[TYPES] Why are ACM conference registrations so expensive now?

[Neel Krishnaswami]

Hi Adam,

I don't think there is any easy way to avoid the complexity of online 
presentations. Our conferences are usually in America or Europe, and it 
can be very difficult to get visas in a timely way for people from 
countries like Brazil or India. So if we want them to be able to both 
present and answer audience questions, then we need some kind of live 
connection.

Best,
Neel

On 14/12/2023 15:39, Adam Chlipala wrote:
> [ The Types Forum, 
> http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list ]
>
> On 12/14/23 6:52 AM, Gabriel Scherer wrote:
>> 1. Ensure that an online attendance option remains available in the 
>> future
>> for cheap. ICFP'23 had free online attendance through Youtube, will this
>> option remain available in the future? Will it possible to follow the
>> POPL'24 talks remotely for free and ask questions? Will speakers be 
>> allowed
>> to talk remotely if necessary, at no cost?
>>    (This is important for our colleagues that cannot afford the plane 
>> in the
>> first place, and for people who wish to reduce travel.)
>
> I don't know if I'm the odd one out, but I just want to add a 
> dissenting voice here: I think it's far from clear that "online 
> attendance" is valuable enough to justify the cost of complex 
> technical flows.  I'm used to telling my students that the point of 
> the conference is the hallway track, not watching talks.  I'd suggest 
> to people who can't make the conference to read papers (or prefixes 
> thereof) instead of watching videos.  Videos produced by authors on 
> their own time could also work a lot better than conflating the 
> physical conference with the opportunity to record videos.
>
> In other words, suggesting that people watch more online videos, in a 
> world where online videos are already providing so much distraction 
> from "real work" or just going for a walk outside, may make a net 
> negative impact on the world, at the same as our conferences are 
> applying significant financial cost and volunteer effort to provide 
> what may actually be a net negative.  The cost-benefit analysis could 
> work out if we really fine-tune the technical flow and don't spend 
> (almost?) hours per conference delaying sessions to fix AV issues, but 
> at least until we get there....