Re: DM: MineSet 2.5 training course: July, September and October

[Ronny Kohavi]

Andrew> I think it's a bit outlandish to charge people $1125 to attend
Andrew> a course that is an infomercial for MineSet.

To the contrary.  Both existing MineSet customers and those that are
evaluating MineSet have asked us to make such a course available. 


As for the price, 
  o It costs money to setup classes with a machine per student.  You 
won't
    see many courses that offer this.  
  o It costs money to have data mining experts come and teach.  We pay
    excellent external instructors to come and teach.
  o For comparison purposes, the Gordian Institute's Data Mining 
course
    recently announced on datamine-l is $1495.


Andrew> This is part of a
Andrew> disturbing trend that's taking place where large companies are
Andrew> charging fairly high fees for training, which is on top of the
Andrew> huge price for the software itself. If someone is
Andrew> contemplating buying a software tool that is 5-6 figures, the
Andrew> vendor should only offer free training as well as the
Andrew> opportunity to try a trial/demo version.

I think your idea of providing free training with the product
is great!   You definitely have the right mindset.

Starting with our latest release, if you buy MineSet 2.5 Client and 
Server
in a bundle, you get to attend the MineSet course for free.

[BTW, we haven't paid this guy, honest.]

As for providing a trial/demo version, check out mineset.sgi.com
under more information.   We provide a 30-day trial license
right there off our web sites.
No human intervention required. Your mileage may vary.

Andrew> Andrew Kramer, Ph.D.

I can only guess that Future Analytics Inc., is offering significantly
cheaper courses in data mining, right?  Your web page
      http://www.futureanalytics.com/workshop.htm
states that you have a *new* On-Site Workshop of one or two day
intensive training in data mining, neural networks, fraud detection or
database marketing. [They haven't paid me either :-)]

The purposes of our course is different than a course like yours.  We
explain the basic concepts but follow-up with hands-on sessions where
users build models and follow the knowledge discovery process.

The hands-on experience is crucial.

Learning to swim requires more than a basic theory in powerpoint 
slides.
People have to jump into the water and try it.  Users that are
drowning in data need to actually discover things in a shallow 
pool/lab
so that when they go back to their organization they have some
actual experience.


--

   Ronny Kohavi (mineset@sgi.com, http://mineset.sgi.com)
   Engineering Manager, MineSet.
   Maximize the value of data with data mining and visualization.






Andrew> Andy M. Kar wrote:

>> Due to popular demand we are pleased to announce three more data
>> mining and visualization courses using Silicon Graphics' award
>> winning MineSet 2.5 product.
>> 
>> The courses are geared towards people interested in understanding
>> data mining and visualization with MineSet hands-on experience on
>> real-world scenarios and case studies.
>> 
>> The courses will be offered at the following places
>> 
>> Jul 28-30, 1998 Mountain View CA Sep 08-10, 1998 Silver Spring MD
>> Oct 20-22, 1998 Dallas TX
>> 
>> By attending the course, you will understand:
>> 
>> o What is the knowledge discovery process.  o What are the
>> capabilities and limitations of the MineSet product.  o How to use
>> MineSet to solve your business problems and maximize the value of
>> your data.  o How to effectively manage your mineset sessions.  o
>> How to connect to your existing databases and take advantage of
>> parallel hardware.  o How to use the MineSet interfaces to build
>> applications.  o How to deploy models across your company, how to
>> launch visualizations from the web, and how to setup PCs to connect
>> to MineSet.
>> 
>> The three-day course is taught by an outside instructor who
>> regularly consults in data mining and can share a balanced
>> perspective of the strengths and weaknesses of MineSet.
>> 
>> The classroom is set up with Silicon Graphics workstations to
>> facilitate hands-on training with one person per machine. The
>> classes are small (about 10 people). The class costs $1125.
>> 
>> To register for the course please visit
>> 
>> http://mineset.sgi.com/training or call 1.800.800.4744 (option 4).
>> 
>> To see answers to general questions and previous feedback on the
>> course, please visit:
>> 
>> http://mineset.sgi.com/training/faq.html
>> 
>> You can also subscribe to the MineSet mailing list by visiting:
>> 
>> http://mineset.sgi.com/maillist.html
>> 
>> -- Andy M. Kar | (650) 933-7789 |
>> http://reality.sgi.com/ananda_engr