Overactive security led to negative participant experiences at the recent event DAVELEARN, a “smaller learning conference” which took place at the GAMELAYER.fm studios from November 10th to November 14th, 2025, in St. Louis, MO. Sources claim there was an overactive security guard on site, who reportedly refused entry to participants in the event that they could not present their badge.
CEO of the event, Dave, made a statement an hour ago from the mainstage at GAMELAYER STUDIOS:
“Team DAVELEARN apologizes for the actions of our overzealous security guard. We received some reports late last night, November 11th, 2025, that they were refused entry for having the wrong type of badge. We outsourced security for this event, and it appears that the proper vetting process for asset selection was not completed. Our sources indicate that this employee was dishonorably discharged from their local militia. We are releasing any more specifics at this point, but rest assured, this former employee was reprimanded and is no longer with us.”
Images of the imposter have been recovered from HD security camera footage.
Sources earlier this morning (11:07 AM November 20, 2025), including potential DAVELEARN Conference attendee Sheila B. Robinson, revealed on the professional Social Media app LinkedIn that “[She] couldn’t get past security at the convention center without wearing [her] badge and lanyard. ([She] was holding it in [her] hand one day, and they hassled [her]).”
A response to the post was delivered at the front doors of GAMELAYER STUDIOS by the DAVELEARN team’s Vice President of Human Resources, “Dave the HR guy,” to a sizable and eager press attendance. Due to a significant magnetic frequency disturbance in the area, there is no audio or video footage available for that official statement. However, text-based copies of the address were captured on pen and paper in real time.
“Thank you for attending this press update. Team DAVELEARN has received additional information regarding the previous employee on our security team, who is known only as ‘DAVE’, who we have confirmed entered into the position under a false identity. Our sources indicate he was only admitting attendies whose badge included the word ‘SECURITY’ on it at the South entrance. We would like to confirm that this was not the direction that was provided by team DAVELEARN, and in addition, we would like to apologize for any negative attendee experiences. This man was not of sound mind; he believed he was a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte XIV, who recently passed away on the 10th of March, 2023. It is our promise that this will never happen again at any DAVELEARN event.”
Sources on site who witnessed the apprehension of the Security Guard formerly known as “Dave” state that he was found digging through the ashes of the stump that was lit on fire during the DAVELEARN event. The man who self-identified as a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte XIV began to yell that he was on a crucial and pivotal mission, collecting scientific samples of the remains of the fire that needed to be analyzed by the proper authorities in what he called the “MO cave-dweller community.”
A person walking down the street where GAMELAYER STUDIOS is located observed, “Why do all these DAVES look like clones. What sort of conspiracy is this?”
I am working on a thread on my blog focusing on things I can celebrate this year. This post, Why You Should Present at a Conference started as a celebration of the fact that I had an opportunity to speak at a conference and I revised it to be framed around reasons why we should all present at conferences.
Inspired to Be Myself
I recently was inspired (again) by Kassy Laborie. This time she was speaking on a podcast (called Business Breakdown by Al Dea Listen Here: https://lnkd.in/eAckUwmf) about her background in learning in development and how she reached a point where her reputation preceded her. While she shared her background I kept thinking, I have been there, that happened to me at work as a trainer or yes, that was me. Now I am not as far along on my path as I am ready to leave my independent contractor work to reinvent myself as a Keynote speaker but maybe I never will, maybe that is not my journey. I bring all of this up because of a personal story that Kassy shared in this interview. She was rocking her pressed red pants with her matching red kicks and as she put it, “I mean, I looked good!”. Someone approached her and stated, “Ah, we do not wear red pants at this company.”
Kassy reflected on how this made her feel small. How it felt like she was not seen for who she is. It made her feel like she didn’t belong. It made her feel like she was not in the right place. She had a choice. She could start wearing black pants and conform to the dominating overbearing culture she found herself in, or she could move on and find a space that was a better fit. Luckily for her (and for the rest of us I reckon) she chose the latter to move on. To keep on ramblin’ to keep on keepin’ on.
She done good, she even made Woody Guthrie smile…
Reminder of the Inspiration
This morning when I got into the office it was a normal work-in-the-office day. I had already had 2 cups of regular coffee at home and I was going to brew a whole pot of decaf to drink throughout the day. I ran into a colleague Erika Teneyck who was wearing RED PANTS, and it took me right back to Kassy’s story on the podcast. This illustrates how we as humans resonate with stories, but more on that later. I said Erika you are wearing RED PANTS and I am wearing my BLUE PANTS, can we take a picture!? Luckily there was another creative coworker (Michael Bollenbach, MA, MFA ) in the work kitchen who holds a Master of Fine Arts AND a Master of Arts to take the picture. He begrudgingly murmured that he did not want to take our picture but I insisted. While Mike took the picture he commented on how he had a previous role where they insisted every employee had to wear black pants.
I had Blue Pants and my Work Buddy had on RED PANTS!
So, more about Erika. When I started in my current role, we had a Holiday Party at a local brewery you might have heard of called Budweiser. It was a fun evening, but I was a bit anxious because I had not met anyone in person yet. I had just started at the company in 2021 and we were still remote. It was the time when many companies were still transitioning back into office from the COVID-19 pandemic. (We even had a mask decorating contest and I won for the ugliest mask, although in retrospect they shared it should have been most bizarre or creative.)
Die Hard is a Christmas Movie. PERIOD
OK, so my point. Let’s get to the point. My point is that Erika was at the party and she made me feel welcome. She talked to me even though I was the new guy with a very weird mask. She welcomed me even though I told her that owning a boat was a bad financial decision and I perceived it as a liability, not an asset. Then later she wore red pants and reminded me of Kassie’s strong lesson.
Broadcast my Inspiration
Now, it is worth mentioning that, Erika has her bachelor’s AND master’s in Art History and has used that to enter into the space of organizing and curating data analytics where I work. That is something worth celebrating in and of itself. 🥳
It also touches on a topic that I am toying around with for the Podcast I am crafting. How creatives, or people who are perceived as creatives, can work their way into a situation of being gainfully employed. Or in other words discussions on how creatively minded people can generate income through as opposed to despite their inventive tendencies. I am in the storming stage. I have not ironed out the details nor fleshed out the concept. I am taking my time to settle on a topic that I feel confident I will want to speak about from the heart for years to come to an audience that resonates with my true self.
“Treat every small victory like you just won the Superbowl.” -Lewis Howes
Last month I presented for the first time at a conference. I presented at the Learn Conference that was held by my local ATD chapter in St. Louis, MO. I wrote this a week after presenting but it has taken me a month to process this and get this post to where I want it to be. I have narrowed this down to three main points:
Attend the Conference for free
Slightly Heightened Status
You Connect more to ideas and people
Why Present at Conferences?
What I Learned
I have recently developed an itch to present and wondered about how that would feel. I was anxious before the conference. During the conference, I was surprisingly relaxed and after the conference, I was relieved to be on the other side of it. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. It is not the presenting that wore me out though, it was the standing, the waiting, the meeting new people, and holding professional conversations to the best of my ability. Now that I have the first one in the bag and am relatively unscathed, I want to share my experience and the benefits I see around presenting at conferences.
Attend for Free
Let’s talk about the low-hanging fruit first. The main payment for speaking at a conference is that you get to attend that conference for free. I never really thought much about this because my company paid for any conference I attended (which I should add is a limited number per year.) Maybe this says something about how much I am willing to pay for my own personal and professional development. I prefer to take the perspective that I am a frugal person. There are plenty of ways for me to improve on my own. Be it, online, the library, the Libby app, linked in learning, (and let’s be honest, the largest LMS in the world, YouTube.)
The benefit is not necessarily that you can attend for free but that you can afford to attend more conferences. So, I don’t pay for the conferences I go to, but my company only sends me to so many per year because there is a budget. I can stretch that budget further if the entrance ticket and part of the food board are already paid for.
There is a hidden benefit I just learned about too. I applied to speak at Training Magazine’s Training Conference & Expo in Orlando in February 2025. I was not accepted but put on standby. Now I thought this meant rejected but after some conversations in my professional network I learned that “Standby is Good.” Not only do you still have a shot at presenting at the conference, but you get into the show at a discounted rate.
OK, so free stuff, that’s nice.
Slightly Heightened Status
I should start here by saying that I do NOT perceive myself as a person who is motivated by status. In fact I see people who crave status as the opposite of those who peruse quality of work or seek out the truth. So, I am not naturally motivated by status.
My friend Jazmin Webster (President Elect of ATD STL) let me keep the sign!
One thing I suppose I never really noticed or thought about was that people who present at conferences are sort of the bread and butter of the event. They are creating a draw for people to attend. I have to admit I always understood this on a logical level. However, after being a presenter at a conference I had a different perspective on the value presenters add. People walked up and thanked me for my efforts and there was a buzz in just that. Sure, an unnecessary boost to my ego, but also a healthy development of my sense of self-worth and overall confidence.
In the same way, I feel like I held myself up in a different way while at the conference. There must have been something different about the way I was moving through the space. I am going to make this point by picking on a new professional connection I have. Two years ago, I walked up to the Keynote Speaker at the same event, after she gave her message and said, “Hey, I really liked what you said.” She politely smiled and thanked me and then slightly turned away from me. It wasn’t her; it was me. I was approaching her, probably standing too close, and didn’t add anything to the conversation other than I liked her. Sort of creepy, weird, awkward, yes, and maybe verging on stalker.
Who was this mystery woman you ask? Well, Justine Froelker is a speaker and therapist who has made a name for herself both locally and nationally as a training facilitator, speaker, and author. Well, she also presented this year at the same event, and when I saw her I remembered that awkward time I went to compliment her and then found I had nothing to say. I walked up to her while she was quietly enjoying a salad alone at the vendor table ATD had provided her to market her services. I smiled and said hello and introduced myself. She asked if I was a presenter and then we started a real conversation about our lives. That’s my whole point. It’s not that I approached her and had something to say, it’s that she could smell it on me. I held myself like a presenter and somehow, she just knew. (I promise I didn’t say, Hey I’m Dave I’m a presenter.) You could argue that I have grown a lot in my personal and professional development simply by rebooting this Blog and pouring my soul into it, and you would be right. I would argue that more than that my identity was altered because I had been selected to present.
You End Up Connecting More
Connecting more dots
Connecting with more people
I have saved the best part about presenting at a conference for last. This was a selfish choice, I should have led with my best point, and the one that would benefit you the most. As I have written previously:
So, I share that to simply point out that I am not afraid to break my own rules.
However, if you are still reading now you will learn about the best part of presenting at a conference. Having gotten up and presented in front of a crowd at the conference was a hit. It jazzed me up and gave me a strong buzz. I was in good spirits and overall, just in a great mood. This landed me in the growth mindset and when I attended other sessions, I was more vulnerable, more open, and more engaged.
For example, when I attended the amazing session on Gamifying business strategy by Caitlin Johnson from Bold-Bird Consulting. I spoke up in the session and shared personal information that I might not have shared if I was only an attendee. In addition, I spoke with Caitlin after the day was over at the networking event hosted for presenters and we think that we might be able to collaborate at some point.
The reason this all sparked up was because what I shared about myself was a missing piece in her process. I am an explorer in her language, and the exploration factor is her weakest link and what she is leaning into now for personal growth. I am not saying I don’t learn anything at conferences I don’t present at. I do learn at those conferences. I think the difference is the baseline mindset. Will I continue to get more out of conferences even if I don’t present at them? Maybe. Or perhaps sometimes I will and sometimes I won’t. I don’t know. What I do know is that I am still relatively new to all this conference going considering my age. Why didn’t I go to these sooner? Why not quote the Talking Heads here and share:
When I attended my first national conference in 2023 it was also my first time in Vegas. It made such am impact on me it revived this VLOG and got me on a new path. I had a breakthrough when I wrote this:
As I said, it was my first time in Vegas, and I was good, I didn’t gamble, I didn’t get sleazy and I only drank alcohol that was free (#Principles)! DevLearn was a force of nature and the whole week can easily be summarized as over-stimulation. Cognitive overload doesn’t begin to describe what happened to me that week. I will share that I didn’t hold back either. I walked all the way from the southern tip of New Vegas up through the desert to New Vegas to see the Zappos building and the Neon Sign Museum, and I would like to curate a post just on that experience. …Yet, in all of that frenzied madness, I attended a session by Renee Boydo. I entered that training room and a calm came over me.
I met Boydo the night before at an impromptu dinner I saw on the conference app., she confided in me that she was terrified because she was presenting for the first time and she asked everyone at that table to go so she wouldn’t have to present to an empty room. The next day, I went, she was calm she was collected, and she stated referencing her work as a leader, “My thing is that I just keep saying ‘It will be alright. It will work out.’” She presented a smartphone app she developed with a third party to train school bus drivers. In the class she shared that she had never presented before, she was terrified, but then came her light that “it was going to be alright.”
Conclusion
I didn’t know it then, but Mrs. Boydo planted a seed during that session. She lit a light in me. I saw that she was throwing herself into unbridled improvement. She was forcing herself out of her comfort zone in the name of learning and in the name of sharing her insights with her community at large. I didn’t want to admit it, but I wanted to do that too. I wanted to be like her. Now, I am writing this so I can share it with her and tell her my version of the story, so I can thank her for that.
Then later I attended a session by this lady named Betty Danowitz on Podcasting. Well, that whole thing is definitely for another post. Long story short, I started listening to her podcast and then started chatting with her, and I ended up as a guest on the show. Then Betty and her friends who are now my friends pushed me to present at a conference. It was ✨Kassy LaBorie who said, you need to apply to speak at conferences, so I did. I am forever grateful to Kassy. Now there is no turning back.
Improvement Dave 