Bonney -
1) the meeting fee is USD 425. You pay an USD 150 penalty for forcing us to
staff the registration desk with people authorized to handle credit card
transactions and so forth; I don't have numbers on whether the penalty is
enough to pay for the overhead.
The average fee paid in 2001 was USD 431 - most people preregister.
2) Of the USD 2.7 million taken in on meeting fees last year, USD 1.38
million shows up as direct meeting costs - the largest single item is "food
and beverages" - breakfast and cookies.
3) The rest of the meeting fee covers the cost of keeping us with a
secretariat. We have people working full time on running the IETF - a lot
of those people behind the desk are working for you full time, all year.
Internet-drafts don't publish themselves.
This is a recurring subject - I guess I just have to continue making the
"money" presentation.
BTW - the economy presentation is available as part of the London minutes.
Look at the numbers for yourself.
Harald