2011 Conference

The Approved Driving Instructors

National Joint Council

The 31st ADINJC National Conference

A report by Lynne Barrie

Have you ever attended a national conference? They are “about sharing information; networking between professional ADIs; opportunities to view the latest tools of the trade and hopefully value for money.” From the feedback I have had, we have certainly done that this year. It was great to meet so many new ADIs as well as seeing the ones who join us regularly.

Let’s not forget that this association runs everything on a voluntary basis and that these volunteers produced a first class conference. Creeping around the corridors of the hotel at 5am, so we don’t wake other guests, whilst we set up the room and exhibition stands makes for a long day but it’s so worthwhile when we receive comments such as:

“Every year the ADINJC exceeds expectations and yet again this year the magic was there. Well done to everyone." John Iliffe, ADI
“The ambience was great-there was a buzz, it was exciting, it was professional, it was personal…overall an exceptional conference” Rob Tillier ADI

The overall theme was “Growing Your Business”. With the current recession we wanted to inspire the delegates and help people to stay positive as it’s so easy to get down and become drained by the problems we currently face. The speakers certainly did a good job with that and I found myself trying harder in my lessons afterwards to make them fun. It’s true we are with our pupils on average for around 40 or more hours so we are a big part of their life and if we get it right we will be remembered for the right reasons.

John Farlam gave us much to think about with his message that we don’t have to be cheap to survive. He showed us how much it costs to give a lesson and compared it to the new national average male wage of £30,000 a year. His style of presenting helped to inspire us to be better than average and suggested we have to believe in ourselves as what we believe becomes the reality. John also advised that we need to look at customer care on a much deeper level and make every lesson compelling for our pupils. It was suggested that if we are good they will tell 300 people with the levels of social networking being used today. If we are poor they will tell thousands and if we are average they probably won’t tell anyone at all.

It’s always a good opportunity for you to meet the DSA at our conference. It was especially good to welcome Rosemary Thew, their Chief Executive, and Mark Magee, Head of Modernising Driver Training. We had an update from them and you can see their presentation in our newsletter. As always the Q and A session was lively and when I last saw them at coffee time they were besieged by a long queue of delegates. Having said that they haven’t been put off returning and have suggested we give a longer slot next year for questions, which I welcome.

We all appreciated the effort Professor Peter Russell made to attend our conference as he hasn’t been well: his determination is second to none. We all received a free copy of his updated version of the book called “The Use and Abuse of Dual Controls”. Then we heard about the new institute for ADIs who are engaging on degree courses within the industry. In my first years as an ADI I never imagined I would take a degree so if you are thinking that’s not for you well, you never know! I had advice along the way from colleagues like Peter and he wants to set this up for new members. I am pleased to be part of IDER the Institute of Driver Education and Research; you can view the website if you would like to know more at www.ider.org.uk

Neil Peek, our President and leading business expert in the industry, followed with a presentation on B+E training and the opportunities it can give ADIs. It could help extend your business with new work and he gave a great insight in to what it involved and usefully where the work could come from. It’s always a pleasure to have new speakers and Tom Kwok, an experienced ADI from London, gave a lively and thought provoking talk on how to handle customers on the phone and help secure work from your telephone conversations.

The lunch hour is a great chance to network, see the trade stands and meet our sponsors. Vauxhall attended with some cars for us to view during the day. We also collected £652 for Help for Heroes, their current charity, which is a truly magnificent amount to have raised in one morning. One happy winner took a large cuddly giraffe home to her children; he came as the flexible part of the Vauxhall Partners Scheme. Toni Rust entertained us next with some hilarious clips of road signs and situations on the world’s roads. Her message was to make your pupil understand their surroundings and how to keep safe.

The afternoon speakers included Mark Smith and David Poole on the importance of brand and customer care and Angie Davies and Neil Rowe on licences and understanding the different types, including our own green badge. Finally I noticed as Mac McDade talked about social media many of the audience were frantically writing notes. This was an entertaining presentation which included Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, amongst other new ideas. We had tweets going on during the day on their stand that arrived on the screen as he ended the talk.

We hope you will join us for next year’s conference on October 7th 2012

speakers certainly did a good job with that and I found myself trying harder in my lessons afterwards to make them fun. It’s true we are with our pupils on average for around 40 or more hours so we are a big part of their life and if we get it right we will be remembered for the right reasons.