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The Great Debates: coming to an AUTM A.M. near you

By Alan Bentley posted 06-08-2009 09:19

  
Colleages,
The AUTM program committee just met to finalize the 2010 Annual Meeting program, and the committee is enthusiastic about a number of new initiatives that should enrich the AUTM experience for Annual Meeting attendees.  We will update you weekly on some of these initiatives via blog entries.

One interesting and exciting element added to next year's AM will be a DEBATE format for several workshops - the first of its kind at AUTM. We are working out the details of the debate format, and we are finalizing topics ripe for debate - we will post more on this as things develop.  Suffice it to say, the debate format is being designed to effectively probe the disparate positions on controversial topics, so that attendees come away with a deeper understanding of, and healthy respect for, opposing view.   The debates should be highly entertaining, and immensely informative.  They will be a great new addition to the AUTM Annual Meeting program.  We'll let you know once we have moderators/panelists, topics, and the overall format nailed down.
Regards,
Alan
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Brad Brockbank
06-03-2009 13:32

I agree with Alan that there is not much of a debate to be had among AUTM members on this subject; most would love to have the budget for marketing or already do (and those that do probably would love to have more). Moreover, I can't think of any entity that would have the authority to "mandate" that Universities alllocate "realistic" marketing dollars, as Peter proposes, so debating the merit of a madate would be somewhat moot. Debating budget allocation priorities, either within a TTO or winthin the university as a whole, is like debating the optimal shape of an amoeba. Peter's idea of where to find funding for marketing would be a great topic for a workshop, however. Hopefully a proposal was submitted on the subject and the Committee considered it.

Alan Bentley
06-03-2009 13:19

Peter, second point: Regarding your particular suggeted topic, I agree that it has merit. My question would be "where is the rub?" I think putting this to a survey, most TT professionals would advocate for allocation of specific resources for advanced marketing and advertising - very much like the services that your company provides. We would be better for it if we had such resources. It is upper management that often allocates such resources, so there may be a bit of preaching to the choir if TT professions were asked to debate the issue. For those program that have the luxory to set or at least influence their own budgets, it becomes a resource allocation question, which could be subject to debate.
Thanks,
Alan

Alan Bentley
06-03-2009 13:18

Peter - fair question. First off, the debates are selected by the Program Committee, not one individual. My understanding is that several debate topics have already been selected by the Committee, and we are vetting through the AUTM leadership to confirm appropriateness - we will publicize the topics selected for debate within a week or two, once we've gotten the sign off to proceed. MORE IN NEXT COMMENT - THERE IS A 1000 WORD LIMIT.

Peter Doyle
06-03-2009 12:51

Alan would you consider putting to debate whether Universities should be mandated to allocate realistic dollars for marketing, outreach and other transfer functions so the Technology Transfer Executives at Universities have resources do their job, as is common business practice. And where those funds could be obtained ie. Grant organizations, State Government, Possible Federal initiatives, maybe Corporate initiatives...