Re: COMMON - the week's over...

Yes, if the speaker is staying for the whole conference and they only speak once, they pay the volunteer rate.

If they only come in to speak one day, then there is no registration - and I don't believe that is a new policy.

Scott, the sad truth we found is that our practices are very unusual for the type of organization we are. That coupled with the fact that without these changes we will become insolvent as Randy and Dan showed made for hard choices.

And remember, although this has been the policy for a while, it was not always this way.

The best way to change this policy is to get more people involved! If we get a bunch more members (including the huge AIX community) and a bunch more registrations, anything is possible.

COMMON exists on the smal fraction it gets from membership and smaller educational events and the large amount it gets from the annual meeting.

We invested to change the organization based on feedback, and that was working judging from Nashville, but the economy kicked us in the teeth.

And Scott, I understand your position and I hope others will help fill the gap.

In the meantime, have you done a webinar yet? If not (or even if you have) I think that would be a great way to deliver your message to a large number of COMMON members and help the organization.

-----Original Message-----

From: Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: May 6, 2009 4:36 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: COMMON - the week's over...

hi Jeff,

Just a reminder that there is a compromise. A speaker can come on
for a day and speak without registration (I believe this has always
been the policy and is not changing - I am sure one of my fellow
directors will correct me if I am misremembering).

Hmmm... I thought Randy Dufault said that a speaker giving one session
paid the regular volunteer registration fee, and that they would need to
give 5 sessions to get complementary registration?

At any rate, this doesn't solve the problem. Even if I decided to come
for one day, and give 5 sessions on that day, I'd still have to pay my
own airfare, two nights in a hotel (most likely), and other incidentals.
You've saved me some cost... maybe $500? Because I didn't have to
stay as many nights in the hotel... but really not much else.

This deal makes sense to someone giving one or two sessions, but not to
someone like myself who (in Reno) gave 10.

Of course we don't want to impact anyone, but we just can't afford
to. We could continue as we have and simply close up shop next year
(if we made it that far), but we desperately want our legacy to
continue past these bad times.

I completely understand that.

And you are doing the right thing as far as reducing the number of
session rooms, reducing the number of CUDS, reducing the number of days
of the conference, reducing the number of days of the expo.

That's supply and demand... if you don't have the demand, reduce the
supply.

I don't mind any of the cuts that COMMON is making, except one. And it
was mentioned almost as an afterthought at MOM -- the one that bothers
me is the one where you stop providing reimbursement after the
conference registration is covered.

I don't mind having to give 5 sessions instead of 4 to get complementary
registation. Not a big deal. But when I earn 14 CCs (as I did in
Reno) I want to be reimbursed for my hotel & airfare.

If I only earn 10 CCs at the next conference, and I have to pay the
airfare myself, then that's okay. I'm doing less work, and my expenses
aren't that outrageous.

But blocking all expense reimbursement, (i.e. only covering
registration) leaves me in a position of having to pay thousands of
dollars, without necessarily reducing the amount of work I do.

I don't know how many others are in my position? I know Paris, Gantner,
Tuohy, Forsythe (if he returns) and myself are in a similar situation,
and are going to be hit very hard by this. I don't know how many others
would be? But, it seems to me that those may be the most expensive
speakers from COMMON's perspective, but they're also the most valuable
speakers in terms of drawing people to the conference.

And if it's really only a handful of people, is it really saving COMMON
enough money to justify the loss of some of the best sessions and other
work that these people do?

Suggestions are welcome. Sponsorship for speakers? Drawing on more
local volunteers? No clear cut answer, but we are listening. I
don't even know if I'll have a company to pay any of my expenses next
year, but I will do everything I can to go. It will be different for
sure, but not necessarily worse.

I don't know the solution either. If vendors are willing to help, god
bless them -- but I don't want to be beholden to them. I publish a
newsletter and am involved in a magazine that needs to sell ads to
everyone, I can't afford to be associated with a particular vendor.
Maybe you can do something like "The RPG course of study was sponsored
by VendorX, VendorY and VendorZ" where they don't sponsor individual
sessions, but do get extra advertising and credit for helping cover costs.

I'm sorry to hear of your own financial situation, and I do wish you all
the best.

I also wish COMMON all the best, even if there isn't a solution to the
problem, and I'm not able to attend anymore, I still wish it all the
best. COMMON is a fantastic organization... it's just that these new
policies really hit me hard.

I really appreciate you and the other BOD members listening to my plight.
--
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