Training budgets to remain stable throughout 2009

Research from Wyboston Lakes Conference and Training Centres has revealed that in times of financial hardship, budgets allocated for training purposes are to remain stable throughout 2009.

A poll of 496 training managers with a collective buying power of GBP20m per annum, found that 58 per cent of the participants' expenditure in training fell in line with last year's budget.

A further seven per cent of the respondents claim they have seen an increase in their training budget for 2009 and 27 per cent reported a decrease.

According to the research, of the 27 per cent that have seen a reduction in their budgets: 72 per cent are holding tough price negotiations to make savings; 12 per cent were reducing the duration of the training session; 11 per cent were organising in-house coaching; and five per cent were opting for distance learning.

To the question: 'Has the time between an enquiry and confirmation got longer?' 59 per cent of the respondents confirmed that the time taken from holding the booking ('enquiry') with the venue to signing the contract ('confirmation') of the event has decreased.

The trend to place last-minute bookings has been fuelled by waiting for budgets to be signed off by superiors and hoping that rates may decrease, as bookings become shorter lead.

In terms of what is driving venue choice, the survey showed that cost was named as the most important factor, followed by location and ease of access/transport links.

The environmental policy of the venue was the least important influencing factor.

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