With the show circuit about to begin, HR Tech, DevLearn to name just two, there are always questions about what to look for, what to ignore, and what to eye – good swag.
First off, I have a short list of irritants (not my common ones I mention), rather, this is a vendor special, but for you, yes you the trade show attendee – ignoring the seminars, where there is always a couple of people that have no idea what their subject exploration really is, or they are monotone, or read off the PowerPoint; or my personal favorite, you are on your cellphone typing away or your computer and for whatever reason (I surmise out of guilt), you are afraid to just stand up and leave.
It’s okay, you can.
Best of all, you do not have to sit as close as you can to the back of the room, near the exit doors, or the side, near the exit doors.
I’ve pulled a stand up, right in the middle of a row, when I found the speaker to be boring, and their in-depth of the subject matter, reinforced my decision to leave, and interrupt people who are afraid to walk out – at least three where cellphone surfing.
If the speaker is that offended that you bolted, then they shouldn’t be up there speaking; after all, anyone who has ever trained employees or consumers, learn it’s not about you, it’s just that lunch is arriving late, because of them.
What do you need?
Every system has a course catalog, recommended or assigned content, learning path and so forth – these are staples.
So when you ask “Can I upload videos? – The answer is yes.
What you should be asking though is “How big of a video file will your system accept?”
“Does it automatically compress the video when it goes into your system?”
“What do you recommend for the lowest speed that a person could see the video without any hitches?” –
There are vendors who actually know, and may say 1mb – which means that if the person is rumbling at 250kps (and yes there are folks that this is top speed – I know – trust me), won’t always see that ideal video without choppiness.
Let’s try some other examples of how you can really extract information from the person you are talking to – usually a salesperson who isn’t or doesn’t know (very common) the detailed specifics, which is why I always recommend having at least two product managers who would know, and at least one one tech person if you want to dump into some serious tech stuff.
Examples Easy to Remember – And twists the standard usage
Remember
AI means Generative AI. It’s not Singularity – or AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). It’s not going to destroy humanity.
It will create AI slop though. So you have that.
Remember
AI uses this thing called Tokens. This is the biggest misunderstanding, because folks who are buying a tool, or a learning system, or HR tech or HR system that has AI in it, isn’t going to give it away for free.
I know some vendors in our industry that does, and I say – major mistake.
It’s one thing if on the admin side, you are creating content: it’s another if the end-user can go hog wild on asking questions, following up, creating a PowerPoint, or so forth.
Even at say .00025 per token, you are going to chow them up at a fast rate on the end-user side.
Let’s say you are an enterprise. I’ll be nice and say 7,500 end users. Then let’s say on average on a daily basis just asking questions (usually folks go ambigious first), then follow-up, then might use suggestions if available – you will blow past that bucket of tokens – I always recommend the term “credits”, in short order.
If your vendor is using the latest version of ChatGPT (Enterprise edition), Claude, Gemini and others, the latest version is yes, faster speed – processing wise, and can do more things, but in return you are going to eat up those credits at a significant rate.
I used Fable by Claude last month and ran out of tokens in two weeks. And I wasn’t going hog wild with it.
Which means on the AI side in talking to a vendor
Don’t open up with “What can your system do with AI,” instead ask “What AI provider does your system use? If they say the latest version; okay, what version is that and what LLM provider is that?”
If the vendor is using say (Bedrock, or another Model as a Self-Service), then they should note that.
I know of vendors who go, “We use the latest version of ChatGPT.
What does that really mean?
Can I use previous versions if I want?
Will this impact our cost – i.e. the tokens part?”
If the vendor says, “It is your own content in the platform, and not via the Internet,” – this does not mean you will be 100% accurate. All AI is not mistake proof, not even your own content.
Not even if you have sources tied to your own content, that source may not exist, because someone made have just added the source off the web, a sort of copy and paste job, without any verification.
This even goes with the “right to the content” you typed in – it can make a mistake.
If a vendor says their platform, product, tool or service is 100% accurate with AI – you can say that’s not true.
Because it isn’t.
Let’s say, the vendor tells you that you can create Agentic Agents.
Okay, but what does that really mean?”
You should retort back, “How many agentic agents can I create, how do I create them, and how do I know what tasks I want each one to do?”
Pay as you go, flex-models
It can get very confusing, especially when you can upload a media file, any type of file and do a summary or change it or whatever – that isn’t free. And the token costs again, latest model, strong processing speed and capabilities – higher costs, even with your .00025 per token cost.
Flex pricing models for AI – which I’ve seen a few vendors do, including a very big named HRIS platform, is really awful, especially if the vendor, says that for their other module, let’s say learning for example, doesn’t use that same model, and instead uses a different pricing model.
Never assume anything
Create a list of what questions you want to ask ahead of time, and be willing to deviate based on that initial question. Always spin it back to you – remember the video piece? I didn’t just go open, I inquired in a different manner.
Never Assume that Enterprise means the same as your company. Vendors are all over the map with the term Enterprise – which is actually an old school term (referred as legacy, which a salesperson might note on whatever)
The HCM, HRIS side is relevant when it comes to similarity – because the vendor needs to know that type of audience. I’d add the same for any learning system too.
If a vendor says they have MCP.
Great, can I see the list of them?
Demo Offline (i.e. not at the show)
What I would do for that demo in detail – and not just highlights or limited time at a show
- Schedule a time to have it online. If you are using a solution like Zoom or Google Meet or some third party, that has the ability to take recordings, on top of text – that will really help you. Because the only questions you need to ask are the ones you didn’t see in the recording or screen shots, and/or in your conversation online.
- When it is schedule time – who will be on the phone presenting the demo – Again, do not assume it will be the person you are talking too.
I have had vendors who want to know why it can’t be at the show or why it needs to be scheduled.
Give them anything – I honestly say it is loud, I have a lot of questions to ask, some of which will be product related and I am aware that you may not have the latest information, because I’ve dealt with companies whose salespeople are siloed out from the product team.
You may want to have multiple people on the call, online video meeting, that isn’t just you – again, it’s common.
If you have a lot of technical questions, that ask the person who will be handling the demo, if they can get one person that will be able to answer my questions.
My preference?
A solutions consultant (a term many use) who drives, a tech person, a product person (if needed, and yes, they are needed), and the salesperson who often is not listening and doing something else but still has their webcam on, so you can see them not paying attention.
Bottom Line
a. Never Assume
b. Turn the question around – With ABCWidget HRIS can I create rules with ABCSDE? And not – I need to be able to create rules, can your product do that? With an HCM, the cash cow is always learning. Second is talent development (which there are vendors that separate). Let’s say you want your HRIS recruiting module to scan applications and weed out those who do not have the specific skills we want.
c. Who is showing you the platform? The salesperson you will work with? A tech person? Judy and Puck from the Puppet Company? It could be a solutions consultant at the show – the whole point here is can you see this as not just a partnership but a strong business relationship.
Go always with your gut.
If you find the person irritating, or snooty, see if you can talk to the head of sales – this is what I do – and if they are not at the show – get the card, or get their name.
Some vendors won’t give you the contact info – okay, go on LinkedIn, find their name (head of sales) and write them a message. Trust me, if they want your biz, they will respond.
Bonus:
Findanlms.com Blog will be the new home of the E-Learn Info 247 blog.
Same wittiness. Same content written by me.
When the rankings come out? Special area on FindAnLMS.com to go direct to.
FindAnLMS.com is “Your Learning System Marketplace.”
As such, you get blog content, guides, latest learning system templates, and so much more; plus, you get access into the curated list of learning system vendors from me. All of it, 100% FREE.
One site – Content + Curated market of the systems that you can compare, dive a bit deeper into – such as AI, reach out to them, save as favorites for future exploration and interest.
In the 2025 rankings, nine of the ten winners were on the site, including all of the top five.
I am focused first and foremost on all of you and ensuring that the info you hear isn’t always accurate, and the access to checking out learning systems isn’t driven by an AI search engine, or a random directory or a top ten written by someone who doesn’t know the space, but does know hiking.
Thank you,
Craig
E-Learning 24/7
