How about having a forum that listed speakers and their courses

[MVEYES]

What do you think about having a forum that lists speakers and their courses? It would be a great place to gather information for all of us who set up continuing education meetings.

Jerry Sherman:bbg:

[Laurie]

That's a great idea Jerry.


I will sign up to be listed...

Laurie

[Pete Hanlin]

Ditto for me! How 'bout it, Steve (as if you didn't already have enough to do)? :bbg:

[Steve Machol]

Great idea! I can make it a sub-forum of this one. What name and description should I give it?

[Bev Heishman]

Call it Educational Resources!

Sign me up also!

[Steve Machol]

What about the description? Also the idea would be for people to post their contact information and qualifications in this forum.

[Diane]

There should be criteria for submitting the courses. Lots of people have courses, but have not submitted them for approval. I'm going to be off line for a couple of days, (going to a choir thing), but I would love to help with setting this up. That way, the states or other organizations will have a very useful tool.

We don't need to just submit names of courses. We need a VERY organized outline with information.

Let me know if I can help. Oh yes, I'll sign up as well.

Diane

[Steve Machol]

This brings up the question - should these posts be moderated and, if so, who verifies that the person is giving accurate information about their qualifications and experience?

Another option is to allow people to post in the 'Speaker's Registry' but have a strict requirement on what information they provide.

Thoughts?

[MVEYES]

How about having prospective speakers give references ? That is easy to check out for credibility.

Jerry Sherman:idea:

[Steve Machol]

Just off the top of my head here's some possible fields to include. Please feel free to add, delete, comment, etc.

• Name
• Contact info (preferably email and phone)
• Courses given and/or written
• ABO Certified Speaker (yes/no)
• How many course given?
• How long as a Speaker?
• CVS or resume (as file attachment)
• References (must get prior approval to list someone as a reference)

In addition, would you suggest allowing replies to each of these postings? On the one hand it would allow prospective employers question the Speaker on key points. On the other hand it would allow for negative comments from people who have a problem with this Speaker for one reason or another. (Not too likely, but it could happen.)

[MVEYES]

I realize there could be negative feedback in the forum but we all have performance ratings be it from a boss or the general public. I would hope that the speaker would respond in a sophisticated manner that would show the audience his or her means of defending their qualification. We could also get a lot of pro comments about these speakers.

Jerry Sherman

[MVEYES]

Do you think that it will be realistic to put speakers in a forum without replies to their posts? After all they can delete the post if they don't want to be contacted.


Jerry

[Steve Machol]

Actually I think allowing replies is a good thing. This will allow potential employers to ask questions and evaluate the speaker prior to hiring them.

[harry a saake]

:D Steve, as i have mentioned to you before this is something i would like to do and would like to be part of.

[Steve Machol]

I need to get caught with a few things but once I do I'll add the forum. I may need a reminder in a week or so! :)

[MVEYES]

I'm looking forward to the new forum. I' ll e-mail you in a week or post here.


:bbg: Jerry

[chip anderson]

Go a step further. Allow people that have heard these speakers to give thier evaluations. Eliminate wasted time listening to speakers that tell you about thier bad knees and other personal problems. Evaluate down to the raw meat educators.

Separate the sales pitches from the "Technical Optical Stuff". Hell we might even learn about nose/ear configurations again. Maybe even how to fix a broken frame or adjust one.

Chip

[Steve Machol]

Chip,

I agree. As I said, I think allowing replies is a good thing.

[MVEYES]

Steve,
I think replies could be great but as a speaker I can sometimes be thin skinned if undue criticism is issued. I might not sign up for the forum as a speaker for that reason. Some of the optiboarders do not list their names or e-mail so that they could critisize without their identy being known. I have seen critiques of excellent speakers that were totally unfair.

:shiner: Jerry

[Joann Raytar]

Steve,

After reading some of the posts here regarding harsh words when rating a speaker I was wondering if there wasn't a way around this. Would it be possible to have a standard poll for rating a supervisor similar to the surveys that are on the bottom of the ABO/NCLE blue sheets? Any written replies could be authorized by the moderator/s before they will post to the forum. It would have to be explained that this would not be an attempt to censor content, only an attempt to ensure dialog is kept on a professional level.

[Steve Machol]

Jerry,

I had similar concerns at first. But after a while I began to come around to the idea of allowing replies. Essentially I believe that the positive replies for a good speaker would far outweigh any negative criticisms. Furthermore, people who post highly negative attacks on others generally don't come across very well. Most people can see right through them and these posts tend to backfire.

However Jo's idea of moderating replies is an interesting one. We could insist that people giving feedback identifies themselves and don't hide behind a shield of anonymity. The problem is that some Speakers may still take exception to the comments and may try to put pressure on us to remove them. I'd rather not put my Mods in that situation. It also creates a lot of extra work.

In fact, your concerns are exactly why I haven't proceeded with this idea and others I've had. It seems no matter what I do in this case, some people will be unhappy with the results.

[Pete Hanlin]

I think a simple eBay-like rating of "Positive, Neutral, or Negative" would be appropriate as far as rating speakers. Then again, how does a respondent prove s/he actually attended a course given by the speaker?

If possible, it would be good to have the speaker submissions done on an on-line form (perhaps like the one used when ordering shirts and stuff). That way, everything should be more or less uniform. If possible, perhaps each course given by the speaker could be listed under the speaker's main post in the form of additional posts... I know I have several courses that are already ABO approved, and a few that have yet to be approved, so there should be a spot for indicating whether the course has already been approved or not.

Looking forward to the new forum!

[Steve Machol]

Originally posted by Pete Hanlin
Looking forward to the new forum!

So am I, but someone's going to have to help me figure out a fir an equitabler way to set this up. As Jerry's post indicates, we could be walking into a troublesome area.

[MVEYES]

How about requiring comments on a speaker to be specific about their critique like where and when they heard the speaker and the course that they did or didn't like?


Jerry

[Steve Machol]

Originally posted by MVEYES
How about requiring comments on a speaker to be specific about their critique like where and when they heard the speaker and the course that they did or didn't like?

I agree in principle, but this will still require someone to moderte these posts. And what happens when the Speaker disputes the time and place or the specific of the criticism? I'd like to set up a system that does not require policing by me or the Moderators and does not draw us into disputes. Perhaps that's not possible.