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"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