Peigi MacKillop, Paul Milne and Stuart MacDonald (EDINA)
There was a general consensus of opinion towards a fee for conducting training courses for number of reasons:
No strong feeling on amount to charge.
Useful suggestion of 'buy one get one free' i.e. delegate pays 50 pounds for example and colleague can go free to same training course.
The phrase of 'concentrates the mind' was used when costs applied to event/training etc. Too easy to say yes to free event but then not turn up.
Local email bulletins from site rep. to local users. Perhaps have training-type information on EDINA login pages customised so that when a user logs into a service they would be privy to any training courses in their area.
Useful to have all training material on one page rather than available via each service's web pages.
It was pointed out that straightforward PowerPoint presentations are fairly uninspiring and are perhaps more useful to download and use at own PC rather than take time out to attend such a presentation. This kind of presentation has to be in conjunction with hands on-type practical etc.
'Webinars' & video-conferencing also possible routes for training delivery (introduce different set of communication constraints/parameters).
It was noted that Microsoft Producer apparently allows a speaker to be seen talking through his or her own PowerPoint slides - this could perhaps be useful as a downloadable portable training package.
More material geared towards FE audience? Peigi MacKillop pointed out that there has been little negative feedback regarding current materials from the FE sector. Although what was mooted was more exemplars/case-studies for the FE sector (if for no other reason than to encourage tutors/teachers to endorse use of the service once a practical employment of what the resource has to offer has been achieved).