• I thought it was me.
  
• I thought it was a regional thing.
  
• I think it is because there are so many "garage training companies". I remember when I first started teaching a class in programming in C. That was in about 1983. The client for whom I taught the class charged about USD16,000 for a dozen students. Some one-person training companies were charging a whole lot less (of course, they did not provide equipment and so forth). It was hard for the company to compete with them on price. So many customers treated training as a commodity then. Arguably, many do now.
  
  Today I see ads on the 'net for instructors who will teach at about half my daily rate. It is hard to compete. I have friends charging three times what I do. They live in big cities and for some reason are able to get the larger fees (they also have fewer qualifications, less experience and IMHO are not as good as I am). Those differences would not not account for the price difference. Is it marketing, contacts, something else? Dunno.
  
  ID is even worse. I saw an article saying that consultants should start at about USD2800/day. I offered a potential local client some ID work at about USD500/day (I was short of work and money, plus I know people pay less here), and the potential client thought the cost was far too high. One client I have pays ID work at half the rate for instructing. Maybe I am missing something, but with over 25 years experience, I think I should get more than the recommended minimum.
  
  (I don't really mean this to sound like I'm venting, but I want to share real personal experience.)
  

quote:

Originally posted by Fanatic Facilitator:
"So, why do people expect6 cheap/free ID? Maybe they are getting it somewhere. I'd love to know where."


Well, frankly...one of the places they sometimes get it is here or boards like this one (TRDEV on Yahoo Groups comes to mind). I mean really --- look at some of the posts on the board. "I just became manager of the training dept. How do I do my job?" kinds of posts. Or, "I'm training leadership - what activities should I do?" Sorry, but those kinds of posts just send my brain into a tizzy.

Additionally, I don't know about others here, but in my experience, in all of the various places I've done training and instructional design, most of the trainers never intended to be trainers. They were SMEs who became trainers. And NONE of the people designing the courses (the trainers who were SMEs turned into trainers) actually ever studied adult learning theory, instructional design, etc. So... companies just think that anybody who knows a job can design and facilitate the learning for it. And then those people get promoted into positions of authority in the training dept. even if they don't really have the qualifications to do so. I don't mean to say that none of these people seek out professional development necessary to do their jobs, but a good number of them don't... not sure why. Okay. I'm rambling. I have more to say, but I should probably stop for now. Again -- just talking about my observations and my experience. I am NOT intending to say this is true everywhere at all. Just relaying my experience.

quote:

Originally posted by Fanatic Facilitator:
While I see part of your point, Kal, I cannot agree that credentials are what will make positive results occur. One key is to know what is a training issue and what is not, and to quit throwing training at everything. You don't need certification to know that or know how to do that.