industry’s biggest challenge. James addressed the main question on every L&D leader’s mind: “How do we prove our return on investment?”
The session drew a full room of more than 60 engaged professionals . James presented a framework grounded in the research from our peer-reviewed white paper, “ The ROI Shift.”
The engaged audience and active discussions afterward confirmed a clear trend. Professionals are earnestly looking for strategies to show how learning directly improves performance and delivers measurable value.
Looking forward This focus on tangible impact has set the direction for us through a year of intensive product development. We’ve been building, refining, and integrating new ways to measure, analyze, and report on how learning translates into performance. So, to have this mission validated at DevLearn was incredibly rewarding.
The conference clearly highlighted several key trends that are now defining the industry’s future:
A decisive shift from creating courses for their own sake to driving measurable business outcomes. The expectation that true, adaptive personalization in learning is finally achievable. The evolution of the L&D role from content creator to strategic performance consultant. The need to be intentional and strategic as AI reshapes workflows across every function. The irreplaceable value of human judgment and skills in an era of readily available information. Seeing the industry unite behind these principles confirms we’re on the right track. The demand for tools that support strategic measurement, personalized growth, and human-centric design is now widespread. It has become the standard for modern L&D.
And the validation didn’t stop there. Shortly after returning from the buzz of Las Vegas, we received some incredible news: iSpring was honored with a Brandon Hall Group Gold Excellence Award for “ Best Advance in Learning Management Measurement/Business Impact Tools .”
While not officially titled “Best ROI LMS,” the award recognized our unique capabilities in measuring learning efficiency and business impact, the very core of our DevLearn message.
For us, this award is a shared victory with our clients, who are pioneering this results-focused approach.
Until next year DevLearn 2025 was a powerful reminder of why we do this. It’s about the people. The passionate professional who stayed late at our booth to sketch out a workflow challenge. The group that debated the future of AI in learning over coffee. The collective sigh of understanding in James’ session when a complex concept clicked.
It was inspiring, grounding, and very valuable. We’ve returned with notebooks full of insights, cameras full of smiles, and a renewed commitment to building the tools that help you create learning that doesn’t just happen but works .
Thank you to everyone who stopped by, shared a story, or asked a tough question. You are the reason DevLearn feels like home. We’re already counting down the days until next year’s reunion.
9 min
9 min
