[Aust-NZ] RE: Looking for value in cutting conference costs (plain text this time)

[Hamish]

Simon O'Keefe wrote:
> 
> After just having done my bookkeeping for the last six months, I've
> calculated that the total cost of my attending last year's FOSS4G2007
> in Canada came in at just over AU$4500. This includes airfares,
> accommodation, conference fees, meals and other travel - anything I
> collected receipts for. The total amount I spent on my trip would be
> even more than that if I include costs for sightseeing, drinks and
> souvenirs for my homesick Canadian wife.
> 
> I imagine anyone attending an Australian 2009 conference from
> overseas would be similarly looking at spending between $3000 to
> $5000, depending mostly on length of stay, availability of cheap
> airfares, quality of accommodation, and entertainment budget.
> 
> All the things that the FOSS4G2007 conference organisers might have
> been tempted to cut corners on would not have made any difference
> to the great value that I believe I got out of that conference.
> 
> When you're thinking of cutting costs, and trying to shave that extra
> $100 or so, keep in mind that that is a tiny percentage of the
> overall investment that attendees will make to get here.
> 
> I love my FOSS4G2007 t-shirt and glossy programme.


Also keep in mind that that extra $100 will probably make all the
difference in whether or not grad students, postdocs, and the generally
underpaid / unsupported can attend.

Some folks use free software for cost reasons. An expensive conference
means they can't come, even if they do draw from somewhere nearby where
a cheap carrier like Virgin Blue flies (eg Philippines/Indonesia/NZ). A
number of (perhaps most) of the Free geospatial core software
developers I collaborate with work on the software in their free time-
their paid employment is in another field. Besides getting a week's
vacation time off from their day job they'd need to pay for the
conference out of their own pocket, or stretch the justification in the
grant spending rather farther than they should. This is the 30% of the
attendees who will be staying in a local backpackers.

A nice program is ok, a pen is handy, but when you start getting into
tshirts, coffee mugs ... well it's nice to have some number of those
available for sale at the registration desk but they are not critical.
Sydney is an amazing city that sells itself, you don't need to bribe
anyone with gifts in order for them to enjoy the experience.

I recently presented at the two day Spatial Information Research
Colloquium here in Dunedin (SIRC2007), it drew researchers and
local+central gov't representatives from both NZ and Aust. Cost
including a nice dinner: $80!
  http://www.business.otago.ac.nz/infosci/SIRC/SIRC2007/


Two years ago we hosted linux.conf.au here at Otago. As you can see
from this site there was a sliding scale for conference fees, the
cheapest level being $100:
  http://www.linux.org.au/conf/2006/register/index.html


Of course SYD has a higher cost of doing business than here, but still
it would help draw many interesting but low-budget attendees if a
concerted attempt was made to keep costs down & find lots of conf
sponsors.


regards,
Hamish Bowman

GRASS GIS Project
  /
Dept Marine Science
University of Otago
Dunedin, NZ 



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