Mine, too.
On 31 January 2012 22:19, Kam Woods <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> "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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