Flexible training that gets you where you need to be.

About Mary Thomas & Concise Training

Concise Training was established in 2008, becoming a Limited company in 2012.  Mary Thomas originally created Concise Training to provide Microsoft Office Training to businesses.  Mary quickly started to use Social Media to get the word out about her training courses and was soon asked to provide Social Media help, advice and training.

Mary Thomas

During 2010, Mary got tired of hearing about so-called ‘Social Media experts’ offering their services to companies as experts for vast sums of money.  These ‘experts’ often only had 10 followers and were learning on the job, but they could “talk the talk”.  Mary established the first accredited Social Media qualification – the ITQ in Social Media –  in 2011 for people to learn how to use Social Media properly and to have a qualification to provide integrity.

In 2011 / 12, Mary worked with City & Guilds to launch a new Social Media diploma – launched in May 2012.  During 2012, Mary worked with The Digital Youth Academy to create the learning materials for the Social Digital Apprenticeship.

On an on-going basis, Mary works with businesses and individuals to provide flexible training courses in Social Media or Microsoft Office.  Mary has been in the IT industry for over 20 years, in both technical and project management roles. A keen dog walker when not training, she is passionate about what she does and ensures that each person she works with walks away with new and useful skills that will aid them in their day-to-day working life.

You can hear a radio interview with Mary here.

Di Dawson

Di has been working with Mary for over 15 years. She has co-developed the Social Media qualifications with Mary and supports the quality assurance programme at Concise Training.

As an experienced trainer and with lengthy experience in business home and abroad, Di brings her enthusiasm and skills to the training and support of the Diploma learners. She enjoys seeing how learners develop their skills and how the learning is changing their lives at work and at home.

Her primary strengths are in mobile technologies and as she has a keen interest in creative topics she helps create the e-learning materials for Concise Training.

Steve Beavis

Steve joined the team in 2014. He currently has four main roles:

• supporting individuals during their e-learning journeys
• managing social media content for clients
• running marketing campaigns and social media for Concise Training
• website development

He is a qualified trainer with an interest in online technologies, E-learning and, of course, social media. Before joining Concise Training he worked in education teaching young people and adults a variety of subjects including social media, IT and finance.

Viv Bryan

Viv joined the Concise Training team in September 2013 as Marketing Coordinator.

Her primary focus is supporting companies and individuals to create, manage and grow their brand’s presence through social media and optimise content to maximize performance. She also manages user-generated contact, contributing towards driving web traffic and helping improve quality customer engagement.

Viv helps manage Concise Training’s digital marketing brand Concise Digital. A key attribute of her role is creating digital media such as social media cover images and branded images to enhance updates, email newsletters and websites and drive action through value-based content.

Viv is an experienced graphic designer and has worked in the fields of advertising, print, packaging, point of sale and direct mail.

Jonathan Chorlton

Jonathan joined our digital marketing brand Concise Digital in August 2015 as a Marketing Account Manager.  He manages the social media channels for some of our clients as well as the social media channels for Concise Training. Jonathan is adept at actively seeking the right people to connect and engage with and listening to deliver real-time information on what’s happening on social media profiles.

Jonathan’s role includes:

• Content management
• Writing blog posts and about the latest social media developments
• Creating email newsletters
• Creating and delivering Facebook adverts

Before joining Concise Training Jonathan had an extensive 16-year career in retail management where he worked for several well-known retailers as well as a top Premier League football club store.

Sophie Weldin

Sophie is working with Concise on an associate basis having been introduced to the brand by joining as a Diploma in Digital Marketing learner.  With a background in journalism and PR and the knowledge gained from taking the course, Sophie researches and writes blog posts for our clients making sure that each uses the client’s voice, is interesting and relevant to the audience and doesn’t speak in jargon.