Speakers and Content

Richard Marsh Business Development Director Employer Services National Apprenticeship Service National Apprenticeship Service Employment Engagement Plans How the National Apprenticeship Service plan to increase the number of employers offering Apprenticeships	Joanne Lewis Programme Development Manager World Class Skills Learning and Skills Improvement Service Improving Employer Responsiveness The LSIS presentation will provide examples of effective ways in which providers have met the challenges of engaging with employers and point providers towards further resources and case studies which they can access on the Excellence Gateway.
Glenn Robinson Train to Gain Development Director Learning and Skills Council National Office Skills Funding Agency Employer Engagement Activity Glenn will describe the range of employer activities the Skills Funding Agency will operate and how the various strands will be integrated and fit with the RDA brokerage service delivered by Business Link. Links with the UKCES programme of work on simplifying the skills offer for employers, and plans to enable training provider staff to achieve the Skills Broker Standard that will be a national occupational Standard from January 2010 will also be explored	Alan Clarke Sector Engagement Manager Lifelong Learning UK Economic Climate - Opportunities and Challenges for Workforce Development The current economic climate means that meeting the needs of customers, employers and learners has never been so important. The quality of the service provided is often dependent on the quality of staff delivering it. LLUK highlight how they can assist both strategically and operationally with employee recruitment and development.
David Batup Managing Partner Perperitus Building Sales Awareness in your Organisation – Practical Steps This session looks at the impact of Customer experience from the first enquiry through to the delivery of the training or L&D solution. Many organisations map the “customer Journey” but this gives little insight as to what is important to the customer. Better to raise the sales awareness of the organisation by engaging the team to mapping and analysing the “customer experience”. Using tools such as an customer experience flight path, emotional intelligence and feedback loops a provider can quickly increase the sales or customer awareness in an organisation. This brings benefits to the customer, the customer facing team and the financial health of the provider.	Tony Baines Director, Strategic & Performance Management (SPM) Consultancy Limited and Licenced TQS Assessor Practical and Business Advantages of TQS Principles You may well think that the Training Quality Standard (TQS) is “just another Standard” – that it has limited commercial value: thankfully, this is not so. By linking to the “World Class Skills” agenda (see LSIS) and working through the business performance impact value of TQS in action, we will learn how effective its core principles of customer-responsiveness and continuous improvement can be for: employers buying training, Training Providers and employers with substantial training units of their own.
Paul Hafren Principal Warrington Collegiate Senior Management involvement in Employer Engagement Warrington Collegiate created The Warrington Business School in 2006 with dedicated buildings and staff to better serve the needs of employers. The Business School houses Business Development, Apprenticeship, Train to Gain, Trade Union Education and Conference teams. In 2007 Ofsted inspected the Collegiate and identified employer engagement as a key strength. In his presentation, Paul Hafren will explain the reasons why senior managers have led this as a key strategic development within the College and how it has been accomplished.	Alistair Boyd-Meaney Director for Enterprise Kirklees College Practical use of CRM or Building Sales Skills within the Employer Engagement Team The presentation will be "A Step-by-Step Guide to Developing Successful Customer Relationship Management" There are some simple steps that Colleges and other training providers can take to ensure the successful development and roll out of a CRM process within their organisation. It has something to do with the system you use/what software you buy, but has far more to do with the people you involve and the culture you build. The purpose of CRM must be understood by all within any organisation and the people that operate it. This includes, how the system is administered; how it is utilised by the curriculum teams; the employer engagement staff; the other areas of the organisation; how management utilise it, at all levels; and how the organisation measures its impact upon customer relations.
Derrin Kent Development Manager TDM Limited Delivering Employer-Responsive Distance Learning This presentation will show a variety of practical techniques using open source software and social media to engage not only the learners but also their mentors. Derrin will make us think about how we deliver genuine Work-Based Learning which makes a difference to the employers we engage and give practical tips for encouraging knowledge transfer between employer clients in such a way that they are less reluctant to guard some of their business 'secrets' - thus supporting each other to develop and grow.	Dominic Watts UK Higher Education Business Manager Microsoft UK Limited Employer Perspective In a competitive environment and a tough economic climate it has never been more important for Microsoft’s employees to be ready for business. Through careful analysis of the business requirements and customer demands, Microsoft runs a continual learning programme which includes online, classroom and group learning with full commitment from everyone in the business to ensure it continues to be the number one software provider. In this session, Dominic Watts will present how the process works and will provide some tips on how to pitch to large employers.
Andrew Hooper Director of Employment Engagement and Sales Newbury College Importance of Account Management In this session delegates will learn; how to recognise their most important customers, how to build influence with customers so that they buy more and, who in their organisation should manage important accounts.