What's on the web
Studio talkwww.skillstudio.co.uk
This is a site offering training for business presentations in order to“increase your personal impact and become more influential”. Quite a bold claim but they do have some very high profile clients on their list, so they must be doing something right. The site is nicely laid out and simple to use, with the added benefit that they offer a free “Presentation Skills eCourse”. The company also provides various public, one on one, and in-house training schemes all of which are extensively detailed, and encouragingly they also provide Law Society Accredited training. One feature that does let the overall impression down however is the client testimonials which rather remind one of stain removal advertisements. Another slight annoyance is that an overuse of colour makes it appear that there are links on the site where there are not. Look past these couple of flaws though and you are on to a winner.
At first glance this looks to be a slick and well-organised site. However,the majority of writing on the site lacks a certain je ne sais quoi and we found it quite hard-going to wade through, perhaps as it is far too “blocked”to make for easy reading. A lack of links throughout the site certainly did not help either. The main aim seems to be persuading the reader to call the company for “free business advice” (with their telephone number plastered strategically across the pages); although one wonders how much the call itself would actually cost as it is not a freephone number. Saying this, the site is worth a quick look for the articles alone which are both attention-grabbing and well written. The “business tools” link is also to be recommended.
A new lookwww.astd.org/astd
The American Society for Training and Development has revamped its site fairly recently and is now a useful worldwide application with some interesting links. Containing models for learning, various resources, useful publications and research information, it is comprehensive and user friendly. The company publishes books, magazines, newsletters and whitepapers; some of which are available to view on the site, although others require membership. Membership requirement is the only real downside of the site, but quite an important one as several of the links are only accessible to members. Overall though, this is definitely a site worth spending some time on.
Nearly perfect stormwww.knowledgestorm.com
A slightly different spin on search engines is provided by this site. It is specifically geared towards business professionals and focuses on “finding technology solutions and information”. This minimises the chances of having to waste time sorting “the wheat from the chaff” which can be a common problem with many of the better known search engines. The structure denotes a very serious site and it proves to be so, linking you to companies providing software, training programmes, and plenty of web-based learning. The slant of it makes a nice change from google etc. and you are likely to come across some good articles and reports, although this does require you to become a member of knowledgestorm (membership is free). The categories they cover are listed at the bottom of the homepage but we would recommend avoiding this section unless you particularly want a headache (small writing, lots of it!).
Too insularwww.insights.com
Well laid out and free from the overuse of jargon, this is a site that makes for easy reading. The company concentrates on the idea of “blended learning”; a concept combining the specific learning objectives of the client, with the individual learning needs of the workforce. Methodology is focused on the “Insights Discovery System”; a model based on the personality profiling work of Carl Jung. Definitely a good site if you are considering training packages for your workforce. Probably not worth bothering with otherwise, as the site is purely dedicated to information about the company itself and there is a complete lack of any resources or tips.
And finallySome more (useful?) sayings:
If you are not p*****g off large numbers of human beings, then the project is not worth doing (Tom Peters).
The shortest pencil is more reliable than the longest memory (Max Williams).
Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past, and the neglected opportunity (Omar Idn Al-Halif).
Contact us
For a particularly interesting and useful site you could always try the Emerald one! And if you have any favourite (or otherwise) sites that you would like us to review on these pages, please drop us an e-mail and we will submit them to our reviewers’ usual rigorous analysis.
