Giving training at ProZ.com, is it even worth the effort since price slashes?
Thread poster: Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:05
English to French
+ ...
Jul 1, 2019

Trainers have received with zero warning the information that trainings prices will be cut down arbitrarily to prices between 0.99 USD and 9.99 USD.

Knowing that ProZ takes 50% commission on this, this makes the profitability of giving training sessions a deep concern.

Preparing a training course and its materials takes a lot of time. Then it requires sometimes upgrading hardware (PC, Microphones) or internet bandwidth.
Giving training for free is something I alre
... See more
Trainers have received with zero warning the information that trainings prices will be cut down arbitrarily to prices between 0.99 USD and 9.99 USD.

Knowing that ProZ takes 50% commission on this, this makes the profitability of giving training sessions a deep concern.

Preparing a training course and its materials takes a lot of time. Then it requires sometimes upgrading hardware (PC, Microphones) or internet bandwidth.
Giving training for free is something I already do on my YouTube channel “Fi2Pro”.

I’d like to have other trainers and trainees’ opinions on this:
Is this something worth the effort? Should such professional trainings be driven down to reflect rock bottom prices that some websites use?

If we were to publish new trainings, should we start a Patreon or something alike so that trainees can express the appreciation for the work trainers put in knowledge sharing? (knowing that Patreon takes a cut on donations too...).

How do you see this going forward?

My bests to all
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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:05
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
A surprise indeed Jul 2, 2019

I received the same notification, though at first it stated that there will be no re-runs of courses. Then it changed to these very low prices. Imagine that you might end up receiving about 0.50 $ for all the work you've put in.

You're right, it does take a lot of time and research to create a webinar, and it's even more time consuming because I am also providing an accompanying reference manual. Aside from the Englis
... See more
I received the same notification, though at first it stated that there will be no re-runs of courses. Then it changed to these very low prices. Imagine that you might end up receiving about 0.50 $ for all the work you've put in.

You're right, it does take a lot of time and research to create a webinar, and it's even more time consuming because I am also providing an accompanying reference manual. Aside from the English version, I had intended to create my webinar also in German, but this plan is off the table now.

I wish ProZ would reconsider their action.
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Philippe Locquet
 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:05
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Compensate in kind ? Jul 2, 2019

Thayenga wrote:
I had intended to create my webinar also in German, but this plan is off the table now.

I wish ProZ would reconsider their action.


Yes, if you work the math, it’s very discouraging for trainers, especially those that are translators.
Say a trainer gets 0.07 USD/word when translating: 0.50/0.07=7.1
So, a translator would be payed the same when translating an 8 word sentence and when selling a training at ProZ.com
A trainer can spend 50 hours creating a training, how long does it take to translate 8 words? Go figure…

Training platforms that have such pricing policies do only training. This is not the case at ProZ.com.
ProZ.com compensates users that are doing efforts to support the website: Translators who help localize the site get rewarded with points and in time membership.
Here the trainer is creating a product that is sold by ProZ.com. The site team could thus have thought about a compensation in kind against these price cuts. For example, trainers who sold in the past 20 trainings or get to that number could be awarded 1 year of Plus Package Membership, this would give them added web visibility, an adequate compensation maybe.

Like Thayenga mentioned, the risk is that no trainer decides to add new trainings. This is not ideal for the users in a world where CAT tools get updates every 6 months. So next year’s software will have different features than this year, yet many users would want their training to be up to date. If trainings are not here, they’ll get them elsewhere.
This seems complicated to sort.

Is compensating in kind the way forward? I’m not sure…

My bests to all 😊


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:05
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
A radically different approach exists Jul 3, 2019

While we’re discussing this, it came back to me that there is very different approach to training out there, and many may not know about it:

On the Wordfast.net website under Support/Nearest trainer, you can find a training system. Here is ho wit works:

_Trainers that are registered in the system are then listed there.
_Trainers can organize training sessions however they like (in person, in person to a group, etc.)
_If a trainee gets a full day training,
... See more
While we’re discussing this, it came back to me that there is very different approach to training out there, and many may not know about it:

On the Wordfast.net website under Support/Nearest trainer, you can find a training system. Here is ho wit works:

_Trainers that are registered in the system are then listed there.
_Trainers can organize training sessions however they like (in person, in person to a group, etc.)
_If a trainee gets a full day training, he is then entitled to 20% discount on buying a Wordfast license

This allows for the trainer to adapt pricing to the region of the world where he operates, the training is made affordable to the trainee because of the big discount on the license (around 80 EUR discount on average).

What do you think of this? Did any of you use this before or heard about it?

I think this was worth mentioning, especially in this context…

My bests 😊

Page link: https://wordfast.net/?go=mutual&lang=engb
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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:05
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Sounds good Jul 3, 2019

Fi2 n Co wrote:

While we’re discussing this, it came back to me that there is very different approach to training out there, and many may not know about it:

On the Wordfast.net website under Support/Nearest trainer, you can find a training system. Here is ho wit works:

_Trainers that are registered in the system are then listed there.
_Trainers can organize training sessions however they like (in person, in person to a group, etc.)
_If a trainee gets a full day training, he is then entitled to 20% discount on buying a Wordfast license

This allows for the trainer to adapt pricing to the region of the world where he operates, the training is made affordable to the trainee because of the big discount on the license (around 80 EUR discount on average).

What do you think of this? Did any of you use this before or heard about it?

I think this was worth mentioning, especially in this context…

My bests 😊

Page link: https://wordfast.net/?go=mutual&lang=engb


Even though I have not tried it, this sounds like a good idea because the three parties involved all benefit from this training.

I wonder if ProZ might consider something like this?


Philippe Locquet
 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:05
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
@Helen Jul 9, 2019

At this stage I think it would be nice to get a bit of feedback and rationale from the ProZ team on this change.

Two main questions seem to stand out:

_ Since there is virtually no profit to be made for trainers, how does ProZ.com plan to attract them to the platform for new trainings?
_ If no changes are made and little to no trainings are added, how will ProZ.com tackle the aging and out of date contents issue?

My bests 😊


 
Helen Shepelenko
Helen Shepelenko
SITE STAFF
Pricing changes can be opted out of Jul 10, 2019

Fi2 n Co wrote:

At this stage I think it would be nice to get a bit of feedback and rationale from the ProZ team on this change.

Two main questions seem to stand out:

_ Since there is virtually no profit to be made for trainers, how does ProZ.com plan to attract them to the platform for new trainings?
_ If no changes are made and little to no trainings are added, how will ProZ.com tackle the aging and out of date contents issue?

My bests 😊


Hello Philippe, Thayenga,

Thank you for raising these questions. I just wanted to point out that it is possible to opt out of these pricing changes if you wish. We will have to wait until the changes to the training system are announced to discuss it in depth. Thank you!

Best regards,
Helen


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:05
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Opting out ?...¿ Jul 10, 2019

Olena Shepelenko wrote:

I just wanted to point out that it is possible to opt out of these pricing changes if you wish.



Hi Helen (Olena)

Thanks for your reply.

If most trainers accept the new pricing scheme, opting out and keeping the same price point would mean
keeping a price point of 35 EUR against all other training sessions being priced at 1 EUR... This would mean 0 sales guaranteed.

Olena Shepelenko wrote:

We will have to wait until the changes to the training system are announced to discuss it in depth.



I'll wait to see how this is rolled out. As of now, opting out is a strong option. I'd rather give a full training for free voluntarily on my FI2Pro YouTube channel rather than selling training at 4th world price points. I value my time and efforts.

Please keep us posted.

My bests


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:05
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
How about now? Aug 6, 2020

Hi all,

Just coming back to this topic, I see there's been some changes on the training side.

How is it now?
Has anyone given new trainings?
If you have attended trainings, was the experience good?

I'm considering new trainings since I have useful topics I'm excited about that I'd like to present. So, your feedback will be useful to me.

My bests


 


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Giving training at ProZ.com, is it even worth the effort since price slashes?







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