Just to be clear: I didn't hear any complaints either but I do know that this is a cultural difference between the groups. Certainly not a deal breaker for RJ or myself or we would not have done the Academy together to begin with. But as partnerships grow it's important to get a finger on the pulse of things and I certainly want to know about the feelings the vendors generated.
On the topic of paid classes: this was a first for us and came from the previous 4 years of feedback. Many, many people still use LOR and we have covered this from SO many angles. The one consistent was that people really wanted an all-day sequencing session from a high-level instructor. To make that happen we had to enlist Drew, who is the official LOR trainer and does this for a living. The down side is that the level of instruction he provides has a cost. Typically that training is for 2 full days and includes the manual at a cost of $400. There was no way that we were going to tack that on to the registration so Drew and I developed the idea of a striped down version with a more palatable price point. I knew that some folks wouldn't be happy and LSH had those folks as well. But at the end of the day I have to make decisions that benefit the most people and this was one that the Board decided to try. Those folks who wanted a full day got it and those folks who didn't did not. Honestly I don't think anyone would have taken a full day from other class opportunities that wasn't willing to pay the fe associated with it. Will we do it again? I don't know- we'll wait for survey feedback. Would we do it with another software vendor? Again, I don't know. I don't know anyone from other software platforms who has Drew's track record of experience or his comfortable teaching style (because that's a big piece of it). Would someone take a full day LSP class and pay for it? Not based on the fact that many people felt abandoned by LSP at this year's Academy (and I have no problem telling David that myself. He left EVERYONE high and dry and special thanks should go to Michael for picking up the pieces. If so many people didn't want to learn about LSP I would have cancelled it all and tell people why. You don't do that to customers, existing or new. OK, rant over!). Vixen? Nutcracker? Etc? I suppose it could happen if the platform dictated it and people wanted it. Anything can happen at the Academy, that's for sure! We don't think inside of one box.
I do want to be clear for everyone though: Lone Star Holidays collected $150 per person for the class and $50 for the books. We even lost a little by paying 1.5% of the Paypal fees. A check for the entire ammount was written for Drew (I know because I wrote it!
) and we didn't make any money from the venture. We wouldn't do that.
Good discussion! Let's keep it going!
Ryan
