As a provider of executive
A vendor seminar and many "conferences" are
In my business, I am seriously challenged by free. But so are you, dear reader. If your organization expects you to develop your knowledge for free, they are telling you to go out there and be raised by wolves. It jeopardizes the organization in the sense that every bit of knowledge brought into a conference room or meeting is like a viral entity. Only the good stuff should be welcome. Every manager needs to spend about $6,500 annually in
I might add that the best value in seminars for professional development is often at project inception. Meaning that you spend some dough to understand upcoming challenges, implementation issues, etc. It's really not personal development; rather, it's organizational competency. The best value in newsletters and journals is for ongoing support of a competency area. The best value to be extracted from conferences is to shop around, poach talent, look for new suppliers. If you do speak at a conference, make a brand statement and a values pitch; it will carry further than a competive pitch.
In the end, you are paying for independent oversight.