2009/05/22
Performance Training Course - Crete - May 2009
I recently went on Kirk Pepperdine's latest Performance Training course with Alain Moran and I must say - the value of the content provided surpasses most courses I've been on. If you want a taste of what the course is like, have a look at this interview with Kirk, then imagine 4 days of this!
Kirk has an uncanny ability to describe a problem, help you understand the answer, then highlight the bleeding obvious (that you inevitably have overlooked yourself), and guide you out the other-side with your newly-found sense of enlightenment. His approach of letting you find your own way to the answers in the numerous hands-on exercises give you the freedom to fail, with his years of experience summed up in helpful tactics giving you the confidence to succeed - even if some of us do take the long way!
Location, Location, Location
Training courses usually conjure up classroom-style desk layouts with a projector image - with a hard driving tutor at the front, churning out useful information accompanied by course material to assist the knowledge transfer that is the point of the exercise ... and this sure as hell delivers. Don't be fooled into thinking that this is going to do anything other than get every cell in your brain firing as fast as it can to crack the real-world puzzlers that emerge throughout.
Typically this sort of course would run in a city like London, run out of a hotel/conference facility, with the overhead costs of such a location, using courses of similar levels for comparison, being something like:
| Return Travel | £300 |
|---|---|
| Hotel for 5 nights | £1000 |
| Evening Meal for 5 days | £200 |
| 4-day Course Cost | £5000 |
| TOTAL | £6500 |
However - this course isn't being run in London - it's being run in Crete! Yes ... Crete! But this is no holiday.
If you run the numbers it makes perfect sense:
| Return Travel | £500 |
|---|---|
| Hotel for 5 nights | £300 |
| Evening Meal for 5 days | £100 |
| 4-day Course Cost | £3000 |
| TOTAL | £3900 |
Flying High
Flying to Crete on the Sunday and out on the Thursday night was not possible from Manchester as we are deliberately out of season; however given the prices we decided to fly in on the Saturday and out on the Friday - it even worked out cheaper overall!
Unfortunately, I didn't pay much attention to the transfer times on my flights which were booked Manchester, UK > Charles-de-Gaulle, Paris > Athens, Greece > Khania, Crete (and the reverse) and ended up with less than one hour changes in Athens. On the way out, I was delayed on my Paris > Athens leg as the Greeks felt like closing half their runway capacity, causing me to miss my connection. No worries though, I got to spend the evening in Athens and caught the late morning flight the next day, paid for by the airline - can't complain!
The return was just as tight (40 minutes) and I wasn't checked in end-to-end, so I had to:
- Get off the plane, from behind a queue of people in absolutely no rush.
- Sprint through security, well, what there is of it ... I expected to get shot as a foreigner running full pelt through checkpoints with a backpack!
- Find the check in desk and encourage the desk clerk to type faster than my 6-year-old daughter.
- Get through the security.
- Get to the appropriate gate.
After all that, I find out that the plane was delayed for 20 minutes due to "technical problems preventing the plane operating safely at low speeds" (basically, take off and landing) ... but we were reassured that the problem was fixed by pilot, and as we made it to Paris on-time anyway - I guess so!
I was warned off Air France or travelling through Paris if possible, although this advice was helpfully given after booking; but I can't really complain - they certainly haven't provided me with the worst experience in my flying history. That said, if the course were to run Wednesday - Saturday, I would probably have taken the Tuesday direct flights from Manchester.
Picturesque
Still need convincing? Take a look at some of these casual snaps I took during the evenings. I would have taken photo's of the hotel and training area, but I was too busy focusing on the course material / sleeping off the festivities!
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Such a beautiful and cleansing place makes it perfect for information retention - throw in the advantage of letting your hair down by having an evening meal and playing Werewolf at a Mediterranean beach-side restaurant as the sunsets in the background ... Priceless!
I challenge you to find a dispassionate reason not to attend - I can't wait for Kirk to update the course so I have an excuse to return.
Update
Alain Moran has written about his experiences too.
