Yesterday I decided to book myself on two free training workshops at my local Apple store in Norwich. The first workshop was “iWork Workshop: Keynote” a generalised workshop helping you to understand all the main features of creating presentations using Keynote. The second workshop was “Presentations Hands-On Business Workshop” Focused on creating business presentations using Keynote and how this can benefit your business.

At the first workshop I was the only person attending and instead of cancelling the workshop I was given an hour and half worth of free one to one training on keynote which was a nice surprise. The Apple staff at the store were so helpful and were doing everything they possibly could to give me a great experience while in the store.

After the first workshop I had a break of just over an hour, while waiting for the next workshop to start. This gave me time to stand at one of the many Macs in there and try out different apps that might be useful for my own business.

The second business based workshop had two attendees my self and one other business professional. So again this one to two ratio training was great as the Apple Specialist had more time to go more in-depth on more advanced features and techniques. At the end of the session the Apple Specialist talked us through the other workshops and services that they can provide for businesses using Apple products.

A workshop that caught my attention is a business meetup workshop where they will explain how to use the Mac in general in a business situation. This event will be happening soon at the Norwich Apple store but they do not have a date for the event yet. The Specialist explained how this will be a good opportunity to interact with and network with other business people. I believe this will be a good opportunity for business people new to the Mac to learn off other established Mac users business sector. Also to gain valuable contacts and connections through networking with like minded people.

Conclusion

I have found these workshops very useful especially for people new to the Mac or that want to fill in certain gaps in there knowledge. Apple is showing that they are not just targeting the consumer market but the business market to.

All I can say is watch out Microsoft your days of having the majority market in small business customers could be numbered!