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Dick's Bio

Dick Carlson has been managing technical learning content for a very long time. Because of this, he is an opinionated and generally pretty annoying fellow. (And that's how his FRIENDS describe him.) On the other hand, his projects are described with words like "amazing" and "incredible", as customers just love the stuff he does. He's the Creative Director for the Virtual Content Company, where he helps you market your company using new media.

For over 20 years, Dick has been helping people understand and use technology – most recently for the Microsoft Corporation where he where he achieved stratospheric customer satisfaction numbers and frequently got yelled at by management. At Microsoft, Dick developed learning content for 10,000+ customers at their largest show – including hands-on lab sessions, a 100,000 square foot Technical Learning Center, and the online virtual event that brought Microsoft TechEd content to customers around the world.

His past projects include a 25-week online learning program, a complex multimedia curriculum in economics theory and practice, a collaborative book entitled "Creating Learning Content," facilitation of online courses in adult learning and e-learning design, and research to increase the understanding of how metaphorical images can be used to enhance technology training. Dick and his wife Diane also started the non-profit Institute for Electronic Education in Washington State, providing curriculum and research products for use in development of online learning content.

He has consulted for federal government agencies, healthcare providers, banking, manufacturing and higher education clients. He often presents and keynotes for groups like the American Society for Training and Development, the National Association for Gaming and Simulation, Elliott Masie’s Learning 2007 and the Society for Applied Learning Technology. (ASTD, NASAGA, L7 and SALT -- for those of you playing along at home.)

Dick has a bachelor's degree in Electronic Communications, with an M.Ed. in Adult Education from Western Washington University.