I wonder if the market is changing -again. Three years ago it was terribly difficult for some of the big providers who recruited me as a trainer/presenter, and me on my little own, to get people enrolled for public open courses. But I sense things are changing given two recent experiences where both audiences were at a respectable 12 and 14 respectively. Open courses have many advantages in terms of generic content/getting a rich mixture of people with different experiences from different sectors under one roof/usually a good well equipped comfortable venue/and clear motivation to attend. There is also the potential to pick up new clients because one individual attending from a particular organisation or company decides they want you to come on their site and cascade the material. That's happened to me a few times too.

And  e mailing key documents to participants before and after the event really cuts the printing bill. Although of course key documents for the day will still be needed.Prices from training/event organisers seem to range from a "no frills" £99 to £280 or so a head.

The downside is around the time,energy and effort in getting people to attend.A full time job in itself!  Dodgy venues and remoteness of location would also be on my hit list -the education of experience.But on balance, I like them. Do you? Are they coming back into fashion?

Finally, it seems to be the courses in my technical compliance(employment and equality laws) areas with their ever shifting sands that attract these audiences as opposed to soft skills.