LVR Optical Professional Laser Display Safety Course
Not really a product review but a service review. A well deserved one too.
I'm sat in the bar at the Hunton Park hotel having a nice cold Boddies having just finished the course, taken the exam and had a good chin-wag with the participants and with James Stewart, our course provider. If people weren't going home I think it would have turned into one of those LEM experiences, where you <might> drink all night and chat lasers until the early hours!
I've been on quite a few courses over the years but this was the first time that I have never felt tired, even after lunch. The content was interesting and James' presentation style was great - making something that is usually mind-numbingly boring (Health and Safety) into a subject that the whole course engaged with.
The day was pretty crammed - with a few short breaks, a delicious lunch (I had a healthy salad and a not so healthy cheescake with lots of cream) that lasted about half an hour. We did finish slightly late but James checked that no one had trains to catch or other engagements and all seemed happy to stay.
The course content was very well picked and was balanced to all abilities, with trainees who have had zero experience with lasers, to those who had spent years in the business.
I chose to sit the exam which took about half an hour to complete. The questions were appropriate to the course content and to laser display safety.
Personally I would have liked 5 or 10 minutes longer for the exam, although I do like to cram as much information into my answers as I can muster. If I've done well I'll let you know how I did. If not, you might find this paragraph mysteriously edited!
[Edit] I managed a distinction at 98% which goes to show that the course and exam are well matched. I think the 2% were silly errors on my part.[/Edit]
The course material seems comprehensive and well written. Not just the print-outs of Power Point slides that I have experienced too many times before, but a bound document with colour photographs, diagrams and practical examples of the things that we had learnt throughout the day.
I thoroughly recommend this course to anyone working with laser displays in the UK, whatever their experience.
A big thank you to James and Julie from a very happy customer :)
