The Village People
After the huge success of the Skills Village at this year’s RWM show, the Tomorrow’s Cleaning Editor, Caroline Canty, had a chat with WAMITAB’s CEO and Commercial Director, Chris James and Mark Hyde.
Caroline: So, tell me about the background to the Skills Village; where did the idea come from?
Mark: The Skills Village is really a culmination of the transformation of WAMITAB over the last 12 months – in terms of branding, strategy and partnerships. Skills and training didn’t play a signifi cant part at last year’s RWM show, but it’s a crucial issue that underpins activity in the waste and resource management, recycling, cleaning and facilities management industries. So, we approached the organisers in our capacity as a training advisory board – not just an awarding organisation – to talk about our idea to set up an independent forum where people can access a whole raft of advice and guidance.
Chris: The Skills Village proved to be an effective way to add a skills focus to a large trade show like RWM. Getting skills on the agenda is not always an easy task, but organisations realise that embedding a culture that improves their businesses by increasing the skills of employees, is very important.
Caroline: Why you decide to address this issue in this way?
Chris: Last year, WAMITAB decided to strengthen its offering
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in three key areas – profi le, partnerships and innovation. The Skills Village crystallises this with its notion of community, bringing skills, education and training together under one banner.
Caroline: How was the event? Did it go as smoothly as anticipated?
Mark: We had a rewarding show, with plenty of good quality visitors and enquiries. The biggest benefi t was that we brought together information and advice on training, skills and development in one single place. Visitors told us that this sort of ‘hub’ was extremely useful and convenient when visiting such a large and busy show as RWM.
Chris: We had a variety of different enquiries, including questions on how to improve in-house training, others looking for qualifi cations advice, and some seeking clarifi cations on career pathways. All in all, WAMITAB, and our training centre partners, had a successful event, which has provided us with the encouragement and inspiration to further develop the Skills Village initiative in 2014.
Caroline: According to WAMITAB’s ethos, you embrace new technology – is this something you feel needs to play a big part in training nowadays?
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Caroline
Mark
Chris
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