Well, after 3 months hard work, the Dile is finally live. Not without a few minor glitches, however, due in principal to migrating the site to a new, faster server, but all is now sorted and the site is running fine. What you see now is phase 1, we have many plans for phase 2 and beyond!
So, what have we got to offer you as a member? Well, contributors have started sending in their webinar titles, together with a either month for broadcast but with the exact date to be confirmed, or a scheduled date and time. The latter have the link for you to register at GoToWebinar - this is all free, included in the £5pcm membership fee you pay! What excellent value you get for your £5 when you consider it brings you all of the following:
- Webinars every month, usually 2 but that may increase! Webinars are delivered by experts from our industry and from the world of business. Each webinar will teach you something you can use in your business, either in your training or in running your business (and we will be bringing you some which are for you personally, such as looking after your health and your finances). The presenters will let you know what courses they offer, where you can find them and when. And of course they will be making a special offer to Dile members, so another reason to be in! As they say, you've got to be in it to win it!
- Articles from a variety of contributors, including all updates from the DSA. Any DSA initiatives which directly affect you and your business, the Dile will ensure you receive help and guidance, so you know what to expect and what to do about it. The new check test, coming in from April next year, 2014, immediately springs to mind. There's some great articles on there now, so sign up and take a look. My particular favourite is written by an RAF fighter pilot and concerns our vision when driving, why drivers fail to see things, an excellent read.
- Forums: currently we have 12 in all, each covering a different topic. If you'd like to see a topic area added, please ask. Forums are for you to interact with other members, to ask your training and business questions, and receive help from our wonderful group of contributors.
- There is also a video library section. There you will find the recordings of our webinars, in Vimeo HD for the best quality. There are currently contributors who intend to post their own videos on there too, so watch out for those coming soon.
Virtually everything that you will be introduced to on this site is available for you to find out about on Facebook and other social networks, as well as on a variety of websites. And thereby lies the problem - there is so much information out there that it becomes difficult to find! You could spend all day just researching it all! The Fresh Start conference, held in Februray, seemed to be all over Facebook and the Internet generally, yet there were still ADIs complaining afterwards that they hadn't known about it. The Dile puts everything under one roof, let's you know about each one, so you can make an informed choice as to which events and courses you wish to attend. We do the research, all the leg-work, so you don't have to, saving you a great deal of time. And in addition you will find out more about these events before you spend precious time and money on something which isn't what you actually wanted. In this way, membership of the Dile will ensure that money you do spend on your CPD is truly value for money..