Steps forward

It is always encouraging to see things becoming more established, and this year as we met for the 3rd  Adobe Training event in Romania, it was obvious to see progress. Not only were there more nations from Eastern Europe represented, but also people that had previously attended, were building on what they had learnt and were excited to take in as much as possible.

From the 30th Sept – 3rd Oct 2008, around 26 participants gathered at Hotel Perla for this year’s training. I was so encouraged to see 4 who had driven from Bulgaria, 1 Slovakian, 4 missionaries based in Austria and a good number of Romanians working side by side learning together. The cultural mix was great and added that international flavour.  When I spoke with Rouman Gigov from Bulgaria at last years’ training, he promised that he would bring at least three friends with him, because he felt it was so beneficial for him, and he wanted to bless others with such a great opportunity. Sure enough four of them joined us and we enjoyed to hear of the work they are involved in there in Bulgaria. This year as he returns to Bulgaria, he wants to raise up even more people to come for next year’s training!

We were all so thankful to the trainers from ulrich-media and pre2media for their tremendous gift of these days together. It was interesting to hear one participant explain ...'the training event was really enjoyable and I felt we could learn more, because it was lots of hands on type training. We would be explained certain things and then were able to actually do it on our laptops, which we brought with us. When we didn’t understand certain things the trainers would come and work with us on our computers. In other courses I have done, it was taught, but there was not the possibility to practise''.

The participants were broken into three groups - beginners, intermediates and advanced users of the Adobe programmes. This helped the trainers to teach at the right level for each group and also in making the groups smaller it gave the personal touch and an openness for more effective learning.

The trainers were excited to see participants who had attended in previous years, developing in their ability to use the programmes and of course the continuity helps in building relationships.

For the first time a group from the ‘Media College’ attended. This was helpful teaching and is part of their ciriculumn, but it also gave the students opportunity to interact with people that are using these programmes in their work situation daily.

At the end of the first day I was told by a participant ...’if what I have learnt today was all I would learn for these days here, then it was well worthwhile me attending. Of course I am sure in the coming day’s I will learn even more’. This was a reminder of how valuable this yearly training event is to those that attend. As we talked further over dinner he explained some of the projects which he had been working on previously and that they were taking him a number of weeks to complete. He could already see that he had gained a better understanding of the programmes and felt more comfortable using them, which he felt would cut down the time needed for such projects to around two days. Any employer would be happy with these types of changes!

It reminded me of the fact that this is really benefitting not only the participants, but also the ministries which these participants are involved in, as they are seeing more books produced in a faster and more efficient way.

It was with excitement that we were able to fix and announce the dates for next year’s training event, which will be from the 29th Sept-3rd Oct 2009, held at the same conference site just outside Oradea, Romania. We look forward to seeing many come back to continue to build on their skills, and we’re excited to be learning from the CS4 programmes, which will be released by then.