Recently I attended an international conference that was sponsored in the city where I live.  The topical conference was three and a half days long, but I only had time in my schedule to attend for one day.  Luckily, because I was a speaker, the $2,000 registration fee was waived.

I have to admit that I did not significantly benefit from the conference due to its highly technical nature.  Even the general sessions required a PhD to understand!  I will submit one hour of professional development (PDH) to maintain my professional credentials, but I didn’t actually learn anything.  In fact, I resented (to some extent) that I needed to make a day’s worth of work on top of my already busy schedule for nothing in return.

Moreover, I noticed more than half of the audience tapping away at laptops or cell phones during the keynote addresses.  Despite the fact that the lighting in the room was quite dim, some 200 tiny pools of blue light emanated from smartphones across the auditorium as conference attendees tried to get some work done during the endless, highly technical presentations that did not apply to their daily work.

Continuing Education is Important

Continuous learning is important – don’t get me wrong.  However, the environment of a large, expensive conference cannot deliver the right learning at the right time to time-stressed professionals.  A few heads popped up from their smartphones every half hour as a new keynote speaker was introduced along with a new topic and endless slide deck.  Yet, there is very little learning in just a half hour when presented to a broad audience and all the “good stuff” has been scrubbed by the presenter’s company lawyers to maintain confidentiality.

In one session I attended, a single speaker was so bad that half the audience walked out and never returned.  The cookies and coffee in the vendor area were a better draw.  Do you really want to invest thousands of dollars and hours of lost work to eat cookies in the hallway?

A Better Way

There is a better way.  Online learning allows you to customize your own professional development training to fit your needs.  Not only do you take the courses you need when you need them, but you can take the course at your own pace.

At Simple PDH, we understand how important continuing education is to stay at the top of your profession.  In fact, gaining knowledge of new concepts, theories, and best practices is the rationale behind Professional Development Hours (PDH) requirements of organizations like PDMA (Product Development and Management Association), PMI® (Project Management Institute), and ASEM (American Society of Engineering Management).  Yet, earning your professional development hours should not be a dull slog through a series of monotonous PowerPoint presentations at a boring conference where the cookies are more attractive than the talks.  Studying, learning, and earning PDHs should be easy, self-paced and simple!

Give It a Try!

Why not try simple online learning to earn your PDHs?  To find out how easy it is to study, learn, and earn PDHs at Simple-PDH, join the Disruptive Innovation course now and earn 1 PDH for NPDP, PMP, or PEM renewal.  Save 50% through 31 May 2016 with the code “SPE2016”.  Upon completion of the one-hour course, you will earn one PDH applicable to maintaining your NPDP (New Product Development Professional), PMP® (Project Management Professional), or PEM (Professional Engineering Manager) certification renewal.  You have access to the course for 60 days and can take the practice and final tests as many times as you like.  Upon scoring a 70% or higher on the final quiz, you can download and print your completion certificate to verify earning the professional development hours (PDHs).

Whew!  A whole lot less hassle and expense than attending a boring conference.

If you’re not 100% sure of how online training works, please take an introductory course for FREE!  Learn more about NPDP certification by clicking here to register at no cost.  Or click on Registration in the upper right corner at www.Simple-PDH.com, then enroll in either of the Disruptive Innovation or NPDP Certification courses (see Courses in the top menu).

New courses are being added for PEM, PMP, and NPDP professional development every month, so check back often!  If you have questions about existing or upcoming PDH courses, please contact us at info@simple-pdh.com or by phone at 281-280-8717.

 

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

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