From: jms@carat.arizona.edu (A virtually vegetal non-entity)
Newsgroups: comp.org.decus
Subject: Re: "The New DEXPO Seminar"
Date: 12 Oct 92 17:53:00 GMT
Reply-To: jms@Arizona.EDU
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona MIS Department - Mosaic Group
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In article <1992Oct10.005208.4083@spcvxb.spc.edu>, killeen@spcvxb.spc.edu (Jeff
Killeen) writes... 

>Seminars are a vital part of DECUS fulfilling its mission.  Not only do they
>offer quality information exchange at the national level but because they are
>"portable" they offer symposia week type information at the local level.
>Competition of course has the advantage of everyone sharpening up their act.
>However Don don't expect the U.S. Chapter to fold up its tent and go home
>because someone else is the marketplace.  DECUS will compete by offering the
>best content and the best service when it comes to seminars.  

Empty promises.  DECUS operates by having members donate their services,
which it then sells to other members.  At the symposium, and in things
like DECUServe, the donating member doesn't mind very much, because 
the share donated, compared to the whole, is so small.  

At Seminars, however, the presenter can see a direct relationship between
what he (or she) donates and what DECUS rakes in as fees.  This sets
up a nice exploitive relationship between Seminars and their presenters:
the presenters get the minimum which DECUS can give them for their 
services and not be costing them REAL money; DECUS gets whatever the
traffic will bear as registration fees.  

Content doesn't enter into it.  A content-free seminar which is enjoyed
by the attendees will continue to be offered.  Truly bad seminars don't
get new attendees, or get so many complaints that DECUS shuts the seminar
down.  It's a negative feedback loop, not a positive one.  The saving
grace for DECUS is that there are a lot of people willing to donate
their services to DECUS, for a wide variety of reasons.  DECUS isn't
in a position to dictate content to presenters---they get what the presenters
bring to the table, and that's it.  DECUS is not likely, for example,
to pay for their presenters to attend additional career development seminars
by Digital, DEXPO, or whomever.  

Service?  DECUS operates as a small business.  If you have a problem,
you can call up and get a quick answer and solution.  But DECUS doesn't
have a proactive quality assurance program for service.  Products get
attention, and service is left to the attentions of an overburdened
staff.  

>                                                              We won't be
>competing by offering marginal left over seminars that are a bus ride away.

A bus ride away?  Depends on where you stay.  If you happen, for example,
to be in the expensive Hilton in Las Vegas, you don't have to take a bus
(or walk across a thousand-acre parking lot).  Anyone else has to take a bus
(or a long walk) to attend DECUS seminars.  Those of us on a budget
have to take a bus to get anywhere: seminars, sessions, exhibits, DEXPO.

Left over?  Is this the pot calling the kettle black?  Many successful
seminars (and sessions) are "left overs" given by people who otherwise
get paid to give their session for someone else.   And I'd hardly call
the massive number of Digital Educational Services seminars which DECUS
offers as "originals."  DES seminars are often given by professional
presenters who have only a superficial or recent knowledge of the topic
at hand.  These same presenters cut their teeth on a new seminar at DECUS,
for this very reason.  "Left over" is not the term that a DECUS leader
should be throwing around in relationship to Seminars.  

Here's how I see it.  DECUS Seminars treats their presenters with the
minimum they can get away with; has little serious content development
going on; operates with a massive overhead inappropriate to the needs
of the group; and is not likely to change significantly for a long
time---because the objections of people like Kurt are drowned by the
mindless and unfounded assertions of folks like yourself.

It is true that DEXPO (TTI) is offering an honorarium.  But it's not
sufficient to pay for the time investment.  What it does represent
is a part of a program in which DEXPO/TTI coddles, praises, 
rewards, and helps its presenters.  

If Seminars was serious about competition, they would try and understand
why presenters go with them, why they go with TTI, and why they go
with neither.  

>The proof of value of this activity is while other DECUS products and services
>have been on a down trend Seminars continues to grow. 

That proves nothing.  Give me the chain of logic that goes from "people
buy this product" to "this product is valuable," and try not to think about
Pet rocks, L.A. Gear Sneakers, and IBM mainframes while you're at it.

Gadfly of the day,

jms

Joel M Snyder, 1103 E Spring Street, Tucson, AZ, 85719 
Phone: 602.882.4094 (voice) .4095 (FAX) .4093 (data)
BITNET: jms@Arizona  Internet: jms@arizona.edu  SPAN: 47541::telcom::jms
Yow!  Did something bad happen or am I in a drive-in movie??