8 ms·

To me this just screams scam, I personally wouldn't want to attend a conference where speakers are paying to participate because likely it will just be more of

To me this just screams scam, I personally wouldn't want to attend a conference where speakers are paying to participate because likely it will just be more of one big marketing experience controlled by people that paid to get their content up there. We get enough of that through the sponsors and booths at a conference, the speakers should be presenting balanced talks on specific subjects. Traditionally (from my experience), speakers are invited or apply based on a topic and are not asked to pay any fees. The conference costs are covered by the conference attendees, sponsors and booth fees.

chrisseaton 11y ago
As far as I know, all the major conferences in our field charge you to attend if you are speaking, so I don't understand what everyone is saying in this thread. I've spoken at many conferences and at all of them I've needed to buy a full-price ticket (or my employer did). RubyConf was one exception I can think of.
- braythwayt 11y ago
  I don't know what your field is, but every conference that has ever invited me to speak has offered me free attendance, with most willing to also cover my accommodation and airfare from Canada. I include in this list conferences like NDC Oslo/London/Sydney, Øredev, Nordic Ruby, and Baruco.
  - chrisseaton 11y ago
    My field is programming languages. I think any conference run by the ACM charges speakers, unless they're keynoting.
    - braythwayt 11y ago
      > any conference run by the ACM charges speakers, unless they're keynoting I can believe that. As a sidenote: What a weird world we live in, where accredited professionals pay to speak, while dilettantes are paid.
- giaour 11y ago
  Conferences where academics present original research tend to charge speakers admittance. "Programming conferences," where speakers are essentially teaching 1-hour classes, tend to cover the ticket, hotel, and transportation for presenters. Source: I presented research at a few humanities conferences in my previous career and have presented talks at several PHP conferences in my present career.
- davismwfl 11y ago
  So I have spoken at quite a number of conferences over the years in 3 different fields, pure coding/tech, 911 pre-hospital and entrepreneur/small business. I have never paid for entry to the conference or show (when speaking), and only in the smallest case did I pay my airfare and hotel. And in one other case I did pay my airfare. In both of the cases where I had out of pocket expenses they were small, highly specialized conferences where it was worth it to me to be there. I have a number of contacts that are speaking fairly regularly at conferences and none of them are paying to speak, and most aren't keynoting either. I also wouldn't disagree with you or say you are wrong that some conferences are charging speakers entry to the conference, but frankly, I would view them skeptically. To me it is the totally wrong incentive for a speaker to pay to present.
  - chrisseaton 11y ago
    I think it's better for speakers to pay, because then it creates an atmosphere of everyone coming together to share their work, speakers and attendees together on the same level, and everyone sharing the costs of the conference. If you think about conferences as a product sold to attendees, it makes sense for speakers not to pay. If you think about conferences as a community platform which everyone pays to run and is to everyone's benefit, which I think is a better way to do things, it does make sense for them to pay. At some conferences almost everyone is attending is also speaking, so obviously you need to charge speakers in that case.
    - davismwfl 11y ago
      I'd agree with you if everyone was basically speaking then there is really no issue with speakers paying too. But I generally view conferences as places we go to learn new things, hear from people that are doing something interesting, or learning from those that lead the way in some direction (good or bad). But to your point, I went to a conference a number of years ago where Microsoft was the host, it was regional and fairly limited attendance from what I remember. There were people from Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft and other companies there but everyone was very focused and it was a fairly small overall group. I could see everyone paying to attend that one as it was really interactive, very few "speaking" presentations, more workshops. It was awesome honestly, and I'd pay to participate in that type of conference in a heart beat regardless of any role I had.

chrisseaton 11y ago

As far as I know, all the major conferences in our field charge you to attend if you are speaking, so I don't understand what everyone is saying in this thread. I've spoken at many conferences and at all of them I've needed to buy a full-price ticket (or my employer did). RubyConf was one exception I can think of.

braythwayt 11y ago
I don't know what your field is, but every conference that has ever invited me to speak has offered me free attendance, with most willing to also cover my accommodation and airfare from Canada. I include in this list conferences like NDC Oslo/London/Sydney, Øredev, Nordic Ruby, and Baruco.
- chrisseaton 11y ago
  My field is programming languages. I think any conference run by the ACM charges speakers, unless they're keynoting.
  - braythwayt 11y ago
    > any conference run by the ACM charges speakers, unless they're keynoting I can believe that. As a sidenote: What a weird world we live in, where accredited professionals pay to speak, while dilettantes are paid.
giaour 11y ago
Conferences where academics present original research tend to charge speakers admittance. "Programming conferences," where speakers are essentially teaching 1-hour classes, tend to cover the ticket, hotel, and transportation for presenters. Source: I presented research at a few humanities conferences in my previous career and have presented talks at several PHP conferences in my present career.
davismwfl 11y ago
So I have spoken at quite a number of conferences over the years in 3 different fields, pure coding/tech, 911 pre-hospital and entrepreneur/small business. I have never paid for entry to the conference or show (when speaking), and only in the smallest case did I pay my airfare and hotel. And in one other case I did pay my airfare. In both of the cases where I had out of pocket expenses they were small, highly specialized conferences where it was worth it to me to be there. I have a number of contacts that are speaking fairly regularly at conferences and none of them are paying to speak, and most aren't keynoting either. I also wouldn't disagree with you or say you are wrong that some conferences are charging speakers entry to the conference, but frankly, I would view them skeptically. To me it is the totally wrong incentive for a speaker to pay to present.
- chrisseaton 11y ago
  I think it's better for speakers to pay, because then it creates an atmosphere of everyone coming together to share their work, speakers and attendees together on the same level, and everyone sharing the costs of the conference. If you think about conferences as a product sold to attendees, it makes sense for speakers not to pay. If you think about conferences as a community platform which everyone pays to run and is to everyone's benefit, which I think is a better way to do things, it does make sense for them to pay. At some conferences almost everyone is attending is also speaking, so obviously you need to charge speakers in that case.
  - davismwfl 11y ago
    I'd agree with you if everyone was basically speaking then there is really no issue with speakers paying too. But I generally view conferences as places we go to learn new things, hear from people that are doing something interesting, or learning from those that lead the way in some direction (good or bad). But to your point, I went to a conference a number of years ago where Microsoft was the host, it was regional and fairly limited attendance from what I remember. There were people from Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft and other companies there but everyone was very focused and it was a fairly small overall group. I could see everyone paying to attend that one as it was really interactive, very few "speaking" presentations, more workshops. It was awesome honestly, and I'd pay to participate in that type of conference in a heart beat regardless of any role I had.