Value For Your Educational Dollar

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Value for Your Education Dollar

All education is good. Everyone will always be able to learn something at every event attended. Rineke and I (Dorien Forster) have travelled all over the world to attend and be guest speakers at many courses and we've found that there are two types of courses;

A – Where there are a lot of speakers on different topics doing a one or two hour general presentation each. Typically a large audience.

B – Just one or two speakers for the whole duration of the event speaking in depth on one topic only. Smaller audience.

It is best to be selective of spending one's education $$$ on, depending what an investors needs, at that time.

Lots of Speakers

• The cost of putting on such an event is usually huge for the organisers as each speaker will be charging a fee for speaking and perhaps accommodation and travel costs.
• In order to compensate for these costs the audience has to be high in numbers.
• Typically the presentation is rehearsed and because of time constraints, does not allow for questions or perhaps just a limited time for questions at the end.
• If there are five or more speakers in one single day, there will only be general overviews of each topic and not normally enough in-depth information to equip the audience to be able to implement any investment strategies.
• There is not much interaction with the audience and so the speaker cannot get to know the specific circumstances or needs of the people attending.
• Sometimes (more common in the USA) a speaker doing a one or two hour rehearsed presentation has NOT actually done the business themselves and is just a spokesperson for others.
• The speaker may introduce their topic and then encourage you to buy tapes, DVDs, more courses, etc.
• There is not usually any follow up care offered.

These days have great value as an overall introduction. Perhaps if you are getting into a completely new field of work and you are at the moment only a starter in the business, then it is best to attend a day with lots of speakers.

But if an potential investor is looking for in depth knowledge on a topic it could be better to spend your education $$$ on the second type of event.

One or Two Speakers

If you really want to learn something you may be better to select a course where there are only one or two main speakers in a day.

• It is likely the speakers will have done the business themselves for a number of years and really know their material. They may be authors, and have a book on their topic.

• The course will have an in depth work manual (not just a copy of the power point presentations slides).
• There will be more time for your questions.
• The groups are likely to be small and more focussed.
• The cost of these events may be higher.
• The material will be covered in great detail.
• You will come away knowing EXACTLY how to do the business.
• There will be some sort of follow up care available.
• The networking in these groups is usually more beneficial then high number events.
• These courses are likely to have a GENUINE money back guarantee, because people rarely use them.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the course advertising will give you a list of what you will learn on the event. If the list is very long and it is only a one day event or a two hour speech you can be sure that the topics will only be dealt with briefly and that you might still be left wondering how to implement the material. The longer the list the less information there will be on each subject.

The presenter’s track record is also important for you to consider when you are selecting where to spend your education dollars. Try to learn from experienced presenters, those who have been teaching the subject the longest. Beware of NEW people in the game.

Also beware of how you got attracted to the event. Did you respond to expensive advertising in glossy magazines, or did you hear about the course through word of mouth from previous attendees raving fans?

Of course, ANY education is valuable and you will always learn something at every course you attend. However, if you have been to a course and found it is what you are looking for but maybe you need to learn more from others as well, don’t be afraid to attend another course on the same topic again. This is not time or money wasted. (I did my NLP practitioner’s course twice for this exact reason, it was a good decision).

It really depends what you are looking for and at what stage of the game you are at. If you have decided what you need to learn next, then choose the event and presenters according to YOUR needs and not just the next available course on the calendar, by a speaker who happens to be advertising that topic.

Dorien Forster's Opinion 1