Can you imagine someone inviting you for dinner and asking you to pay for the meal?
What if they asked you to cook part of the meal as well?
That’s the best analogy I can come up with, for what doctors have to deal with, in the world of conferences and speaking, today.
I couldn’t really believe my ears the other morning, when I connected with one of my panelists, for the upcoming virtual conferences we’re hosting.
During our talk, I told her about what it meant to participate at our conferences, and how each member of our faculty could earn money for the different roles they play.
It’s a great way to generate a passive income stream, I said. And she agreed.
She was so excited about that prospect, in fact, that I asked her why.
She proceeded to tell me the reason, which completely threw me off my chair. Ok, so *almost* threw me off. I’ve got pretty good balance these days.
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To my utter surprise, she told me that conferences she had attended in the past, as a speaker, actually made her pay for registration.
“What?!” I asked, with dismay.
I didn’t actually think I heard her correctly, and needed her to slow down, or maybe spell things out.
Admittedly, some days I’m slower than others. But I felt pretty good at the time, on top of my game.
What I heard was exactly right.
This physician had been asked to speak at a surgery conference, pay her way there and back, as well as cover accommodations. On top of all of THAT, she had to also pay for a ticket to actually attend the conference itself. Yes, the very same conference she was helping to make happen, by speaking in it!
I asked her how this was possible. I had never really heard of such a a thing.
She answered with a single, four-syllable word and I immediately understood.
Academics.
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Now you may be wondering how I don’t know about this. Maybe I just haven’t ever been cool enough to be asked to speak in a conference for which I had to pay!
I mean, I’ve been part of some sleazy sales calls that worked using similar tactics. But I’ve never actually bit.
For example, I was contacted by someone in the “showbiz” industry who wanted me to come on their show. There was a big name celebrity who was running it – supposedly – and after I expressed my enthusiasm for playing a part, the specifics unfolded. I was expected to shell out quite a hefty sum (in the five digits) to take part.
I realized right then and there that it was a scam.
But why don’t we feel that way where it comes to physician conferences?
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This bothered me. I couldn’t wrap my head around how anyone could organize a gathering of intelligent minds, and then charge those who actually helped put it on.
Can you imagine hiring a professor to teach a class, and then charging him tuition??!
It sort of feels the same!
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Now, if these conferences weren’t generating revenue, maybe I’d get it. I really would try to empathize in that case.
But they are.
These conference typically charge thousands of dollars per attendant, and then charge additional fees for extra things.
And so something was off here in my calculations, and I decided to speak about it “out loud”.
Make it make sense!!
Can you imagine someone inviting you for dinner and asking you to pay for the meal? What if they also asked you to cook part of the meal as well?
I turned to a few of my handy-dandy physician Facebook communities – yes, the ones that I lead (stay tuned for some mind-blowing truths about professional groups in existence today that’ll knock you off your feet) – and asked if anyone else had experienced the same.
Surely the doctors there would be as appalled as I was.
But lo and behold, there was more of the same. Apparently, we’re wholly taken advantage of, and as a group!
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So I went to work riling everyone up, as I so seamlessly do, and I took notes.
And now I’m collecting these all right here, at SoMeDocs, from anyone and everyone who would be willing to share.
I think it’s time we wrote about this more, and facilitated open conversations on how backwards this all actually is.
With this in mind, I’ve created a venture that curates quality conferences that attendees can soak up, no matter where they are, because they’re virtual. And my venture even allows our speakers, the experts in healthcare, to get fairly paid. Can you believe it?
Take THAT academic organizations. Even the little guy can come up with a model that treats participants fairly and still come up ahead.
