You're now part of the ALI Conferences story.
For decades, Advanced Learning Institute has connected professionals with practical ideas they can act on Monday morning. This hub will get you up-to-speed, integrated with the team, and ready to deliver that same experience to our attendees — fast.
- 25+
- Years connecting peers
- 1-Track
- Focused agendas
- HRCI
- Approved CEUs
ALI Concierge
Your AI-powered onboarding buddy
A note from the team
"We build the rooms — virtual and otherwise — where professionals leave with practical solutions, real connections, and the inspiration to take action. Welcome to the team that makes those rooms possible."
— Your colleagues at Advanced Learning Institute
Before day one
Preboarding checklist.
Knock these out in the week leading up to your start date so day one is all about people, not paperwork.
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Day one
Hour-by-hour, your first day.
No mystery, no awkward gaps. Here's exactly what to expect from 9 to 5.
9:00 AM
Coffee & kickoff
Virtual welcome with the People Ops team. Cameras on, dress code casual.
9:45 AM
Manager 1:1
Your manager walks you through your pod, your first project, and the 30-day plan.
11:00 AM
IT setup & tooling tour
SSO, Slack, Notion, Asana, Zoom Events — all the essentials.
12:30 PM
Lunch on us
Order in — there's a credit waiting in your email.
1:30 PM
Observe a live session
Drop into one of our running conferences and see the playbook in action.
3:00 PM
Pod intros
Meet everyone on your pod — Programming, Production, Community, or Operations.
4:30 PM
Wrap & retro
15-minute debrief with your manager. What landed? What's still fuzzy?
Day-one prep
What to have ready.
A short list so you can show up confident and unblocked.
Your gear
MacBook Pro, external monitor, headset, and an ALI mug arrive 3–5 days before you start.
Dress code
Smart casual on-camera, comfortable off-camera. We default to cameras on for team meetings.
Where to log in
Quiet, well-lit spot with a stable connection. We'll send you a home-office stipend in week one.
Bring with you
I-9 documents (passport OR driver's license + Social Security card). Have them ready by 9 AM.
From your manager
We hired you because you're going to make this better.
I'm genuinely glad you're here. Your first weeks are about absorbing the ALI playbook — but don't mistake that for staying quiet. The best ideas in this company come from people who've just arrived and haven't yet learned what "we don't do" looks like.
Ask anything. Question everything. I'll be in your calendar weekly, and my Slack is always open in between. Let's build something attendees rave about.
Your Manager
Advanced Learning Institute
Our heritage
25+ years of bringing peers together.
A quick tour through the moments that shaped how we work today.
Founded in Chicago
Advanced Learning Institute launches with a simple bet: peer-driven learning beats lecture-driven learning.
First multi-day conference
Our flagship internal communications event becomes a fixture for Fortune 500 comms leaders.
HRCI accreditation
Our agendas earn approval for continuing education credits — credentials our community values.
All-virtual transformation
We rebuilt every conference for online delivery in 90 days — and our community grew.
The ALI Conference Community
Thousands of practitioners across HR, comms, and employee experience, returning conference after conference.
Where we work
Remote-first, Hinsdale-rooted.
Our HQ is just outside Chicago. Our team is everywhere our conferences reach.
Hinsdale, Illinois
Our headquarters in the Chicago suburbs is where our leadership team is based and where we host the occasional in-person retreat. Most of the team comes in monthly — never required, always welcome.
Distributed by design
The majority of our team works remotely across the U.S. We optimize for async collaboration and intentional, high-signal sync time.
- Core hours: 10 AM–3 PM CT
- Home-office stipend
- Annual team retreat
How we work
Workplace norms.
The unwritten rules — written down, so you don't have to guess.
Async by default
Most decisions happen in writing, in Notion. Meetings are for debate and decisions, not status.
Cameras on, when it counts
Pod stand-ups and 1:1s are camera-on. Deep work blocks are camera-off, sound-off.
Show your work
Drafts in public, even messy ones. Polish kills momentum.
Default to trust
We don't track hours. We track outcomes — and we trust you to manage your time.
Your first 30 days
A roadmap, not a firehose.
We've intentionally kept it manageable — just like our conferences. Focus, ship, repeat.
Land & Connect
Set up your accounts, meet your manager and pod, attend a live conference as an observer, and shadow a producer.
- IT, Slack & HRIS setup
- 1:1 with your manager
- Observe a live event
Learn the Playbook
Dive into our speaker sourcing, agenda design, and attendee experience standards. Take ownership of a small workstream.
- Shadow agenda planning
- Co-host a workshop run-through
- Meet your first speakers
Ship Something Real
Lead a session of an upcoming conference end-to-end, with your pod backing you up. Present what you learned.
- Own a session
- Present a retro
- Set Q1 goals
Who you'll work with
Small pods. Big ownership.
You'll be embedded in one pod and collaborate across all four. Here's the lay of the land.
PodProgramming
Curates agendas & sources speakers
PodProduction
Runs the live experience, on-air
PodCommunity
Owns attendee growth & the ALI Conference Community
PodOperations
Sponsors, logistics, accreditation, finance
Leadership
Who's steering the ship.
Approachable people doing serious work. Book time with any of them — calendars are open.
Founder & CEO
Vision, partnerships, the long view
VP, Programming
Agenda strategy across the conference portfolio
Director, Production
On-air quality, broadcast standards, tech
Head of Community
Attendee experience, ALI Conference Community
Director, Operations
Sponsorship, finance, accreditation, logistics
Head of People
Hiring, onboarding, culture — your day-one ally
The ALI Playbook
What makes our conferences different.
Understand these six principles and you'll understand 80% of how we make decisions.
Peers, not panels
Our attendees come for the room as much as the stage. Every decision optimizes for meaningful 1:1 conversations.
Practical over theoretical
Speakers bring real-world case studies — fresh ideas, take-aways, and Monday-morning action items.
One track, full focus
We don't fragment attention. Curated single-track agendas keep the whole community in the same conversation.
Friendly by design
Manageable cohort sizes make it easy to meet speakers, swap notes over coffee, and build your professional network.
Accreditation that matters
Many of our conferences are approved for HRCI CEUs — credentials our community genuinely values.
Two days, packed
30-minute presentations followed by structured peer discussion. We respect everyone's calendar.
Policies that matter
The essentials, no fine print.
The full handbook lives in Notion. These are the four you'll reference most.
Code of Conduct
How we treat each other, attendees, speakers, and sponsors. Required read in week one.
Speaker & sponsor confidentiality
What we share publicly vs. internally. When in doubt, ask.
DEI commitments
Our standards for speaker representation, accessibility, and inclusive event design.
Time off & flexibility
Flexible PTO, observed holidays, conference-week recovery days.
Benefits & perks
The package.
What you get beyond the paycheck.
Health, dental, vision
Premium plans with most of the premium covered for you and dependents.
401(k) with match
Up to 4% match, vested from day one.
Flexible PTO
Take what you need. We track that you actually do.
Learning budget
$1,500 annually for courses, conferences, books — and yes, our own events.
Home-office stipend
$1,000 to set up your workspace, refreshed every two years.
Annual retreat
Three days, all expenses covered, somewhere warm. Cameras off, humans on.
Training & toolkit
Get fluent fast.
Four core training tracks plus the stack we use every day.
Training tracks
- 01
ALI Conference 101
How we plan, produce, and deliver every event. 4-hour self-paced course.
- 02
Speaker sourcing & outreach
Our criteria, our pitch, our follow-up cadence. Shadowed by Programming.
- 03
Live production fundamentals
Zoom Events, run-of-show, contingency planning. Hands-on with Production.
- 04
ALI voice & brand
How we sound on the page, on stage, and in our emails to community.
Your daily stack
Access requests go in on day one. If anything's missing, ping #new-hires in Slack.
Frequently asked
Things new hires usually wonder.
If your question isn't here, ask in #new-hires or message People Ops directly.
When does my first paycheck hit?+
We pay bi-weekly on Fridays. Depending on your start date, expect your first deposit within 2 weeks.
Will I travel?+
Most of our conferences are virtual. Optional in-person retreats and a few partner events involve light travel — typically 2–4 trips a year.
Who's my go-to for IT issues?+
Drop a message in #it-help on Slack. Response time is under an hour during business hours.
Can I attend our own conferences for free?+
Yes — and you're encouraged to. It's the fastest way to feel what our attendees feel.
What if I need a different chair, monitor, or accommodation?+
Email people@aliconferences.com. We approve reasonable requests fast — no committee needed.
Is there an internal mentor program?+
Yes. You'll be paired with a peer outside your pod in week two for monthly coffee chats.
Resource vault
Bookmark these.
Everything you'll reach for in your first 90 days, in one place.
ALI Brand & Voice Guide
How we write, design, and present.
Speaker Outreach Templates
Cold pitches, follow-ups, confirmations.
Run-of-Show Template
Our gold-standard live event script.
Sponsor Deck Library
Latest pitch decks per conference vertical.
Past Conference Recordings
Browse every session from the last two years.
HRIS & Benefits Portal
Pay stubs, time off, benefits enrollment.
We're here for you
Stuck? Just ask.
No question is too small in your first 90 days. Reach out to any of these channels — someone will get back to you the same business day.