The number of events for staff training looks set to increase in 2011, according to industry bosses.
A survey by e-learning specialist Skillsoft revealed 83% of business decision makers in the UK expect to maintain or increase their training budgets in the year ahead.
Des McLaughlin, MD venue procurement at event management company Grass Roots, confirmed the trend.
He said he has seen an increase in bookings for general staff training events of around 30%, while graduate training programmes have increased by as much as 100%.
“One of our core areas is graduate training for the investment banks,” he said.
“A lot of the banks have actually doubled the amount of graduates that they are taking on, so there is a massive increase in the training going on this summer.”
McLaughlin said many of the events being held are residential, often at dedicated training centres.
“People are trying to be more efficient with their internal meeting space, but a lot of meetings are going out to the meeting service providers,” he said.
“I would say it is the companies that are specifically geared up to training that are seeing the benefits of it, rather than perhaps the hotels.”
Anita Lowe, CEO of Venues Event Management, part of the Expotel group, said she had also seen an increase in bookings for training events.
“This is being driven by a growing appreciation of higher customer expectations and the relevance of confidence-giving qualifications,” said Lowe.
Bookings are up as much as 20% for the next six months, she said, particularly among financial services businesses.
“Residential courses are on the up, as well as requests for dedicated training venues which help set the mood for learning as well as providing excellent technology,” said Lowe.
“Clients are committing to longer training programmes too – where previously we might have seen lots of, say, courses which take place over a month these are now year-long exercises which run to the end of the year.”
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