Andrew Kaczynski has posted an official report from the Treasury Inspector General that documents the amounts paid for various conferences held by the Internal Revenue Service. Here is a list of speakers and pays for an IRS conference in Anaheim. It’s from Appendix VIII, page 43 of the report.
Frans Johannson $27,500
Keynote
Two Presentations
The Medici Effect
Erik Wahl $17,000
Keynote
Two Presentations
The Art of Vision
Shawn Anchor $11,430
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Strategies for Increasing Employee Engagement
Steve Robbins $10,822
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Unintentional Intolerance
John McCann $8,983
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Courageous Decision Making & Rankism
Antony Bell $8,917
Four 90-Minute Workshops
How Do I Become a Great Leader?
Dr. Timothy Clark $8,802
Four 90-Minute Workshops
The Manager’s Role in Implementing Change
Dr. Evan Offstein and Jay Morwick $8,392
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Making Telework Work
Sharon Ellison $7,000
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Talk Matters
Dr. Pete Hammett $6,406
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Crisis Leadership
Dr. Jennifer Kahnweller $5,512
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Leading With Quiet Confidence
John Wukovits $4,864
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Eisenhower’s Leadership
Mark Nishan $3,500
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Positive Leadership
Dr. Mark Thurston $3,222
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Mindfulness: A Pathway to Leadership
Vincent Stovall $3,000
Four 90-Minute Workshops
Root Canal or Public Speaking?
Total Costs for Guest Speakers $135,350
READER COMMENTS
Ted Levy
Jun 4 2013 at 6:20pm
And a good time was had by all…
Nickolaus
Jun 4 2013 at 6:23pm
Strategies for Increasing Employee Engagement and Unintentional Intolerance worked well, it would seem.
Tom West
Jun 4 2013 at 7:15pm
Are these out of line with what private companies pay for public speakers or course presenters?
The topics seem about the same as you see for speakers hired by various private companies as well, with perhaps less spent on the “You can win!” motivational-type speakers.
Jeff
Jun 4 2013 at 9:45pm
Translation: how to get your lazy underlings to actually give a crap.
One the one hand, I’d say that’s actually a worthwhile topic for a seminar, since a lot of government employees don’t actually give a crap.
On the other hand, the idea that Shawn Anchor, whoever he might be, has any good advice for how to overcome the incentive problems inherent in large bureaucracies is about as likely as me solving the whole cold fusion problem in the next fifteen seconds.
Tracy W
Jun 5 2013 at 4:28am
And how many billions is the US government wasting on unproductive healthcare?
Mike W
Jun 5 2013 at 6:43am
I agree with Tom West, these appear to be the same sort of nonsense I’ve sat through as a corporate manager. And that similarity is another example of how public sector employees (including those in academia) are not underpaid public servants deserving of gold-plated retirement benefits in order to attract them away from the private sector.
James Oswald
Jun 5 2013 at 9:34am
I’m not surprised. The IRS’s budget is $12 billion. They’ve got a lot of money to throw around.
Granite26
Jun 5 2013 at 9:45am
As much as I dislike the IRS, this doesn’t seem unreasonable. I’ll repeat his question: Does anybody know how this aligns with private sector seminars?
Ted Levy
Jun 5 2013 at 10:57am
So it seems the commenters have raised a more general yet very interesting question: why do profit seeking private organizations waste so much time and money on crap talks and workshops like this?
Mike W
Jun 5 2013 at 1:49pm
“why do profit seeking private organizations waste so much time and money on crap talks and workshops like this?”
It’s a relatively low-cost motivational perk (compared to bonuses, stock options and such) for the middle-management, the sales force and some preferred rank-and-file. The speakers’ sessions are undemanding…generally entertaining and provide a warm-fuzzy…and they are at fun locations…e.g., Anaheim, i.e., Disneyland.
TK
Jun 5 2013 at 3:00pm
I’m not positive, but I think “Shawn Anchor” may be a type, and they meant “Shawn Achor,” who is a smart dude!
Comments are closed.