I can help you train and upskill your team or specific individuals. I'll develop a structured training plan featuring workshops, exercises, 1-2-1s and coaching. We'll work on live projects to make the training as valuable as possible and schedule according to your needs.
Teaching & Training
GIVING YOUR TEAM THE SKILLS THEY NEED TO THRIVE IN THEIR ROLE
Supporting personal and professional development
In the past decade, I have developed a keen love of teaching, training and mentoring. In recent years, I have proactively pursued this outside of my nine-to-five.
For many years, I have managed and led teams - a key part of which has been employee personal and professional development. This has become one of the most rewarding and gratifying aspects of recent roles. I have taught specific skills such as writing and editorship and soft skills such as communication and leadership.
In addition to line management, I have delivered presentations and lectures externally, from marketing events to university seminars.
Most recently, I have delivered seminars and workshops for City College Norwich and the University of East Anglia (UEA). I continue my journey into education by expanding my pedagogical skills and experience, including through my own studies.
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Mentorship & 121s
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Workshops & Seminars
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Lectures & Presentations
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WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT ME
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Feedback from SearchNorwich 2024 presentation and workshop.
City College Norwich
​In 2024, I delivered four sessions for students on the Media Learning Company media production course.
This included:
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A careers seminar delivered as a quiz about my own career path. I used the quiz element to keep students engaged and show how careers can take unpredictable twists and turns.
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A presentation on podcasting. A step-by-step guide to podcast strategy, production and promotion
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A session on ‘getting your content out there’ that included an exercise that asked them to work in pairs to define a piece of content and a channel on which to promote it.
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My final session of the term was on audience research. This exercise got students up and interacting. Half of the class were marketers and had to do audience research on the other half, the audience.
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Feedback included:
“Great energy, engagement and enthusiasm. The sessions have been really fun!
“Fantastic preparation and thoughtful approach. Excellent planning and clarity of the session aims.
“Brilliant insight and knowledge that has allowed [students] to trust you as an expert.”
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University of East Anglia
2017
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I delivered a workshop on content strategy in which attendees had to build personas by choosing attributes and preferences from a selection of brands, media, celebrities and social channels.
2020​
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I delivered a presentation on FOMO (fear of missing out) to the Norwich Business School at UEA.
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2024
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In the final weeks of the 2024 term, I worked with Course Leader Nicola Barrell to deliver the following:
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A seminar on the mechanics of storytelling
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One of six participants in a panel covering storytelling and careers in media and production
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Play the role of ‘commissioner’ for students pitching their film ideas.
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Nicola Barrell’s feedback noted:
Storytelling Seminar
"His presentation introduced them to the mechanics of storytelling with some clear building blocks for telling a story, including the contract between the writer and the reader: ‘the promise' and how to use it.
"Gill engaged the students with discussions about storytelling in film and asked them to reflect on their own films and films they loved or hated. He widened the discussion to include how storytelling could be leveraged in other contexts, in particular marketing.
"His style was engaging, informative and inspirational - all the essential elements of being a great teacher. Many students said they had enjoyed the session."
Pitch assessment
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"Gill joined me to assess student film pitches for the masters course in Screenplay Development, Creativity and Production Finance in the Film and TV Business. This was to play the role of a potential commissioner and judge the quality of the story. His feedback - both in the session and post-pitch notes - was detailed and supportive of the students’ reflection and development of their skills.
"I believe he has the character and skillset - even at this early stage - and students taught by him would benefit greatly from his expertise and career thus far."
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT ME
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CIM conference at Duxford
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Develop A Content Strategy LIVE! Workshop
Marketing sector events
Search Norwich
I hosted a presentation with a short workshop for Candour's Search Norwich event. Called The Mechanics Of Storytelling For Marketers broke down the elements of what makes a story to provide a framework for people writing pitches, social media, blogs and emails. the aim was to help SEOs to better communicate their findings and recommendations to stakeholders, from writers to clients.
Chartered Institute of Marketing
I hosted a workshop for the CIM event at Duxford, helping attendees to understand how to use data and insights to inform digital marketing strategy. Participants worked on behalf of a fictional antivirus brand and used provided data and insights to develop a content and channel strategy.
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Norwich Marketing Meet-Up
I have presented on various occasions, including those on content strategy and a meta-review of digital marketing trends.
Norfolk Chamber of Commerce
I hosted a presentation on how businesses could work with senior teams to develop thought leadership - navigating the thorny issue of time-poor subject-matter experts.
Search Norwich,
June 2024
The Mechanics of Storytelling
"This is brilliant – I can’t believe how much work you put into creating this from scratch, and the exercises were genius.
"I’ll send you the delegate feedback later but at first glance it was a big thumbs up from everyone."
Phil Preston, CIM
Client Training
Clay Pigeon Shooters Association (at Dialogue)
I created a presentation for members on how to use social media.
Snap Account (at Further)
I trained Snap Account’s in-house writer over a number of sessions, working through all aspects of editorial: structure and formatting, writing style, SEO and interview technique.
Embraer (at Gravity Global)
I delivered three training sessions to Embraer’s global sales teams, on how to use LinkedIn.
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King Edward VII’s Hospital (at Selesti)
I created a series of workshops to help KEVII’s marketing exec understand how to develop a strategy using data and insights, and, subsequently, how to apply this methodology specifically to social media.
Robot Mascot (at Selesti)
Working with my colleague, we developed and delivered a session called, An Introduction To The Marketing Mindset for the partners of our client, Robot Mascot. Key to the session was the audience were non-marketing professionals, so used the schemata of the marketing funnel from which to hang our insights and guidance.
Internal Teams
Some of the internal sessions I have run for teams include, but are certainly not limited to:
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How to develop a content strategy
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Writing For Web
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Tone Of Voice
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How To Build A Persona
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The Mechanics of Storytelling in Marketing
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Spelling and grammar.
"At the risk of sounding cheesy, it was the best experience working with you. My first go at agency life has been great and I've learned so much from you - so, thank you (My writing also says thanks)."
Anna, former team member