Pink, Daniel H., Is Your Business a Show Business?, Fast Company Magazine, April 1999

Pink, illustrates the next sales rage for America. He tells how 200 years ago we turned resources into commodities, then commodities into consumer goods and now consumer goods into services. He predicts that the next stage is turning services into enertainment to draw the customers.

Custumers will pay for the entertainment and companies will need to engage him in a personal way. One example suggested charging people to enter a shoe store where they would visit or go on-on-one with a basketball star whose shoes would happen to be on sale. Therefore the consumer would pay out for shopping experience (meeting the professional) and for the shoes.

Another example reminded me of a county fair atmosphere with demonstrations, showcases, contests, and other attractions would be going on in the store (or other place of sales) and people would make that part of their shopping experience...of course paying to enter these areas.

What does this mean for education? Already, I talked to some elementary education teachers who feel they need to perform to get kids interested and involved in their education. What will happen if the intensity is raised again? What does it mean for nonformal educational settings?

I keep thinking about our discussions about transformative learning and the skills to engage people in those life altering educational experiences. If we become proficient in these areas, people will come to us to be engaged in a personal way.

Extension has been increasing their abilities to have people pay for the services we usually do for free. If there is an increase in peoples mentality to pay for services and experiences, perhaps there will be a positive twist on our requests for payment. One co-worker who has been progressive in consumer payment for education agrees that this may be easier for extension requests. Granted, this educator has never experienced resistants when fee was requested prior to our conversation.

-- Anonymous, June 07, 1999

Answers

Melissa Persing, I had some difficulty finding this one out here.

The issue of "fee for service" has been a topic of controversy for Extension for decades. Perhaps the way to approach it would be, "If it has value, should it not have some price?" Easier said than done. Good thoughts, Melissa.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1999