CFP Costs Too Much!

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

(I'm copying Bruce Koball, General Chair of the CFP Conference, on this
message, as I don't know if he gets the Cypherpunks list.)

Dave Deltorto is one of several people I know, including myself, who don't
like the prices of the upcoming Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference:

>.... I would also dearly like to attend CFP, but
>I haven't yet found a way to do it without money (anyone who knows a way I
>can volunteer my way in and help out please say so - I'll sweep up after,
>anything...).

In my opinion, $405 is way too much to pay for this conference. Science
Fiction conventions routinely get the use of major hotels at a far lower
per head price (from $40-$125 is typical). The BayCon convention takes over
most of the public facilities in San Jose's Red Lion Inn (several
ballrooms, many smaller rooms, and most of the public lobby areas), has
about 500 attendees (same as CFP), and charges less than $100 for 4 days
(and one-day memberships are typically around $30). And the "Hackers
Conference" has kept its cost down to around $300, which includes two
nights lodging and all meals (very sumptuous meals, too).

Granted, CFP puts out a nice transcript of the talks--credit them $20 for
that. Granted, a couple of meals are thrown in--credit them another $30 or
so. What's left is still too much. Yes, a "register early" discount
exists/existed, but inasmuch as there's a nonzero risk someone can't attend
(and hence loses what they paid, or some fraction of it), counting such
discounts is not really kosher. 

There are several possible reasons for the high fees: 

1. Price insensitivity. $405 is what the traffic will bear. Most attendees
are subsidized by their law firms (which often charge $200 or more per
hour, so $400 for a conference is practically invisible to them), their
corporations, or the government (taxpayers). I suspect most targeted
attendees are price-insensitive. 

I'm price-sensitive, because I have to _earn_ about $700-800 before taxes
to pay for the $405 being charged, and I have better uses for $405 (like a
new DAT machine).

2. "Everyone else is doing it." Conference prices have been skyrocketing
the last few years, although some conferences (like the SF conventions I
mentioned) are still price-conscious and hold down prices. 

If CFP meets their attendance goal of 550, I guess they'll have been
justified to price it as they did (though the mix of attendees could still
be an issue to consider). And if they fail to meet the goal of 550, even
with the comped or subsidized attendees, perhaps they can reconsider their
pricing.

3. Subsidies of journalists. In talking to several journalists and
journalistic wannabees, I've found they're getting "comped" passes. Thus,
the paying attendees are subsidizing the shmoozings and barhoppings of our
journalist friends! (This is not meant as an insult to the journalists out
there...I just can't see why they get subsidized attendance.) How important
a factor this is depends on the number of journalists, of course.

(With hundreds of new magazines every year, 50 channels of shit on the t.v.
(to borrow a phrase), and thousands of newsletters on every conceivable
subject, I am waiting for the day when there are more journalists at these
kinds of conferences than nonjournalists! They can all talk to themselves,
I guess.)

4. Other costs. And profits. Maybe it costs CFP much more to put on this
conference than it does some of the other conferences I've mentioned. Maybe
they have fewer volunteers.

In any case, I wish them luck. They are free to set their rates as they wish.

I don't plan to attend, in case I haven't already made that clear.

-Tim May


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