Posted by Richard Crowley on 09/20/07 01:59

"FCP User" wrote ...
> "Richard Crowley" wrote:
>> "Bill Fright" wrote ...
>> > Exactly. I still have the same question though. Why is
>> > nappy so threatened with video maker magazine?
>>
>> He doesn't appear threatened. He appears annoyed with
>> what appears to be just another marketing/propaganda
>> campaign dressed up as "training" and charging $$$ yet.
>> Nice work if you can get it. And if your conscience will let
>> you get away with it.
>
> Okay Richard,
>
> You claim that Videomaker's training programs are "marketing/propaganda"
> dressed up as "training" (directly quoting) and you seem to imply that
> their programs are somehow too expensive for what the attendee gets.

If you wanted to "directly quote" me, you would have included
my qualifying phrase "what appears to be". I will admit that
I should have written "what may be" since I did not examine
the cited material.

As someone who is in the training field, I also read student
evaluation forms and I have compared what the students'
perception of content is to actual audits of classes from the
perspective of content-experts and long-time users.

Yes, I am saying that the student's perception is not always
valid, especially in areas where the subject matter is new to
the student, and where whizzy hardware and/or software tend
to distract (and even entertain)

I myself have written positive evaluations of classes which
from the perspective of subsequent real-world application
turned out to be more flash than substance.

The content of the classes you instructed and others offered
by Videomaker may indeed be great. But we don't have any
independent means of verifying that from our end.

By the time Videomaker magazine appeared, I was rather past
the target demographic. I have never subscribed to it, but my
few encounters with it left the impression that it was firmly
in the constellation of similar popular technology publications
which appear to be influenced by advertisers and potential
advertisers, and are managed by editorial staff whose marketing
and promotion skills may overshadow their technical expertiese.

> Are you somehow implying that the audiences who spent the money to
> attend were made up entirely of people who were too stupid to evaluate
> the quality of their own learning experiences?
>
> The way free markets are supposed to work is that people produce goods
> and services, and the CONSUMER is allowed to decide the level of quality
> and price they're willing to pay.

Nobody supports the free market more than I. But you will
have to admit that same free market allows people to sell
whatever customers will buy, regardless of the actual value.
I don't think that even you would claim that ALL of these
classes/seminars/tutorials. etc. are sterling examples of
the genre.

> Videomaker appeals to a legitimate market segment - the
> hobbyist/prosumer. The people who have spent MILLIONS with companies
> like Sony, Canon, JVC and others creating an amazingly innovative
> "prosumer" market that has driven technology WAY down in price and WAY
> up in price/performance ratio.

Yes, I agree with you. And many of us have benefitted from
the resulting scale of economic production. I love my Sony
TRV-900, for example. Alas, that golden age appers to be
over as we see newer equipment which has been intentionally
"dumbed down" so that such consumer equipment doesn't
impact sales of the manufacturers' more up-market products.
(Example: Sony TRV-950)

> I taught those seminars for many, many years, and I'm telling you we
> took our attendees needs VERY seriously and did our best to provide them
> real value for their dollars.
>
> If you're going to claim different. I'd appreciate it if you'd provide
> some back up facts for your allegation that what I was providing during
> all those hours was merely "marketing/propaganda dressed up as training."
>
> Because in a cabinet somewhere in California there's stacks and stacks
> of those evaluations from people in a MUCH better position to judge the
> truth of that than you.

Let me know next time you are teaching one of these classes
and I will attend it myself and give you my personal evaluation.

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