The ATD Saudi Arabia Conference 2025 seminar was a resounding success, inspiring professionals and sparking meaningful connections!
Seminar Agenda
Day One – Monday, 17th November 2025
Seminar Begins | Crowne Plaza Riyadh RDC Hotel & Convention by IHG, KSA
10:15 - 10:30
Improving the Business Impact of Upskilling Initiatives with AI: Two Case Studies
Leverage AI and big data analytics to bridge skill gaps more efficiently and to create tailored upskilling and reskilling programs with a higher business impact. Discover how AI helps already today in implementing skill development Initiatives that meet both individual and industry needs, ensuring a workforce that is ready for future challenges.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Understand how the megatrend AI is already today impacting the L&T Development industry.
- Develop a plan to integrate adaptive learning into larger corporate upskilling initiatives
- Discover the value of hybrid Coaching for securing your investment in people development
Speaker
Dr. Thilo Eckardt
Chief Inspiration Officer and Co-founder,
MyLearningBoutique, Switzerland
10:55 - 11:15
Future-Ready Talent: Competency-Driven Organizational Excellence
Retention Is a Culture Problem Not a Productivity Metric
Not a Productivity Metric
“This session explains why employee retention is driven by organizational culture, not productivity metrics. Through practical insights and real examples from Ertyad’s work with Modon and Tanmia, he highlights how leadership empathy and everyday cultural practices shape engagement, trust, and long-term commitment.
What You’ll Gain from This Session
- A clear understanding of why retention is a culture challenge.
- Insight into how leadership empathy influences engagement and performance.
- Practical cultural behaviors leaders can apply immediately.
- Real examples showing how culture improvements drive retention.
- A refreshed, people-centric lens for addressing turnover challenges.
Speaker
Abduallah Alomar
Solutions Consulting Manager | Head of Business
Development,
Ertyad, Saudi Arabia
12:45 - 13:05
Impact of Saudization on Talent Acquisition
As Saudi Arabia accelerates toward Vision 2030, Saudization is reshaping the nation’s talent landscape. This session delves into how organizations can adapt their recruitment strategies to align with national goals while maintaining agility, inclusivity, and excellence. Jordan Tasev will share actionable insights on balancing localization with competitiveness and how businesses can harness Saudization as a catalyst for growth and innovation.
Key Takeaways:
- Leverage Saudization to build a sustainable and future-ready workforce.
- Align talent strategies with Vision 2030 priorities.
- Turn nationalization goals into opportunities for innovation and long-term success.
Speaker
Jordan Tasev
Director of Talent Acquisition and Train-to-Hire,
LEORON Institute, Saudi Arabia
13:45 - 14:05
ATD Certification Impact on Career and Personal Development
This session will spotlight the transformative influence of ATD certifications on both professional advancement and personal growth. Through Reem’s real-life journey and practical insights, the audience will gain a deeper understanding of how globally recognized credentials such as the CPTD can enhance leadership capabilities, elevate credibility in the learning and development field, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and lifelong learning.
Speakers
Ahmad Shaarawy
ATD facilitator, Senior Learning & Development Consultant,
Saudi Arabia
Reem Alfaiz
ATD Master Trainer, CPTD
Saudi Arabia
14:30 - 14:50
Talent Patterns in the GCC: Adapting to Vision 2030
Workforce transformation in the GCC is accelerating under national agendas and the growing demand for future-ready skills. This session examines how organizations are aligning people strategies with Vision 2030 to drive long-term competitiveness. Drawing on regional survey insights, it explores emerging talent patterns, organizational readiness, and the strategies companies use to integrate and nurture new capabilities. Participants will see how organizations are rethinking talent management to meet national priorities and prepare for the future of work.
Key Takeaways:
- Align people strategies with Vision 2030 for long-term competitiveness.
- Identify emerging talent patterns and organizational readiness in the GCC.
- Apply practical strategies to build a future-ready workforce.
Speaker
Ausamah Al Khatib
Executive Director-Business Development,
Knowledge Group, Saudi Arabia
Day Two – Tuesday, 18th November 2025
Seminar | Crowne Plaza Riyadh RDC Hotel & Convention by IHG, KSA
10:30 - 10:55
Elevating Impact in Talent Development: How the ATD Middle East Excellence Awards Strengthen Organizational Practice and How to Make a Strong Application
Talent development and training are central to organizational performance, but it’s impact is not well recognized. As the field continues to evolve across the Middle East, there is real value in understanding how strong practice is identified, documented and showcased at a regional and global level. This session offers an overview of the inaugural ATD Middle East Excellence Awards framework and how organizations can use it to reflect on their hard work, showcase their talent development and learning initiatives, and highlight meaningful results in their submissions.
This session will cover:
- Better understanding of the inaugural ATD Middle East Excellence Awards
- Why organizations choose to apply and the value it brings
- Get tips for a compelling and strong application
Speaker
Dr. Wei Wang
Senior Global Director,
Association for Talent Development, United States
11:10 - 11:30
Excellence in Action: Cracking the Anti-Fragile Code for Transforming Leaders and Organizations.
Excellence today depends on leaders and organizations that can adapt, sustain performance, and grow stronger through change. This session explores how an anti-fragile mindset — one that transforms disruption into development — can redefine leadership and organizational growth.
Participants will discover how integrated approaches combining accredited leadership development, coaching, consulting, and competency-based evaluations can help build the agility, alignment, and capacity needed to perform at the highest international standards.
Key Takeaways:
- Strengthen leadership pipelines through accredited, high-standard training.
- Leverage coaching and consulting to accelerate growth and capability.
- Build cultures and teams that turn pressure into progress and resilience.
Speaker
Dr. Tarek Jomaa
Relationship Development Coach,
Ivory Training, Saudi Arabia
13:00 - 13:20
The Science of Success: Research-Based Approaches to Business Excellence
In a world where assumptions no longer cut it, business success depends on answers grounded in science. This session explores how Wide Impact uses research, data, and scientific methods to solve core business challenges from human capital and learning & development to service excellence.
This session will help learn how to move from intuition to evidence: conducting studies, designing interventions, and measuring results that truly matter to their organization’s performance.
Key Takeaways:
- Use research and data for stronger, evidence-based decision making.
- Design interventions that address real business problems, not just symptoms.
- Measure outcomes to ensure interventions deliver the desired impact.
Speaker
Eng. Tareq Abusallamah
Senior Consultant and Trainer,
Wide Impact
13:35 - 13:55
Leading with Purpose: Cultivating High-Trust Teams in a Complex World
Organizations face unprecedented challenges that demand leaders to cultivate high-trust, adaptable, and innovative teams aligned around a shared purpose. This session explores proven strategies, based on FranklinCovey’s renowned methodologies, to empower leaders to build teams that thrive and deliver lasting impact.
Key Takeaways:
- Build High-Trust Teams: Foster credibility, collaboration, and innovation.
- Align with Strategic Goals: Focus on what matters most using The 4 Disciplines of Execution.
- Promote Continuous Growth: Apply The 7 Habits to drive personal and team development.
14:30 - 14:50
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