Is this course right for you?

* Are you bored with being the bag carrier or the back-room number cruncher?
* Do you feel there isn’t enough to challenge you in your current role?
* That your innate strategic skills aren’t being properly utilised?
* Maybe you just fancy a change?
* Perhaps you’ve heard about planning but aren’t really sure what’s involved or whether you’d be any good at it?

The APG Conversion Course is a good way to find out more about Strategic Planning and prepare yourself for a career move into this discipline.

It is specifically for people in the communications field who aren’t currently planners but think there might be “a planner inside trying to get out”; and for people in related fields who might want to cross over into the world of strategic planning for communications. It’s one of the ways the APG meets its aim of attracting the brightest talent to the planning pool.

To be suited for the course, you …
…will have been working for a few years (please note this course is NOT for recent graduates or juniors)
…realise that you want is to push the boundaries of your strategic abilities a bit further
…could be an account handler (media or creative)
…might be a client brand manager
… could be a management consultant starved of creative thinking
… consider yourself good at logical and lateral thinking as well as creativity and don’t want to plump for one without the other.

The course won’t turn you into a fully-fledged planner, but it will be a toe in the water and cover a broad range of planning skills.

Said one of last year’s delegates: “The Conversion Course was a pivotal experience in my transformation from creative to planner, providing me with a comprehensive introduction to the subject and giving me invaluable points of reference for my continuing journey into the world of planning.”

Course outline

Theory:

- What is planning and where did it come from and how has it evolved?
- What is strategy and what exactly do planners produce/deliver?
- Models of thinking – behavioural, strategic, comms models, models of integration, a look at some examples and why they matter
- Branding and positioning: how to win in a competitive world; towards a comms strategy
- The importance of a clear brief and the difference between a master comms brief and an executional/creative brief.

Practice (skills and techniques):

- The Brief and the Briefing: how to get it right; practical exercise with real briefs
- Round-table discussion and insight from experienced planning directors
- Doing analysis: research overview, creative development research, tracking, evaluation
- Homework: working with a case history.

The course leaders are Merry Baskin and Janet Grimes, both ex-Heads of Planning and ex-chairs of the APG. They have extensive experience in a wide range of communications fields as well as training. Other experts in various planning specialisms will contribute, and you will get plenty of “have a go” opportunities.

Tutors: Merry Baskin and Janet Grimes, with contributions from senior specialists in specific disciplines.
Grade: Delegates must be experienced in business
Dates: May 2012. Two days.
Price: 875pounds+vat (membership required)
Venue: tba
Booking: Email steve@apg.org.uk stating (a) whether firm or provisional booking (b) if possible the names, job titles and email addresses of delegate/s

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