Today’s PA 10 Day Academytraining courses that meet the real-world needs and aspirations of hardworking people like today’s PAs. I can promise your organisation’s investment

Today’s PA 10 Day Academy

[email protected] call us on 020 7622 2400


Award Winning Training for Today’s PAs & EAs

Today’s PA focuses on providing highly practical training for Personal Assistants, Executive Assistants, and other Office Professionals. Our hundreds of testimonials say we have succeeded. Since the company was founded in 2005, we have trained over 4000 companies and our graduates work in over 80 countries around the world.

In 2014 Today’s PA was named The Best PA Training Provider in the UK, having been voted for by thousands of PAs in the pa-assist.com Members’ Voice Award.

I developed Today’s PA with a clear vision: to take my own experiences as a PA, office manager and business director and create training courses that meet the real-world needs and aspirations of hardworking people like today’s PAs. I can promise your organisation’s investment in a Today’s PA 10 Day Academy will pay dividends.

Today’s PA 10 Day Academy is the ultimate PA course combined of our most popular training days. The combination of soft skills and technology skills will equip you with all the tools you need to become the executive assistant your boss needs. You will also learn how to become truly valued and gain the recognition and rewards you deserve.

It’s not always easy to justify two weeks out of the office, but we can guarantee you will be glad you made the commitment – and so will your manager! If you cannot attend 10 days in a row, that’s not a problem. Book the Academy and spread the days at your convenience.

Paul Pennant Managing Director and Lead Trainer Today’s PA

Our philosophyCourses and workshops from TodaysPA.co.uk are designed to engage and entertain, as well as inform – that’s how we can promise to make what can seem to be the dullest of subjects interesting. Our trainers have real-world experience at all levels of the organisation, so they speak your language and understand your issues and problems. And because they have ‘been there and done that’, they know how to get straight to the heart of every subject.

Our trainers keep right up to date with cultural and procedural changes in office life by engaging closely with course participants and building relationships with workshop attendees that endure long after the courses are over.

“An absolute must for all successful PAs/Executives - the Academy exceeded my expectations; each day is tailored to a specific topic which is covered in-depth at a flexible pace; networking with delegates from different backgrounds and organisations was really interesting and helpful in sharing experiences and connecting with the outside World; I have already implemented many of the techniques which my boss is over the moon with; before attending, I was terrified of Excel - it is now my best and favourite application; in such a fast pace environment where I work (Academia) the Academy training has really helped me to increase my confidence, re-energise generally and lift the high level support I provide; I am grateful to my employer for giving me this invaluable opportunity.”

Savina Velotta, Cranfield University

Contents

Course Content 3

Executive Summary for Managers 14

The HR Perspective 15

Today’s PA + 16

Courses We Deliver 18

Today’s PA Conference & #10kPA Awards 19

Name dropping 20

2


Day 1 of Today’s PA 10 Day Academy involves building up your self-esteem and sense of self-worth, so that you see yourself not just as the assistant to an important person, but an extension to that person’s management style and vision.

As a PA, you ‘plough a lonely furrow’ at times. Your position is unique: you work closely with and have the ear of someone important and influential, yet you occupy a relatively junior place in the hierarchy. The orbit in which you move makes colleagues keep their distance from you and be on their guard about what they say in your presence, in case it gets back to your manager, possibly to their detriment. So it’s hard to establish the friendly interpersonal relationships that allow office workers to work effectively together.

It’s a bit like being a royal consort – all the glory, but no power. Sometimes, however,

you need some of that power to rub off on you, because today’s senior executive expects you to be able to act as proxy and delegate accordingly.

We will show you how to acquire levels of confidence and assertiveness that will give your manager the executive associate actually required of today’s PA. As a result, you will feel much more comfortable with asking colleagues to carry out tasks that advance the objectives of the organisation, because you will share your manager’s ‘big picture’ outlook, rather than the more limited horizons of the traditional secretary-based PA.

Other major elements covered on this day include:

H Defining your role H Managing Your Manager/s H Listening Skills H Handling Interruptions H Managing Stress H Managing Your Time H Managing Your Emails H Creating Filing Systems

“Thanks for the confidence to show them what I am made of!!”

Sharon Harrison - Glasgow City Council

“I meant to write to let you know that I’m putting into practice lots of the skills I learnt on your course, mostly around behaviours and I feel much more in control without upsetting anyone. So much so that I have been asked to apply for the deputy managers post (additional duties and more money). My confidence is sky high and I have used the ‘No’ word - extremely good.”

Helen Smart – Honda

“I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful workshop. It was really a positive experience and I can quite honestly say that I now feel really empowered, as opposed to being overly apologetic and a bit of a wet lettuce (that is what they say isn’t it?). Thank you soooooooo much”.

Anne-Marie McCarthy - Headmaster’s PA & Registrar, More House School

“I walked out feeling more confident, empowered, motivated, competent and less stressed than I have ever felt. I could not wait to get into the office.”

Joanne Mayes - Pharmorphix

3

Day 1The Assertive PA

Handouts 100+ pages


As with all computer-based office tools, we tend to use familiar features and functions and ignore the rest. Over the years, however, applications like Microsoft Outlook have grown in sophistication and refinement to the point where they really can help you do your job better, and take some of the pressure off.

Outlook is now a mature and fully-fledged assistant for you; learning to exploit its capabilities will help you make the most of your time and simplify and automate other office tasks that until now have been tediously manual or just impossible. In our experience, course delegates save an hour every day using our Outlook tips – that’s five or more hours a week – half a day given back to you to do other things!

With MS Outlook you can:H Convert information in emails straight into contacts, appointments and tasks with a click of the mouse. You are going to love this. Instead of all that palaver toggling between an email and a new contact window, copying and pasting individual snippets of information from one to the other, which seems to take ages and then sometimes copy or paste doesn’t work, we’ll show you how to add a new contact, plus any relevant information from their email, in less than two seconds! You won’t believe how much time this will save you.

H Carry out mail merges to email, just as you do with Word. Most of us have emailed a letter to invite delegates to an event. How about doing the merge direct to email instead? That’s right: send personalised emails to hundreds of people from one email message. No more anonymous ‘Dear All’ emails with the recipients dumped in BCC: after this course!

H Manage your and your manager’s projects with the tasks function. PAs are invariably inundated with tasks from their bosses, other managers, colleagues etc. How do you keep track of and prioritise them? Simple: you learn how to use the tasks function in Outlook to track EVERY task seamlessly. This session often leaves delegates literally speechless!

H Personalise your diary and run your manager’s at the same time. You get a call from a client who wants to meet your manager. You give yourself a crick in the neck as you try and match your boss’s calendar with your caller’s availability. Outlook provides a beautifully clear and easy way to view

“I just wanted to drop you a note to say a very big ‘thank you’ for the Today’s PA course that I attended at SEPA in February this year. A colleague went off sick in February (she is due back tomorrow) and I have been covering some of her work along with doing my own job, and I don’t know how I would have coped without my Tasks list. It has been an invaluable tool and I can relax knowing that I won’t miss any deadlines. In the past I would have been really stressed by the extra workload but now I deal with it all in my stride. I really wish I had known about this years ago!”

Jane Campbell - Scottish Environment Protection Agency

“I used Outlook before attending the course, but was taught advanced Outlook skills, which have helped me enormously, and basically finding tasks that I felt overburdened with before, so much easier to action and clear from my desk.”

Jasmine Cleathero - MOD

4

Day 2Microsoft Outlook Masterclass

Handouts 50+ pages (2003, 2007, 2010, 2013)


H Colour code incoming emails so you can see at a glance when your manager emails you.

H Create multiple email auto-signatures for multiple managers.

H Find out how to use voting buttons; a brilliant function when you have standardised responses.

H Create rules to automate Outlook Tasks.This includes such incredibly useful rules as: diverting emails to your boss where’s she’s CC’d from going into her inbox and into a separate folder. She can quickly scan them when it suits her; automatically printing certain emails; making sure you never forget an email attachment ever again.

H Find out how to track every communication from any contact without using the search function; it’s far more sophisticated and effective.

H Link contacts into ad hoc groups, such as from management and project teams.

H Customise Word toolbars. Add the buttons you use frequently to your own personalised toolbar; symbols, hyperlinks and more useful formatting buttons.

H Personalise bullet points to make them more eye-catching. Discover dozens of general Microsoft shortcuts that just make using your computer quicker and easier.

H Send out a Christmas party invitation. This is an excellent example of how Office can take some of the load off your shoulders. Your boss has asked you to invite 1,000 people to the Christmas party - how are you going to do it? Easy: enable Outlook’s voting buttons in the invitation email, creating separate folders for ‘Accept’ and ‘Decline’ replies and setting up rules to divert the responses into the right folders. Auto replies can also be set up so ‘Accept’ replies are sent an email with venue, map and timing details, while ‘Decline’ replies are sent a simple ‘Thank you’. The beauty of this is, that once it is set up - which really is easy to do - you won’t have to lift a finger. Sounds great, doesn’t it – and just think how much time it can save you?

Well I am nearly 1 week in with the new boss, and the assertiveness and the tips we learnt are certainly helping. Everything is made into a Task, and is categorized – making my inbox look great (over 2000 emails have been sorted out, I now have no more than 6 in my inbox).”

Natalie Greenwood - McLaren Group Limited

“More efficient emails: I now have a 3 min delay and now never send emails without the attachments.

The best email in the world: I send this when planning our Christmas parties. Okay, it takes me about 45 minutes to write up the email and all the possible replies and to make the rules but once it is done, I don’t think about it again. Regular meetings with my boss:

I knew I needed these but seemed to be happy enough to just wait until he suggested it. Attending the course gave me the confidence boost I needed to tell him that I needed it. We now catch-up weekly and I know which meetings need to be attended and which can be delayed.”

Claire Young - LC CLearnet

“Just want to share that TASK LISTS RULE! I haven’t even started using it to full effect as yet but even as a ‘brain dump’ it’s working so well. I have shared the tip re-selecting several dates in calendars with one of my colleagues in Birmingham today and we found a meeting date for our Execs in no time. She is hoping to come on one of your courses soon. I really enjoyed the course and I know that the tips are going to prove priceless to myself going forward. Thank you so much.”

Elizabeth Mannering – Morrisons

5

PowerPoint with a PAssionMany office professionals use Microsoft PowerPoint frequently, but few use this program to its full potential. To illustrate have you ever struggled to line up your images in your slideshow? Next time press shift + F9. This will display gridlines for you to line objects up perfectly.

What else you will learn on the day:

H How to make you screen black with by pressing one button

H Insert new slides with just two keys

H Learn how to draw on top of your slides during your presentation

H Working with slides and text

H Formatting Your Slide

H Animation & Sound Learn every shortcut you will ever need and more

Taking the Fear Out of ExcelMany office professionals have a fear of using Microsoft Excel. However this program is not just a useful tool for accountants and actuaries! To illustrate have you ever struggled to come up with just the right formula for your work? Next time press shift + F3 and ask Excel what you want it to do. I use this amazing shortcut frequently. Want to create a chart instantaneously? Select your data and press F11. You will also learn:

H The absolute basics

H Handling a Cells

H Moving around cells

H Working Your Workbooks and formatting them

H Printing

H Formulas Charts and Tables

H Learn every shortcut you will ever need and more

Working With WordMost people go to their ribbon (or toolbar) to increase the size of their font. If you highlight your text and press Ctrl + [ or Ctrl + ] your font size will decrease/increase. You will also learn:

H Customising Your Toolbar or Ribbon

H Changing your font with two keys

H Advanced use of autocorrect

H Personalising bullets

H Line spacing shortcut

H Mail merge

H Learn every shortcut you will ever need a and more


As with all computer-based office tools, we tend to use familiar features and functions and ignore the rest. You will learn how to really use these effectively to produce amazing professional documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and with the use of our breath-taking shortcuts, it needn’t take your hours!

“Paul delivered a PowerPoint course to a group of 11 mainly intermediate colleagues. He did so in his usual exuberant, fun and very informative style. This was the second time Paul had carried out a training session (the first being on Outlook) and we all ended the day, having not only learnt lots (the short cuts are especially useful) but eager to try out all the hints and tips Paul had shared with us. Our only problem now is to decide which package we ask Paul to train in next time!”

Helen Wiseman, Vitacress Ltd.

“This course gave me the confidence to tackle Excel and the feeling that I can speak the Excel language!”

Emma Stickland, Lloyd’s Register

6

Day 3Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel Masterclass

Handouts 85 pages (2003,2007,2010,2013)


Today’s PA’s duties do not end with looking after your boss’ calendar. Top PAs are now taking on more responsibilities such as managing projects and events. This course will take you through a project life cycle and how to make a shining success of the earning you praise and gratitude from your boss and respect and admiration from your colleagues.

From the TopOften without specific training, you have to be not just good, but great at so many diverse tasks, while all around you colleagues with specialised functions only have to concentrate on doing one thing well.

Isn’t it funny how often what seemed like a simple task (at least to your boss) when you were given it, can easily turn into a project, gobbling up your time, as well as resources? If you need to be more effective in managing your tasks and projects and want to feel more in control of involved colleagues and deadlines and get help from project planning tools, then this one-day workshop for non-project managers is for you!

The day will cover:

H Developing and understanding of project manager skills and processes

H Understanding the project ‘life cycle’

H Defining project objectives and creating a communication plan

H Project scheduling and resource planning

H Roles and responsibilities

H Tracking and project reporting

H Problem and issue management

H Measuring the success of your project

H Project sign off and closure

H Contingency planning

H Acquire the critical knowledge and skills you need to guarantee success

H Set realistic budgetary and delivery expectations for your manager

H Discover how to balance your daily workload with planning an event

H Make every event your own - and get the credit you deserve

“Absolutely brilliant! The best course I have been on. The trainer was fantastic. Enjoyed every single minute of it.”

Kate Worrall - Banctec

“The course was very informative and has helped me to ensure I run my events more efficiently! Thank you!”

Tim Swaby, Hilton Worldwide

7

Day 4Managing Successful Projects and Events

Handouts 120+ pages


No PA considers taking minutes to be pleasurable, but it has to be done – and done well. Not everyone working at PA level has come via the traditional route, which means that if you don’t take shorthand, it can be difficult to keep up with what’s being said. If it’s also a less than interesting meeting, it can be hard to maintain your attention so you don’t miss something. And then when the meeting’s over it’s all got to be typed up and circulated – about as much fun as watching paint dry. You might find it hard to believe we can make the job enjoyable, but after the Today’s PA workshop, your will know how to write minutes that are beyond reproach – and even enjoy doing so! We will show you how to:

H Enhance your listening skills to ensure you hear all key points. Sitting in a meeting and listening is easy enough, but actually hearing what’s being said is not just a matter of concentration, it’s about filtering the discussion so you can note the significant details. We’ll give you tips on effective hearing - with both ears.

H Develop an effective partnership with the meeting’s chairman. The chairperson manages and directs the meeting, but needs to work in harmony with the minute-taker so that the flow of the meeting is noted properly. On occasions, this will require assertiveness from you – we show you how.

H Improve the layout and grammar of your minutes for greater clarity. Research suggests that 16% of the adult population has literacy problems. We’re not suggesting that includes you, but today’s organisations can no longer

assume that employees come to them fully-equipped to write grammatical English. Where help with the basics is needed, we provide it.

H Condense your minutes down to the essentials, without losing the flow of the meeting. Different audiences have different needs and expectations from minutes. A CEO may just want an executive summary, while a project team may need to see detail. We’ll show you several methods of filtering your notes so you can zoom in on what needs to be included in the minutes.

H Maintain your concentration during the meeting, regardless of subject. This is a tough one, especially if you’re not directly involved in the subject of the meeting. You may not even understand the terminology being used. Relax: our special techniques for improving concentration will help you breeze through the meeting - without dozing off!

H Improve your note taking, with a variety of methods to suit your style. Ideally you write up meeting minutes straight afterwards. In practice, it could be a couple of days before you get round to it. By that time, the meaning of some cryptic comment with arrows pointing to a doodled diagram may have evaporated. Once you start applying one of several note-taking methods we’ll show you, such nightmares will be a thing of the past.

H Deal with technical subjects and jargon so that your notes are meaningful. Where the meeting includes a lot of technical jargon and detail, it’s easy to lose track. There are ways around the problem, however, so even if you’re a complete technophobe we’ll make sure you’re covered in glory when your minutes are circulated.

“Lovely venue, relaxed and enjoyable training session, extremely well delivered. I felt much more confident, and prepared to tackle the toughest of meetings!”

Angela Trevithick, National Childbirth Trust

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Day 5Minute Writing Made Simple

Handouts 70+ pages

“Minute writing made simple was a fun, innovative course that made sense and was packed with practical tips and best practice. The trainer has a wealth of knowledge and was well versed in his field. I would definitely recommend this event and would like to go on future events run by this trainer.”

Elizabeth Palmer - City & Guilds

“I found this course a terrific experience of learning and confidence building in communication. I am already dedicating more time and consideration to how my recipients will perceive my emails!! It was lovely to meet you and spend time with you all.”

Emily Hornby, Clearcast Ltd


Day six of the Academy is dedicated to helping you improve your capacity to communicate in today’s modern working world. Understanding how you communicate with others as and being able to communicate effectively is the most important of all life skills. Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place to another, whether this be vocally, written or non-verbally. But it all too often goes wrong! How well information is transmitted and received is a measure of how good our communication skills are.

Developing your communication skills can help improve relationships in your business and personal life. The ability to communicate information accurately, clearly and as intended, is vital and something that should not be overlooked. It’s never too late to work on your communication skills and by doing so improve your quality of life. We will help you identify your own skills and fine tune your interaction with others and help you become more successful in the workplace.

Communication skills are not limited to direct interaction with other people and the spoken word. Improving your writing skills is also very important and when putting things in writing, we can often get bogged down in the words and the message gets confused, or misleading! Poor written communication can be frustrating for the reader and potentially damaging for you and your organisation.

This one day programme will help you improve both your written and oral communication.

We will cover:

H Developing your communication style to increase rapport with others.

H Managing relationships with stakeholders.

H Communicating when in a conflict situation.

H Using questioning techniques to increase understanding.

H Improving your body language and listening skills.

H Writing with clarity, ensuring written communications are clear, succinct, meaningful and professional.

H Using correct grammar and punctuation to ensure your meaning is clear.

H Creating well structured letters and other business communications.

9

Day 6PA The Confident Communicator

“The elements of this course really helped me to understand the positive aspects of successful communication; the trainer was most engaging and flexible; a fun day which included role play as well as one to one coaching.”



10

Most PA’s spend a large part of their day working with Microsoft Outlook. Sadly most do not have time to use many of the basic functions let alone the more intricate.

In this day we will cover the more complex areas. We would strongly recommend that you attend Outlook Masterclass on Day 2 prior to this course. In this day we will cover at an advanced level:

Day 7Outlook Expert

H Mail merge in depth

H Using rules within merges

H Backstage

H Desktop alerts

H Notes and Journal

H Managing languages

H Start up options

H Archiving

H Importing and exporting data

H Printing Calendars

H Quick Steps

H Advanced rules

H Default themes

H Electronic business cards

H Scheduling meetings

H Filtering advanced

H Conditional formatting in depth

“One of the best courses I have attended. Content which was delivered will completely change the way in which I have previously worked. You have saved me hours of my time by showing me in just a few steps!”

Hayley - Revival Group

“I just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you again for coming along on Friday and for the excellent training. Feedback has been excellent and everyone has come away saying how much the learnt; so thank you – it was a real success.”

Charlotte Lutz – Network Rail

“Paul delivered a PowerPoint course to a group of 11 mainly intermediate colleagues. He did so in his usual exuberant, fun and very informative style. This was the second time Paul had carried out a training session (the first being on Outlook) and we all ended the day, having not only learnt lots (the short cuts are especially useful) but eager to try out all the hints and tips Paul had shared with us. Our only problem now is to decide which package we ask Paul to train in next time!”

Helen Wiseman, Vitacress Ltd.

WordH Sharing and Maintaining Documents

HProtection

HTemplates

H Formatting Content

HAdvanced fonts

HReusable content

H Tracking and Referencing Documents

HCombining documents

HReference pages

H Mail Merging

HLabels and envelopes

HMerge rules

H Macros and Forms

PowerpointH Backstage

H Slide Presentations

H Graphs and Multimedia

H Charts and Tables

H Transitions and Animations

H Collaborating

H Presenting for Delivery

H Slide Shows


Many Office Professionals use Word and PowerPoint with varying degrees of complexity and success. On this day you learn countless advanced strategies many you will not have heard of before. We will cover at an advanced level:

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Day 8Word & Powerpoint Expert

“Just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for the last couple of days. The course was surprisingly tiring, but great fun. You taught us a number of neat shortcuts in Outlook and Word, but more importantly made us think about how we can work more effectively and far more successfully without a huge amount of effort – it’s just the ways we deal with people that needs some adjustment.”

Sue Allison, Pfizer Confidential


“This course gave me the confidence to tackle Excel and the feeling that I can speak the Excel language!”

Emma Stickland, Lloyd’s Register

“Thanks for the Excel Workshop yesterday. It was really helpful and to my relief you were straight to the point and easy to understand!”

Katherine Espiritu, St George’s Hospital Charity

12

Sharing WorkbooksH Workbook Settings

H Protection

H Shared Workbooks

Formulas & FunctionsH Audit formulas

H Data Summary

H SUMIF and SUMIFS

H Watch Window

H Arrays

Presenting Data VisuallyH Advanced Charting

H Trendlines

H Data analysis

H PivotTables

H PivotCharts

Macros & Forms

Many Office Professional feel that Excel should just be left to accountants. Not anymore. To benefit from this day it is strongly recommended you are at ease with formulas and charts beforehand. We will cover the following:

Day 9Excel Expert


Day ten of the Academy is dedicated to helping you improve your capacity to communicate with those individuals that are angry or unhappy and getting a positive outcome.

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Day 10Managing Difficult People

There are a host of difference situations at work (and outside) where the skill to deal with conflict successfully is essential. Whether it is a falling out with a colleague or a customer not happy with service, communication in these situations is key.

We will help you find strategies to neutralise problem situations in the workplace including working with aggressive people, disagreeing with others and working with unreasonable people. And where you need to deliver bad news, how to prepare for such a conversation. Opening up and dealing effectively with difficult conversations can be very challenging and time consuming. More often than not we avoid having difficult conversations because we feel we might make the situation worse!

On this course you will learn how to deal effectively with difficult conversations in a direct but non-confrontational manner. The focus is on identifying difficulties early and using a clear process to conduct the difficult conversation from beginning to end – and how to handle the difficult behaviour that comes up along the way.

This one day programme will help you improve the impact you make with people and how to handle those individuals who perhaps need a little more support!

We will cover:

H Understanding why people are ‘difficult’.

H Developing a strategy to resolve conflict and calm angry/unhappy individuals.

H Put into practice a structure to handle difficult conversations.

H Pre-empting challenging situations and handling them successfully.

H Develop assertive skills and behaviours.

H How to handle aggressive behaviour.

H Giving others feedback.

“Before attending this course I had the perception that most people are ‘difficult’; the course has been a real eye opener for me to understand different techniques and processes to manage situations resulting in positive outcomes, which I am looking forward to put into practise.”



Executive Summaryfor Managers

Today’s PA 10 Day AcademyThis course will change your PA for the better:

H Today’s PA has been voted the best PA Training Provider by over 7000 PAs and EAs

H Today’s PA 10 Day Academy course returns your PA to you brimming with confidence and full of essential hints and tips

H This courses will improve your PA’s soft skills, communication and Microsoft Office skills

H Today’s PA 10 Day Academy teaches PAs not to fear taking the initiative

H After the Academy, your PA will be more in tune with your business needs

View from the topYou value your PA, of course, but don’t you sometimes wish she – or he – would be a bit more assertive, a bit more in tune with your needs, perhaps – without having to be prompted or asked? Do you sometimes feel that you could accomplish more for your business or organisation if your PA was able to anticipate your wishes, or come up with ideas that help meet your strategic objectives, thereby improving the effectiveness of your working relationship?

Life at your level is not always easy for PAs – quite often they come into the role organically or by accident – maybe your PA started out as a secretary or office junior, for example. This isn’t necessarily the right formula for the kind of person you need by your side in today’s tough and competitive business environment. Even if your organisation is non-commercial, there are unprecedented pressures on it to deliver results and justify its existence to stakeholders.

Today’s PA 10 Day Academy will provide your PA with the skills they need to achieve what you need and expect from them. That’s because, unlike other PA development courses, this one is designed by experienced, successful PAs, for today’s PAs. Today’s PA lead trainer has been a highly successful PA and Office Manager and is now the company’s Managing Director. With a post-graduate degree in business studies as well, the success of Today’s PA is testimony to the fact that no trainer is better qualified to deliver this workshop.

It’s not always easy to justify two weeks out of the office, but we can guarantee you will be glad you made this decision. If your PA cannot attend 10 days in a row, that’s not a problem. They can book the Academy and spread the days at their convenience.

“Thank you so much, I really enjoyed the course and have definitely taken a lot from it. My boss and I have sat down and we are keen to start using some of your tips to improve our workloads. I’ve also been given a copy of his objectives so that we can better work together and give me a better understanding of what he needs to achieve and therefore what my role needs to achieve!

He’s definitely keen for us to take advantage of what I learnt on the course to work together more effectively. I also really liked the IT tips, I’ve put most of them to good use already and am currently adapting to using my tasks rather than notebook – its taking a while to get used to it but it’s definitely working!”

Caz McEntree – Blackrock

“I can’t tell you just how much I took away from this course. Paul you are ‘A’ grade at what you do and the course was worth every penny and more. My manager was so enthused to here all about it and said she certainly would encourage other managers to consider letting their PA’s go too. Really was an excellent workshop. Thank you.”

Pete Webster – DIAGEO

“The course was obviously very effective as I have noticed an improvement in your overall performance and confidence, even though I never thought either was lacking prior to the course. The ideas provided by the course have proved extremely useful in all areas of your role and of real assistance to me in my role.”

Boss of Naomi Vallance - GEOS Group

“Since Jasmine attended the course, I have been overwhelmed by the difference in her performance from day one. She has helped me achieve my objectives in a calm, effective manner and she does not seem to rush around as before, and is not fazed by any work I require - and she will question me if necessary, which is very refreshing. She has the answers at her finger tips and is in control and business like - I am very impressed that the workshop could have so much effect.”

Lt Col Wren - Chief of Staff at Headquarters Recruiting Group, MOD

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The HR Perspective

At Today’s Training Courses we always meet PAs who actually lack the necessary confidence to succeed in working for a senior decision maker. In some cases, they are actually afraid of failure and badly need a boost to their self-esteem so they can make the best of their important roles.

Today’s PA 10 Day Academy will achieve all this and more for your organisation’s PAs and if you have six or more interested in coming on the course, we can offer you a free 90 minute ‘taster’ session to help everyone make their minds up. With budgetary responsibility for training and development, we know how important this is for you, but we are confident you won’t be disappointed.

The 10 Day Academy includes the following modules:

H Protecting the executive from unnecessary interruptions

H Managing the stress of working for a senior decision maker

H Maximising the PA’s own effectiveness throughout the day by being more assertive

H Coping with being PA to more than one person

H Becoming more to the executive than just a secretary and order-taker

H Balancing the need for discretion with the needs of the organisation

H Making the most of the time available each day

H Getting more out of MS Outlook to improve efficiency

H Creating and delivering great presentations with MS PowerPoint

H Mastering MS Word for faster and more efficient performance

H Dealing with formulas more easily with Excel

H Organising and managing projects and events

H Taking meeting notes and writing up accurate, meaningful minutes

H Communicating effectively; orally and in writing

H Dealing with difficult people

Everyone in the organisation is entitled to pursue personal development and it’s easy to overlook PAs because they seem already to be at the top of their particular career path. However, it can be very lonely working in such rarefied atmosphere and it often doesn’t occur to HR people that PAs may be in need of help to do their jobs better. After all, they wouldn’t be working as PAs if they weren’t already amongst the very best, would they?

“Paul has provided PA/secretarial training to an excellent standard. The training was well received and everyone took something from the courses that they could use immediately and/or pass on to others. I would definitely recommend Paul for your training requirements.”

Alison Mawdsley - Pfizer

“I learnt a great deal from the Today’s PA course. Not only was it extremely beneficial, it was enjoyable, well organised and packed full of useful, practical tips. By using the tips and putting new systems in place, as soon as I returned to work, it made me more organised and allowed me extra time to concentrate on other, more important things. I highly recommend this course and already have another four colleagues booked to attend it.”

Simonê Meier - Executive Assistant to the CEO of Cancer Research UK

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“I hired Paul to provide personal development to 10 board level PAs at Enterprise Plc in the form of a 2 day training session. The session covered a wide variety of subjects that he tailored to meet the needs of the PAs. The course was conducted at our offices and was excellent value for money. I cannot rate Paul’s teaching highly enough, he gave us all a fresh perspective on PA working, saved us all time and provided brilliant tips. He understood completely how a PA works (as he has been one) and what a boss demands (as he is one). I would have no hesitation in recommending Paul as a provider of PA training.”

Elisabeth (Libby) Lloyd – Enterprise

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Venue & FeeSee www.todayspa.co.uk

Discounts on Today’s PA 10 Day AcademyWe have great savings schemes that have been designed to help both individual delegates and organisations continue their professional development and make their training budgets go further.

2-3 5% off

4-7 10% off

8-10 15% off

10+ Call 020 7622 2400 or email [email protected] for more details

Public Sector and not-for-profit organisations get £500 off the full price.

TimingsDays 1 - 10 - 9:00-17:00

Get even more out of your training – add coaching sessionsWhen booking this course you can add 3 or 6 month coaching. The coaching will consist of 3 or 6 face to face or Skype meetings depending on your choice. This will allow key areas of your immediate and longer term objectives to be met. During this time you will also have free telephone and email support. For fees of coaching sessions see www.todayspa.co.uk

A professional trainer for professional PAs Your principal trainer PAul Pennant has been a highly-successful PA and Office Manager and is now Managing Director of Today PA. With a post-graduate degree in business studies Paul also studied a Master in Business Psychology. In addition he is a Certified Microsoft Office Expert. PAul’s leadership of Today’s PA resulted in his company winning Best PA Training Provider Award in 2014. Few if any trainers are better qualified to deliver and lead the workshop for Today’s PAs – for you.

We have enviable credentials and boast:H Today’s PA has been named as The Best PA Training Provider in the pa-assist.com Members’ Voice Awards 2014-15. The award is the voice of the PA community around the UK with 1000s of PA’s having voted.

H PAs from over 80 countries have attended our workshops

H Over 4000 companies, many of them blue-chip, have sent PAs to be trained successfully by Today’s PA

H PAs fly into the UK from around the world to attend

H PAul is the UK’s agony uncle for PAs and secretaries www.deskdemon.com

H Paul is a Certified Microsoft Office Expert.

H With 10 days to impart so much information effectively, we use a variety of training techniques to ensure that PAs retain what they have learnt and return to work able to implement their new knowledge immediately. Providing direct after-course support via email and social networks therefore plays an essential part in this process. The techniques include:

H Accelerated learning

H High delegate participation

H Absolutely NO PowerPoint

H Very practically-based

H Our promise to change you

H Tutorial instruction

H Informative and engaging videos

H Role-play (by volunteers; no victims)

H Case studies

H Group work

Today’s PA Academy is not for couch potatoes:You can’t expect to be sitting down for too long - except at lunchtime!


Flying doctor serviceThis service is both a complement and an alternative to the Today’s PA 10 Day Academy. Our powerful, one-day, ‘flying doctor’ service is the distillation of all the knowledge and wisdom accumulated from running many Today’s PA courses and meeting and working with PAs from diverse backgrounds. Our consultant visits your office to meet both PA and manager, separately and jointly, in order to help them work more effectively together. The consultant then spends most of the day with the PA and finishes with a three-way meeting to agree action plans.

We speak at your conferenceFew speakers are as motivational and inspirational as PAul Pennant. He will bring a touch of training magic to your conference and ensure that no-one is dropping off or playing games on their iPhone. PAul has given speeches at a number of conferences, as well as presenting seminars at the Times Crème, The Office* Show, The Meeting Show, OMPA, The PA Hub and many more. So he’s experienced, witty and captivating – just what your delegates need.

Something for nothing - that’s pricelessOnce the workshop is over, we don’t just wave you goodbye and close the door. When you leave, you take with you our ongoing commitment to your success, which includes:

H Free membership of the Today’s PA network

H Email support from a nationwide network of experienced PAs

H Annual ‘reunion’ with refresher sessions

H A platform to voice your opinions through our regular email newsletter

H Professional help and information just a phone call away

H Ongoing help with time-saving tips to make your day easier

H Experienced help with finding venues and accommodation world-wide, including Newcastle and Abuja

H ‘Hot tips’ email alerts to keep you up to date with the latest advice and info on new courses

Questions, questions, questionsWhen you commit ten valuable days of your time to Today’s PA Academy, we want you to know that we understand and recognise that commitment. We want to do everything we can to ensure that the Academy is thoroughly worthwhile for you. Being properly prepared will play a key part in achieving that success. Indeed, your success is our success.

If you get what we promise from the Academy – and we know you will – we are confident you will recommend it to peers and colleagues. So we would like you to complete a short questionnaire, just before you attend the workshop, in order to give us a snapshot of the kind of person and PA you are, how you became a PA and what are your issues, frustrations, hopes and ambitions.

When you arrive at the workshop, you will be able to feel that you are among friends who understand you – and you are, because your trainers and course designers have all been where you are now. Doesn’t that give you a warm, fuzzy feeling?

A training course that really scoresAll Today’s PA delegates are asked to evaluate the course as it finishes. Delegates regularly give us 5 out of 5 and 1 in 6 have said it’s the best course they’ve ever attended.

In-house bespoke trainingEven if you can’t make it to one of our Even if you can’t make it to one of our venues, don’t despair – why not let us come to you? Your offices may, or may not, lack the ambience of Regent’s University but in every other respect we will ensure that the experience is comparable.

There are many good reasons for keeping the course in-house: it makes for greater efficiency and ensures everything is focussed on your organisation’s business. The course can be adapted to your organisation’s specific needs so that it perfectly aligns with its culture and values.

Your PAs can also network and share their experiences of the course, thus strengthening the PA role within your organisation.

“Returning to work the Monday after Today’s PA course ran on the Thursday and Friday, was in a word ‘empowering’. Completing my evaluation I wrote that this course should be the industry standard for PA training. I should know I have been on a few; not because I felt that my skills needed brushing up, but because I had a wonderful boss who firmly believed in CPD, and would green light any course I requested, providing it made an impact in the work place on my return. This course made an impact like no other, it changed the way I work, both in my career and in my home office; it gave me the confidence to say ‘No’ and also to stop apologising unnecessarily. I learnt more about Windows products, Outlook in particular, than on the Microsoft run courses I have been on. I now dress smarter in the work place, projecting an air of confidence that only wearing a suit gives you. I hold my head up high when I ask for things I want and need to be achieved by others. My productivity in a busy period in the office also improved as I concentrated better because I answered emails at set times of day, instead of constantly interrupting what I was doing, as another email popped into my inbox. While the quality of the work I produce has never been in question, because I work smarter now, I am not so fraught at the end of the day, I come into work energised, not dreading my inbox. People know they can reach me, they now also know that I will respond when I have time to answer their query in full, but that I will respond. Training others into my new working patterns was interesting, I had a few raised eyebrows as I pushed back on ‘urgent’ requests that I didn’t have time to accommodate, but maintaining eye contact and letting them know the answer they were getting from me, was the only answer they were getting from me took all of a week, for peers and managers alike to understand, this PA was not for turning! It’s a wonderful course, one I cannot rate highly enough.”

Maddie Grant - Health Purchasing Victoria, Australia

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Courses We Deliver

5 Day Academy

The Assertive PA

Outlook Masterclass

Word, PowerPoint and Excel Masterclass

Minute Writing Made Simple

Managing Successful Projects and Events

Advanced 5 Day Academy

PA The Confident Communicator

Dealing with Difficult People

Outlook Expert

Word and PowerPoint Expert

Excel Expert

Open Courses Our open courses are currently held in Central London and Edinburgh.

Below is a sample of some of the courses we deliver. The two academies can be taken as a 5 or 10 day academy or in any combination you choose.

Contact us to find out more about other training solutions we offer.

In House training All our courses can be delivered at your venue. It makes for greater efficiency and ensures everything is focussed on your organisation’s business, with the course adapted to perfectly align with its culture and values.

It’s an annual two day event that gathers together the PA community and offers high quality educational content as well as outstanding networking opportunities.

The second day concludes with an awards ceremony, the highlight of which is the UK’s best PA being awarded £10,000.

Visit www.todaysPAconference.co.uk for more information.

“I would rate the event a 10, it was excellent! The speakers were inspiring and very relatable. It was brilliant to meet and interact with people who share similar interests and who work in similar areas of work. The venue and set up was outstanding, your hard work definitely paid off! I would definitely encourage everybody to attend your conferences/training courses! “

Danielle Davis, Active Luton

“The event was well thought out and executed. I don’t know if it was deliberately crafted that it went (1) big up the PA to feel their value, followed by (2) inspirational speakers, followed by (3) practical advice, hints, tips and expert panel and finally (4) get the technology to work for you, but if it was designed that way gold star to whomever dreamt that up.”

Amanda Bennet, Avon and Somerset PCC

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#10kPA

CON FE RE NCE & AWARDS


Name Dropping

When you sign up for the Today’s PA workshop, we can guarantee you’ll be in good company. Below are just some of the 2000 companies from 80 countries who have sent PAs to the Today’s PA workshop recently.

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