Hi
Having attended the course at MFC last year which I thoroughly enjoyed and learnt so much from, (big thanks to Valerie, here) I really want to get some delivery out there.
And I also want to challenge in a supportive way why we are developing courses in the context of researching demand and customers. So perhaps A-S is a good case in point.
I must also factor in the economic climate here and slashed budgets in many public authorities for training. This of course assumes that we charge for attendance.
Some costs can poosibly be waived / reduced, such as trainer fees but others are more fixed as you need a venue, food, refreshment and materials. Possible trainer travelling expenses if it is a distance away. Again there is potentially scope for negotiation if you are being commissioned by someone to deliver, e.g. they provide the venue and catering f.o.c. But, if you are running one yourself then all the above are highly likely, unless you can get free donations of these resources.
So firstly, Valerie and I have a skype chat coming up in April to talk about some particular audiences we could consult in terms of delivering the course.
However, collectively, can we talk about potential clients. Bluntly and whilst they should be, is anyone in the UK interested in expanding their knowledge of A-S ? Who and how do we get to them ? In designing the course were we reacting to a latent demand or an unkown one ?
A recent experience that I will share entails a meeting with the Hate Crime Lead at Gateshead GMBC and yes home to one of the largest orthodox Jewish communities, outside of Israel. GMBC already had taken steps (unsurprisingly given their *** star status) and identified people who could and had helped with relation building. Incidents were thankfully rare. GMBC were not commissioning anything else at this time. I did leave the manual for them to peruse just so they could be aware of what Befa could provide should they wish in the future.
So, lots to ponder and I welcome response and an open debate. I for one do not want these excellent materials and peoples skills and knowledge underpinning them on the shelf.......but the danger exists if stuff is developed in a vacum of demand.
Over to you all.
Guy
