The Learning Practitioners Association: representing all individuals substantially engaged in or actively working towards consultancy, design, development and delivery of training interventions whose recipients are outside statutory education.

The trusted place for trainers, learning developers & training advisers

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Welcome to your TrainerBase update 277.

What do we do for you?

In these current challenging economic times many people are looking to their membership of institutions, chambers, associations and other bodies and considering their return on investment. As it happens I was asked, in not quite so few words, this particular question last week; 'what do we at the Association do for you'.

As part of our internal work in tightening up our marketing and communications strategies I have so far collated a list of over 40 (and increasing) discrete 'activities' or 'services' that we at the Association have either engaged in, support or provide access too, in order to fulfil the Core Strategic Aims.

Over half of these activities or services are part of what could be classed as member benefits and include:

• discount insurance from Towergate
• a legal helpline from LawExpress
• free copies of TJ (worth over £90)
• publication of case studies on your successes
• CPD advice
• web based profiles on a site receiving 45,000+ visits per month
• profile diagnostics on what to do to raise your profile
• member tips on how to raise your profiles to gain access to around £1 million worth of direct contracts
• contract opportunity notices with an expected award value in excess of £1 million
• lead generation from profile visitors
• free resource sharing facility offering lead generation
• exhibition attendance (showcasing all members)
• advice and support
• email alerts and updates on happenings
• marketing research data
• surveys into aspects of the learning and development sector
• regional groups
• conference
• workshops
• speaking engagements promoting the Association and it members
• networking with other institutions
• forum group contributions
• social media involvement
• editorials on learning and development
• press releases showcasing the activities and achievements of the Association and members
• telemarketing to purchasers of training to raise the profile of the Association and members.

And it doesn't stop there. Some of the above are being reviewed for allocation of additional resources especially the use of forum group contributions and social media involvement to generate greater activity.

And there is more. Other activities and services that we at the Association are considering adding to the portfolio of benefits include:

• webinars
• teleseminars
• podcasts
• blogs
• trainer interviews
• discounted services
• lobbying/advocacy
• arbitration and
• company/credit search services.

All this for £190+VAT per year for the full membership.

The distinct number of activities we are or have recently engaged in, especially those aimed at benefiting members, has been a bit of a revelation to us here. We knew we were busy doing stuff for the membership but hadn't quiet realised just how much. Granted some of the above activities are less frequent than others, non the less, they are part of what we do for you. The realisation of course is that as we had not understood how much we were providing, how on earth were the members, and prospective members expected to know.

So when you ask yourself, or better still someone else asks; what does your Association provide, you can respond positively 'rather a lot'.

And not wanting to be a 'glass half empty' person let me ask; "if there is an activity or service that you think we should provide or support, that isn't on the list; what would it be"?

I haven't said this for a while but "onwards and upwards".

Top

Of course there is the usual activity taking place on the site and you should visit regularly to ensure you do not miss out.

Opportunities

A small number of opportunities have been posted on the site in the last week. Have you seen if your next job has been posted?

News stories

We are always keen to receive news stories from members; this is great FREE advertising.

Discussion forums

Charlotte Mannion and Keith Glass have posted in the Discuss page. Mike Morrison has asked about CIPD in the Members only forum.

New members

New members of the Association include:
John Ryan, Phil Lion, David Lumley,
Ian Perrett, Peter Moore, Glenn Harris, Andy Taylor, Todd Heskett, Monica Faulkner Malcolm Pitcher.

Downloads

Mike Newman, Keith Glass, Laura Graham-Brown and Marion Parris have recently added some resources to the Downloads section.

Number of FREE downloads on the system: 1,742.

Downloads in the past 28 days: 304

Useful Stuff

Joy Wilson has contributed an insightful article in the Useful stuff section on
Working in the Middle East.

Do you have contributions that would be of interest to visitors and raise your profile? Let us know.

User statistics

Current total number of active web site users: 6,015 of which 4,227 are UK based.

Currently signed up for the newsletter: 5,039

Currently signed up for offers and ads: 5,413

Current association members: 472. Is this the economic climate hitting. The number and value of opportunities contracted via the site is holding up, if not improving. The purchaser campaign is generating potential leads. We are increasing the level of benefits. What else is there we can do?

Number of new member types in the past 28 days;

• Basic user (potential purchaser) 15
• Supplier 1
• Trainer 46

Profile views in the past 28 days; 6,158.

• Traceable: 931 (registered user on TrainerBase)
• Non traceable: 5,227 (unidentifiable visitor, search engine robot)

The top searched for subject in the past 28 days out of a total of 146 different subjects are:

• Leadership, Project Management, Communication Skills, Presentation Skills and Finance and Accounting

And what are the top keyword searches being used in the general Search filed on the site: well here they are:

• invoice, tna, time management, coaching, opportunities, training needs analysis, jobs, kolb, resources, trainers, open and closed questions, assertiveness, proposal, open questions, sample invoice, project, management, managers guide to tna, export, insurance, questioning, evaluation, customer service, coaching, exercises, pdp, train the trainer, appraisal, appraisal forms, invoices, first aid, rates, communication, learning styles, trainer, leadership, management.