5 Courses in Edinburgh

You Are Invited to Join Us for Fair Saturday Edinburgh! We are excited to announce that Art and Spirituality CIC will be hosting a special “Wellness and Creativity Day” on Saturday, 30th November, as part of the Fair Saturday Edinburgh movement. This global initiative celebrates the transformative power of arts and culture and promotes positive change in our communities. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to explore their creativity and enhance their well-being through art and mindfulness. By joining our events, you’ll not only enjoy a day of creativity and relaxation, but you’ll also contribute to building a stronger, more connected community. To join our FREE EVENTS, no prior experience is necessary—just sign up and bring your enthusiasm! *10-11am Intuitive HeART Painting This class combines the principles of intuitive painting with a focus on the heart, allowing you to tap into your inner creativity and feelings without the pressure of technique or perfection. You will engage in a meditative approach to painting, using colours, shapes, and textures to express your thoughts and emotions freely. Embrace the joy of creation and discover the heart of your art! By attending this class you release the teacher, Giada Gaslini and Art and Spirituality Cic, from any liability arising out of any personal injuries, emotional or physical release, death, expectations of results, theft in the venue or damages that may happen to people and objects while attending.

Adobe Lightroom Classic helps solve two of the main problems that afflict digital photographers: how to organise all your files, and how to edit them without spending all of your spare time at a computer screen. Lightroom Classic is a convenient and flexible desktop programme that helps you to organise and sift your photographs into collections, and also gives access to a powerful set of tools that edit, enhance and export your pictures. You can use intuitive pre-set tools, you can create your own favourite adjustments, you can edit large numbers of images with one click of a mouse, and you can fine-tune your image-editing by selectively working on parts of a picture. And you can experiment, secure in the knowledge that you are working in a non-destructive environment and that your pictures are safe. This practical short course will introduce you to the principles of file organisation and image-editing, giving you the knowledge and confidence to choose when to work with this convenient and flexible programme, and whether or not you need the full power of Photoshop Creative Suite. Sample picture files will be provided for you to work with, or you can bring a selection of your own. If you work in RAW, please also bring JPEGs on a memory stick, external hard drive or cloud storage such as Dropbox. Please note this course does not cover the new version of LightRoom CC (which is specifically designed for mobile devices) and only uses the most recent version of LightRoom Classic. Morning You will get to know the Lightroom layout and workspace, importing a set of files into the catalogue and starting to organise the files into collections and adding useful file information. You will explore the opportunities for viewing and aids for analysing the pictures. You will start to use the convenient ‘quick develop’ editing tools. We will then explore the digital image-editing workflow. The usual flow is to correct and optimise before we enhance, interpret or exaggerate. The basic areas to consider are cropping, cloning, colour and tone. Taking each in turn, we will correct and clean up the pictures in a measurable and controllable way. We will investigate techniques to control digital noise, colour distortions and lens corrections. We will work on individual files and also start applying corrections to batches. We will create and apply pre-set corrections. Afternoon Having corrected and optimised the picture files, we can start interpreting, enhancing and exaggerating – the fun part of image-editing! We can try colour to black-and-white conversions, using the many pre-sets to guide; we can selectively boost or restrain colours; we can add grain and textures, vignettes and split tones; we can mix and match these effects and create and save our own favourite effects. We can apply adjustment effects to selected picture areas. Image editing is all good fun, but how do we know where to start? Or when to stop? We‚’ll have a look at some photographic styles and techniques from photography’s rich history to give us some ideas and then try to replicate them. We will discuss ways of using the programme and the technology to develop photographic projects. And we will look at how Lightroom can help us to export those projects as books, prints and slideshows. Designed for those who are already familiar with some digital photography processes but who want to pursue a particular aspect and develop skills in a specific genre. This course is the perfect follow-on from our Digital SLR training courses and will support you in building upon your existing knowledge of camera skills and allow you to work confidently on your own projects. Some prior digital SLR photography experience is therefore recommended.   Courses are subject to minimum enrolment. Please register early, within five days of the start date, to reduce the likelihood of course cancellation. Please read our cancellation policy before booking. Students, anyone over the age of 65, and those in receipt of any form of benefits can claim the concessionary price, offering a 10% discount on the full course price. Valid proof of eligibility must be produced on the first day of the course. Please use the code CONCESSION when prompted at checkout.

Our Team Building Programmes are 'simply excellent' (quote from Unilever). They always deliver much greater energy' motivation and efficiently accelerates to a galvanised, integrated team for their Manager/Team Leader. They're great fun and very commercially orientated - the best of both key elements to a successful and long-lasting high performance team. A successful company is always made up of successful teams. Teams that can work autonomously with a clearly defined set of goals, roles, vision, responsibility and culture will always reach for and achieve far greater success than a team that works just as a group of individuals. Our team building solutions are individually built and geared towards teams at any level within an organisation, providing an independent and objective perspective to promote a common purpose such as the creation of a 'high performance team'. Out With The Old Traditionally, team building events have been restricted to certain levels of management where they head off site for a bit of archery, quad biking and paintballing or something along those lines. Then over some coffee and cocktails, business plans and more efficient ways to work are casually discussed. Whilst being out having fun instead of being at work may improve an individual person's mood, the effect will only be short-term, and will not go far in creating permanent and cohesive teams who are able to overcome challenges together and drive the business forward when back in the workplace. In With The New Today's business thinking is more strategic and certainly has to look for returns on the investment. That is why Dickson Training Ltd's team building programmes are bespoke and built to your requirements through research, understanding your business and, most importantly, what results and achievements you are looking to get out of the programme. Once "what success looks like" has been established, we create tasks and activities that will test your leadership, problem solving, communication and team work skills. When the tasks have been completed, the learning - both practical and theory - is debriefed to the group as well as how it will translate back in your business. Not only are our events great fun, but they provide participants with learning points they can act upon to improve or enhance the working practices/environment. Team Building That Gets Results We have a highly innovative team who design team builds to suit all budgets and time or space restrictions. Large or small, we will develop the perfect event to meet your commercial objectives, keeping in line with your values and company culture. More recently we have combined team galvanising events with ways to engage the participants with and support their local communities. This solution has proved extremely popular with our clients and we are continuing to develop more and more programmes doing exactly this. " Phil did everything in a very professional and focused manner, without losing sight of the overall aims or having 'fun'. When I moved to Airbus UK and subsequently European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), I had no hesitation in recommending Phil and the team to deliver the required training and team events.  Without doubt Phil and his team are excellent providers of training, to suit even bespoke requirements, and I would not hesitate in recommending the team to any business in the future. " Glenn Brown, Systems & Expertise Manager, Airbus Personnel Service Augmented Skills – an Essay by Phil Dickson All of you, who are reading this, and all the people you meet and work with will have – ‘Augmented Skills’. So – if you are an IT Engineer or a Pharmacist; perhaps you are, or know, a Departmental Leader and you work with a Logistics Project Manager; these roles will demand core skills, whether they be technical know-how or qualifications in the discipline. But to be that bit better; more reliable; more effective & productive and therefore more valuable and, frankly, marketable – capitalizing on ‘Augment Skills’ comes into play. The I T Engineer who was a Chess Champion at Uni, which would indicate that they possess some key ‘Augmented skills’ including how they plan 3 steps ahead and are always prepared for the unexpected. The Pharmacist, who is a keen sportsperson in their private life, will likely be tenacious, team-orientated and disciplined – again these are superb qualities to have in this – or any – role. Your colleagues, as well as yourself, will have ‘Augmented Skills’ that will be an asset if only they are explored and applied to their role and indeed, career. Everyone has their own 'Super-power' If they love gardening, they are probably strategic, patient and inclined to research; if they cook or bake, they are usually well organized and comfortable with multi-tasking. A big reader will tend to be considered and possess good critical thinking faculties, and an amateur mechanic or keen DIY person will often be practical, resourceful and very determined. I have observed that many new Parents discover they have ‘Augmented Skills’ they didn’t know they had... such as getting order out of chaos and displaying industrial amounts of patience and good grace when they really do not feel like it. They very often become far more compassionate and empathetic. Most people have their very own ‘Superpower’. Invite your team members to offer their ‘Augmented Skills’ to your work-place – and just watch as it elevates the motivation levels and improves results. It’ll be very rewarding for all concerned – and for meeting the Team’s objectives, to encourage the person who is a talented artist to be a sounding board on some of the marketing imagery and layouts; for the team member who is great at Maths or resolving crosswords to be asked for their input to solving a problem that is causing logistical or operational headaches. Never exploit a Team member’s unique special skills at their expense I would like to stress, however, that it must never be an area where a team member gets exploited by harvesting their unique special skills to coerce them into taking on greater responsibilities and tasks without providing them with the commensurate salary and status. To do so would be immoral and, ultimately, counter-productive as it would lead to resentment and disenfranchisement. This is about encouraging people’s capability and inviting their input to boost confidence and enhance the team’s capability. Often, we need to be more than what our Job Description says It is also important to highlight that whatever a person’s role or function is – they will definitely need to have additional capabilities to be effective. The best example of this is when we designed and delivered a range of ‘Advanced Customer Care skills’ training sessions for the Met Office a few years ago…we met so many remarkably super-bright Meteorologists, many of whom were having to make significant adjustments to answering questions from Customers that seemed to be illogical and often, obtuse. It wasn’t enough for these Meteorologists to be highly skilled at interpreting data and identifying patterns – they needed ‘Augmented skills’ to make that information accessible to members of the public (and Council workers and Air Traffic controllers and Shipping agents) and many other people, as to what that particular weather system was going to be like in their area and at what time. They have to know how to ‘de-jargonise’ the material and provide succinct, clear, and yet temperate, descriptions without ever appearing exasperated, impatient or judgmental in response to sometimes quite silly questions. For a highly trained scientist – that can be counter-intuitive. Being Philosophical... and a wee bit pretentious At the risk of being a little Philosophical (and probably a wee bit pretentious) – in my own role of Trainer – my core skills have to include – being a very good communicator, an active listener and have innovative and engaging ways to convert an idea, or a model, into practical application that my Delegates and Clients gain tangible benefits from. This is how it applies to me... I really enjoy composing short, light classical-style piano pieces. Now, to do this well, you need to be able to find a transition from one chord or melody to a different theme or key. It has to be worked out very carefully to have incremental transitions and pleasant-sounding developments as the piece unfolds. I think I have become better at this as I have honed my skills as a composer. But I have realized that these very same skills have ‘Augmented’ my ability to help a Manager, or a Team, move from a state of conflict; tension; disfunction; disenfranchisement; lack of confidence to a place that is more harmonious with far greater productivity. The very same process of careful listening, considering options, taking well-considered steps, having a creative, sometimes brave, move towards a resolution are at play in both Training and Piano Compositions! Scheduled Courses Unfortunately this course is not one that is currently scheduled as an open course, and is only available on an in-house basis. Please contact us for more information.

Harness the energy is an explorative workshop introducing the notion of utilising and intuitively listening to the energy shared between a group of people. Whether we realise it or not, we all give off certain energies at any time. These energies can affect change, sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. This workshop enhances understanding of the power of our own energy transmissions through the use of complicité-based theatre techniques and exercises. This workshop will help participants become active and aware listeners, able to work better collaboratively to produce strong results. It will demonstrate the power of our own individual energy and the positive impact we can have when we learn to utilise the energy beneficially in different situations.

Overview A 1-day course on inflation-linked bonds and derivatives, focusing on the UK market in particular. We examine how inflation is defined and quantified, the choice of index (RPI vs. CPI), and the most common cash flow structures for index-linked securities. We look in detail at Index-linked Gilts, distinguishing between the old-style and new-style quotation conventions, and how to calculate the implied breakeven rate. Corporate bond market in the UK, and in particular the role of LPI in driving pension fund activity. Inflation swaps and other derivatives, looking at the mechanics, applications and pricing of inflation swaps and caps/floors. The convexity adjustment for Y-o-Y swaps is derived intuitively. Who the course is for Front-office sales product control research Traders Risk managers Fund managers Project finance and structured finance practitioners Accountants, auditors, consultants Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now