Re: [Tccc] Cost of attendance from developing countries / in general

Joe,

Points well-taken. On the other hand "not for profit" and "fiscal
responsibility" are two different concepts. I would argue that many
conferences could run a tighter budget and pass the savings on to attendees.
Let me make just one punctual and I believe representative comparison:
- ACM CoNEXT 2009 early registration for (ACM and SIGCOMM) members:
$525 (it was $525 last year - an increase of 0%, and btw so was it in 2007)
- IEEE INFOCOM 2010 early registration for (ComSoc) members: $750 (it
was $680 last year - an increase of over 10%, and it was $695 in 2008??)

Looking just at the latest numbers, this amounts to a $225 difference
(about 40%) for essentially similar "services," and that cannot be
simply brushed aside. Someone and something is responsible for it.

I don't want to point any finger, but conferences need to make a
concerted effort to minimize ancillary costs that end-up being passed
onto all attendees through higher registration fees. In particular,
some conferences have a tradition of freebies for volunteers that I
personally find distasteful, and that play no small role in raising
their costs (e.g., CoNEXT has no free registrations or travel subsidies
for anyone except local student helpers who receive a free student
registration). I believe it is time to take a hard look at what this is
costing all of us.

If some conferences manage to keep their costs stable, why is it that
others cannot - and I'm sorry but I have run enough conferences and
reviewed enough conference budgets not to buy any of the excuses I have
heard for why this is not possible....

My 2c,

Roch

Joe Touch wrote:
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> Habib,
>
> I want to reiterate Celia's point. I've seen the budgets for the IEEE
> and ACM on this point. There is a 15-20% charge to meetings that goes
> back to the parent organization, but it's not "profit" by any means.
> That money goes as follows:
>
> - when conferences lose money (and they sometimes do),
> that money helps cover the loss
>
> - conferences receive support from the IEEE that costs
> money:
> - they negotiate contracts with the hotels and
> banquet sites, often getting much reduced rates
> because the IEEE will return soon, even though a given
> conference will not return for many years
>
> - they insure us. if a paper is submitted and someone
> decides it was handled improperly, the IEEE helps
> indemnify us against such suits. they also help
> us if/when someone is injured at a meeting
>
> - the support us via their website and advertisements
> e.g., including us in their list of upcoming meetings,
> etc
>
> - as Celia noted, in the IEEE the conferences also help support
> the journals. the fees for each journal do not pay the costs
> required to publish it
>
> I have run numerous conferences in both the IEEE and ACM. In both cases
> I have received substantial support from staff - staff who are
> full-time, who are paid employees of the IEEE.
>
> As Celia noted, if you doubt *any* of this, please look at the numbers
> first.
>
> Joe
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