Training is one of the most rewarding things that we do because we see the impact it can have on people’s everyday work and the effect it can have on improving what venues offer!
Some of our delegates have gone on to become clients, and some delegates keep on coming to the range of workshops that we offer. We get some great feedback, and this inspires us to create more workshop programmes. Plus we are a friendly bunch and we love coming out to meet people and visit their properties or venues!
Why do we do it? We have strong values and we genuinely want to improve the quality of sector and the offer that heritage venues make to the public. We want to share our knowledge and experience, provide lots of practical tips, advice and solutions. We also think it’s important to encourage networking and the sharing of good ideas and stories. We know that training is important but often out of reach, so we deliberately keep our delegate fees very low.
What sort of training do we offer? We offer 2 types of training for the heritage sector; bespoke courses and a regular programme of public workshops which run 2 or 3 times a year.
Our regular programme includes a range of different workshops applicable to staff working in a museum, gallery, historic house or garden, or in the countryside or a park. The workshops are a mixture of presentation, group work, games, practical activities, problem-solving and discussion. You certainly won’t get the post lunch lull on our workshops – you’ll be up on your feet having fun too! Pitched at new and experienced practitioners and we adapt every workshop to the needs of delegates – and we can make a course work brilliantly for managers, officers, volunteers, individuals and teams. Workshops that we currently offer which support staff at heritage venues, indoors or out are: Garden explorers, Wellies at the Ready, Sensational Seasons, Perfect Projects, Digital Storytelling and Interpretation for Beginners. You can read full details of these courses on our Ready to go support and training page.
Bespoke courses work in two different ways. We can run any of our regular workshops for a venue or team, and can adapt then to specific requirements. But often bespoke courses arise from our other consultancy work and through an identified service need, and we can create something targeted and specific that can be developed with the client. Sometimes people have a training need and can’t find the right kind of course out there, and we are very happy to help work something up for them too. Usually bespoke courses are for whole teams, and are sometimes delivered across whole organisations. Click here to watch a one-minute film of Leigh Freeman at the National Trust talking about a course he commissioned from Kate.
We work with a large range of clients to develop bespoke training for their staff and organisations and a great example of this is the Walks and Talks training programme developed and delivered for the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust. This programme was developed by Kate and piloted successfully, and in 2011 is now being rolled out to 6 WWT teams across England and Ireland.
Where do we run our training? We purposefully seek out inspiring and often beautiful venues for our workshops and training days. We want delegates to have a great day, remember their experiences and use the venue to enhance their learning. Training days are hard work, but we want delegates to have an enjoyable time too. We also make sure that venues are easy to travel to and are fully accessible.
Special touches! Our training stands out for its affordability and practicability, but we also go the extra mile and make sure that the refreshments are really good too. We use locally sourced and fresh ingredients and we always make sure there is good tea and coffee, and lovely cake. We also always bring a library of books, articles and practical resources to share with all delegates on the training days, so delegates can go away with even more ideas than they hoped for from the day. Watch a short testimonial from one of our recent trainees in July 2011.
Watch this space! This article will grow with pictures and testimonials from our 2011 training programme and bespoke courses. You can find out more about our forthcoming workshop programme here and about what we can offer in terms of bespoke training here. Check out our heritage insider flikr page for images and films from our training and workshops, and don’t forget to look up our happy families showcase event too!
