I’m a thrifty person; I hate paying full-price unless I really have to. So, in my pursuit of saving money, let me offer you some training-budget saving tips, as well.
Tip 1: Pilots
If there is a topic in which you are interested, look around to see if a reputable company is offering a pilot workshop on that topic. While pilots may not be completely polished, they are usually far less expensive than the normal tuition will be.
In our case, The Bob Pike Group premiered Business Presentation Skills in Minneapolis in June 2011. When we did, we offered the class for $295 instead of $1595! A huge savings! So make sure you are on the email lists of your favorite companies to find out when they are offering specials like that.
Tip 2: Early Bird Discounts
Most of you probably already know about early bird discounts for workshops and conferences. In our case, most of the early bird discounts for our fall conference have passed; however, you can still get discounts if you register for the preconference and the conference. Just give us a call at 800-383-9210 or 952-829-1954 if you’re international. Many of our pre-conferences are only offered once a year, although we still have our evergreen Train-the-Trainer Boot Camp offered then, as well as teacher options.
Tip 3: Group Discounts
Many times workshops and conferences will have discount policies that encourage multiple people to sign up at once. In our case, this year, we have the Buy One—Get One 30% off which is pretty good. It’s probably something we won’t offer again next year. So take advantage of it this year by signing up two people for one workshop or signing yourself up for two different workshops. Sorry, the discount does not work on the annual conference.
Tip 4: Nominations/Presentations/Scholarships
Many times conferences will offer special financial breaks for those who win awards or who are accepted to make presentations—meaning, you may get free registration. This goes for many industry conferences. Some conferences may also have scholarships or registration-fee reductions for particular industries or circumstances. In our case, if you are nominated and win one of our Pike’s Peak Awards, you get free registration for yourself (or whoever will be accepting the award) and 50% off for three additional registrants from the company represented. That’s quite a savings! To nominate someone, including yourself, click here.
Tip 5: Free and Cheap Online Classes
Many training companies are offering free webinars as a way of introducing people to their content. We are no different. The Bob Pike Group occasionally partners with other companies to do a free webinar. We also have our $25 webinar classes offered each month. You can check those out here.
To find out about more free webinars, check out the creative training networks on LinkedIn. You can sign up to have new webinar information emailed to you. TrainingIndustry.com and TrainingMagNetwork.com also email out a lot of invitations to free webinars.
Tip 6: Plan Ahead
If you do have a limited budget, plan ahead for how you can maximize those dollars. If you know you want to go to a conference in September (like The Bob Pike Group's!), pen that in ahead of time so you can a)budget for it in your annual budget so you can get the money approved ahead of time and b)ensure you still have the money you need to attend the events you really want to.
