By Scott Costa, Publisher, tED magazine
This year, I changed the place I take my family on vacation. Not really the place. We are still going to Hilton Head Island. We changed the actual condo where we stay to another one down the street.
And I am struggling with it. It might be the greatest place I have ever stayed. I have no idea. I know the price is the same. It’s a little closer to the beach. But it’s a change, and, apparently, I am like a lot of people who don’t like change. So I enter this situation without the usual comfort of knowing what will happen next.
I changed the oil in my car before I left. Hated every moment. I can’t think of the last time someone was excited about changing a baby. We’re a couple of months away from changing the President of the United States, and that hasn’t really been a whole lot of fun so far.
We all say change is good, and then it comes and we don’t embrace it. Probably because we didn’t have the chance to really be a part of the change. It just happened, and we have to accept it.
So I will let you in on a little secret. NAED is changing the EPEC products. New technologies and new electrical codes have forced us to move in that direction. And in case you didn’t know, it’s something we do every three years anyway. But there is a BIG change this year. Instead of having you find out about the changes when the new courses come out, we want you to be a part of the change.
Starting right now, NAED is taking your suggestions on what you would like changed in the EPEC courses. We want to hear from a wide variety of people, including people who graduated from a course a while ago, recent grads, and people who are currently going through the courses. We made it easy, because we are asking you to take just a couple of minutes and e-mail your suggestions to EPEC@naed.org. Again, it doesn’t matter if you are a manager or employee or CEO, we want to hear from you.
The funny thing is, in the past we would go to industry experts to help guide us with the course material and layout. Then we realized you are the industry experts, so why not get your input before we begin the 2017 edition of EPEC? We are also creating group meetings on the changes this summer. We are getting together for an EPEC focus group in Chicago on July 28 and 29, and then planning another focus group meeting in Dallas in early August. If you want to join a focus group, contact Education Development Manager John Kiso at jkiso@naed.org.
Also, look for a survey on EPEC from NAED soon. We are only going to ask a few questions, and your answers are extremely important. Everyone wants the best education program possible, and the only way that will happen is by you filling out the survey and returning it to us.
Change is going to happen with EPEC. In this case, it is going to be a simple transition if you participate in the process. No one wants to be surprised by this, so take advantage of the opportunity to do your part to improve what is already the best education course in our industry.
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