Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!P.CS.UIUC.EDU!gillies From: gillies@P.CS.UIUC.EDU Newsgroups: comp.theory Subject: Re: Splitting FOCS Message-ID: <9005251846.AA04325@irt.watson.ibm.com> Date: 25 May 90 18:46:07 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: gillies%p.cs.uiuc.edu@VM1.NoDak.EDU Lines: 22 > I have a problem with *that*! The AMS (to which I also belong) > makes much more of an effort to hold down the costs of attending > their conferences. (They often hold them at college campuses, > and also include some weekend days, presumably so that those > attending can get cheap airfares.) It is surprising the way computer scientists can throw their conference money around. Recently, the 4th Annual Conference on Computational Geometry was held on this campus. All the lectures were given in the campus performing arts center. The cost of registration was over $200, and many mathematicians from the U of Illinois chose not to attend because of the high registration cost. It seems most math conferences cost $100 to register, at the very most. The funding glut in C.S. may not last forever. Adding a 3rd conference to FOCS and STOC, now that there is already SODA held in San Francisco, seems like a great waste of money and/or travel time. I don't believe in splitting a communication forum until until you have tried all other available means to handle the traffic (i.e. parallel sessions).