Day One – Monday, 7th December 2026
Riyadh, KSA
08:00 - 08:50
Registration & Networking Coffee
08:55 - 09:00
Welcome Remarks by the Organiser
Sidh N.C
Director,
QnA International
09:00 - 09:20
Opening Keynote
Redesigning the L&D Blueprint: Leadership Strategies for the AI Era
Artificial Intelligence isn’t just changing the tools of workplace learning; it’s fundamentally rewriting the job description of the L&D leader. Drawing on ATD’s global research and trends, this opening keynote explores what it takes to lead L&D in the AI era, the capabilities leaders need and where to focus next.
What You’ll Learn:
- Explain how AI is changing the L&D leaders’ role, from delivering training to shaping organizational capability, culture and workforce strategy.
- Identify which capabilities L&D leaders need to strengthen, including AI fluency, critical thinking and strategic leadership.
- Three priorities for aligning L&D with business needs and preparing people for an AI-powered future.
Speaker
Dr. Wei Wang
Senior Global Director,
Association for Talent Development, USA
09:25 - 10:05
International Keynote
AI Integration in Human Capital: From Strategy to Real-World Impact
“How do we integrate AI at scale while preserving trust, equity, and the human core of work?” In this opening keynote, a leading global voice in AI and talent development draws on global success stories and enterprise-level implementations to explore how AI is transforming human capital, from talent development and workforce planning to decision-making and employee experience. Through practical examples and strategic insight, this session will equip leaders to move beyond experimentation toward responsible, sustainable AI integration.
What You’ll Learn:
- Real-World AI implementation with proven case studies demonstrating how organizations are successfully embedding AI into human capital practices.
- Leadership & Governance Insights: How leaders can scale human-centred AI while ensuring trust, fairness, and ethical adoption.
- The road ahead with reskilling strategies, workforce readiness, and the capabilities required to drive AI-led transformation across diverse organizational and cultural contexts.
Speaker
Josh Cavalier
Educator, Founder,
JoshCavalier.ai, USA
10:10 - 10:45
Building Saudi Capability Through AI: From Strategy to Impact
This session explores how AI is reshaping skills development, personalized learning, reskilling and workforce readiness in Saudi Arabia. It will examine how organizations can use AI to identify capability gaps, accelerate talent development and prepare their workforce for emerging roles, while strengthening the human capabilities needed to succeed alongside AI.
What You’ll Learn:
- From AI Awareness to Capability: Turning AI adoption into practical workforce development.
- AI & Skills Intelligence: Identifying capability gaps and future skill requirements.
- Accelerating Reskilling & Upskilling: Preparing Saudi talent for emerging roles and changing workforce needs.
- Human–AI Collaboration: Building critical thinking, adaptability, judgment and other human capabilities.
10:50 - 11:10
Expert Insights
Working with AI Agents: The Human Edge in L&D
This session explores the human edge in an automated workforce, sustaining empathy, judgment and trust as AI agents take on operational L&D work and explore how people and AI can work effectively together.
What You’ll Learn:
- Retain human judgment and empathy as AI agents take on more operational L&D tasks.
- How L&D teams can maintain transparency and clear accountability when working with AI agents.
- Practical examples showing how to combine AI efficiency with human judgment, empathy and creativity to improve learning and business outcomes.
Moderator
Saud Alomair
L&D Executive and Leadership Coach and Consultant,
Saudi Arabia
11:15 - 11:45
Networking Break & Visit to the Boutique Exhibition Lounge
11:50 - 12:20
Leadership Panel
The Great Capability Shift: Building Skills for the Saudi Workforce of 2030
As Saudi Arabia advances towards Vision 2030, building a future-ready workforce requires a fundamental shift in how organizations develop talent, leadership, and critical skills. This leadership panel explores how businesses can bridge capability gaps, prepare for emerging opportunities, and empower Saudi talent to thrive in a rapidly evolving world of work.
What You’ll Learn:
- Identifying and understanding the capabilities Saudi Arabia’s workforce will need to succeed by 2030.
- Learning practical ways to develop, empower, and retain Saudi talent.
- Dive deep into how leaders can align skills development with business goals and Vision 2030.
12:250- 12:40
The Organization that Learns:
Building a Culture Where Capability Grows Every Day
Key Learnings:
- Why do some organizations learn faster than others?
- How do you move from a “training culture” to a “learning culture”?
- How do you make learning visible in performance, promotion, and leadership?
12:45 - 13:00
Coaching at Scale: How AI-Powered Matching Reaches Every Employee
Explore how organizations can make personalized development accessible to everyone, not just the few.
What You’ll Learn:
- Using AI to match employees with the right coaches, mentors, and learning opportunities based on their individual needs and goals.
- Extending coaching and mentorship beyond senior leaders to employees at every level.
- Leveraging AI-driven matching to accelerate employee growth, strengthen capabilities, and improve organizational performance.
13:05 - 13:30
Networking Break & Visit to the Boutique Exhibition Lounge
13:35 - 14:00
Saudi Case Study
The Capability Scorecard: What Should Every CHRO and CLO Be Measuring in 2027?
What You’ll Learn:
- The critical indicators of organizational capability and workforce readiness.
- Linking skills, leadership, learning, mobility, and performance data.
- Creating an executive dashboard that turns workforce capability into a strategic conversation.
Speakers
Abdulaziz Al Tamimi
HR Executive Director and Advisor,
Confidential Entity, Saudi Arabia
Faris Ahmed Al Abthan
Talent Development Director,
Development Authorities Support Center (DASC),
Saudi Arabia
Reem Algasim
Head of Human Resources,
Airbus, Saudi Arabia
Waleed Al Rashed
Senior Leader of People and Development,
Confidential Govt. Entity, KSA
Moderator
Dr. Marco Serrato
Vice President, Learning Enterprise,
Arizona State University, No.1 University in Innovation for 11 straight years, United States
14:05 - 14:30
The Big Closing Conversation
The Capability Equation: What Saudi Leaders Must Prioritize in 2027?
A high-level closing conversation bringing together a CEO/CHRO/CLO, government leader, L&D strategist and technology leader to answer one fundamental question: What must Saudi leaders prioritize in 2027 across people development, skills, technology and performance to build workforces capable of delivering the ambitions of 2027 and beyond?
What You’ll Learn:
- The capabilities Saudi Arabia must build now to remain competitive through the next decade.
- What organizations need to stop doing, start doing, and accelerate.
- How HR, L&D, business and technology leaders can collectively move from workforce transformation to workforce performance.
14:30 - 14:35
Closing Remarks
14:35 - 15:35
Networking Lunch and End of Day One
Day Two – Tuesday, 8th December 2026
Conference Day 2 | Riyadh, KSA
08:00 - 08:50
Registration and Networking Coffee
08:55 - 09:00
Opening Remarks
09:05 - 09:45
C LEVEL PANEL - From Generation Gap to Generation Advantage
How organizations can turn five generations in the workplace into a competitive advantage.
What You’ll Learn:
- In-depth understanding of what the cross generational workforce expects from leadership?
- Methodology to assist L&D leaders to train the younger employees to learn differently?
- Identify practical ways that organizations could implement to transfer institutional knowledge before experienced employees leave?
Speakers
Ibrahim Alyahya
Human Capital Executive Director,
Misk Foundation, Saudi Arabia
Moderator
Mariana Ignatov
General Manager,
LEORON Institute, Saudi Arabia
09:50 - 10:20
Trust, Coaching and the Age of Intelligent Growth
Human + AI Leadership: Coaching Teams Through Changing Roles and Ways of Working This session explores how leaders can guide employees through the changes AI brings to roles, skills, and ways of working. Discover practical approaches to building trust, supporting continuous learning, and helping teams adapt confidently to an AI-enabled workplace.
What You’ll Learn:
- Explore how leadership and coaching evolve when AI becomes part of everyday work and decision-making.
- Learn how trust, curiosity and continuous learning can help people adapt confidently to intelligent technologies.
- Discover how leaders can use AI to unlock individual potential, strengthen performance and accelerate capability development.
10:25 - 10:45
AI Governance in L&D
Trustworthy AI in L&D: Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability
What You’ll Learn:
- Understand the principles for using AI responsibly in learning, talent and people decisions.
- Learn how to balance AI innovation with privacy, transparency and employee confidence.
- Develop the right mix of AI fluency and human judgment to use AI safely and effectively.
10:50 - 11:05
The Reflective Manager: Turning People Managers into Skill Enablers
Building Skills Through Everyday Coaching, Reflection and Feedback
What You’ll Learn:
- Why do managers often have more influence on capability than the L&D function itself.
- Building coaching, reflection and feedback into everyday management.
- Practical habits managers can use to sustain learning long after training ends.
11:10 - 11:40
Networking Coffee Break and Visit to the Exhibition Lounge
11:45 - 12:00
Interactive Team-Dynamics Engagement
12:05 - 12:20
Executive Hot-Seat: The Three Uncomfortable Questions
A candid leadership conversation where an executive faces three difficult questions that leaders often avoid but must confront in today’s changing workplace.
Expect honest perspectives, bold answers and practical insights that challenge how we think about people, performance and leadership.
What You’ll Learn:
- What Are We Still Doing That No Longer Creates Value? Challenge outdated L&D practices, processes and assumptions.
- Are We Really Building Capability or Just Delivering Training? Examine whether learning is changing behaviour, performance and business outcomes.
- What Is Avoiding the Difficult Decision Costing Us? Examine the consequences of delaying tough decisions about people, performance and learning investment.
Speaker
Abeer Qumsieh
Founder,
Khibraty, Better Business,
United States
12:25 - 12:40
Beyond AI: The Reflective L&D Leader Redefining Growth in the Age of Intelligent Transformation
How data, AI, and self-awareness are reshaping what it means to learn, lead, and stay relevant.
As technology accelerates, the greatest challenge for L&D professionals isn’t keeping up with AI ; it’s keeping up with ourselves.
Dina K. AlAlami, Harvard MC/MPA graduate and CPTD-certified L&D strategist, shares her journey of growth and reinvention; from designing intelligent learning systems for government to redesigning her own learning identity.
Using the ATD Capability Model as her compass, she reveals how L&D leaders can move beyond dashboards and automation to cultivate reflective intelligence; the human capacity to learn faster than change itself.
Take away practical insights to turn analytics into awareness, technology into empathy, and metrics into meaning
What You’ll Learn:
- How to evolve from L&D professional to “learning strategist” using AI not as a replacement but as a reflection tool.
- How to integrate adaptive leadership and ATD capabilities to guide your own professional reinvention.
- How to measure what matters: personal growth, learning agility, and the human skills that make AI meaningful.
- How to build a reflective growth dashboard: transforming data from performance tracking into self-awareness and development insight.
Speaker
Dina K. AlAlami
Senior Specialist, Learning Design & Development,
Abu Dhabi Gov. Academy, UAE
12:25 - 12:45
Featured Talk + Poll: The Reflective L&D Leader in the Age of Intelligent Transformation
Using AI as a reflection tool through the ATD Capability Model, plus a live audience poll.
12:45 - 13:15
Networking Coffee Break and Visit to the Exhibition Lounge
13:20 - 14:10
Roundtable Hackathon
This high-energy interactive discussion blends structured peer learning with a gamified twist. Participants will join one of three roundtable discussion groups, each focused on a top L&D challenge. Every table will be moderated and follow the Idea Roulette format – rotating challenges that keeps the energy high and the ideas practical. Whether you’re leading transformation, navigating digital tools, or building capability frameworks, this session is designed to share ideas and co-create insights with your peers.
Idea Roulette 1: The Workforce We Need Next
How do we build the capabilities Saudi organisations will need in the next 3–5 years?
Participants explore:
- Which capabilities should we build, buy or borrow?
- How can L&D connect national priorities with real workforce needs?
- What should the future skills roadmap look like?
Idea Roulette 2: From Learning to Performance
How do we make learning change what people actually do — and prove it?
Participants explore:
- How can managers turn learning into everyday behaviour?
- What prevents learning from transferring into the workplace?
- Which metrics genuinely demonstrate business impact?
Idea Roulette 3: The L&D Function of 2030
If we were building L&D from scratch today, what would we keep, stop and reinvent?
Participants explore:
- What should L&D stop doing, and become more strategic?
- Where should technology and AI play a role, and where should humans remain firmly in control?
- What will the L&D leader of 2030 actually be responsible for?