Workshops, webinars and courses
Below is a list of free workshops, sessions and webinars that are available to Victorian businesses.
Business Day Out
Come along to Business Day Out the annual half day gathering in Ballarat and “Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable"
Participants will hear from a variety of keynote speakers including Nedd Brockmann who’s focus of “never give up and show up consistently has inspired a nation" attendees will also have the opportunity to network with like-minded individuals throughout the day.
Discounted rates for those a member of their local chamber/business group.
Early bird ticket sales close March 31
Date: May 31
Time: 11.30am - 4.30pm
Venue: The Goods Shed, 200 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat
Book here
Virtual mentor session
Business Victoria offers free online business advice sessions to help you start or grow your small business. Available Monday to Friday, the one-on-one sessions with a business expert will provide information on your business idea or how to grow your existing business.
A business expert will help to identify a clear direction for your business, discuss key issues and priorities, and develop a business action plan to achieve your goals, all for free. Available Monday to Friday the sessions last 45-minutes and bookings are essential.
Please note that only one session is available for each business per 12-month period. Please call Business Victoria on 13 22 15 for further information.
Session times: 9.00am - 7.00pm
Venue: Online
Book here
Digital strategy (Upskill My Business self-paced course)
Improve your digital strategy with this highly interactive short course. By learning how to place digital at the heart of your business, you’ll be able to align your marketing strategy with customer personas, your brand story and identity, your team and their skillsets, and the customer buying process.
Topics covered:
- The customer and your brand story
- Setting a budget, nurturing a team, and assessing risk
- Channel planning for a complex buying process
- Becoming a digital leader
Total time: 11 hours
Venue: Online
Book here
Social media marketing (Upskill My Business self-paced course)
Fast-track your social media marketing skills in this cutting-edge, interactive short course. Learn brand storytelling, persona targeting, community building, social analytics and more. Get a globally recognised certification that enables you to stand out from other job applicants.
Topics covered:
- Social Consumers
- Social Apps and Building Communities
- Brand Storytelling
- Designing Social Content
- Thinking Strategically
- Social Sharing
Total time: 13 hours
Venue: Online
Book here
Recruitment and retention for modern retail (Upskill My Business webinar)
Hot topic for today’s retail on people strategies from employers of choice to attract talent and drive engagement.
Topics covered:
- A snapshot of HR in contemporary retail
- Attract tomorrow’s talent today
- Retain and engage great people
Total time: 1 hour
Venue: Online
Book here
Content marketing (Upskill My Business self-paced course)
This online Content Marketing course teaches you content marketing best practices. Learn how to craft your social media messaging to bring visitors to your website and keep them there. Get tips on how to write a good headline, use keywords effectively and choose the right tone for your audience.
Topics covered:
- Content audit
- Channel promotion
- Brief development
- SEO marketing concepts
- Measuring concepts
- Keyword research
- Content creation and repurposing
- Enhancing your creativity
- Your brand story
Total time: 10 hours
Venue: Online
Book here
Cut through on a budget (Upskill My Business webinar)
Hot topic for today’s retail on the latest creative and compelling trends in social media marketing for small business.
Topics covered:
- Working with user-generated content
- Creating excitement and demand with product availability
- Connecting with an audience on values, purpose and social commentary
- Teaming up with other brands on products and promotional collaborations
- The latest marketing tools from your favourite social media platforms
Total time: 1 hour
Venue: Online
Book here
Wimmera Mallee Tourism Toolkit
This online training toolkit is designed to help businesses in the Wimmera Mallee region to expand and grow, while serving in the tourism industry.
More information
Maximising your marketing (Business Victoria)
Business Victoria, in collaboration with Monarch Institute are offering this online course to help you give your business a digital marketing face lift.
‘Maximising Your Marketing’ is about understanding what marketing is and what the key actions are that are required to be successful in marketing your business.
These learning modules are entirely online and comprise of slides, PDF’s and a workbook that you can study at your pace. Take notes, make lists, get your action plan written, and put your new skills to use straight away. This course can be taken on its own or you can book to attend a live workshop or webinar to compliment your learnings.The length of learning modules are about 4-6 hours. This is dependent on your previous study experience, time availability, how fast you work and how committed you are.
Book here
Social media and content marketing (Business Victoria)
Business Victoria, in collaboration with Monarch Institute are offering this online course to give small businesses guidance on how to prioritise your digital and social media marketing efforts.
‘Social Media and Content Marketing’ provides actionable tips, tools and strategies to enhance your online presence and ultimately attract customers.
The course is completely online and comprises of slides, PDF’s and a workbook that you can study at your pace. Take notes, make lists, get your action plan written, and put your new skills to use straight away. This course can be taken on its own or you can book to attend a live workshop or webinar to compliment your learnings.
The length of the topics are about 4-6 hours in total. This is dependent on your previous study experience, time availability, how fast you work and how committed you are.
Book here
Winning government grants and tenders (Business Victoria)
Business Victoria, in collaboration with Monarch Institute are offering this online course to help give small businesses the confidence they need to engage in government work by providing practical tips and simple strategies on how to develop business opportunities and then respond to Government tenders, quotes and grants.
‘Winning Government Grants and Tenders’ offers business owners at any stage, solutions to improve your strategy to grow your business. You’ll learn how to engage with government and how to respond to government offer documents with confidence.
These learning modules are entirely online and comprise of slides, PDF’s and a workbook that you can study at your pace. Take notes, make lists, get your action plan written, and put your new skills to use straight away. This course can be taken on its own or you can book to attend a live workshop or webinar to compliment your learnings.
The length of learning modules are about 4-6 hours. This is dependent on your previous study experience, time availability, how fast you work and how committed you are.
Book here
People, processes and technology (Business Victoria)
Business Victoria, in collaboration with Monarch Institute are offering this online course to help you develop critical organisational competencies for your small business.
‘People, Processes and Technology’ is about helping you understand how to get the most out of your people. It covers culture transformation and process improvement, resulting in a more effective and sustainable change effort.
These lessons are entirely online and comprise of slides, PDF’s and a workbook that you can study at your pace. Take notes, make lists, get your action plan written, and put your new skills to use straight away. This course can be taken on its own or you can book to attend a live workshop or webinar to compliment your learnings.
The length of learning modules are about 4-6 hours. This is dependent on your previous study experience, time availability, how fast you work and how committed you are.
Book here
Innovator's Mindset (Business Victoria)
Business Victoria, in collaboration with Monarch Institute are offering this online course to help kick start your small business or boost your existing one.
‘Innovator’s Mindset is about helping you connect themes of innovation, time management and leadership in business, to build systems for a more efficient workplace.
These lessons are entirely online and comprise of slides, PDF’s and a workbook that you can study at your pace. Take notes, make lists, get your action plan written, and put your new skills to use straight away. This course can be taken on its own or you can book to attend a live workshop or webinar to compliment your learnings.
The length of the course is about 4-6 hours. This is dependent on your previous study experience, time availability, how fast you work and how committed you are.
Book here
Starting your small business (Business Victoria)
Starting Your Small Business’ is about helping you understand the key aspects of starting your business. Whether it has been days or years since you last formally learned, this course will offer various ways to understand the concepts of managing a business and will help you act with confidence in your own business.
Book here
Business function and capability (Business Victoria)
Free training to equip small businesses with the basic tools, templates, and resources to plan, start and thrive.
Topics:
- Roles and responsibilities
- Staff skills assessments
- Ethical staffing
- Job functions
- Equipment and operation
Total time: 2 hours
Venue: Online
Book here
Communications and administration techniques (Business Victoria)
Free training to equip small businesses with the basic tools, templates, and resources to plan, start and thrive.
Topics:
- Communication truths
- Methods of communication
- Time management
- Setting goals together
Total time: 2 hours
Venue: Online
Book here
Generating cash flow (Business Victoria)
'Generating Cash Flow’ is designed to help you identify the key cash-flow drivers in your business and looks at finance fundamentals for any stage of business. This content is great for business owners of already established small businesses, or anyone planning to set up a small business and wants to familiarise themselves with finance fundamentals.
Book here
Strengthening business practices (Business Victoria)
The ‘Strengthening Business Practices’ course is designed to help owners of an existing small businesses who want short term, constructive advice to support business recovery as well as tools for longer-term future crisis planning. It also includes aspects of personal resilience and coping techniques for the well-being of the business owner as well as the health of the business.
Book here
Advanced strategies to taking your business online (Business Victoria)
Advanced Strategies to Taking Your Business Online’ is designed to give you the knowledge, strategies and tools to grow your business online. You’ll learn how digital technologies are impacting the way businesses operate, what a digital strategy is and the elements you need to consider when developing your digital strategy. Once you’ve completed the course you can pop your new skills to use straight away.
Book here
Cybersecurity (Business Victoria)
‘Cybersecurity’ is about helping you understand the importance of cybersecurity and how to protect your business from the consequence of an attack. Learn key strategies about how to stay on top of this ever-moving topic.
Book here
Customer experience (Monarch Institute)
Fast-paced, with a nod to future technology and processes, this course will teach you everything you need to know about your digital customer experience (CX). It’s packed with tips and tricks to stay one step ahead of the competition. Includes all course materials, exam, digital certification and FREE membership to the Digital Marketing Institute.
Total time: 10 hours
Venue: Online
Book here
Developing a strategic plan (Business Victoria)
There is a saying that if you don’t plan to succeed then you plan to fail. As the market is far more challenged than ever before, we are now seeing that it is much harder to succeed and easier to fail. Building a strategic plan that is reasonable and gets executed is vital to the success of your business.
This session takes you inside some of the strongest yet basic business plans and the techniques not only to protect your business but to assist you to grow it effectively.
Total time: 21 minutes
Venue: Online
Book here
Taking your business online (Business Victoria)
‘Taking Your Business Online’ is about helping you understand what support is available to help you make informed decisions about your business activities online. Starting out? already established? You’ll benefit from foundation knowledge and strategies on technology, social media options, email communications and measuring your success.
Book here
Digital skills: social media (Future Learn)
Learn how to effectively use social media for business. Find out why social media is relevant for businesses today and how you can use it to establish and improve your brand.
During this free course you’ll learn about the key steps in promoting your brand through social media, including setting campaign objectives, identifying the target audience and the right channels, creating engaging content and managing your presence. You will also look at examples of different social media channels, tips for using them and how to measure success and improve your campaigns.
Total time: 2 weeks | one hour per week
Venue: Online
Book here
Diversity and discrimination (Fair Work)
A diverse and inclusive workforce is good for business. It encourages acceptance and respectful behaviour and minimises the risk of discrimination. This course shows how to promote diversity, prevent discrimination, minimise the risk of discrimination and encourage a culture of acceptance and respectful behaviour.
Total time: 30 minutes
Venue: Online
Book here
Effective digital marketing (AIIA)
Marketing has evolved and the tools, technology, and creative ideas to maximise reach have changed the way you engage with your customers. Technology today provides greater reach, providing a deeper understanding of the buyer and the ability to deliver powerful messaging like never before.
Total time: 39 minutes
Venue: Online
Book here
Hiring employees (Fair Work)
This course provides general guidance on hiring a new employee.
Topics
- Understand the steps in the hiring process
- Decide if hiring a new employee is the best option for you
- Understand employee entitlements and your obligations
- Attract the best applicants and conduct interviews
- Select the most suitable candidate and make them an offer of employment
- Induct employees, develop their skills and hold onto strong performers
- Locate downloadable resources, templates and links to further information
Total time: 30 minutes
Venue: Online
Book here
Managing employees (Fair Work)
Good employee management is linked to lower staff turnover, higher productivity and business success. This course help you to develop people management skills, build a high performing team and help your business achieve its goals.
Total time: 30 minutes
Venue: Online
Book here
Managing performance (Fair Work)
To be a high performing business you need to have high performing employees. As an employer or manager, there are steps you can take to maintain good performance, as well as deal with underperformance issues if they arise.
Total time: 30 minutes
Venue: Online
Book here
Record keeping and play slips (Fair Work)
Good record-keeping practices are vital for employers to meet their legal obligations, keep track of how their business is going and make informed decisions about the future. This course will teach you how to make, update and manage employment records for your business.
Total time: 30 minutes
Venue: Online
Book here