The business knows it probably won’t work.
The learning function knows it probably won’t work.
The person attending knows it probably won’t work.
The supplier delivering knows it probably won’t work.
What it does is offer everyone an excuse for their own failures, and absolves them of the responsibility for their own behaviour.
Why do LnD invest so much cash into an activity that offers such slim odds of success?
Lost and Desperate 
And what if they did work for me as a delegate? That it was the right topic for me, provided in a useful, relevant and interesting way? That was directly related to work challenges? That connected me to new ideas and people that would have an enduring benefit to me, my work and the performance of the business?
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My response would be the rich social interaction that occurs (or should be promoted) between participants is a key element of the popularity of most f2f courses. There are many other options, and social interaction can be effective in online and virtual programmes of study, but the rich discourse of f2f study is still the default position.
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Training does work if planned properly and done efficiently. It also depends on how you define the training course. If you are mainly talking about the full day expensive event, then maybe what you say applies, but training can be done in 30 minutes and be really effective. And the truth is a lot of technology driven learning interventions are not that effective either. They may be efficient but they don’t necessarily lead to real learning.
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