Beyond TNA: What 80 years of training needs analysis got wrong (Tuesday, July 07, 2026)

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ISPI SoCal Presents: First Tuesday Webinars

Beyond TNA: What 80 years of training needs analysis got wrong

George Limin Gu

For over 80 years, traditional Training Needs Analysis (TNA) has been asking the wrong question: “What training do people need?” In fact, training is often predetermined before any real investigation, diagnosis, or systematic analysis begins.

Session Description

This approach has turned training into a vague and unmeasurable cost center. It focuses on activities instead of real business outcomes, leaving the true value of training uncalculated.

This presentation presents a more realistic approach to TNA: GPS-IE (Goals, Problem, Solution, Implementation, Evaluation), which is focused on business gaps and business results. Please join us to learn how to make the value of the training you are developing clear, logical, and fully calculable.

About the Speaker

George has worked for over 30 years in both China and the United States, for companies including IBM, Ericsson, HayGroup, and Qwest.

He has led a variety of projects in the areas of management innovation, performance improvement, instructional system design, and organizational development.

In 2003, He was the main initiator of the ISPI Asia Pacific Center, and became the first Chinese to be recognized as a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) jointly by ISPI and ASTD.

Has served on the ISPI board since 2017 and was president of ISPI in 2023-2025.

In 2011, he co-developed with Hui Ding the GPS-IE®, Management System, which takes a pragmatic, and systematic approach to delivering results-oriented, and sustainable solutions to business problems.

#PerformanceImprovement #L&DandInstructionalDesign #ISPISoCal

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AI@Work: Personas, Prompts, and Performance (Thursday, July 09, 2026)

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ISPI SoCal Presents: AI@Work Seminar
July 9, 2026
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM PT

Personas, Prompts, and Performance

Emily Speller

AI works best when it supports the way work already happens. This session highlights real examples of personas, scheduled prompts, and planning use cases that demonstrate how AI can reduce cycle time, improve consistency, and support better decisions.

About the Speaker

Emily Speller is a lead Instructional Designer and AI Ambassador at Fiserv, a global IT services and consulting firm. With over 10 years of experience across education and learning design, she focuses on practical, role-based adoption, embedding AI into real workflows to support performance.

Accessibility

Live captions available. All registrants will receive the session recording and resources.

ISPI SoCal upcoming events

Beyond TNA: What 80 years of training needs analysis got wrong (Tuesday, July 07, 2026)

AI@Work: Personas, Prompts, and Performance (Thursday, July 09, 2026)

About the Speaker