RE: But seriously now folks ... (was HUMOR: STC Conference Time - )

[jgarison -at- ide -dot- com]

Arlen, Mr. Walker, sir,

Which hotels are YOU using???

In my experience, we paid a lot for hotels ... not so much for the
exhibition space, but for the breakout and meeting rooms, the ballrooms for
general sessions, the food and drink in between sessions, meals, etc.

In a conference situation, the organizers reserve the hotel meeting space,
exhibition space, and blocks of rooms for attendees -- often 6-12 months in
advance of the event itself. There are often upfront payments of cash money
to hold these reservations which is not refundable. 

When you subsequently advertise the conference, you may or may not get the
number of attendees you expected. If you get more, you have to scurry and
find additional rooms. If you get fewer, you may have to relinquish blocks
of rooms which usually increases your other costs.

It's a risky proposition. Add to that the not insignificant expenses for
advertising, etc. and it really starts to add up. 

With no guarantee that you'll make a profit, let alone make back all the
money you fronted.

And for someone else who said "Why not get sponsors to help foot the bill"
well, tech writers aren't doctors. There are no companies banging our doors
down to demand we display their wares to those tech writers to consider
spending their flush budgets on for new tools. Think for a minute - you go
to your doctor, and are often offered free samples of medications. When is
the last time someone offered you a free sample of anything related to your
occupation? Other than AuthorIt, eHelp, and maybe Adobe, there are precious
few companies who cater to our needs, and to whom we represent their core
target market. Believe me, no one out there is lining up to give me anything
free to advertise to documentation professionals.

John

John Garison
Documentation Manager
IDe
150 Baker Avenue Extension
Concord, MA 01742

Voice: 978-402-2907
Fax:    978-318-9376
http://www.ide.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- jci -dot- com [mailto:Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- jci -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 10:50 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: But seriously now folks ... (was HUMOR: STC Conference Time
- )



>I can tell you that the costs associated with a conference are
>huge, and the upfront expenses - which you may or may not make back - are
>enormous.

Some day I'm going to have to sit down with conference people and find out
what those costs are. I organize chess tournaments, and I organized a major
international event a couple of years ago. The site was free (host hotel
gave me a credit for each room-night the tournament booked, which more than
paid for the site) and attendees were charged around $30 US on average, and
70% of the income was returned to attendees in the form of prizes. I
*really* don't understand where the conference money goes, if not to the
presenters. The event was covered live on the Internet, so the internet
connection, etc. was also part of the hotel's service.

A second event, which we ended up not doing for other reasons, was going to
reserve every square foot of exhibition space in the entire hotel (30,000+)
for four days and was *also* going to be supplied free of charge, in return
for the room rentals. I *really* don't understand where the conference
money goes, if not to the presenters.

It's not on-topic, so if anyone connected with one of those events would
care to send me one of their budgets off-list, my curiosity gland would
very much appreciate it.

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
----------------------------------------------
In God we trust; all others must provide data.
----------------------------------------------
Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.


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