But to the point of my comment… measurement not only makes sense, but is not so difficult to accomplish. Here’s an example: as the education director, I measure many aspects of our programs, including how well and how much our education program attendees have been able to apply what they learned (transference of what they learned at the association event back to their workplace). I also calculate the level of our investment for key programs, and cost per learner per course hour. And for a new initiative I determined the increase in reach because our education strategy is intimately tied to our association’s mission to provide professional development to our members.

Specifically, when I was asked to report to our board of directors and general membership at our annual meeting about the success of our first online learning programs, I was able to tell them that with one Webinar and one asynchronous course we were able to extend the reach of our education programs by 135% and that the asynchronous course costs $230 less per learner than our live courses – and that amount drops every time we receive a new registration.

Measurement results in data, which can be the most effective way of convincing others to continue or discontinue an initiative, event, or other program or service. Even when the data is set aside, at least we have a clear idea of what we should expect, something we would could only guess at, without measurement.

Thanks for letting me comment! Great blog!