Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!watcgl!ksbooth
From: ksbooth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Kelly Booth)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: SIGGRAPH pet peeves
Message-ID: <11342@watcgl.waterloo.edu>
Date: 31 Aug 89 13:39:26 GMT
References: <4400038@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <4400041@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: ksbooth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Kelly Booth)
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 40
Bcc: /u/ksbooth/siggraph/peeves

In article <4400041@m.cs.uiuc.edu> shirley@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>Let me get this straight-- in the SIGGRAPH '89 registration process, I had
>option to get a set of course notes, technical slides, art show slides,
>stereo slides, t-shirt, polo shirt, visor, baseball cap, mug, calender,
>and mouse pad.  I personally would be willing to sacrafice the choice
>between the visor and baseball cap, if I could instead choose to
>forego the receptions (list price $40 each).  Since there are already
>tickets, this doesn't seem so tough to me.  I can see why the lunches
>are harder, so why not unbundle the receptions?

There are some differences here.  Most of the "merchandise" items are either
stocked for subsequent sale by the ACM Order department (proceedings,
slides sets, videos -- but not the course notes for reasons discussed here
a number of times before) or they are expected to sell out at the conference.
In either case, the financial exposure is relatively small (SIGGRAPH eventually
sells all of the major merchandise items and often sells out all of the
minor items on site).

Receptions and lunches are a different matter.  Decisions on booking rooms
for these events, busing, and catering orders all involve commitments that
can be quite expensive to back out of.  Given that roughly half of the
registration is on-site, the lead time isn't there to make guesses.  This
is the financial end of things.

Logistically, course lunches have traditionally been bundled because in
some cities (Detroit and Dallas come to mind immediately) there simply are
not enough places for a couple of thousand people to grab lunch all at the
same time (unless you count hot dogs purchased from the same caterers who
supply lunch, at about the same jacked up prices).

Socially, the decision to bundle lunches and receptions is an attempt to
ensure that attendees have some opportunity and incentive to spend time
talking to other attendees.  When the conference was smaller, the activities
served also as a good opportunity to meet the course and technical speakers,
but in the last few years it has become less so.  The question of bundling
or unbundling these events is discussed on a regular basis.  In the end,
only one of the two options can be offered.  The current thinking is that
bundling serves the best interests of the technical community, even though
it is well known that particular individuals may or may not benefit from
or like the bundling.