Re: whether to attend the formula rep's talk or not, and whether to
challenge the presentation.

I will approach this discussion from another angle.  I am not an IBCLC or a
health professional.  My background and profession is in sales and
marketing, I was a sales rep (but not a pharmaceutical or formula rep) for
almost 10 years, in several industries.  My job was to give these types of
sales presentations, either one-on-one, or to small groups.  This was in
another area where corporate interests interact with public interests  - I
sold textbooks to schools.  So I also was in the position to increase the
odds of my product being presented and accepted positively through the use
of my charming personality, free samples and liberal provision of goodies
and free lunches, to school adminstrators, and to classroom teachers not
accustomed to dealing with trained salespeople.  ;-)

I will let others address the specific aspects of ethics or obligation to
the IBCLE, in attending.

My points concern the results you may achieve by attending:
1.) I agree that you need be knowledgeable about the statements made and
information provided by the formula reps, in order to counter it.  Staying
away just leaves you in the dark, and will make you less credible when you
try to counter their statements - since your colleagues may not be able to
recount word-for-word the presentation, but will have left there with the
overall "feeling" that the product is good, and you "just don't understand,
since you weren't there".
Information is power.

2.) In the same idea that "information is power" - I would hestitate to
encourage you to confront the rep's statement during the presentation, for 3
reasons:

One.)  The rep is a full-time communicator and expert on his product.  He is
trained to counter the arguements that you come up with - he has all day to
think of them - that is his *JOB* - that's all he is about.  You are not
paid to work all day to counter these arguements - you may not have the
communication/debate skills he has been provided with by his employer's
training programs, and you don't have the time to polish your presentation,
and you don't repeat the debate day after day, giving you opportunity to
perfect it.

Two.) You are at a disadvantage in that this time & location has been
provided by (and therefore endorsed) by the administration, and the treats
and materials are paid for by him.  This time/place was not provided to you
to educate - therefore is is somewhat *logical* (if not fair) that
administration and your colleagues become upset if you highjack the
presentation.  If this actually *was* a legitimate educational presentation,
would one person highjacking the presentation be tolerated?

My point is, you will be at the moral disadvantage with your peers if you
strongly confront the speaker.

Three).  THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON you may not want to publicly
challenge the rep.  - You will make his a better presenter for his product -
you will make him stronger and smarter.

As I said before, information is power.  When you challenge him and tell him
what you don't like about the product - he has now learned something, and
his job is to fix the problem.
So whatever you said (this is called an "objection") he will think night and
day how to "overcome" it.  (This is actual marketing terminology -
"overcoming objections").  He will find better information, or they will
initiate research to prove the problem doesn't exist, or he will fine-tune
his presenation to minimize it, or whatever is needed.  Remember, this is
his full-time job to think of these things - his livelihood depends on words
and communication and how to deal with people like you and what they say.
Even if you stump him that day and make him look bad, I can bet he will use
that experience and his presentation will just be stronger at the next
hospital he stops at.

So my recommendation is to attend, take notes and counter his information at
another time.  Ideally you are given equal or substantially more time to
provide professional education to your colleagues.  If not, I can see the
temptation to challenge his statement immediately, during the presentation.
I suppose this could also be an advantage if your questions or statements
unnerve him or reduces his total time to present.  But you had better be an
excellent debater, and hold a lot of respect with your colleagues and boss,
before you take this on.

Just my 2 cents as a sales rep.  We are taught to actually welcome these
kind of questions - a good rep will have heard them before, and will already
have a plan of how to counter them.  The most frustrating thing for a rep is
when we get NO FEEDBACK - then we don't know where we stand, and can't learn
about the reasons someone isn't buying.  If everyone just quietly listened
with straight faces, and then left the hall immediately with no questions or
personal interaction - this would be the height of frustration to a rep.

Just wanted to provide another point of view for you to consider.

Janice Reynolds, Bachelor of Commerce, with a marketing major
10 years sales and marketing experience.

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