Socrates, Pharmacies, and Regulatory Conferences

By Scott Hempling

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Recommendations

I hope the recommendations below can help avoid the problems I've outlined above. At regulatory conferences, there is competition for limited air time. Leverage this competition by replacing political wheel-squeakers with objective educators. We need to find the right people, give them guidance, and then enforce. Specifically:

1. Ask, “Who knows the most about this issue?” not, “Who has a stake in the matter?”

2. Ask, “On whom can we rely to dish it out straight?” not, “Who’s paid for sponsorship?”

3. In every utility, below the vice president of regulatory affairs are the managers who make things work: who buy gas and coal, do the hedging, run the plants—people who can describe for the commissioners the practical challenges requiring regulatory clarity. Make them the stars. We regulate utilities to induce performance excellence. So invite those who perform, who embody excellence. So what if they aren’t famous? They should be.

4. If you must have a mix of objectivity and advocacy, slot the objective speaker first, give her the most time, then have the advocates respond. This approach orients the panel toward “serving regulators’ needs” rather than “affording air time to all sides.” It makes objectivity central rather than marginal.

5. Instruct speakers: Your role is to educate and empower, not advertise your company or its goals.

6. Give each speaker 30 to 45 minutes (questions included). A 15-minute slot makes oversimplification unavoidable. If longer slots mean fewer interests heard, we’ve doubled the benefit.

7. Don’t re-invite speakers who pitch products, oversimplify, or exaggerate. A few muscular decisions like that, and conference culture will improve rapidly. What we might lose in attendees we will gain in credibility.

—Scott Hempling, a regular contributor to MANAGING POWER, is the executive director of the National Regulatory Research Institute, based in Washington, D.C. A version of this commentary originally appeared on that organization’s website.