Hi Mark, thanks for participating, There is cost involved for those of us whose dealers pay nothing: Time away from work, air travel, and in some cases, hotel costs. Since I have attended both the Little Red Schoolhouse and all of the Steinway factory seminars, I don't necessarily feel that I got them for free. In fact, I had to turn down one of the Steinway sessions one year because I couldn't afford it. I think it would be a mistake to make it so pricey that even less people could attend. Manufacturer's classes at Conventions and Regional Conferences can be documented. Paying a small fee and pre-registering for such a class, or series of classes might be doable for many. In the past I've been willing to pay $50 or $60 for a special class and might even consider paying more if it would save me the hotel and airfare of going to another facility. Attendees could be given some sort of certificate to attest to the fact that they were there. Instructors could actually give feedback as to whether the student was on the right track or needed some additional training. This certificate could be requested by dealers if the manufacturers expected them to use such accredited technicians. Just brain storming... jeannie _____ From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mark Wisner Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 6:00 AM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Boston changed to dealers techs mfgrs and other such No, Yamaha doesn't require their dealer techs to attend the Little Red Schoolhouse. No matter how good the teacher, and teachers don't get any better than LaRoy and the Yamaha team, it's impossible to turn 8 or 10 students into technicians honed to the razors edge of technical perfection in one week. And since the cost to the manufacturer for in-house training runs about $1,000 per week, per student, it's just not possible to keep 'em there for too long. I have a pretty simple way of looking at training (among other) issues: Whoever gets the benefit should pay for it. It's my belief that most folks get smarter, and learn better, when it's THEIR money being invested in the schoolin'. Now, if an employer strikes a deal with a tech to underwrite training expenses, that's a different deal, and can be great for both parties. Mark Wisner .-----Original Message----- From: wimblees at aol.com Sent: Nov 21, 2009 2:47 AM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Boston changed to dealers techs mfgrs and other such Yamaha's Little Red School House has an exam at the end of the session. jeannie I didn't know that. The next question. Are Yamaha dealers' techs required to attend the Little Rd School house before they are allowed to work on Yamaha pianos? Wim _____ I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter <http://www.spamfighter.com/len> . We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 286 of my spam emails to date. The Professional version does not have this message. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.707 / Virus Database: 270.14.75/2516 - Release Date: 11/20/09 23:47:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20091121/50e3b0ce/attachment-0001.htm>
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