Festool Road School - Coming to a city near you! (Program ended)

[dltflt]

I don't think you can say that Festool has a lack of support.  I don't see any other tool company doing any training period.  There is a limit to what companies can do for their customers.
Just my opinion.

I'm not trying to flame Festool.  I love their products and phone support.  My investment into their products exceeds 15K and is still growing.  My problem is with their local support and training opportunities.  I've been to every licensed Festool dealer in Houston and very rarely encounter a store employee who is knowledgeable enough to show me what a tool can do.  To be honest, most of them seem clueless.  Festools have superior capabilities to other power tools but often have a learning curve.  I am self taught on their using tools and it hasn't always been easy.  I am sure their are more tips and tricks that I haven't figured out yet.  This can be frustratingly intimidating to new users and along with Festools high prices keep prospective buyers at bay.  Festool should not be an exclusive club.  My personal opinion is they would do themselves a big favor if they would offer more training opportunities at the local level.  I am very disappointed that they discontinued the road school before covering the entire country as promised.

I agree that most of the dealers in my area are not very knowledgeable. Unfortunately it is that way with many products.

 

[GPowers]

Southern California?

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Southern California?

As in, there are no more road school events for the foreseeable future. None.

 

[K119Phil]

Shane: perhaps change Subject Title to reflect no more Road School, probably be less confusion.  Would a poll (measurable data) here on the FOG for people (end user / dealers alike) still wishing for another round of Road School be of any sway?  *fingerscrossed

 

[sancho57]

I think Allen needs to go home for a while and relax.

All that traveling is probably getting to him.

Probably getting to his wife to.

I know it would me and I definately know it would my wife to

 

[Paul G]

Too bad this thread was a giant tease over here. Such is life. I can only hope the Vegas school makes end user classes a higher priority, the demand far exceeds the supply.

 

[GPowers]

We DO have an event coming up her in Southern California at Anderson plywood on 4/12/2014 at 8 am. [big grin]

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Too bad this thread was a giant tease over here. Such is life. I can only hope the Vegas school makes end user classes a higher priority, the demand far exceeds the supply.

Paul, the very first Road School events were held in NoCal a year or so ago.

The training program has been expanded to offer a greater quantity of classes, however demand still exceeds availability. Our training program was originally designed for our dealers, to educate them on the tools that they are selling. That is still a focus with the training program. So, our two training facilities must accommodate a growing number of dealers, as well as customers interested in classes.

Here's proof that we are expanding the number of end user classes. This is the number of end user classes by year. I don't have numbers for 2009 and 2010.

2011 19
2012 23
2013 33
2014 22 (to date)

As you can see, we're on pace to double the number of end user classes this year.

Shane

 

[Paul G]

Too bad this thread was a giant tease over here. Such is life. I can only hope the Vegas school makes end user classes a higher priority, the demand far exceeds the supply.

Paul, the very first Road School events were held in NoCal a year or so ago.

Yes indeed, it's the 'near' part that was a tease for me, unfortunately both of the Norcal events would involve about 4-5 hours of driving for me. We all have different ideas of what near means I guess. Water under the bridge at this point, I hope the events have been useful for those who could make it.

The training program has been expanded to offer a greater quantity of classes, however demand still exceeds availability. Our training program was originally designed for our dealers, to educate them on the tools that they are selling. That is still a focus with the training program. So, our two training facilities must accommodate a growing number of dealers, as well as customers interested in classes.

Here's proof that we are expanding the number of end user classes. This is the number of end user classes by year. I don't have numbers for 2009 and 2010.

2011 19
2012 23
2013 33
2014 22 (to date)

As you can see, we're on pace to double the number of end user classes this year.

Shane

That's good news, I'll keep an eye on it. The times the desired class would fit my schedule it was sold out before I could book it.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Yeah, "close" is in the eye of the beholder. Remember, we needed a dealer willing to be involved in the program, which limited things geographically to some extent. Poor Allen couldn't have stopped in every city across the country. I wish it had been possible for him to cover even more locations, but we did our best to offer the opportunity to some places where it otherwise hadn't been available.

Shane

 

[Scott B.]

Shane

What Allen did was great.

What will he be doing now?

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Allen is back in CA focusing on end customers in cooperation with area dealers. We'll have him with us in Providence this week.

 

[peter halle]

There was 1 class so to speak in 2009.  [big grin] [big grin]

Peter

 

[ccarrolladams]

When I bought my first TS55 with a CT22 in January 2006 my dealer told me he and 2 of his staff had just completed dealer training near Las Vegas.

During much of the same time from late spring to September of 2010 when my cabinet making building was being outfitted, the Festool Nevada Training Center was moving from its former location to the current one on Gibson Avenue in Henderson. I was one of those fortunate enough to participate in the first two End User Training classes in the then new building.

Our week started with Cabinet Construction on Monday and Tuesday in November 2010. We took Wednesday off. Then Thursday and Friday was Advance Router class.  Four of us took both classes, so we all got to meet four other Festool users in each class. All of us also became fans of and good buddies with Steve and The Sedge.

In those days there were four work stations and a total of 8 participants receiving training, so Brian "The Sedge" Sedgeley flew in from Indiana to be the co-trainer with Steve Bace who is resident in Henderson. From what was said earlier in 2010 there had been End User classes in Lebanon, IN also with 8 trainees.

The next class I took was in February 2011 was Solid Surface in Henderson. By then the number of participants was reduced to just 6.

 

[peter halle]

I try to search for the classes in Lebanon in 2010.  I attended the first two classes in one week stint in 2010 in Lebanon, but there were other classes also.

Peter

 

[peter halle]

I went searching and of course I might have missed some.

In 2009 there was the first class which was a precursor to the Introduction to Festool Classes, and there was an Advanced Router Class in Dec.

In 2010 it appears that there were at least 10 classes in Lebanon and 5 classes in Henderson.

Peter

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

The first ever end user class was primarily guys from the FOG, if not entirely from the FOG, on 8/31/2009. They served as a focus group on what we should offer to the broader public. There were actual 2-3 other classes later that year. At the time, we did not have an end user training website, which was implemented in late 2010 or early 2011 to automate the process of signing up and then later to automate payment.

You should see a few familiar faces in this crowd. I'm on the far right, others can identify themselves if they wish. Beside me is Rick Bush and Brian Sedgeley. On the other end (left) is Michael Williams (VP of Marketing and oversees the training program) and Christian Oltzscher.

[attachimg=#]

 

[peter halle]

I believe that they were all Foggers.  Of that group I haven't seen posts from a couple of them in a while.  [sad]

And two of the attendees have been featured in Festool produced videos!   [thumbs up] [thumbs up]

That was a blast!

 

[Len Coleman]

I think Festool does a great job on training. utilizing the FOG and web videos.  I would love to attend some training classes in Vegas, just a question of timing and available spaces. While I would also like to see a road show come to town, it is expensive for companies to put on those travelling shows.  My two cents would be to offer training classes via the web at a reasonable cost, (recorded, not live) while not hands on I would think that a lot of people would get quite a bit out of them. 

It would likely be more work for the IT guy, whoever that is  [scared]. It would also be a way for the IT group to bring in revenue and not be a cost center.

 

[ShawnRussell]

Shane,

I am totally bummed out about the roadshow.. I was really forward to Highland Hardware doing a roadshow.

Has there been any talk about doing an online class, Wood Whisper style, pay a monthly fee and get access to videos or may live cast of any of the three training locations? Heck, I would pay Erock to do more videos.