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Subject:RE: Is everyone going to Dallas? From:"Focus on 3 things: Quality, Quality, Quality" <raven -at- USABLE -dot- ENET -dot- DEC -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 30 Mar 1993 09:40:43 EST
Speaking of Dallas (the location of the STC annual conference), I have
a question for all of you [and perhaps Binion can explain if I have
misunderstood]:
If you are not attending the STC annual conference (aka the
ITCC) BUT YOU WISH YOU COULD, what's the primary reason you're not
going?
-cost of travel?
-cost of registration?
-time away from work?
I am going; I'm paying my own way (my employer has paid it in the past
but this year has been financially excruciating for my company).
However, It is my SINCERE wish that the STC could find a way to lower
the registration costs. At $350 for members' advance registration,
($445 for nonmembers)the registration fee the the SINGLE MOST
EXPENSIVE ITEM in the trip--even more than the plane fare from Boston
to Dallas ($290).
I understand that usually, the conference is a money maker for the
STC. Now, making money is not a bad thing, but one of the primary
purposes of the STC as a professional organization is to educate its
members and promote networking. Could the STC stand to make less money
on the conference by lowering the registration fee?
The cost of registration has been an issue with academics for quite a
while--professors/colleges usually have a smaller conference budget
than private or government industries. Well, now that just about every
computer-related industry is having financial troubles, *I THINK* the cost of
registration is an issue for everyone. The "good old days" when your
company would think nothing of paying a $350 registration fee are GONE.
It would be wonderful it the STC could recognize the current financial
situation of its members and lower the registration fee accordingly
(and, by the way, the same goes for all the IEEE conferences, and ACM
SIG CHI, too!). How do you-all feel about the registration fee?
I realize its way too late to do anything about it for this year, but
I'd like to see future conferences have a lower registration fee, if
possible.
Mary Beth Raven
Raven -at- usable -dot- dec -dot- com
Nashua, NH
