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SAP Forge New Partnership with Cliftons (Article from InsideSAP)

2009-07-29T10:31:00.001+10:00

by: Nathan Dukes

In a new partnership with SAP, training company Cliftons is opening its doors to a certified SAP training program.

The SAP eAcademy will be hosted by Cliftons, whose training facilities will be utilised by students across Australia and New Zealand.

The eAcademy is a self learning program which divides learning into modules specific to each SAP solution.

John Grealy, Corporate Relationship Manager- Asia Pacific, Cliftons, said the program was open to anyone who is looking to gain more experience in SAP.

“It opens opportunities for people who might be SAP consultants who want to develop more skills in a particular area. It helps people who may not be literate in SAP packages to be able to do some base learning and then start developing their skills,” he said.

The eAcademy is a certified SAP learning program, students who have reached a level of competency can sit an exam to become a certified SAP consultant.

As self learning centres, students benefit from lower fees and the flexibility to attend when it suits them if they’re working full time.

Students have access to training systems, student handbooks, and industry experts. Students who require further assistance can make contact with the SAP help centre in India.

The eAcademy was being hosted by Ajilon Australia, but to ensure they have a greater national reach, Ajilon will transfer their students to Cliftons as part of the new partnership.

Ajilon will maintain their SAP Education contract with SAP, but instead focus on re-selling eAcademy and eLearning training services nationally.

Brett Findlay, Ajilon Southern Region General Manager, said this arrangement means they can leverage Cliftons national scope to enter markets where they do not traditionally have market share.

Cliftons already has infrastructure across the country to support the program.
Centres in Auckland Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra opened earlier this month, and they are to be joined by centres in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth on August 1st.

(Source: http://insidesap.com.au/SingleNews/09-07-24/sap_forge_new_training_partnership_with_cliftons_385.aspx)

EVENT REPORT: Cliftons Knowledge Series Masterclass : 16th July, Sydney

2009-07-07T14:19:00.004+10:00

Rehab Your Habits with Author and Regular Sunrise Presenter, Dr Adam Fraser
Thanks to all those who attended Dr Adam Fraser’s Presentation, ‘Rehab Your Habits’.

Fantastic feedback has been received and we thank you for making it in on this cold, winter morning.

We value your comments and invite you to please leave some below!

For further information on Dr Adam Fraser or O2 Speakers, please visit their website: http://www.o2speakers.com.au/

To view photos from the event, please visit http://www.cliftons.com/news-and-events/pp-masterclass-0709

Promoting Your Event Through Social Media

2009-07-02T12:44:00.003+10:00

Cliftons recently took part in Sydney’s CeBIT exhibition and I was amazed at how their use of social media applications not only promoted the event, but connected all those involved from attendees to presenters to people logging on from all over the world!

CeBIT’s ‘Webciety Pulse Feed’ encompassed Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and Facebook. Each update was then mashed together to form their stream for their website and also broadcast at the event.

While CeBIT is obviously an IT and technology showcase, there are many lessons to be learned for people trying to promote their events. Google it (or ‘bling it on’ as they say now…) – there’s a tonne of information out there, but I have compiled what I think to be relevant and achievable!

Twitter: Hashtags are great if you have a large conference – attendees can twit amongst themselves while the organised action is taking place. This gives event organisers real-time feedback on their programs and speakers. Don’t forget to promote the hashtag prior to the event! Future Summit is a great example of this – check out @ https://twitter.com/futuresummit.

It’s interesting to see that an old friend and instructor at Cliftons, Andrew Blanda, blogged about participating in this event from his desk in Sydney (the event was in Melbourne). This was picked up by Future Summit who then added it to their blog - http://www.futuresummit.org/blog/

Creating a Twitter account for the actual event is also a great way to get people talking about, thinking about and connecting with the event before its event happened.

LinkedIn: Again, connecting with your audience gives you insight into the actual people and their connections. Create a group for your event and allow attendees to connect with each other before the event. Start discussions to see what people are expecting at the event and feed news articles that are relevant.

You can also add the event to LinkedIn and promote it through your connections and groups.

Flickr: Also a great way to draw out attendee participation, especially if there is a gala dinner, cocktail reception or night out involved. Again – don’t forget to promote the Flickr ‘tag’, which will allow you to group and promote everyone’s photos.

Blogger: Fantastic for industry experts – set up an event blog (it will literally take you 2 mins) and off you go! Make sure you have buy-in and commitment from your bloggers and link in their profile, which will give them credibility. Take notice of what users are saying and what they’re commenting on – remember, blogs are all about comments and two way communication.

YouTube: Record your keynote speakers and presentations and add them to YouTube.

SlideShare: Post your presenter’s slides on this informative website.

YouTube and SlideShare are fantastic follow ups for your event and will (hopefully!) encourage your attendees to forward the link on, thus increasing your events exposure event after the fact!

Remember – promoting your event via social media is the same as any other campaign… plan, plan and plan some more. Define your goals and measure its success. Most importantly, remember that you’re starting a conversation!

Connect with me!
http://www.twitter.com/KarlieP
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/karlie-pearson/0/997/301