In-house Training versus Public Courses
23 August, 2011
Considering holding a course in-house? There are many advantages of arranging an
in-house training session over attending a public course.
- Privacy Financially-orientated training, such a specialty financial modelling courses often engenders discussions around confidential company financial and strategic information. A closed course means that participants can enjoy privacy and confidentiality.
- Timing Specialised courses might only run in your area a couple of times a year. If the public schedule does not suit your company deadlines, you can schedule the date to suit you instead of waiting for a public course to run in your city, or having delegates travel to another location where the course is running.
- Cost For the same price as sending a small group on a public course, you have your entire team trained.
- Relevance Having all participants from the same industry means you don't waste time talking about aspects of the course irrelevant to your organisation. Topics irrelevant to your organisation can be skimmed, and more time spent on issues important in your industry or roles.
- Customisation Many training providers offer customisation options, where the company representatives can pick and choose the topics they wish to be covered during the course. You can even have the course tailored to use your own company templates, data, examples or financial models.
In-house does not have to be In-house
Many people find it easier to run a course at an off-site venue instead of using one of their meeting rooms. This is sometimes due to a lack of space or meeting room availability, but there are other advantages to using a dedicated training facility. There is an additional cost of hiring the venue, but the attendance rates and punctuality is often much better when participants are required to travel to another location instead of simply casually strolling up to the meeting room around the corner. With fewer interruptions, external venue attendees can focus on the course and learning outcomes are higher.
But there are only a few of us
Most training companies will give you a flat fee for up a certain number of participants, with no minimum number, and are happy to arrange training for only a couple of people. The maximum participant number, however, varies widely, depending on the type of course. For a specialised training such as Plum Solutions Financial Modelling and Analysis courses, the ideal number of participants in a group is between six and ten because of the practical and hands-on nature of the course. More can be added, but because each participant requires a laptop or workstation and often needs assistance from the trainer, a class of greater than 12-15 is not recommended, and a large group slows down the delivery pace. Basically, the smaller the group, the more material that can be covered during the course. Therefore, if there’s only one or two of you, it’s not uncommon to be able to get through a two-day course in a single day. Whilst the cost per head is higher with a small group, the individual attention means that quality of training outcomes with a practical course is much better.
For more information about running a Plum Solutions at your organisation, request a quote now.
Post new comment