I agree that conference-ish things are mostly not broken, and that we
should keep talking about this in order to make them better. I also
think Tim makes an important point here: 
  >>then let's not separate the two parts of C4L conf like a
traditional conference 
Why do we need to define workshops or hackfests as "pre-conference"?
Why not just say "this is the conference: hackfests, workshops, talks,
great people, and brew-tasting"? And maybe more people would participate
or benefit if hackfest was "middle-conference" or "post-conference",
i.e. after they're spurred by  presentations and ready to dive in. 
And couch-surfing ++ 
I'm expecting I won't get to spend my library's entire travel budget to
attend C4L this year and lodging obviously accounts for a huge chunk of
that. If not, I'll just save up my bottles of KC's finest for next year
and hope some newcomer replaces me in the registration rush. 

Jason 


Jason Stirnaman
Biomedical Librarian, Digital Projects
A.R. Dykes Library, University of Kansas Medical Center
[log in to unmask]
913-588-7319


>>> On 11/10/2011 at 11:01 AM, in message
<[log in to unmask]>,
Cary Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


In the grand scheme of things, $150 for a conference is very low, and
$320 for a pre conference is low, as well. This doesn't make them
cheap or mean that everyone who would like to go, can go. I fully
understand that $25 is in inconsequential amount of money… Unless it
is your $25.

I think that there is consensus that we want to keep c4l at its
current size, and I think that money shouldn't be the primary factor
determining attendance.

Perhaps it would be good if we raised our price to $200 or $250,
increased our sponsorship fundraising efforts, and used the excess to
provide partial and full (including travel and lodging) scholarships
for those who need them.

Maybe we should encourage local couch surfing hosts.

We should keep talking about this.

Cary

On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 9:11 PM, Timothy McGeary <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>>
>> At $150 for registration, I agree with Kyle, that this is a very
good price
>> in comparison to most technical conferences. Perhaps you could
consider the
>> extra airfare and hotel room night as the price of the
pre-conference.
>
>
> The extra airfare and hotel, in this case, is $320 per person. 
Hardly a
> reasonable comparison.
>
> I realize that I'm now looking at this from a different perspective
than
> when I was a first time Code4Libber, when I was simply try to soak it
all
> in and build a network of people I could work with on projects that I
and
> my library were interested in.  Now I have to be concerned with
budgets,
> and getting people other than myself to C4L so they can join the
community
> and contribute.
>
> If the price points of rentals goes down because of the preconf day
where
> the costs are mostly a wash, then that's great, but then let's not
separate
> the two parts of C4L conf like a traditional conference, or put such
> emphasis on the "participation" in a preconf that undermines or
undervalues
> the participation of someone coming to the conference days
themselves.  We
> can't have it both ways.  Code4Lib conferences *ARE* unique and they
are
> invaluable to many, many, many people who are fortunate enough to A)
> register in time and B) can afford to come at all.  So let's not
diminish
> this by presuming or assuming anything, rather take extra care in
> protecting this event as a treasure, lest all of the tireless efforts
the
> conference planners put forth be for naught.
>
> The last thing I'd want to see is C4L be under attended because
people
> couldn't justify reasonable costs to their organization due to lack
of
> information, openness, or mere confusion.
>
> Tim
>
> --
> Tim McGeary
> Team Leader, Library Technology
> Lehigh University
> 610-758-4998
> [log in to unmask]
>
> [log in to unmask]
> GTalk/Yahoo/Skype/Twitter: timmcgeary
> 484-938-TMCG (Google Voice)
>
> On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Fowler, Jason <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
>> >  let people completely fend for themselves w/r/t to food/drink on
the
>> preconference day.
>>
>> Coders consume from the "flat" food group.  Anything that fits
beneath a
>> door…
>>
>> ..jason
>>
>>
>> On 11-11-09 3:12 PM, "Kevin S. Clarke" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:
>> [log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 1:41 PM, Kyle Banerjee <[log in to unmask]
>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>> Yes, we have.  We've even had people want to come to the
preconference
>> (and pay the preconference charge) but not attend the regular
>> conference.  :-)
>>
>>
>> They've wanted to do it, but have they actually been able to? What
makes
>> c4l worthwhile is the ability to mix it up. If people attend with
the
>> intention of just receiving specific training, they're not
contributing and
>> that undermines the experience for everyone.
>>
>> Yes... at least at the Asheville conference (though there were just
a
>> couple).
>>
>> C4l has seen both free and paid preconferences and it's easy enough
to
>> rationalize either.
>>
>> Having put on a paid preconference, I think if I were to do it
again
>> I'd make it free.  We received several comments about the lack of
food
>> at the Asheville preconference (though we had coffee).  I think
having
>> a price attached to it leads to expectations like that.  Perhaps it
is
>> better to just say "The preconference is free... the price for the
>> conference is $150" ... let people completely fend for themselves
>> w/r/t to food/drink on the preconference day.
>>
>> Fwiw...
>>
>> Kevin
>>
>



--
Cary Gordon
The Cherry Hill Company
http://chillco.com