Ah, no. Presenters at linux.conf.au are expected to pay their own way but get free registration. The same was also true of the computational biology conference I was just at.

linux.conf.au probably has the best approach. They have enough sponsorship money to fund about 10 people from overseas and 10 people from Australia. That’s enough to get deserving but starving speakers who aren’t being underwritten by their employer to get to the conference.

Some ‘conferences’ are commercial affairs — you can spot them by the $1000s of fees for attendees. In that case, the conference organisers pay for everything.

It also depends on the size of the conference. For example, about one-third of the 50-odd attendees at Protocols for Fast, Long Distance Networks are speakers too. So underwriting the speakers would make attendance uneconomic for non-speaking attendees.

I think what you just described is commonplace. I had the opportunity to present at a conference at Oxford in the UK but the cost was several thousand bucks. I passed on the opportunity, but a colleague went and the school paid. He was subsequently invited to present at a UN sponsored education summit, also in Europe. He’s getting all sorts of invites now. Who knows what I’ve missed by not going?

I think you are doing the right thing by letting the organizers know about your needs and your personal situation. If your school cannot pay your way, it cannot hurt anything by letting them know they need to provide some assistance in getting you there.

I actually had a chat to the organisers the other day, just to clarify things and clear the air. I don’t think they were making any of these decisions with any intent to rip people off or profiteer, but they did concede that when you look at things from the perspective of the presenters, it could appear a bit unfair.

They work on the basis that the people who present at the event would probably have attended the conference anyway, so the reasoning is that their travel expenses would probably be covered by their school as part of the PD budget. They also reasoned that by asking these people if they wanted to present, they were in fact offering them a way to get into the conference without the need to pay the conference fee. And I agree, that if you are in that position - going to the conference anyway and already have your travel expenses covered by your school - then saving the conference fee by presenting a single session is probably a reasonable deal.

I happened to not be in that position, and would have had to pay my own way as well as present multiple sessions, and they agreed that it was not so fair.

Anyway, it’s all resolved now, and everyone is happy.

Thanks for everyone’s feedback on this thread… it’s been interesting.

Without knowing the organizers (your friends) - my first, and strongest impression is that somebody has stumbled upon what they consider to be a money making opportunity.

When they assume that you’ll travel there on your own dime, when they assume that you’ll pay to “attend” the conference you’re presenting at, when they want to charge you for the social events, when they negotiate HARD with you just to cover your travel expenses - all those things say to me that somebody’s trying to make money off of this.

But, like I said, I don’t know your friends.

I would think that if they were doing this - just as a benefit to people (as opposed to trying to make money) they would be more cognizant of the fact that it costs associated with presenting.

My first inclination, after hearing all of this stuff, would be to say “thanks, but no thanks.”

I think that somebody has realized that teachers like presenting (like sharing their knowledge), and - as you mentioned - it looks good to have presented at a conference. Who knows, maybe they even get a fancy little certificate that’s “suitable for framing”. I think somebody clued in on this - and decided to try and make some money off of it.

As I mentioned, the organisers in this case happen to be friends of mine and they usually try to look after me as well as they can. To be fair, although I’ve often presented for them with no charge for my actual services, they have usually come good with covering my basic travel expenses. This most recent incident was really the first time that they did not offer to cover my travel expenses automatically (and I had to bargain for them by presenting a few more sessions) and certainly the first one where the other expenses such as conference dinners, etc were listed as a chargable extras.

They did offer to pay my conference registration fees, but considering I’d be presenting for much of the time I’m there that ought to be a given. Like I said, without presenters there would be no conference so I don’t think getting free admittance to an event should be held up as doing you a major favour. Present AND pay to get in? I don’t think so! (I noticed the ACEC conference in Canberra was built on this arrangement… presenters had to pay to attend the conference. I had intended to offer a couple of sessions but changed my mind as soon as I read that… it’s quite an insult really…) I’ll present for free if I think it’s worthwhile, but pay my way as well? Hmmm.

My post was attempting to think about the bigger picture, not just how it affects me necessarily, and it appears that lots of other educators have found themselves in the same position before. We really do undervalue ourselves.

Thanks for the feedback.

I’d like to thank you for blogging this issue because as a newbie trainer/presenter, I’m very much needing guidance on this and it’s a question not many are willing to discuss with me.

Over the years I’d hate to think how many thousands of dollars I have forked out to speak at conferences (in my own state and around Australia) gratis on my areas of expertise. If we were in a different profession, I’m sure, we would not be facing these costs…teaching is a giving profession….don’t think my accountant would be doing the same thing for free.
I think they are rather cheeky (or rude) expecting you to pay to attend the social function….especially offering you no other token of thanks.
Hope it works out positively for you.