Dale and Mark write the following:
>>All instructors that are willing to help perpetuate excellence in the continued education of our membership are valued, regardless of whether they are sponsored by a manufacturer or not.
Understood. But money still is the issue. The dues and convention fees should be higher. You get what you pay for.<<
Agreed. It is easy to say, as an instructor, I am "valued". Of course I am. The PTG, in order to maximize the profit of the convention, would like me to prepare and teach a class for free, pay my own transportation and room, and pay a full entrance fee to attend a convention in which I will miss a significant portion of classes in order to present my own? What a bargain! There is no way to justify that sort of expense unless I have something to sell. I don't have anything to sell, just some experience gleaned from making mistakes for the last 35 years. If that isn't worth at least the entrance fee and a room, then I can't afford to be a PTG teacher.
My last convention was full of classes taught by people that were basically advertising their wares or services. Their cost of attending is part of their advertising budget, and selling their services or wares can make the convention a profitable venture. Those techs that simply have valuable experience to share will gradually become extinct. This is a loss, since the original idea of the PTG was to have an organization of working technicians that could share their expertise. Now, we have an "institute for profit", and the PTG doesn't want to pay for the content.
On this course, our future is going to be one of vendor instructors, and I really think that is going to limit the attraction of the institute. It looks like a downward spiral to me.
Regards,
Ed Foote RPT
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