I have given a pile of clinics. They ranged in duration from two hours to two days. Everybody always seems to have fun at these clinics, including me. The least successful have been the ones given at RRCA conventions. These generally take two hours, and the people are enthusiastic. However, I think many attend because the subject matter is marginally more interesting than the usual “tips on getting sponsors” or “publishing a great newsletter.”
Other clinics attract other groups of people. In general, I have found clinics to be fairly unproductive in terms of people getting back to me with applications for certification.
I have had greater success with people who have read the book and get in touch with a question via telephone or email. It is fast and easy to deal with such questions, and the people are already halfway home, as they are already in the process of getting a course measured, and are really interested in doing it.
I have found that the students at clinics are generally unprepared, as I always ask ahead of time for the organizers to provide measurement books and see that the students have read them before I arrive. Generally this has not been done.
It could be that my teaching methods are ineffective. I don’t know how to check this out. Certainly the success of a seminar depends on both the abilities of the teacher and the students.
Over the last decade we have seen about 50 new people measuring each year, without benefit of clinics or seminars. They seem to arise from nowhere and submit applications. There seems to be something about the measurement process that appeals to people of a certain mindset. 50 new people each year is an impressive number.