"Smart" new training centre (I just couldn't resist the pun!) and other things

Wednesday night was hospitality night for me. First, I went to Ashford to see my friend Annie Browne's opening of her new training centre. Apple juice, nibbles, some words from the mayor and meeting people I haven't seen in a while. All good fun! It's a smart training setup in more ways than one; it's a nice new professional training area, it's also the first time I've seen a smartboard in use in business.

Smartboards are like great big computer screens that you can draw on. Gone are the days of looking for a piece of chalk, you can write things using just your finger. You can write things in different colours, save your notes and email them to people later. You can use it to show a PowerPoint presentation, watch a move or surf the Internet.

This may be new to me in business, but my 10 year old daughter would know exactly how to operate a smartboard. Her school started installing them 5 years ago and now every classroom has one. My 5 year old son arrives in class to move his name tag into whether he is pack lunch or school dinners. It used to be a set of cards in pockets on the wall, now he drags his named hot air balloon image on the smartboard from the ground into the cloud that equates to pack lunch or dinners. As someone who remembers the transition from chalk board to white board at school I can't help but be impressed at the speed technology is moving on.

In my recent course at Canterbury Christchurch University, almost all the tutors used projectors and PowerPoint presentations. Smartboards haven't quite reached them yet. Wednesday night was also the award ceremony where I and many of the others collected our certificates. More apple juice, more nibbles, some words from the Vice Chancellor and meeting people I haven't seen in a while. More good fun! So here you have it, a photo of my "Certificate in Business", a whole 40 credits at level 1. I confess, I'm vain enough to want a degree just to prove I could do it. In reality, I don't need one (it wont help my career prospects!). That said, I love learning new things. The trouble is knowing what I need to learn. This course did nothing for my business knowledge but lots for my French. Perhaps I should do a course on how to operate a smart board...