312 Power courses in Edinburgh

Generating new leads and new business can be both time-consuming and frustrating. It's not easy - it takes skill, careful preparation and the creation of effective models and methods, even perhaps using formal approaches and scripts. Once generated, a new lead or enquiry must also be carefully managed to maximise the potential revenue it can generate. But it's crucial to get it right. If your company can afford not to worry about getting new business - congratulations! If your company is completely confident that it is performing at peak potential in generating new leads - again, congratulations! But if your company is working in the real world, couldn't your team do with some help, to become even just that little bit more effective, to make the process just that little less painful? This highly practical, intensive workshop gives sales teams the proven strategies and tactics they need to build a sustainable new business pipeline. This course will help participants: Develop a clear and consistent process for new business development and lead-generation Master the secret of effective new business development and lead-generation - 'only sell the appointment or next stage of the sales process, not your product or service' Set and achieve the right level of new business development and lead-generation activity to achieve your personal and organisational sales goals Apply the key principles of effective prospecting and pipeline management using a proven toolkit and approach Overcome the most common 'put-offs' when conducting telephone or face-to-face business-development and lead-generation activities Develop an engaging telephone voice and manner - and a 'networking personality' Qualify potential opportunities with more accuracy on a consistent basis Prioritise opportunities and manage their time when sourcing new business Discover online sources of leads, contacts and referrals Overcome psychological blocks to cold or warm calling - theirs and the client's Identify potential prospects - and decision-makers and influencers within target prospects - with greater accuracy Make outbound sales or appointment calls with improved confidence, control and results Improve the conversion of calls to appointments by using more effective questions and sales messages Get past gatekeepers and assistants more effectively Make the most of your CRM software and systems 1 Online marketing - what works! Workshop overview and learning objectives Choosing your social media channels LinkedIn for sales and marketing Designing and implementing an effective new business email campaign online Creating a lead-generation strategy online - with case studies Avoiding common mistakes in social media marketing Case study: 'Best practice in social media sales and marketing' Using blogs and video-based marketing (eg, YouTube) New trends and how to keep your finger on the 'social media' pulse Twenty essential websites and online marketing tools 2 Making appointments by telephone Planning the call, telephone techniques, integrating with email and online marketing Developing a clear and consistent process to appointment-making Setting and achieving the right level of telephone activity to achieve your appointment goals Applying the key principles of effective prospecting and pipeline management generation, using a proven toolkit and approach Overcoming the most common 'put-offs' to seeing or engaging with you Overcoming psychological blocks to cold or warm calling - yours and the client's Identifying potential prospects - and decision-makers and influencers within target prospects - with greater accuracy Making outbound sales or appointment calls with improved confidence, control and results Improving conversion of calls to appointments by using more effective questions and sales messages The five keys to developing an engaging telephone voice and approaching manner 3 Power networking Strategies for networking and B2B referral-based marketing The importance, and different types, of networking How to work a room - preparation and strategy Communication dynamics in networking - the power of the listening networker Assumptions when networking Business networking etiquette Making connections, asking for cards, contact details and referrals, gaining follow-up commitments Building relationships - follow-up and follow-through 4 Developing new leads Strategies for first-time sales calls Gaining rapport and opening first-time and new business sales calls effectively Advanced consultative selling - questioning techniques to quickly and efficiently uncover opportunities, need areas and preferences Presenting your solution to a new or first-time customer - creating an enthusiastic and compelling personalised and persuasive summary of your proposal Value message - differentiate your solutions clearly and accurately, with tailored value statements Presenting the right initial USPs, features and benefits and making them relevant and real to the customer Smart ways to position price, emphasise value and be a strong player without being the cheapest or leading on price Learn and use advanced techniques to determine customer needs, value and decision-making criteria in depth on a first-time call 5 Organised persistence - CRM and prospect-tracking Organised persistence - sales tracking, following up on 'sleeping' customers, gaining referrals, time and territory management Maintaining a good database for maximising new business ROI Developing a contact strategy with different types and levels of contact Analysing your contact base using state-of-the-art software and tools Making the most of your CRM systems and solutions Understanding that your attitude makes a difference when sourcing new business Setting SMART objectives for new business development and lead-generation Practical exercise - setting personal development and business goals Time management tips to improve daily productivity New business pipeline management strategies for peak sales performance 6 Workshop summary and close Practical exercise - developing your new business action plan Review and feedback

Supporting Microsoft SharePoint course description A concise hands on course enabling delegates to manage and administer a SharePoint site. What will you learn Perform initial farm configuration. Use stsadm commands. Manage content. Secure SharePoint. Customise SharePoint search. Monitor and performance tune SharePoint. Supporting Microsoft SharePoint server course details Who will benefit: Anyone working with Microsoft SQL server Prerequisites: SharePoint Administrators. Duration 2 days Supporting Microsoft SharePoint course contents SharePoint Introduction A SharePoint installation. Initial farm configuration. Creating a site collection. Administering SharePoint Stsadm commands, automation with PowerShell. Managing content Lists, libraries, items and documents Security SecureStore, Users and groups, roles and role assignments. Permission levels. SharePoint search Configure search, refine search. SharePoint performance Diagnostic logging, logging levels, Health anaylzer, performance bottlenecks.

Introduction to Virtualization course description A comprehensive tour of virtualization. The course concentrates on the actual technologies involved as opposed to any one vendor solution. What will you learn Explain the concepts of virtualization. Partition servers. Create Virtual Machines. Introduction to Virtualization course details Who will benefit: Anyone looking for an introduction to Virtualization. Prerequisites: None. Duration 2 days Introduction to Virtualization course contents Virtualization Concepts What is Virtualisation? What are virtual machines (VMs)? Virtualisation Landscape. Network Virtualisation. Suitability for Organisations. Advantages of deploying Virtualisation. Downsides of deploying Virtualisation. Overview of Virtualisation products. Hypervisors What is a hypervisor? Difference between type 1 and 2 hypervisors. Available hypervisors. Hypervisors and device drivers. Hands on: Installing Oracle VirtualBox on Windows. Creating/Importing/Configuring VMs. Virtualization Hosts Hardware and resource requirements. Installation of the hypervisor. Hands on: Installing Hyper-V role into Windows Server. Creating/Importing/Configuring VMs. Virtual Machines Creating virtual machines. Resource requirements. Settings. Installation of the guest OS. Additional tools/ extensions for hypervisor integration. VM files and their uses. Virtual hard disk and their formats. Hardware pass through. Hands on: Connecting to VMWare ESXi via WebGUI and using ESXi to create/import/configure VMs. VM Snapshots/Checkpoints What is a snapshot? How to use them and how they impact performance? Creating/deleting/merging of snapshots. Hands on: Using ESXi to create/manage snapshots. Command Line use on the Hypervisor Interacting with the hypervisor through the command line. Simple commands to configure the hypervisor and VMs. Simple scripts. Hands on: Connecting to VMWare ESXi via PowerCLI to manipulate VMs and snaphshots. Virtualization Storage Different types of storage: local vs remote. Local and remote storage technologies. Configuring storage. Hands on: Using ESXi to deploy VMs on remote NFS storage. Virtual Networking How is networking done in virtualization environments. What is a virtual switch and vNIC and what are their performance characteristics? NIC teaming and trunking in the virtual world. Port groups and isolation. Physical NICs and their use in virtual switches. Hands on: Using ESXi to create and configure vswitches and networking. Templates and clones What is a template? What is a clone? When to use templates and clones to optimize VM deployment. Migrating/Importing VMs What is migration? Migrating compute and storage. Importing VMs from files or physical machines. Hands on: Using VMWare vCenter Server to clone/ template/migrate VMs, tag resources, create local user accounts and assign permissions. VMs and Backups Taking backups of your VMs. Restoring your VMs from backups. Virtualization and Licensing Different licensing models and costs. Containerization Concepts What is a container and how is it different from a virtual machine. When to use containers. Docker and Kubernetes

Advanced UNIX shell scripting training course description A follow on hands on course from the Introduction to shell programming course covering the powerful sed and awk tools along with the extra Korn shell programming features. What will you learn Use regular expressions within grep, ed and many other utilities. Use awk and sed. Integrate sed and awk into shell scripts. Recognise the role of shell scripts within the UNIX system. Write shell scripts using new Korn shell features including: The select construct Arrays Arithmetic evaluation Advanced UNIX shell scripting training course details Who will benefit: Programmers developing applications under UNIX. Administrators who need time saving utilities. Technical personnel who wish to make the most out of the Korn Shell. Prerequisites: UNIX shell scripting Duration 3 days Advanced UNIX shell scripting training course contents Regular Expressions What are REs? How can they be used? How to write REs More REs e REs Tagging, matching words, repetitions. The sed editor Basic usage: Saving output, options. sed script files, sed commands, Specifying lines to edit, Hold space and pattern space, advanced commands Awk Basic usage, nawk script files, Patterns, Records and fields, Actions if, while, do, for... System variables NF, NR, RS... Arrays Functions length, printf, cos, user defined... Using nawk in shell scripts Korn shell scripts Review of Bourne shell scripts functions... Variables typeset, manipulating strings Arrays Arithmetic evaluation the let command, (( )), typeset -i The select construct Syntax, workings, REPLY, PS3 Miscellaneous Enhanced I/O, ${10}

This very practical workshop has a simple objective: to help you prepare, design and deliver memorable and high-quality presentations. This programme will help you: Use a proven, structured tool-kit when designing and developing presentations Benefit from short cuts and best practice when designing and using Powerpoint presentations Select the right information, examples, exercises and activities - and use them well Prepare and structure a presentation or session appropriate to the audience, and to best achieve your objectives Maintain audience or group interest Develop and practise presentation skills to improve your voice tone, speech power and body language Use practical methods to control nerves and anxiety - develop higher levels of confidence and credibility Command a room, hold attention and create a high impact 1 Introduction Personal objectives Key messages and learning objectives of the workshop 2 Presentation skills What does good look like? Exercise: Characteristics of high/low impact presentations Presenting yourself as a 'winner' The energy / attitude model Exercise: Being a winner 3 Preparation skills - eight steps to preparing a great presentation, plus Powerpoint tips •The magic circle• How to 'assume the role' when presenting• The eight steps• Step 1 - develop your objectives- The five questions that you must answer before preparing your presentation- Defining your objectives and outcomes- Creating a first draft- Step 1 exercise• Step 2 - analyse your audience- Doing your homework: audience, event, venue- Developing a pre-event check-list- Methods and means for researching your audience- Step 2 exercise• Steps 3 and 4 - structure the main body of your presentation and state the main ideas- Ways to structure your presentation for maximum impact- Balancing and managing content and topics- Organising your information: 6 options and methods- Your 'one main point' and creating a 30-second summary- Steps 3 and 4 exercises• Step 5 - decide on supporting information, using the toolkit- Making your case convincing: ways to support your claims- Selecting and using relevant and interesting examples- Quotes, case studies and printed material- Presenting statistics, tables and graphs- Ways of maintaining visual interest- Transitions and links, creating a 'golden thread'- Step 5 exercise: Creating compelling stories and anecdotes4• Step 6 - create an effective 'opening'- Claiming the stage and creating a good first impression- The three most powerful ways of opening a presentation- The five elements of a strong opening- Step 6 exercise: Participants work individually to prepare an opening, focusing onpersonal introduction, and then deliver to the group, with structured feedback• Step 7 - develop transitions- Step 7 exercise / examples• Step 8 - create an effective close- Signalling and sign-posting; the importance of, and how to do it effectively- Five ways to close a presentation successfully- Step 8 exercise / examples• Presentation design and Powerpoint- An interactive review of participants' own real-life past presentations and advanced tipsand techniques on using Powerpoint effectively 4 Facilitation skills The three main types of group activity - triads, teams and main group How to select the right activity, define the objectives, set it up and run the debrief Using energisers - with examples Exercise: Dealing with 'difficult' behaviours Exercise: Working in triads, design and deliver 5 Tips and tricks: presentation and facilitation 10 reasons why facilitation fails Five golden rules for success Defining the session goals and the facilitation plan Open and closed questions - why and when to use Using a 'car park' to manage unresolved issues Using AV aids - tips and tricks Exercises: Including participants working in pairs to prepare a short section form of one of their own presentations 6 Putting it all together Summary of key learning points Action plan

Learning Centre Support Specialist, Learning Support Assistant,

PRINCE2® Practitioner : In-House Training Projects fail for a variety of reasons including poor planning, lack of defined quality criteria, poor understanding of the business drivers, inadequate control, and lack of senior management involvement in other words, lack of a structured best practice approach to project delivery. PRINCE2® (6th Edition is the current version) is a structured, process-based approach for project management providing a methodology which can be easily tailored and scaled to suit all types of projects. It is the de facto standard for project management in the UK Government and is also used extensively in more than 150 countries worldwide with in excess of 20,000 organizations already benefitting from its powerful approach. It can be used easily in combination with PMI®'s PMBOK® Guide to provide a robust project methodology, or to augment an existing PMBOK®-based methodology with additional rigor around areas such as Quality, Organization, and Benefits Realization. The goals of this course are to take participants to the next level of understanding and application of the PRINCE2® methodology and to prepare them to sit the Practitioner exam. Using APMG provided sample exam papers and additional project case studies, participants will learn how to apply what they learned during the Foundation course and how to approach the OTE Practitioner exam, which is aimed at testing their ability to apply PRINCE2® in an actual project environment simulated via a case study provided as part of the exam. What you will Learn You'll learn how to: Tailor and apply the principles, themes, process structure, techniques, and management products of PRINCE2® within a work environment, via carefully selected case studies Define the PRINCE2® 6th Edition method at the Practitioner level Prepare for and take the Practitioner exam Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Tailoring PRINCE2® Tailoring PRINCE2® Adopting PRINCE2® Tailoring PRINCE2® to suit different projects Adopting PRINCE2® in an organizational environment Controlled Start Recap management products Study business case and risk Study activities and responsibilities in: Starting up a project Initiating a project Controlled Progress Study management products and risk Study activities and responsibilities in: Getting work done Monitoring and reporting Issues and escalation Controlled Close Study Activities and Responsibilities in Closing a Project Activities and roles Roles and Responsibilities Principles Exercise Product-basedPlanning Producing a product breakdown structure (PBS) Producing a product flow diagram (PFD) Linking product breakdown structures and product flow diagrams to product descriptions

Interactive Presentation Skills, Presenting, Presentations, Presentation Skills,

PRINCE2® Foundation: In-House Training Projects fail for a variety of reasons including poor planning, lack of defined quality criteria, poor understanding of the business drivers, inadequate control, and lack of senior management involvement in other words, lack of a structured best practice approach to project delivery. PRINCE2® (6th Edition is the current version) is a structured, process-based approach to project management providing a methodology which can be easily tailored and scaled to suit all types of projects. It is the de facto standard for project management in the UK Government and is used extensively in more than 150 countries worldwide with in excess of 20,000 organizations already benefiting from its powerful approach. It can be used easily in combination with PMI®'s PMBOK® Guideto provide a robust project management methodology, or to augment an existing PMBOK®-based methodology with additional rigor around areas such as Quality, Organization, and Benefits Realization. The goals of this course are to provide participants with a thorough grounding in PRINCE2® and its benefits and to prepare them to sit the Foundation exam. What you will Learn You'll learn how to: Identify the benefits and principles underlying a structured approach to project management Define the PRINCE2® method in depth, including the principles, themes, and processes Prepare and practice for the Foundation exam Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Overview of the PRINCE2® Foundation exam PRINCE2® Introduction Introducing PRINCE2® The structure of PRINCE2® What PRINCE2® does not provide What makes a project a 'PRINCE2® project'? Project Management with PRINCE2® Defining a project Managing a project Controlling the variables The Project Manager's work PRINCE2 Principles PRINCE2® Principles The Seven Principles Tailoring and Adopting PRINCE2® Defining tailoring Defining embedding What can be tailored? Who is responsible for tailoring? Introduction to the PRINCE2® Themes What is a PRINCE2® Theme? What are the PRINCE2® Themes? Tailoring the themes Format of the theme chapters Business Case Need for a business case Elements of a business case How a business case is developed Managing Benefits Organization Need for a special type of organization PRINCE2® organization structure Roles in a PRINCE2® project Combining roles Quality Relevance of quality to project work Quality, quality control, and quality assurance Quality management approach and the quality register Who is responsible for quality? Plans Need for plans and their hierarchy Approach to planning Content of a PRINCE2® plan Product-based planning Risk The need to manage risks What is a risk? Risk and continued business justification A risk management option Change Change is inevitable Different types of change Baselines and configuration management Issue and change control in PRINCE2® Progress Controlling a PRINCE2® project The application of tolerance Types of control Raising exceptions Introduction to Processes Processes and the project lifecycle The PRINCE2® journey Structure of the process chapters Tailoring the processes Starting up a Project Appointing people to the PRINCE2® roles Establishing some baselines Should we go further with this work? Planning for initiation Directing a Project Should we start / continue the project? Responding to internal / external influences Should we close this project? Initiating a Project Establishing the project's approaches Creating the project plan Refining the business case Assembling the PID Controlling a Stage Authorizing and reviewing work Monitoring and reporting Handling non-planned situations Triggering the next process Managing Product Delivery Accepting work from the Project Manager Getting the work done by the team Routine and non-routine reporting Handing back the completed work Managing a Stage Boundary Taking stock of what we have done Updating the PID Consider the options for continuing / stopping Producing exception plans Closing a Project PRINCE2® at the end of a project Transition of product to operational use How well did we do? Tying up all the loose ends

Train the Trainer, Trainer Development,