Tickets are now open for TJ Conference 2026: L&D Means Business, with Erica Farmer announced as keynote speaker. Her session, The AI fire hydrant: Turning more output into better performance, explores how L&D can help organisations turn AI productivity gains into better work, stronger decisions and improved performance at scale.
Tickets are now open for TJ Conference 2026: L&D Means Business, taking place on Monday 21 September at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London.
This year’s conference will explore what it means for L&D to operate as a genuine business function at a time when AI is reshaping work, roles, expectations and organisational performance.
Joining us as keynote speaker is Erica Farmer, one of the UK’s leading voices on AI, future skills and human potential.
Her keynote, The AI fire hydrant: Turning more output into better performance, will examine a growing challenge for organisations: AI is helping individuals produce more, faster, but existing workflows, management practices and decision-making processes are often struggling to keep up.
We need to look at how work, roles and decision-making are changing around AI
Erica Farmer
Erica commented: “I’m really looking forward to joining TJ Conference 2026 because the conversation about AI needs to move beyond individual productivity. Producing more doesn’t automatically mean the organisation performs better. We need to look at how work, roles and decision-making are changing around AI, and the part L&D can play in helping organisations redesign for what comes next.”
The keynote will explore how organisations can turn individual AI gains into better work, stronger decisions and improved performance, and what this means for the role L&D needs to play.
It will lead into practical workshop activity, giving delegates space to consider how their own roles may need to change, what they need to do differently and what needs to shift around them as work evolves.
L&D has a role to play in performance, change, capability and how work itself is redesigned
Jo Cook
TJ Editor Jo Cook said: “L&D Means Business is about moving beyond the idea that learning sits alongside the real work of the organisation. L&D has a role to play in performance, change, capability and how work itself is redesigned. We want people to leave the day with practical ideas they can put to work, not just a notebook full of interesting thoughts.”
The conference is limited to 60 places to create space for genuine discussion, participation and practical work.
Tickets cost £250 + VAT, with an early-bird price of £125 + VAT available for a short time.
