peter@world.std.com (Peter Salus) (10/24/90)
Dave Taylor writes:
The other side of the coin here too is how much are tutorial speakers
paid to give talks? Some of the best tutorials I've been two were
given by relatively neophyte tutorial speakers who really knew their
subjects, and the all time worst tutorial I attended (for about twenty
minutes before I walked out in disgust) was by someone that appears to
be a 'professional tutorial presenter' who is still 'on the circuit'.
Typical fees for a speaker are $1000 / day + board...
I agree that SUG seems a bit expensive for a small users group meeting,
but then again, I think SUG is an excellent users group (modulo the
apalling politics and its peculiar relationship with Sun itself)
-- Dave Taylor
Editor at Large
SunTech Journal
------------------------------
My first response is that anyone representing IDG should be
cautious about tossing stones, but I've known Dave too long to
tar him with that brush. (IDG is the company that "bought"
SunTechnology from Sun and turned it into SunTech.)
It would be interesting to go back and forth about rates
and data: though Dave cites $1000 / day + board, that's
under half what USENIX pays and vastly less than other
agencies that run the "circuit" pay. Though Dan originally
referred to registration, not tutorial, fees, it may be
worth noting that
(a) UniForum Canada has just posted a tutorial
notice with $195/day rates (with the Canadian
$ at .85 this comes to over 15% more than
SUG's rate);
and
(b) DECUS Fall '90 in Las Vegas is charging
$225/day for "Seminars" and $410 for full
registration. (=150% of SUG's rate)
I cite these because both UniForum and DECUS are
"not-for-profit."
I happen to agree that prices appear high; I also feel
that SUG is at the low end of the scale, whether one uses
commercial or not-for-profit organizations for comparison.
Finally, I'd like to question, Dave's last paragraph: as
we expect SUG attendance in San Jose to be larger than
USENIX was in Anaheim or DC, it is only small when compared to
things like SIGGRAPH or DECUS. I'm totally in the dark as
to what Dave means by his final clause, as I am unfamiliar
with any "apalling politics" on the SUG Board nor will I
attempt to fathom SUG's "peculiar relationship with Sun,"
unless Dave is unhappy about the fact that SUG is not a
dependent arm of Sun in the way DECUS is of DEC.
Peter H. Salus
Executive Director
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