Photographers trying to get their workshops affiliated

[Mark_McCall]

Had dinner tonight with the operator of another local studio. Very high end Senior Portraits $3000+ average senior sale studio. These guys are big time.
They have several upcoming workshops, and will be speaking at our state level function in June.

But I am concerned.
The President of their local guild is telling them that they must be Approved and voted on by the them before they are allowed to Affiliate their workshops with PPA.
I've never heard of such a thing.

Am I wrong or is this between the couple and PPA?
I do not believe that instructors have to subject themselves to approval from anyone besides PPA when asking for Affiliation in order to award merits to attendees of their workshops.
Some instructors who teach workshops do not even belong to a local guild.

I told the couple to deal directly with PPA in getting their workshops affiliated and ignore the rest. They've already filled out the paperwork and are awaiting response.
Do I have this all wrong?

[Michael]

Mark, only affiliates can give merits for programs. They have to work through a PPA Affiliate and yes, they have to get approval prior to giving or advertising merits at their programs. Contact Kristen Hartman for more information at PPA. This was changed at PPA council this past January.

[Mark_McCall]

Thanks Michael,
Before you responded I spoke with Sarah Osbourne at PPA, and she told me pretty much what you said here.

Here's her problem:
The President of the local guild is a direct competitor of hers. Shes afraid she will not be approved. (Even though she's the highest grossing studio in all of West Texas). From whats happened in the past, I believe her fears are valid.

I'm told by Sarah that our State Affiliate could possibly sponsor the program.
I've yet to run it by our board, but do I understand Sarah? A State could sponsor the workshop?

[Michael]

Mark,
Here is the link for the information. http://www.formstack.com/forms/?651882-HWPFKfFme6 The state or any affiliate can sponsor the class for them. They just can't issue merits on their own. This was allowed in the past but is no longer available to individual speakers. Let me know if I can help you any further.

[Michael_Gan]

Hey Mark! The affiliate can still issue merits to the speaker as program speakers for the affiliate. Where things are different is when the affiliate wants to give merits to the attendees for "programs" (workshops) of 6 hours or more. This was part of that redefinition of the "Continuing Education Program" that Michael was speaking about. There is a small fee for each merit issued for each student. Check the links that Michael provided.