"Sharpies at the front door" pretty much answered my comment.
On Jan 31, 2012, at 4:18 PM, Kyle Banerjee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> +1. If there is such a policy, it doesn't really seem in the spirit of
>> a smaller, more intimate conference.
>>
>
> Just to give a little background on what's happening, it's not that we
> don't think it would be desirable to be able to accommodate all these
> requests. It's that you reach a point where it becomes impractical.
>
> Providing administrative, financial, and logistical support for c4l is time
> consuming. Current estimate is a total of 29 full person days between our
> admin assistant and business manager. That figure is derived from actual
> tracking and while imperfect, it should be pretty close to the real thing.
> It's a big deal if you're a small organization like ours with only 7 full
> time employees that are already fully utilized.
>
> So where does that time go? This list will miss all kinds of things since
> I'm just spitting it out, but it should give you the general idea:
>
> - Evaluating options and negotiating contracts
> - Payment processing, following up on payments
> - Registration. Time intensive because presentations were chosen after
> registration was opened so presenters may or may not be part of the open
> registration process. This also led to a more confusing waitlist process.
> - Responding to e-mails, late requests, etc
> - Managing budgets
> - Communicating with hotel (way more time intensive than it sounds)
> - Communicating with ??? committees (for an anarchic organization, there
> are quite a few)
> - Answering questions, dealing with late requests, etc
> - T-shirts
> - Refunds
> - Scholarship administration
> - Contacting late registrants
> - Sponsorship processing. Not nearly as straightforward as it sounds.
> - Catering (many details)
> - Creating and formatting agendas, registration packets, name tags, etc
> - Signs -- sure, they're just a few sheets of paper, but they need to be
> labeled properly for the rooms you already have with appropriate
> directional arrows
> - Filling vacated spots from the waitlist
> - Working with A/V company
>
> This year, we have only one hosting proposal (as we did last year). Given
> the high level of interest in c4l, I think it's fair to suggest that the
> relatively low level of interest in hosting is a function of what it really
> entails. By hosting c4l, your institution commits itself to a lot of work
> and is legally on the hook for a lot of dough.
>
> We host quite a few conferences, and c4l national is significantly more
> labor intensive than other events (even ones that are considerably larger).
> I don't say this to be negative on the community -- community building is
> incredibly important, but it's important to be aware of what tradeoffs
> we're making. Doing this successfully over the long term requires a minimal
> level of administrative efficiency.
>
> In a long rambly way, I guess what I'm trying to say is that no one likes
> to say no, and there might even be some things that seem unfair. But we
> probably give this stuff more thought than may appear on the surface.
>
> kyle
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Kyle Banerjee
> Digital Services Program Manager
> Orbis Cascade Alliance
> [log in to unmask] / 503.999.9787
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