While reviewing responses to the 2009 ESRI Training survey that recently closed, a couple of themes quickly emerged. We always include an open-ended question for survey takers to give us their thoughts in their own words. This year the question was, "What changes to ESRI Training would help you most?"

No surprise, cost was the number one change requested—as in, we need more low-cost and free training from ESRI. As one respondent this year nicely phrased it, "[I need] more financially friendly training options."

And, out of all the individual comments we received, the following one stood out: "In my case it would be to offer more free courses. Not because the courses are not worth paying for but because I am penniless. I am excited about what I have been learning and would like to learn more."

Penniless, thanks for taking the time to answer our survey question. It was so nice to read that you're excited about learning GIS. When you have time, explore the free training options on our Web site. There are more than 100 free options on a variety of topics (not even including all of our Instructional Series podcasts). I hope you find something new to learn that helps you get the most out of the GIS tools you use. We will continue to add to our catalog of free training.

"More Locations and More Dates" 

What I did find surprising, however, was the second theme. Many, many respondents requested more instructor-led training classes closer to their specific location—a dramatic increase over past surveys. Of course it makes sense, since traveling to a distant training location is difficult, if not impossible, for most users this year—because travel is directly related to cost (see theme number 1).

Some respondents exhibited amazing prescience, like the one who asked for "Instructor-Led courses where the lectures are recorded and you can watch them at your own pace," and the one who told us, "I am interested in remote training options as particular courses are not offered locally due to low turnout. Perhaps there is some way to leverage video-conferencing with regional offices."

Bingo, said I (out loud even). It feels great when we can provide exactly what our users ask for.

New Options for Greater Access to Instructor-Led Training 

Over the last year, we have been feeling our customers' pain and know all too well that training budgets have been cut to the bone for many. As a result, we have been developing training solutions that take into account both our users' desire for instructor-led training as well as their inability to travel.

So what exactly are the results? Instructor-led remote classroom and instructor-assisted video training are now available. Because some ESRI learning centers cannot offer every instructor-led course on a regular basis (due to low demand in their particular region), these new solutions make it easier to access courses across the U.S. Particularly with instructor-assisted video training, which allows us to schedule multiple courses in one classroom, we can better meet user demand for specific training courses while continuing to deliver a high-quality instructor-led experience.

We're still working on implementing some back-end technology changes that will make it easy to see the entire range of instructor-led training options in your area. For now, the best way to view our offerings is to use the Location drop-down list on the instructor-led class schedule to search for all classes in your desired location and see what comes up. In the near future, we hope to give you a better way to search the class schedule. 

To everyone who completed our 2009 ESRI Training survey: Thank you. We wanted to hear from you and we did. As usual, we were amazed at the thoughtful responses you submitted. There were lots of great suggestions that will be keeping us busy for the rest of the year and beyond.