On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 6:13 AM, <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
> This is something I've never understood.  It doesn't seem to matter when
> the
> conference ends, folks never stay to the end.  As much as it costs, I would
> think you'd want to get your money's worth out of it.  Those speakers who
> speak on the last day put just as much into their presentations as those
> speaking earlier in the conference.  It's a shame that sessions are often
> sparse in attendance on that last day.  It's published well in advance when
> it ends, why not plan accordingly.  If employers won't pay for that
> additional night, then that's the decision you have to make, but you/they
> are still not getting their money's worth when the attendee doesn't make
> the
> most of their registration.
>

 While some may (ok, they WILL) disagree, I think a lot of this goes back
to the discussions about the "value", "cost" and "venue" over the past two
weeks.

Cost- well, depends on WHO is paying this cost.  Room rates are locked in
for Conferences, and they're typically higher before and after the blocked
days. *IF* the attendees are there solely for the Conference (and possibly
the pre-con), they will generally want to arrive the day prior to first
sessions and leave the day of last sessions.

But, even with that said, if you're traveling East to West or West to East,
there are only so many flights that are available and the cost of flights
differs based on time of day, so you may select the cheaper flight... or
one that keeps you from catching a red-eye, or gets you home at a decent
hour.  Between travel time to the airport, the requirement to arrive 1 to 2
hours prior to the flight and all, there's not always a lot of time on that
last day.

Value- as said previously "bang for the buck" matters when you only get to
attend every other year, or if you have to travel the long road to justify
attendance. Travel and training budgets for outside events are shrinking or
disappearing in lots of organizations, and depending on the size and
diverse populations within your organizations, fighting for funds is
becoming fierce.

In Federally funded organizations, you have to submit plans a year ahead
(and you surely don't have sessions and opening/closing speaker info then)
of your INTENT to attend, along with relatively detailed estimates of
cost.  The info is then forwarded to the funding Agency who evaluates the
landscape of potential attendees at events and determines if there are too
many people asking to attend a single event, and they approve/deny
attendance based on estimated total cost.  And across the board, Federal
agencies are cutting travel/training by 30%, which means they aren't
approving it for their Contractors either.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-14/politics/35457182_1_agency-head-government-employees-conferences

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/us/us-workers-are-grounded-by-deep-cuts.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Venue-  this has a greater impact than some may think. If an attendee plans
to tack on any vacation time (front or back end) for themselves or have
family join them (San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington DC) the
likelihood of them wanting to hang around for the closing session speaker
may be challenged... an event in LA with Disneyland close (and a ticket at
$140 per day https://disneyland.disney.go.com/tickets/ ) is going to cause
someone to think long and hard about hanging around to hear the last
speaker and missing out on a half-day with the Mouse, or in Vegas and not
going to the Grand Canyon, or in DC and not seeing the monuments and
museums...

This is part of why I was saying venue locations, while attractive for many
reasons, have higher prices, have distractions that can take away from
attendees fully participating in 'the event', and may not always be the
best bet.

Judy was right when she said:
 "Those speakers who speak on the last day put just as much into their
presentations as those speaking earlier in the conference.  It's a shame
that sessions are often sparse in attendance on that last day."

It's also a shame that some of the most seasoned speakers that have the
BEST presentations and deliver the most salient information are held over
to the last day... in what I always saw as a misguided attempt to get
people to STAY so they would attend their sessions.  But sadly, some of the
great presentations of people like Alan Andolsen, Mark Langemo, Pat
Cunningham, Ginny Jones and others that give a LOT OF "bang for the buck"
were always lightly attended.  I KNOW this is true, because I almost always
attended these sessions... no matter how much of this I may have already
known, there were always jewels to be mined during these sessions. And I
always felt bad for the first time speakers that had to compete against
these folks for attendees... it's pretty disheartening to look out over a
sparse audience and wonder "Is my content that invaluable?"

And YES... I always filled out the surveys, I gave face to face comments to
the staff at the event and to Leadership there and after... but there were
other factors driving how/where/what was done.  Pat covered a lot of these
items in posts he made, and unfortunately, it's those things that diluted
the experience for many.

Larry
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-- 





*Lawrence J. Medina Danville, CARIM Professional since 1972*

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