And I don't see how this program will lead to anything beneficial or productive for Hive as a whole. It's a program that comes at a cost and provides nothing in return to recoup those losses.

Well, half of the cost (Video editor and C Manager) will go directly back to the Hive community

The return to Hive as a whole I recognize is hard to calculate
I think that a professional edition of the recording of the speeches plus the evaluators feedback to help improve these speeches will eventually lead to the best speakers and evaluators to use HIVE blogging because they will be able to monetize
But this is just in my head by now ,could work or could be just a crazy idea