All sorts of conference company seem to have me on their mailing list, so it comes as no surprise that I sometimes get spammed about events that stupidly include speakers from GRAPA. What caught my attention about this week’s Billing & RA CACA was that Papa Rob and Little Louis decided they were too busy to share their wafer-thin knowledge of fraud management (neither has actually worked in a telco fraud department). In a bizarre move, they made GRAPA’s Member Services ‘Director’ go instead – forcing her to speak on the topic of ‘Making Fraud Prevention Equal Fraud Protection’ (whatever that means). Why is this bizarre? Because she has no fraud management experience! Or telecoms experience, outside of the short time she has been with GRAPA. According to LinkedIn, her background is in:
Fund raising, Minority Politics, Gender and Sexuality, Government Affairs
Hmmm. Perhaps GRAPA is short of money. Or maybe they intend to start an LGBT special interest group. I suppose Lifelong President Papa Rob might be contemplating a democratic election within GRAPA (he normally avoids them). But I would feel cheated if I went to a telecoms conference where the speakers had never worked in telecoms, and know nothing about the topic they’re talking about. GRAPA must be the one training business that sees no contradiction in employing lecturers that know less than the listeners. Complaining about GRAPA antics is futile, but conference companies should do better. Billing & RA CACA is organized by Informa, a reputable basis. Informa will find their reputation damaged, if they keep engaging speakers like this.
