Is there any interest? was Re: no comp.

[A440A@AOL.COM]

 Wim writes:
 
> what subjects could be offered at the 
>convention that would attract more technicians, especially the older, more
> experinced ones who have not been coming to the conventions recently, 
because
> there just aren't enough interesting topics offered. 

Ok,  here are a few that may be of more interest to fully experienced techs:
 
1.  More reasons to sell a wide variety of temperaments 
    (anybody ever get burned out tuning?)
2.  How to most profitably handle the "point of inheritance" that a senior 
tech will encounter 
    (If your clientele has grown to trust you, this is where a payoff may lie)
3.  Health related issues the older techs will usually have to deal with 
    (if we are fortunate to live long enough, it is unavoidable that bits and 
pieces will start to fall off before     the motor stops) 
4.  How to profitably take on a junior partner
    (we can't indenture people, but surely there must be a mutally beneficial 
way to couple experience and    clientele with youthful energy and stamina)
5.  Salvaging what can be saved from poor estate planning
    (This may be more widespread than any of us would like to believe)
6.  Using technology to make up for the inevitable hearing loss that 
accompanies aging
    ("I got my new hearing aid!",  "yea? what kind is it?",  "3:30 !!")
7.  How one might "sell" their business
    (seems like a shame to just "let it go")
8.  Tools for sale, (sadly or otherwise)
    (hmm,  what do you do with four hammer pullers and 9 tuning forks?)
 
    There is presently so much emphasis on training newcomers to the trade 
that the original reason for the Guild is in danger of being forgotten. As I 
understand it, the original intent was for working technicians to have a 
means of making each others jobs easier and better.  There is some truth to 
the idea that the Guild's Pace program and  other efforts to teach the trade 
have contributed to the demise of the formal schooling opportunities that 
existed in earlier years. Perhaps it is necessary to maintain and/or grow the 
membership, but it does represent a tradeoff.  Whether that is good or bad is 
another thread,(or fuse, depending on the amount of heat it generates) 
     I am still not sure why it is to my benefit that there be more and more 
technicians improving their skills.  It is good for the piano owners and 
manufacturers, true, since they are the consumers and the more intense the 
competition among techs,the better for them.   However, where is the benefit 
for the older tech?  My time would be worth far more if I was the only person 
in the country that could regulate a grand action, or tune two pianos 
together, etc.  
    I am not begrudging the teaching, (which I have been doing at local, 
regional, national, and international levels for some years now), but I don't 
see reason for gratitude that I must compete with ever increasing numbers of 
people offering the same technical services as I do. 

> For the Board, could consideration be given to offer  instructors additional
> compensation to come up with more advanced topics? 

    Hmmm,  if we vu that deja, is this something like, say, "RPT-only" 
classes? Maybe instead, it will be "Advanced class=additional charge".  We 
are already charging a surcharge on a number of "hands-on, beginner classes, 
why not charge a bit for a really advanced class?  And, if so, then an 
instructor capable of delivering a class that attracts a paying audience 
maybe should be paid more. 
   No need to get ticklish about money, that IS what most of us are working 
on pianos for and altruism doesn't pay our rent or health insurance.... 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT