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>>I am pro-STC and have been since I joined in 1997. But I *do* think it's
ridiculous to force presenters to pay admission to a conference. This
narrows down the field to individuals/companies with bigger budgets, who
can then dominate these presentation categories. It also is a big
deterrent to potential presenters - what's in it for them? They're one of
the REASONS other people are attending, so why should they pay nearly the
same price as "civilians?"<<
I'm not an STC member. But there's a basic rule in any group: you get out
what you put in. If all members who show up at the conference are potential
presenters, then what presenters get out of the conference is what we get
out of this mailing list. (There was a long discussion on this topic,
probably about this time of year, a couple of years ago, if you want to
check the archives.)
However, if the presenters at the conference are skewed more and more
towards the academic world, and people who work in the business world are
less and less inclined/able to present at the STC conference, then something
has gone wonky in the presentation process, yes - either that or people are
struggling to find work or at work and don't have time to take the time
required to speak at a panel. I wouldn't advocate a major change in the
rules for what could be a temporary blip, but I don't know enough about the
STC to say whether complaints about this year's schedule is a blip or a
trend.
In any case, the STC conference organisers ought to spell out clearly that
being invited to speak at the conference is conditional on planning to
attend in the first place, and that being a speaker doesn't get you in for
free. (Though I can think of a bunch of other useful things that the
conference *could* give speakers that wouldn't cost as much as free
membership, like a private lounge for speakers only (free coffee and muffins
included <g>).)
Jane Carnall
Apologies for the long additional sig: it is added automatically and outwith
my control.
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