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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=cedel@supernet.com href="mailto:cedel@supernet.com">Clyde =
Hollinger</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> July 19, 2002 4:08 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: "PTG Convention is =
focused
on teaching...."</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Friends,
<P>I'm glad I'm not the person who needs to make the decisions on =
these
things. While some of us would be willing to pay more for the
convention, there are already those who don't come because of the =
cost.
The convention committee has to try to hit that happy medium. If =
an
increased expense keeps too many more people away, the committee will =
have
less money to work with, not more.
<P>Sometime in the past I heard that PTG conventions are inexpensive =
compared
with conventions for other occupations. Maybe, but it may also =
be true
that large companies cover the cost of their employees' attendance, =
while for
most of us the money comes directly out of our wages. That makes =
a big
difference.
<P>Regards, Clyde </P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080></FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>This is sometimes true, but certainly =
not always.
Many professionals and semi-professionals are self-employed as most of =
us are.
Regardless of the line of work you are in, unless you are the employee =
of some
company that sees the value in on-going education and training there =
will be no
one else to pick up the tab. </FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>Our conventions are a once-a-year =
bargain for
anyone wishing to devote the time and energy to attend. So much of a =
bargain, in
fact, that I am one of those who believes the registration rates could =
be
(should be) raised. Rarely is it just the lack of money that keeps =
someone from
attending one of our conventions. While allowing for the occasional =
emergency,
it is generally a matter of setting priorities and budgeting the =
requisite time
and money. Other things in our lives have a higher priority and get a =
larger
share of our budgets. (Maybe the convention registration rate should be =
doubled
with a 50% discount given to those who have attended at least 50% of the =
previous years local chapter meetings. That ought to shake things =
up....)</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>Our convention tries to be all things =
to all
technicians. Other organizations tend to focus their conventions
toward those who are already professionals in their field. They are =
less of
a training event for beginners.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>One reason for this, of course, is =
that there are
few alternate avenues of education in our work so we use our conventions =
to try
and take up the slack by offering a multitude of classes, =
lectures and
services for piano technicians at every level from the rank beginner to =
those
who are quite advanced--a formidable task, indeed. We are trying to =
structure
our once-a-year convention to make up for the relative lack of viable =
school
facilities around the country.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>Personally, I would like to see our =
conventions
change some and focus more directly on those who are a bit more =
experienced--but
I could be wrong. This is the direction our organization has decided our =
conventions should take and as long as that is the case we're pretty =
much stuck
with the way things are. There is a strong motivation for leaving things =
relatively alone--the status quo does work for quite a few people. =
Changes are
always uncertain. And we know from experience that there will be enough =
folks
willing to devote substantial portions of their time and energy =
throughout the
year to provide a reasonably high level of technical content even if =
they are
not compensated appropriately. </FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>As you say, I also am glad I'm not =
the person who
needs to make the decisions on these things.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>Regards,</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>Del</FONT></P></BODY></HTML>