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Re: Charging remote participants

2013-08-16 15:42:47
We already have a version of "self-pay", namely the very low student rate. For 
that rate, you are supposed to show student ID (not sure how and whether this 
is enforced), so it's not quite the same, but it's a "means-based" test, as 
well as an attempt to increase the diversity of participants. Nearly every 
scientific conference has versions of differentiated pricing - special rates 
for authors, attendees from low-income countries, students, society members 
(i.e., likely repeat attendees), ... In those venues, the general rule of thumb 
for organizers is that even the lowest priced category pays for the variable 
costs, and the fixed costs are borne by those more able to pay.

We also have the early-registration rate - thus, late and on-site registrations 
"subsidize" the early bird moochers.

We presumably want to encourage building a community, and that includes making 
it possible for people to attend who might not otherwise be able to. Our 
objective is not one-time revenue optimization. Many individuals switch 
back-and-forth between traveling on their own dime and on corporate tabs, and 
we want to encourage continued engagement, if only to increase our supply of 
Nomcom-eligibles.

Thus, I think this is worth exploring, as an experiment, just like we started 
the day-pass experiment a number of years ago.

Henning

I'm not talking about posting this info on web, nor a "full range of 
potential".  We already have multiple reg-fee categories; I'm talking about 
adding *one* more.  I don't know who in the "leadership" can see a list of 
what rates people paid - if we need to constrain that, that's a solvable 
problem.  It's not the sky falling.

Regardless, the same argument can be made for charging remote participants to 
"donate" 0-100% or whatever.

-hadriel