New York - My Kind of Conference!

The most favoured place to attend a conference anywhere in the world is New York according to a new survey of over 200 UK managers. New York was well ahead of the second location of choice which was Sydney followed by London in third position and Dubai and Paris picking up joint fourth.

These responses were part of a general survey on managers’ experiences of training and training venues organised by top UK training company PTP Training & Marketing Ltd.

And while more exotic locations topped the table of ideal training venues there were some surprise entries with Bristol being voted alongside Hong Kong and Hawaii as joint fifth most favoured locations in the world and Manchester and Edinburgh holding on to sixth place together with the slightly warmer climes of Bali and Barbados.

Other more specific venues mentioned by some included Ground Zero, the new Wembly Stadium, the Sydney Opera House, in a vineyard and on top of a mountain!

As far as requirements for training venues are concerned, the most important aspect – mentioned by 27% of the sample – is a good central location and specifically good parking. This was followed by the desire for a quiet room with no distractions, good natural lighting and good room temperature. And just to show that delegates don’t see training simply as a day out of the office with free sandwiches, the food and refreshments were considered the least important aspect of the training experience.

In addition to several stories of fellow delegates falling asleep and those not realising they were doing the wrong course, here is a list of the top ten funniest training stories provided by the managers questioned:

1. Course leader on Time Management was late getting to course
2. Delegates on a First Aid course got food poisoning from the lunch
3. In a fire and safety training day the fire extinguisher wouldn’t work when a fire was deliberately started in the room
4. At the end of the training session the trainer asked for word starting with F and ending with K – she meant feedback!
5. On his way to a training course for fork lift training, one of the delegates drove into the lorry carrying the fork lift
6. Course on managing stress where the trainer was so irritating the delegates renamed it “how I can manage that you get stress”
7. Trainer who began the session by writing in big letters on a board the name of the course – unfortunately it was the wrong course
8. As an icebreaker delegates were asked to sing a song which told others about their character
9. Change of training venue at the last minute – to one 200 miles away
10. Training held in a basement room above an underground station in Milan which shook all day and everything fell off the walls
Commenting on the results of the survey, Marc Holland, managing director of PTP says:

“It’s good to see that London, Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh have all made their way into the top 15 venues across the world for the ideal training location. New York is an obvious first choice as delegates can combine some fantastic sightseeing with attending a conference.

“As a training company we are horrified at some of the training experiences told by our survey sample ranging from trainers who don’t know which course they’re running to some very dodgy venues. Fortunately non of these stories relate to PTP courses as we invest heavily in having only top trainers who know their subjects exceptionally well. We also use top quality and centrally located training venues to ensure delegates can find us easily and are comfortable for the duration of the training.”

For more information log on to PTP’s web site at www.ptp.co.uk.

Top 12 most favoured training locations in the world according to UK managers:
1st New York
2nd Sydney
Joint 3rd London, Dubai, Paris
Joint 4th Hong Kong, Hawai, Bristol
Joint 5th Manchester, Bali, Barbados, Edinburgh