Your training partner for
publishing's digital future

How do we keep our courses up-to-date?

This is a question regularly asked of us by our delegates. With so many courses on offer – almost 70 currently – keeping up with industry changes, and training needs, is a constant challenge.

One major route is regular focus groups.

We hold these in each occupational area, over lunch, in a central London location. Key issues and important themes emerge very quickly. An excellent example from the most recently held group on 'production' was that of PDFs. Everyone is using them, digital workflow is on everyone's lips, yet many are still unsure of what they're doing.

For example: how do PDF files interact with other applications? This type of practical information is just what we relish, and informs our course upgrades, tutor and content changes and new course ideas.

Course assessment forms can also be very informative. We are fortunate that we receive a higher rate of return than most training organisations, almost 80%. There is nothing better than having constructive criticism or confirmation of what worked well, fresh from a delegate, moments after a course ends.

Another route is our Expert User Panels. These are informal panels of individual contacts in a variety of companies who provide invaluable feedback and advice that helps keep our courses current. Communication can be as simple as a reaction to a change in a course name, or as complex as considered feedback on a detailed new programme.

In return, members of these panels receive extra discount, the odd free place and other benefits from PTC for their time and effort. The PTC network is wide and continues growing; just as our market is growing.

Arguably the most important avenue for keeping course content up-to-date is our pool of approximately 70 active tutors. These are practitioners first and foremost. They tweak content each time they teach, advise us as soon as their course is in need of a fuller revamp, and, are an excellent source of new course ideas. Simply put, our courses work because our tutors work! We, at PTC are on a constant learning curve, or more aptly, learning continuum. The greater the sum of our contacts out there doing the jobs, the better the content of our offerings.

If you are interested in becoming one of our 'expert users', or putting your name down for a future focus group please contact catherine@bookhouse.co.uk or orna@bookhouse.co.uk.

Back to News archive