The Cabinet War Rooms, the scene of some of the most influential decisions of World War II, became the venue for a further important decision on 22^nd November, when key HR and training professionals from the UK’s top organisations, toured the Cabinet War Rooms and received a briefing on the first six weeks of the new age discrimination legislation. Organised by learning materials producer, Skill Boosters, and the Employers Forum on Age (EFA), the evening was hosted by Rob Bonnet, the face of BBC Sports News for over a decade.

Take-up for this worthy event was slow until Open Mind, the UK’s largest distributor of learning resources (with a catalogue of over 10,000 learning resources in all forms of delivery media and frequently referred to as the ‘trainers’ Toyshop’), took a hand. It issued a press release announcing the event – and this was picked up not just by a number of HR-related newswires but also by the London Evening Standard.

After that, the organisers were inundated with requests to attend – if only to have a free tour of the Cabinet War Rooms with Rob Bonnet.

Comment: PR can be more effective that you think – or bargain for. At least it was all in a worthy cause: to update us on the learning materials that are available – and appropriate – for keeping staff up-to-date with the latest policies and procedures relating to such things as age discrimination legislation and diversity training.