TrainerBase

The Association for Learning Practitioners

 
 
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Welcome to the TrainerBase update number 244.

 

This year we have been running a survey on the State of the Sector; the intention being to gather information on freelance/independent trainers. A cursory review of the data; some of which has been used to support our Rates 08 report, indicates the following:

  • over 35% of trainers are in their 50s
  • over 68% are degree qualified or above
  • over 52% have been trainers for between 3 and 9 years and a further 29% have been trainers for 10 or more years
  • over 70% have been in management or director positions prior to becoming trainers, 66% of whom have had more than 10 years experience of operational/management duties

In reading the responses as to the reasons for becoming a trainer I was intrigued by the number who reported 'by accident'. Another significant grouping were those who indicated 'intentional career change'.

 

What can be deduced from this: workplace training is undertaken by mature and experience individuals. This appears to be significantly different (in its current state within the workplace) to that which is being pursued by government via the FE route unless of course FE colleges are going to recruit mature and experienced individuals at sub £200 per day.

 

Peter

Chief Executive

 

If you are unable to read this update in your email software please go to the Online version.
 

In this update

  • About TrainerBase
    What's new and future developments.
  • Certified Learning Practitioner
    Next dates for introduction and assessment.
  • Member Workshops
    How to significantly improve your presence on TrainerBase.
  • Opportunities
    A list of contract opportunities. Average value £12,500. Could you be missing out?
  • New members
    Recent members who have joined the site.
  • Straw polls
    Details of TrainerBase and member surveys on training related topics.
  • Statistics
    For those of you interested in numbers, here you will find current and new membership, trainer searches and subjects being searched for.
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Do you want to sponsor this update. Call 01239 711544 for details.

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About TrainerBase

Things have been moving on within TrainerBase and these activities have already started to see results.

  • Barry our Commercial Manager (barryl@trainerbase.co.uk) is involved in a number of specific projects particularly focused on purchasers including raising awareness of TrainerBase within other sector bodies. He has made contact with 70+ associations and all the Sector Skills Councils. Barry is also implementing other areas of our marketing plan including approaching a number of national organisations for sponsorship.
  • A CLP page has been deployed enabling purchasers looking for accredited trainers to locate these quickly and easily http://www.trainerbase.co.uk/pages/CLPs.asp .
  • A number of new web sites will be deployed in the next few weeks displaying topic specialist trainers. These new sites will increase member exposure within the purchasing community. This will be available to Enhanced Members only.
  • We are now tracking the keyword search facility on the site and the results can be found in the Statistics part of this update.
  • We are trialling Google adwords for the first time in our history. The expectation is to raise the profile of TrainerBase for keywords that we have not normally had good Google rankings.
  • Engagement is continuing with a number of accreditation and standards setting bodies, the CLP process is reviewed for ISO accreditation.
  • The open Discussion forum http://www.trainerbase.co.uk/forum/forum.asp currently in the 'For Training Providers' theme is being opened up to enable all users to ask and contribute. The link will move to the common navigation bar at the top of the page.

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Certified Learning Practitioner

Who are they and what do they do??

 

If you are looking for Trainers, do you want to feel confident that whoever you hire can actually deliver the programme you require? A Certified Learning Practitioner will give you that confidence.

 

And if you're a Trainer, do you want prospective clients to immediately have that same confidence in you? Become a Certified Learning Practitioner and they will.

 

Want to know more about CLP? Here`s your chance………

 

TrainerBase is holding two FREE one day workshops in January where all aspects of CLP will be explained, both from the standpoint of hiring one, or becoming one.

  • Friday 23rd January 2009:
    De Vere Venues, Sunningdale Park, Larch Avenue, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 0QE. Sunningdale station is 5 minutes from Sunningdale Park.
  • Saturday 24th January 2009:
    De Vere Venues, Staverton Park, Daventry Road, Staverton, Daventry, Northamptonshire, NN11 6JT. Northampton and Rugby main line stations are both approximately 12 miles away. 

Bring business cards with you as these days are becoming positive networking events.

 

Anyone wishing to take part should email heatherg@trainerbase.co.uk

 

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Member Workshops

There are still places available for these tutorial workshop on making the most of your membership.

The date and location for the next session is:

  • NORTH ENGLAND:
    22nd November - De Vere Venues, Cheadle House, Royal Crescent, Cheadle Royal Business Park , Cheadle, Cheshire, SK8 3FS. 15 minutes drive to either Stockport or Wilmslow Stations (both InterCity lines).

What others have said:

  • Just wanted to say a quick 'thank you' for the session yesterday (18th). I certainly achieved my objective (to create a more engaging personal profile) and I have a much better understanding of what I need to do to become more 'visible' on Trainerbase - thank you. (Vanessa Randle).
  • I have been a member for a number of years and the membership has returned zero work. Having paid out my subscription, I thought that another £75 might help get some return. What a return on time and money invested! We all know that our output is determined by our input - I was so clueless about the site, I didn't even understand the need to activate my profile nor appreciate what a great marketing tool it is going to be for promoting Matrix Partners to not only potential customers but to other fellow trainers. I also enjoyed the real world contact with Heather and yourself - thank you both for a productive and energizing day.
    (Fred Robson).

To book one of the limited places on these valuable workshops please visit the Shop.

 

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Opportunities

The opportunities page has gone a little quiet however the following opportunities have been posted on the site in the past week or so:

I am please to report that a small number of opportunities posted in the past couple of months have been from 'direct' purchasers, supplementing those that are looking for 'associate' trainers.

 

Please do be aware that some opportunities are posted and then removed before they appear in the weekly update. It is advisable to check the site periodically as I do not always send out alerts. If you know of a friend who would be interested in any of the opportunities posted on the site, please feel free to forward them this email (not give them details of the opportunities) and ask them to use this referral code when joining the site: - TB21!*USERID*!07. You will be rewarded for referring the friend.

 

When considering applying for an opportunity, members should check the requirements including; Subject, Sector Skills and Level Experience. If you do not match the requirement you should not apply for the opportunity, this practice is becoming very unpopular amongst purchasers and other trainers.

 

If you are interested in using this facility as a way of sourcing independent contractors but are not sure about the best way to approach it, please feel free to email info@trainerbase.co.uk.

 

Notice:

Opportunities are restricted information for subscribers only and must not be distributed to non paying members or associate groups.

 

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Sponsorship opportunities are available on TrainerBase, email info@trainerbase.co.uk

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New members

We welcome the following new members to the site:

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Survey and Straw Polls

We have added a couple of Straw Polls to the site to elicit opinion on single question topics. These are:

You need to have Pop Ups enabled on your browser to be able to respond, the results can be seen in real time within the facility.

 

As mentioned above we are currently analysing the results from the Sector State survey and our annual Trainer Rates survey. We hope to have the reports out to all that contributed within the next month. Some preliminary results indicate:

  • Average value of contracts via TrainerBase has increased to £12,500.
  • About £1.65 million was contracted via the site in the past year.
  • Rates remain static.
  • Being a specialist is a key driver for purchasers.

And is there a survey you would like to have conducted that would provide valuable information to the learning and development community? Get in touch.

 

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Statistics

As a way of gauging how busy and popular TrainerBase is, the following statistics might be of interest to you:

  • Average monthly visitors to the site (2008): 40,000.
  • Current total number of active members: 6,509 of which 4,497 are UK based. 
  • Currently signed up for the newsletter: 5,000
  • Currently signed up for offers and ads: 5,773
  • Profile views in the past 28 days; 5,880
    Number of new member types in the past 28 days;
    • Basic user (potential purchaser) 23
    • Supplier 3
    • Trainer 119
  • Leadership, Management Development, Excel, Customer services skills andFacilitation Skills are the top searched for subject in the past 28 days. A total of 131 different subjects were searched for.
  • A cursory review of the Work Function indicated that approximately 40% of active members has indicated their function. Of these 20% indicate a purchasing function, 64% indicating they are independent trainers with no purchasing function.
  • And what are the top keyword searches being used in the general Search filed on the site: well here they are: tna, open questions, proposal, kolb, invoice, management, open and, closed questions, training needs analysis, coaching, retail, customer care, communication, terms and conditions, appraisal, dubai, investigation, sdi, human givens, presentation skills and pdp. So when was the last time you checked your Keywords in Edit Profile, to ensure you are being found? And how many of you have your name in your keywords?? I advise you to add it as this search facility is being used to find individuals and it does not currently check any other attributes other than the keywords field.

TrainerBase has started a major marketing campaign to raise the profile of CLP amongst the 1,000+ purchasers listed as wanting to be kept up to date with the Association. TrainerBase is also actively seeking requests for recommendations within various digests and online communities. And we are now receiving up to a dozen phone calls or email requests a week for trainers or recommendations.

 

If you would like to be part of these campaigns please sign up to the CLP accreditation.

 

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Anything else

TrainerBase is keen to get feedback about the site, the updates and other notifications. If you want something considered, then we need to know. Can't guarantee that we can do anything, but unless we know how can we consider it.

 

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Regards
 
Peter
Founder and Chief Executive
TrainerBase
The Association for Learning Practitioners
01239 711544
peterm@trainerbase.co.uk

 

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