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Well as the sole instructor for my ATC Shadow Peak Inc I can offer some insight about in-person classes. Basically since the pandemic was more or less over I've had a grand total of *three* requests for in-person classes. For two of them I flew to the site and presented in person for numerous attendees at the customer's facility, and Shadow Peak's lab equipment was accessed remotely similar to an online class. For the third I referred the single attendee to an ATC that appeared to still be doing in-person classes.
The final in-person class I ran in Shadow Peak's classroom was early March of 2020; for the rest of that year and all of 2021 I sat in a very nice building that was almost completely empty running classes online. The classroom lease was up at the end of 2021, and I approached the landlord about a renewal. They stated "sure we can renew for the standard 1.1X of your current lease payment". I reminded them that their building was essentially empty due to this pandemic thing and shift to remote work, and offered 0.6X of my current payment, or I'd terminate and they could have zero. They chose zero thinking everyone would come back into the office soon and they could rent the space for much more. I drive by that building every now and then in the middle of a weekday and there are maybe 10-15 cars in a parking lot that holds 120.
Yes I do miss the in-person classes and interaction between attendees, but I don't think public in-person class versions will be coming back en-masse anytime soon. The hybrid approach where I present in person on site at the customer's facility is still viable though. But it takes discipline to not lose focus while taking an online class, and sitting in a room with colleagues for three days and being forced to concentrate on studying a single subject is now a rare luxury I'm afraid.
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