RE: The Business of Conferences

["George F. Hayhoe" <george -at- ghayhoe -dot- com>]

David Knopf said, in part:

<<I am confused about why 500 speakers are required for 250
sessions--does each speaker get an understudy?--but let's assume that
number is correct.>>

Most of the sessions at the STC annual conference feature more than
one speaker. Panels typically have four to six; progressions may have
a dozen or more.

See my recent response to Salette Latas for some problems involved in
dividing the cost of speaker registration fees among the nonspeakers.

<<With one exception, I've never spoken at an STC conference. Why
would I when there are so many other conferences that do not operate
this way?>>

Well, there are WinWriters and SOLUTIONS, and a handful of other
commercially run conferences that compensate speakers and don't charge
speakers a registration fee. These conferences typically charge
nonspeakers two to three times what STC charges for its annual
conference. And as someone who lives 150 miles from an airline hub, I
find that these conferences, while they don't charge presenters to
attend, don't offer me enough compensation as a speaker to pay all of
my airfare and hotel costs, even if I stay at a less expensive hotel
than the conference hotel.

<<The chapters have always been exceptionally accommodating. For
example, they have always provided the meal/food/beverage/whatever
complementary; those chapters that are a good distance from SF, where
I live, have always picked up my travel tab; several chapters have
reimbursed me for handouts. If this works at the chapter level, I do
not see why it cannot work on the regional, national, and
international level.>>

Well, you can't compare the expenses for 500 speakers at an STC annual
conference to those for one at a chapter meeting. Typically, only the
biggest STC chapters can afford to draw and pay the expenses of
speakers coming a significant distance, and many of those speakers are
STC leaders who volunteer to speak at chapter meetings when they are
traveling on business.

<<Doesn't "pro bono" mean that you do not charge a fee for the service
you provide? I've never heard it used to mean you pay for the right to
provide the service.>>

"Pro bono" is shorthand for the Latin expression "pro bono publico,"
which means "for the public good." Volunteers absorb all kinds of
costs to do good things. For example, the folks who deliver Meals on
Wheels to shut-ins here in the U.S. not only give of their time, but
also the cost of their fuel and the wear-and-tear on their vehicles.
Some of those costs (not the time, at least in the U.S.) may be
tax-deductible. But most volunteers I know don't engage in good
deeds--whether they be speaking at a professional society conference
or delivering meals to the elderly--for anything tangible they get out
of those deeds.

--George Hayhoe (george -at- ghayhoe -dot- com)

George Hayhoe Associates
Voice: +1 (803) 642-2156
Fax: +1 (803) 642-9325
http://www.ghayhoe.com

Winner of Three APEX 2000
Awards for Publication Excellence



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