Conference Burnout

Big meetings might not be worth the cost.

Wade Horn wants to put the brakes on unnecessary conference spending.

As head of the Administration for Children and Families, part of Horn's job is to make sure that Head Start administrators and teachers have the training they need to improve the lives of low-income kids. But he's not sure it's worth all the money to travel to and from conferences-not to mention hotels and other expenses.

"One of my great frustrations in the last four years is that I'm trying to move this agency away from so many darn conferences," says Horn, who was appointed assistant secretary for children and families by President Bush in 2001. "I think this is a lot of wasted motion."

Horn's push to rein in conference spending comes at a time when federal agencies are shelling out more taxpayer dollars on travel each year-up from $9 billion in 2001 to $12 billion in 2003. The top 25 Head Start grantees, according to an ACF review, paid out almost $9 million on meeting and conference travel costs in 2002. Five of the grantees spent 10 percent or more of their total budgets on meeting and conference travel.

Like most federal programs, Head Start holds national, regional and local conferences and meetings each year to keep program administrators up to date on the latest developments in the field, policy changes and management practices.

Horn's problems with conferences center on both expense and effectiveness. In his view, the point of a conference is to provide training that changes the behavior of participants for the better. But he doesn't think that happens. Conferences are one size fits all, when people should just get training that meets their specific needs. If a program administrator needs financial management smarts, then Head Start should provide financial management training to that administrator. If a teacher needs help with classroom management, then a course in that specific subject should be offered. "Conferences are a very expensive way to deliver training and technical assistance," Horn says. "They are also an ineffective way.

"A much more effective way is to have experts go to the programs and work on site with the staff," he says. "That's how you get real behavioral change. You don't get it by traveling to a conference."

The Senate shares Horn's view, and last year it included a limit on travel to national training conferences in the Head Start reauthorization bill, which is still languishing in Congress. The National Head Start Association, which lobbies on behalf of Head Start program administrators, issued a defense in response to the Senate action.

The association said national conferences provide several benefits. First, they allow administrators to network with one another and with leaders in early childhood development. Second, they provide a "big picture" perspective of myriad issues that affect Head Start. Third, they offer an array of quality presentations by top-notch experts-something that would be costly to replicate at the regional or local level. Fourth, national conferences ensure that administrators are working from the same page. "They are instrumental in ensuring that best practices become common practices," the statement said.

The debate over conferences is going to rage on throughout the year as Congress again takes up Head Start reauthorization. And it's going to repeat itself throughout government as more aspects of management are measured by this question: Are you getting results? Horn says conferences fail that test. "The greatest predictor of what you're going to do after a training conference," he says, "is what you did before the training conference."