Roland Academy

[Robert Lambie]

well i have to say i am a bit surprised at that mate… by that i don’t mean i expected you to come back saying it was brilliant with gogo dancer handing out beer while whispering sweet profiles in your ear and stroking your pantone book :lol1:
i just mean i really thought that any complaints coming back would be that it is long winded, too much to grasp in a short time, boring even. not cut short days with not much on "what you came for" and being a soap box for a media supplier. 😕

i don’t think i would look at a low attendance on the days as a down side, i probably think that to be advantageous as you have more one on one attention from your tutor, if you know what i mean?

[Ian Bingham]

Gogo dancers now that would be good
no I went to learn! not sold things, I love my job and want to understand it more, I love learning new things, seeing how and why things work
I was a very basic course and influenced too much be suppliers, yes i do see the need for sponsors, but this wasnt there place, it was supposed to be an intermediate course, not here is metamark vinyl and it has glue on the back!

[Robert Lambie]

i have to say i agree with you Ian, if i fork out cash for tutoring of any sort ide expect my moneys worth. e.g. i went on an Europoint/Oracal vehicle wrapping course and there was very little about the actual vinyl itself, even when the subject was vinyl, it wasn’t about Oracal, just using the correct vinyl for the job etc.
Hats off to you though for going on the course, its not always possible for everyone to go on any type of course, but digging deep and making the time shows you are serious about what you do.

Did you mention to the guys on the course at the end your feelings?

[Ian Bingham]

nope
6 hr run back
2 lads had just got there versa CAM and new nothing about sign business, never even used to make signs yet
other 2 were sent by the company to learn, so not there to learn, know what i mean?
oh well learn the best way, by our mistakes!

[Joe McNamara]

Hi Ian,
It’s a shame you didn’t get what you wanted from the course.

I know Marc, as he lives in Bristol and is based at Roland HQ near me.

He’s probably the most helpful person I’ve come across from a supplier in all my time in the industry.

I’ll draw his attention to this post, as I know they like to know what’s going on ( the folks at Roland), they will definitely take an interest.

Thanks for the info though, I’m supposed to be going up there soon (the academy) for a day or two for the magazine.

Cheers
Joe

[Ian Bingham]

Hi Joe
Yes Mark is a nice lad, Very helpful to all, but not the best teacher, seemed a bit distracted, may be its just me but i wanted a more structured teaching session, he was always asking, any question, would you like me to review anything, speaking one to one ( which wasn’t hard in our setting ) with us, and very social,
it was only when asked on the second day that we got a pen and note pad
Hopefully roland will take notice and i have tried to be constructive, like i said their is great potential for this type of course
Ian

[Ian Bingham]

P S
Joe, please add Robert’s suggestion for gogo dancers
Ian

[Ian Bingham]

spoke to some from roland, and they are going to send out evaluation forms on monday
they forgot at the course
will keep you informed
ian

[Ian Bingham]

Well assessment forms came out by fax, fill in thinking it would be filed under b for bin, but NO, a few phone calls later, one quite quiet one from Mark but productive and one from Peter, it seems things are progressing, unlike some other companies I have dealt with in the past Roland Do Listen! Well done them! I hope this benefits the academy
Hope to see future progress
Ian ( tell it like it is )

[Kevin Flowers]

Does that mean they’re going to get the gogo dancers 😀 . No seriously its good to see that a major manufacturer is taking notice of the smaller sign maker. Good on you for sharing your experiences of the day & making Roland sit up & listen

Kev

[Ian Bingham]

will be able to say more in the future, realy pushing for the gogo dancers, there some great tables in the laminating room!

[Robert Lambie]

well done Ian and well done Roland…
I still have to find time and get down to it… maybe chap up Mr Joe McNamara to join me at same time 😉 :lol1:

[Joe McNamara]

Count me in Lambo!

I’ll give Marc or Peter a bell when I get 5 minutes.

Cheers
Joe

[Joe McNamara]

Glad to see you had some good response from Roland re the course Ian.

I was shown some of the course content and course notes re the colour management and photoshop tutorials (before the academy started when I bought my versacamm) and they looked good to me.

I notice you’re listed on UKSB as a newbie.
Do you have much of a background in digital ( I’m relatively new to digi myself), and I’m going to the roland academy as soon as I can find a spare day.

Like I said earlier, (for those who haven’t met Marc ) you won’t find a more helpful person than Marc and I know he’s put massive effort into setting this course up.
I’m sure what happened with you was probably a glitch, and knowing Roland – they’ll sort it.

Cheers
Joe

[Ian Bingham]

Hi Joe
Yep new-be to digital, but eger to learn, been making signs for 9 yrs now, picked up quite a bit along the way, so this was the problem with the course, as I said, it wasn’t advanced enough, but the staff were great, and the response i had from Roland was second to none, but the course does need some major work
as for Mark, I have to agree with you, I have only met him at the academy, but he seems a great guy in his field, but a wider knowledge is needed, it was mostly theory on the second day and all who attend the courses are in the practical side of print
but I think eventually the courses should be a great learning experience
might meet you down there one day
Ian

[Joe McNamara]

quote Ian Bingham:

Hi Joe
Yep new-be to digital, but eger to learn, been making signs for 9 yrs now, picked up quite a bit along the way, so this was the problem with the course, as I said, it wasn’t advanced enough, but the staff were great, and the response i had from Roland was second to none, but the course does need some major work
as for Mark, I have to agree with you, I have only met him at the academy, but he seems a great guy in his field, but a wider knowledge is needed, it was mostly theory on the second day and all who attend the courses are in the practical side of print
but I think eventually the courses should be a great learning experience
might meet you down there one day
Ian

.

Be good to meet you there if we could sort it.
9 years – plenty of experience!
Newbies on digital like myself though, hence the need for the training.

From my experience of Roland, and how they work,I’d have spoken to them if I was dissatisfied with the course (and they’d probably have done something about it), rather than putting it out on a public forum.
Not knocking you though mate but if I’d have spent the money like you did, I’d have been on the phone to them first thing if I felt I didn’t get value for money.

I’m sure they’ll take your comments on board and make any changes they feel are necessary to give good service to the people attending.

It’s hard to get this across in type on the net and I’m sure we’d have a better chat over a pint but I don’t want to come across like I work for Roland – I just like the machines & the service. I’m not on their payroll!
(although if roland are reading this cheques for large amounts can be sent to my shop at their convenience :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: )

Anyway, back to the topic at hand……
The only machines I’ve ever bought are Roland’s and they are bulletproof, and they make me my money, day in day out. (camm1-best thing since sliced bread when all we had was old bread without slices ;, colorcamm PC50 – ok this was a cutter only- and a poo printer! , cammjet cj-70-big print & cut – good stuff , cammjet cj500 converted to solvent – bit slow but still love it and nice big prints, and last but not least the versacamm-even better than sliced bread!)

Sorry for underlining your points above Ian, not meaning to take bits out of context ( and for anyone else reading this – that’s me doing the underlining – not Ian – just to place emphasis on some points), but you seem a lot happier with it now than at the top of the topic…….have you sorted it or spoken to roland?

As for me and the academy, I’ll give my feedback after I’ve gone on the course – I’m thinking of doing the intermediate digital and the photoshop if I can find the time.(and when Lambie can come with me!)

Cheers
Joe

[Ian Bingham]

Hi Joe
Like you I have 3 roland machines, I wouldn’t go else where, They are great, and I would tell anyone, there service is the best ive come across but i tell things like they are, I will often phone up a supplier to tell then how much a appreciate their good job and I think we all don’t do this enough!
but on the same hand if poor service is given we find it very easy to be the first to complain
with regards the academy, hopefully not sounding too much like a parrot, We (roland and I) have talked it over on the phone and changes are a foot, as they say, but I was totally dissatisfied with the course I went on, for a few reasons as mentioned and things needed to be said.
but when you buy me this pint will tell you more
Cheers Ian

[Robert Lambie]

lambies looking for a space in his diary as we speak mr McNamara… 😉 :lol1: :lol1:

[dj_davert93]

I have to disagree with your views on the Roland academy Ian. I’ve attend the ‘Intermediate Digital printing’ (which i attended at the same time as you) and the Photoshop course, both of which are taken by Marc Jenkin.

The intermediate digital print course covers several areas. The 1st day was all about media, maintenance and lamination, and the 2nd day covering colour management.

Basically it did "exactly what said on the tin!"

To go along with the course we were also given a folder full of notes with 90 odd pages in it. This was full of lots of additional infomation and load of pictures and diagrams to go with the course.

The lamination section was all about the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of laminators. The cold, hot and combi laminators.

The maintenance was mostly as cover when the machine was installed, but included extra detail, Also its always good to check that your going about maintaining your printer correctly, as it could cost you big time if you don’t.
Now you said Ian that it had all been covered in the installation day, yet you still didn’t seem to know all that we covered during this section.

The 2nd day as Ian said was all on colour management. This was the most interesting part of the course. Marc went through lots of areas within this. we talked about how lighting affects what we see, Pantone (basically saying DO NOT USE!!), colour profiles etc etc. Marc then went on to demonstrate how in photoshop (and he did ask if everyone used photoshop) how we can seewhat colours our printers can print using gamut warning and loading in profiles.

The 2nd course i attended was the photoshop course, again taken by Marc.

Now i have nothing but praise for this course. It took you from knowing the barest minimum to being able to produce professional looking images.

This course is very much practical based. with Marc demonstrating on the interactive white board, then letting us practice and play with images on our own.

Marc is a great guy and will do anything and everything in his power to help you out.

I highly recommend that people should go on at least 1 course, and whilst up there if you stay for the night, the Golden Moments indian is probally the best indian i have ever had! The 1 thing Roland could do extra is to pay for the meal!!!!!!

[Ian Bingham]

Hi DJ

Glad you benefited from the course, I agree with you about Marc but that’s it, and as said previously maybe this is not the place to argue about it,
BTW how long have you had your versa camm? and been digitally printing with it before the course? or shouldn’t we go there
If the course was that good why are they changing it?
remember intermediate dose not mean basic!

Ian