cctalk Digest, Vol 24, Issue 11

[Tony Duell]

> You, and a lot of others on this list, don't get it.  This isn't a
> for-profit enterprise like most conferences.  This is a hobbyist show,

I don;t think you know what HPCC is. It's an enthusiast-run club, it 
certainly doesn't exist to make a profit. I think the club has made a 
loss on the last 2 'full' (2-day) conferences. The expenditure was for 
things like hiring a room and AV equipment, printing the proceedings, etc.

Yes, we charged a fee for everyone who wanted to attend. People who gave 
a talk, or who contributed in other ways, got a small reduction in this 
fee. But it wasn't free for anybody.


> put on and financed by a hobbyist on a shoestring budget at considerable
> risk.  I would put up serious money that Sellam in the best years does
> little more than break even on the shows he does, and has probably lost
> money on some of them.  Moreover, if you factored in all of the time
> that he and other expend putting on the show, and value it at any
> reasonable level (or even at minimum wage), these shows would show a
> substantial deficit.  All this talk about exhibitors attracting dollars

Of course, I am not disputing any of this. I have no problem with people 
having to pay to attend. 

What I find ridiculous is that those who put the time in, ad essentially 
make the show what it is, have to pay, while the public get in free. 
Either charge everybody (exhibitors and vistors) the same amount, or give 
a small reduction to the exhibitors (no, I don't think it should be free 
for anyone).

-tony