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Wyboston Lakes creates training academy

Written by Paula Devine | 02 Oct 2013

Wyboston Lakes, the UK’s largest privately owned single-site specialist conference and training venue, has created its own Training Academy. This new venture sees the venue partnering with several established and leading providers of proven training and development solutions across the spectrum of management learning and development. The partnership creates a single source through which organisations can find advanced, development programmes and award-winning, dedicated facilities.

Wyboston Lakes recently marked 30 years as a leading provider of training facilities on its private 350 acre site between Cambridge and Milton Keynes. It has hosted thousands of conferences, events and training for a large and diverse portfolio of customers including FTSE Top 250 companies, government departments, SMEs, charities and not-for-profit organisations. It recently completed a £4 million facility investment programme, which has included the development of an award-winning Wi-Fi and AV presentation infrastructure.

The new Wyboston Lakes Academy brings together several long established ‘blue chip’ training organisations, all recognised leaders in their fields, and a new presence in the field of social media marketing. It will offer a range of experiential and blended learning solutions, through programmes and courses that address the most fundamental business, educational and personal challenges that face organisations and individuals in today’s climate, across the corporate, not for profit and public sectors.

“We have a long, and probably unmatched record of providing a wholly dedicated, flexible and effective training environment that inspires delegates to achieve successful results,” said Mark Jones, Managing Director of Wyboston Lakes: “The Academy adds a vital new dimension, an elite team of training providers who each offer “best in class”, innovative and exceptional learning and development opportunities.”

The consortium’s partners are Bluehat Group, the team building specialists; Excel Communications, which majors in motivation and performance; Business Smart International, the provider of business simulations; negotiation skills specialist i-negotiate; International Teaching Seminars (ITS), a pioneer in the use of NLP techniques in management; and Net Strategems, a new provider of training in social media marketing and business lead generation.
“We feel that the Academy offers clients a one stop shop for the very best learning and development solutions available, all delivered in the beautiful rural setting of Wyboston Lakes,” commented Bluehat Group’s Commercial Director Ben Parkinson.  “To be associated with like-minded partners with great expertise in their fields sets both us and the Academy apart from the rest.”
“When we first came into contact with Wyboston Lakes, both our clients and ourselves were immediately impressed and inspired,"  said Philip Blanc, CEO of i-negotiate®: “The  Academy has spent time surveying the needs of industry worldwide to select the best network of learning and development excellence.”
Wyboston Lakes’ latest investment programme has included extensive enhancements to its two specialist conference centres - Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre and Wyboston Lakes Training Centre - creating advanced presentation opportunities for training organisers, supported by in-house IT and AV teams, and an exceptionally wide choice of overall facilities in terms of space, style and budget.

Organisers and delegates benefit from a state-of-the-art technology framework, which capitalises on Wyboston Lakes’ sector-leading 200 mbps broadband service. Providing free Wi-fi to all users of the site, the service also ensures that internet-hungry events can be held without risk of interruption. The system helped Wyboston Lakes to win the HBAA Award for Venue IT.

“Wyboston Lakes Academy represents an outstanding opportunity for those carrying learning and development responsibilities - a dedicated training venue developing a truly comprehensive training activity addressing all current business challenges,” added Mark Jones: “We anticipate significant interest from organisations seeking optimum training solutions and the confidence of the focused, results-driven environment for which our venue is renowned – all achievable through a single source.”

Topics: Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce, social media

Paula Devine

Written by Paula Devine

Paula is Head of Membership and Global Services at Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce.

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