We sometimes describe our training centre as a "daytime hotel" - we're very much in the customer service business here. There will be tea, coffee and cold drinks available when you arrive, the day's newspaper and the TV for you to "chill" if you've arrived early, or plenty of workstations available and connected to the internet through our 10 Meg connection if you want to check you email, link into your company's VPN, or carry on with a practical you had started the previous day.
Throughout the day, drinks and snacks are on hand, and we provide lunch too - sometimes at our training centre, other times at a local pub or restaurant. As all host should, we'll listen carefully to dietary requirements, likes and dislikes and we can tailor what we provide to suit the whole group. With a maximum of just seven delegates on a public course, and the course having exclusive use of the training and lunch facilities, there's always plenty of food to go around. Over lunch, your tutor's perfectly happy to discuss your application and wider topics that aren't on the course - anything from PHP for personal pages / sites on a Tomcat course through to telling you about how we restored the old Spa house and turned it into our training centre.
At the end of the day's training, delegates often stop around to check their email, to chat further, and to enquire about where to eat in Melksham or their best route home. Come the long days of summer, we've been known to join the delegates and walk along the canal to "The Barge" at Seend - such is the friendly atmosphere of almost every course ... and if you happen to be the only one staying in town for a longer course, we'll make a point of inviting you back at least one evening. We love it!
Come the end of the course, we're on hand with directions for the best route to the M4 ... or M5 ... or we'll run you across to Melksham station for the train, or Bristol Airport for your flight. And the service doesn't end there; after your course, you'll know where all the resources are on our web site, and you'll be welcome to post questions on the forum or by email to your tutor. Some of you will enjoy it so much that you'll come back for Geekmas, which we celebrate in November. Ah - I should leave the detail until nearer the time.
So really we're trainers and hoteliers ... it's just that we haven't, just yet, got the bedrooms and breakfast service running.
(written 2006-04-23, updated 2006-06-05)
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