The Coaching Academy - any experience?

[ladypol]

Hi
Has anyone any experience of the coaching academy's free weekend seminars? It looks a bit too good to be true but I must admit I'm tempted. However, I don't want to sit through a day or two of sales pitch (although they do say they don't even mention their other trainings until the Sunday afternoon) nor do I want to get into some franchise.
I'd be grateful to hear anyone's experiences.

[aniinl]

Hi ladypol,

I haven't been myself yet, but I heard from a friend who went, that they make you coach 3 people during the weekend seminar. That alone is reason enough for me to go. I need some practice and some instructions, even if it's just in a short workshop.
For the rest, I'm not sure how good it is, but I've seen the training material for their courses (the long expensive ones...) and it does look pretty good. So maybe the weekend workshop is also good.

If you live in the neighbourhood I'd say you've got nothing to loose. For me in involves flying + accommodation, so the course is not really free anymore but still a very good offer. But that's the reason why I haven't managed to attend yet.

If you go, keep us posted!

Good luck
Anja

[ladypol]

Thanks Anja,
I think I'll give it a go. What's the worstthing that can happen (which is my mantra for a lot of things!)? If it's really rubbish I lose a day, if it's really good I may get an insight into whether coaching is for me after all.
I'll let you know how it goes

[Jen Waller]

I have both attended and assisted on one occasion. Despite the fact that the coaching accademy has a reputation for being er keen with their printed marketing material this was not my experience of them in person when attending either as a delegate or assisting. Certainly on the occasion when I assisted the sales pitch bit was voluntary and consisted more of a brief over view followed by a question and answer section. (A large proportion of the group did opt to stay and hear more.)

Content wise I would expect you would get an overview and experience of coaching both as a coach, observer and coachee. Group size often varies depending upon the area and time of year. I would estimate that there was a couple of hundred on the one I attended as a delegate (though its a few years ago now) and about 75 on the one I was assiting on (though it was near Christmas and the first time they had come to that area.) If you have any specific questions by all means ask, I know they have changed sylabus' since I attended but will gladly answer any questions I can.

[ladypol]

Thanks Jen,
The weekend is close to me and at the end of November. i',m keen to get into coaching and had signed up for an NLP practitioners course but it was cancelled  at the last minute. I have problems with travelling to courses, especially if they are residential as I have child care issues so thsi one looked ideal as a taster.
Have you done their other, paid for, courses?

[Jen Waller]

I have attended their paid for ones as well, though they are now presented in a different format to when I did it and I think they have added some extra ones to their options.

The whole weekend is designed as a taster so sounds like it would fit what you are looking for

[marksherwood]

Hi

Interesting post.

The words 'Bargepoles' and 'dont touch with' spring to mind everytime i hear about The Coaching Academy.

If it is the same weekend that i attended a couple of years ago (in South Bucks) then be prepared to be 'marketed' to death !!

The weekend i attended was marketed as a 'Coaching Certification' Weekend (you try getting a Cert out of them) and it was definately not free. I paid ?400.00 to attend what amounted to a 16 hour sales pitch for their diploma course,with a few (VERY) basic coaching excercises thrown in.

Dont even get me started on the quality of the 'presenters'

Also, some attendees tried to take adventage of their 'leave before 10 AM and get your money back ' policy.....wont bore you with the deatils, but do you think they got their money back ?

Also, we were told that under no circumstances could we trade or even call ourselves 'coaches' without taking the full diploma course.....yeah right !

I could go on...but i wont.

It was just my experience (and having stayed in touch with people from that weekend, theirs as well)

Rant over,

Cheers,

Mark

[ladypol]

Hi Mark,
this is what I was concerned about but as it is free I guess I can leave at any time and only get to lose a couple of hours if it is really bad. I've signed up for the weekend which is at the end of November so I'll let everyone know what it was like.
Jean

[realmagic]

Ditto with Mark's experience ?400 + ?100 hotel light for a "certificate of attendance" being ripped off alway pisses me off

KR,
Mike.

[ladypol]

Hi,
I've just returned from the weekend and can honestly say that it was a brilliant experience. It was free but I would have ben happy if I'd paid for it as the training was excellent and the sell was very soft. Yes, they did give information about other courses but it was only really talked about for about half an hour by one of the trainers at the end of today and we were invited to stop yesterday for more information. At no time did I feel ripped off. Definitely a good way to spend a weekend.

[realmagic]

Hi Jean,
I'm pleased you enjoyed it, maybe they have changed the format since I attended in Jan 2006.  I was charged ?400.00 and the weekend was marketed as though the attendees would recieved a "certificate in coaching" at the end of the weekend ( this was definetly deceptive).  Would you have been happy to have paid ?400 for the weekend?  Maybe the Coaching Academy would like to offer me a free weekend course. I would be interested but only if the format as changed and I would learn something. Any way I'm pleased you feel the weekend was worthwhile.

Kindest Regards,
Mike.

[aniinl]

Hi Jean,
is it possible they don't offer the free courses anymore? I can only find weekend seminars for 197GBP all of a sudden...

Anja

[ladypol]

Hi Anja,
that is strange I've just been on the website and found the same as you. They didn't say anythign about charging again when I was there but maybe they decided that they might as well. I suppose they do have to pay for accommodation, food etc which can't be cheap and a lot of people who go for free aren't committed. I know that many people there with me were there for their partners' or friends' moral support so they would never have signed up for the diploma courses which is obviously, ultimately what they want to sell.
jean

[ladypol]

stranger still - I've just noticed that the courses are being offered free again!

[aniinl]

Great! I already gave up and almost booked the other one ;-) Thanks for checking and letting me know, Jean, will book now!!!

Anja

[ladypol]

Let me know how you get on. I signed up for their executive and corporate training  as a result and am find it brilliant. There is so much stuff that they give you access to. It's not cheap but I think it's worth  it.
The initial weekend may not be anything new if you are already coaching and have had some training but I still found it really inspiring.

[aniinl]

Oh I'm sure I will enjoy it. I've only had theoretical studies and not much practice yet. The only practice I had was during Michael's mastery workshop in Amsterdam last month. Probably hard to be topped, but anyway, I need to take any practice I can get!

I'll keep you posted!
Anja

[Ahmad Ibn Rom]

I've just applied for the coaching weekend.   I don't know whether they'll accept me.  I wanna see what this coaching thing is all about.

[aniinl]

Just returned from the weekend - it was really good and entertaining, with a lot of excercises. No sales pitch at all, only optional on saturday night after the training.

Nothing for experienced coaches, though, as many people (out of the 100) were not only thinking of a career change, but some were actually just looking for any job and attended because the weekend was free... So there was a very mixed audience.