It’s no easy matter to put on a top
quality CPD (continuing professional development) session for translators or
interpreters. At eCPD we deal with very discerning
customers. They are translators and interpreters at every level of
experience and expertise and they expect to see high-quality training and CPD. eCPD makes
great efforts to cater for everyone, of whatever experience level.
Identify topic …
The first step that we take is to
identify what language professionals want and need by reading our customers’
feedback and suggestions, scanning blogs and Twitter feeds, and keeping
up-to-date with the latest trends.
…and qualified trainer
Having identified a topic, the next
task is to find a qualified trainer. That is not always easy. While many of our
speakers are professional trainers, we often find that the best trainer is
a practising linguist who has become expert in a particular field. Often
such people have not considered teaching others what they know. Our first task
is to identify the right person. The second is to help them put together an
interesting, challenging, and valuable CPD session. We usually approach such
experts well in advance of the potential webinar or course, to give them plenty
of time to put together their presentation.
Schedule date and time
Our task then is to schedule a date
and time. This is not always easy because our customers are located all over
the world. Courses held in the morning here in the UK are usually too early for
most people in the US, but by the afternoon in the UK, Australian translators
tend to have retired for the night. We consider the interest level in each of the zones
before setting a time. We believe that it is best to attend every webinar live,
but we recognise that sometimes it is impossible: last minute urgent jobs, a
sick child, wrong timing. And that is why every session is recorded.
Telling our customers
Once the event is scheduled on our
webinar platform, we start the marketing process. We create
Mailing list
eCPD maintains an active mailing
list using contact management and email marketing software. The software ensures
that only people who really want our newsletter will receive it. Every couple
of weeks we send out a newsletter containing news of our upcoming webinars and
courses. We also make sure that every newsletter contains at least one industry
story as well as some helpful links for translators and interpreters. Readers
can opt to receive reminders of every event, about a week before each event is
due to take place. Around half of the people on our list have chosen to receive
these. Busy translators appreciate these timely reminders. Readers can
unsubscribe at any time.
Engaging with our audience
The staff at eCPD keep our
customers engaged in other ways too. The company has an active Facebook fan
page with (at the time of writing) over 850 likes. The feeds on Facebook and
Twitter (over 1100 followers follow @ecpdwebinars) keep industry-watchers up to date with blogs,
conference news, amusing language-related stories, and our own events of
course. We also curate a collection of useful links for translators in a
variety of fields on ScoopIt.
Administrative procedures
As bookings for a new event arrive,
the back office is kept busy ensuring that everyone has their confirmations,
and that every sale is entered into the accounts system, with a receipt sent to
the purchaser.
Rehearsal
As the date of a webinar approaches,
activity increases as we contact the speaker to ascertain content,
Webinar day
On the day of the webinar, we are
kept busy with last-minute bookings. Last registrations are supposed to be
received 2 hours before we start but we very often receive bookings just a few
minutes before. Unfortunately, since we are already on-line by then, we
sometimes do not see them in time to allow entry to the event, but we do try to
accommodate such requests if we can.
Two members of eCPD staff always
log on to every event around 20 minutes before the scheduled time and speakers
are asked to arrive 15 minutes before. This gives us time to make last-minute
sound checks, hand over the controls to the speaker, and ensure that everything
is ready.
eCPD webinars and training courses
always start on time – unless some emergency has occurred such as a power cut.
As we start the broadcast, our job now is to introduce the speaker, run any
polls and then moderate the question and answer session at the end.
Most of our events last for an
hour, but we can often run over. Some course lessons last for 90 minutes. We
find that people tend to lose concentration in longer sessions, and many people
simply cannot afford much more time from their busy working days, so it is rare
for one of our sessions to run longer than 90 minutes.
After the webinar is over our work
still is not done. We have to check and upload the recording. We always make a
back-up recording just in case, which is why we always have two members of
staff at every webinar. Finally, we circulate any handouts or other materials
to attendees, thank the presenter, and deal with any unanswered questions from
the session. We then ensure that the event is available on our library of past
events by uploading the recording to our streaming service and creating a new
product page.
Customer assistance
An eCPD webinar represents real value for money
As you can see, many hours of work
go into each and every one of our events: from concept to delivery and
follow-up. eCPD represents real value for every seat at a webinar or on a
course you book. The personal service every customer receives is very much
appreciated by our fans.
The team
 | ||
Lucy Brooks, Managing Director
responsible for finance, marketing,webinar content and direction, policy |
 | |
| Maia Figueroa, Customer Services Director, responsible for webinar content and direction, customer services, and the library |
 |
| Jessie Doppler, Associate, responsible for social media, provides additional support when necessary |
