The ELTon effect
/As this year’s ELTons Award Ceremony approaches, DLA co-founder Adam Salkeld reflects on how winning an ELTon last year helped our company grow and refocus.
It’s ELTons week. Thursday is one of the most important dates in the ELT calendar - the English teaching and learning world will find out who has won the sector’s most respected awards for innovation. As with everything else this year, the 2020 ELTons ceremony will be different. For the first time in the awards’ 17 year history the event will be held online. Whilst some of the stardust of an evening in London will be missed, I am convinced that the importance of the ELTons in celebrating innovation and creating a global gold standard for our sector will be undiminished. My confidence here is founded on DLA’s experience of winning the 2019 ELTon for innovation in learner resources. Let me tell you a bit more about what this award has done for our company.
The real ELTon Effect kicks in after the tuxedos are back in the wardrobe and the handsome ELTon award has been placed proudly in the trophy cabinet. The initial benefit is one of having a powerful international currency in your armoury. Clients, partners and end-users recognise the ELTon more than any other award. It facilitates contacts and improves networking potential pretty quickly. The benefit to us with our Ready to Run authentic ELT suite of resources has been tangible. We have seen a 25% increase in business over the past year. Whilst we can’t attribute it all to the ELTons win, we can say that the award has played a significant role.
Increasing transaction volume is great, no complaints at all about that, but there has also been a deeper, more transformative effect on our business. The new networks and clients that we developed since our ELTons win have given us a broader perspective that has allowed us to rethink our business model and pivot to being a content rental business, building long term relationships with our subscription clients. One of the key drivers in the subscription economy - be it in Netflix or Google’s G-Suite - is a universally accepted quality proposition. The ELTon award has given us that. Here at DLA, we are now looking forward to even more significant growth into 2021 and beyond based on this model. We expect our award to continue to be a hallmark of innovation and quality for some time to come.
This leads me onto the disruptions and challenges we have all been dealing with during the pandemic period. It has been a difficult time for many but lockdowns all over the globe have also acted as a catalyst for profound changes in the way we teach and learn; changes that will remain in place after Covid-19 has subsided. DLA was able to respond to the situation more effectively with our new business model as well as with the new networks our ELTon opened-up. For example we have been working closely with the British Council’s English team to share free Ready to Run packages for teachers all over the world. These have been designed as a turnkey resource for teachers working in perhaps unfamiliar remote, blended and flipped environments. We realise that student engagement and continuity of learning have been some of the biggest challenges schools and teachers have faced and our free Ready to Run packages address these head on.
So I don’t think any of these positive ELTon Effects will be lessened this year - if anything they may be supercharged by the even greater need this year for innovation and excellence to counter the pandemic’s disruption. All of the DLA team wishes the 2020 ELTons finalists the very best of luck. Just getting nominated is a real achievement and we hope your businesses and innovations do as well from the ELTons as we have. Finally there is always some magic to the ELTons, which I am sure will be there on Thursday. The organisers do a fantastic job bringing together a great mix of people from our sector and beyond. How can I forget, for example, the incomparable Benjamin Zephaniah in his role as MC and poet at large last year.
See you on Thursday night.
