What is Nerd Out?

I’m Alyn Kinney, a learning and development professional in corporate education for the last 15+ years. I’ve written this newsletter since 2017. My original goal was to engage my immediate coworkers about what was going on in L&D. The newsletter grew organically by people referring to their friends from the original 7 readers to hundreds across industries and disciplines.

This is a free weekly newsletter about learning, design and philosophy. I send this note out on Wednesdays except for weeks where I’m on holiday focusing on my family or extended work trips.

This newsletter is community supported. Paid subscribers get access to back episodes and occasional updates on projects that I’m working on. My goal is to keep most of my content and the best of my content free, that’s really what the paid members pay for.

Many paying subscribers expense Nerd Out to the company they work for as part of their personal learning and development budget or get reimbursed by their companies education plan. I encourage this because the topics that I cover are *almost entirely work related. If you are a leader enrolling your team or work group into Nerd Out will net a significant discount for everyone. Do you know someone who would benefit from Nerd Out? Consider gifting them a subscription.

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Once you’re subscribed, every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox but be sure and check your junk mail for the first note and move it to your inbox.

I also occasionally record podcasts and videos on Youtube and discussions on LinkedIn. Reach out and say hi.

Who am I?

I’m a learning professional with over 15 years of experience in L&D and over 10 years experience managing L&D teams. I’ve personally designed and facilitated training for Google, American Express, Chase Bank, Progressive Insurance and a number of organizations big and small that I freelanced for.

I’m a pragmatist. I don’t subscribe or endorse any particular learning theories but I’m quick to shut down buzzwords and hustlers who advance junk science or things that just don’t work.

I have a lovely family, 2 kids, 2 dogs a cat and a steadfast partner who somehow puts up with all my nerdiness.

Who reads Nerd Out?

Every few years I survey my readers to see how I can better support them. A third of my readers are new to corporate L&D or are K-12 teachers looking to come over to corporate L&D. A third are L&D professionals reading Nerd Out to keep up with water cooler talk. Then I lump the remaining third into people who are L&D adjacent. Many of these people are manager, directors, founders who believe development is core to their leadership strategies. Some are from adjacent professions like consultants, tech writers, program managers, HR professionals and people in EdTech. My audience is world wide with the majority in the US but with a strong following in India, Europe, and Australia.

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Education, Design and Philosophy

People

Alyn Kinney

@alyn

Hi! I'm Alyn Kinney. I'm an L&D professional with over 15 years in L&D. I have written "Nerd Out" to share my thoughts about L&D since 2017. I like to talk about learning, design, philosophy and technology. I hope you'll nerd out with me.

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