[FOSS4G-Oceania] Conference Presenters and their Attendance

[Jonah Sullivan]

I think every conference I've presented at (a couple every year) has had
reduced price tickets for presenters.

I've also always had my employer pay the fees so the discount didn't matter.

I think that having full price tickets for presenters is a break from
convention.

I also think that the statement about having a "*minimal distinction
between presenters and attendees"* is disingenuous, especially when
considering the academic presentations.

Encouraging audience interaction is great, but I think that statement goes
against the nature of a conference. Usually a presentation is a monologue
(or even a soliloquy) where the presenter is there to transmit a message
from a position of authority and the audience receives it. It would be nice
if the communication was a dialogue, but that isn't really possible with
this format. A dialogue is more suitable to a panel or an open discussion,
rather than a presentation.


On Wed, 27 Jun. 2018, 09:04 Alex Leith, <alexgleith at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi All
>
> Just want to establish a policy direction on conference presenters.
>
> My suggestion is that conference presenters are made aware that they need
> to register, but if they don't want to, they can attend their session and
> the break immediately afterwards. We can tell them something like the
> following:
>
> *“We are aiming for an engaging and participatory conference, with minimal
> distinction between presenters and attendees. While we really appreciate
> all our presenters and would love to provide them with a free ticket, we
> have opted instead to try and keep registration prices low and are asking
> presenters to purchase a registration. If that is not possible for a
> presenter, they may attend free of charge for the session they are
> presenting in, and the break immediately afterwards.”*
>
> Can I please have your views on this, and if we agree, I'll write it down
> somewhere.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alex
> --
>
> Alex Leith
> 0419 189 050
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