ALIA Board Blog

Well the answer is, it depends. And it depends on a lot of things. Some variables that immediately spring to mind are – target audience, venue, who’s running it, the level of sponsorship, speaker costs. I could go on but I won’t as the list would be very long.

So how do you compare conferences? Again, variables that immediately spring to mind are – cost, value for money, the conference dinner, whether you had a good time with your colleagues, what new things you’ve learned or that excite you. Again, there are multiple variables that need to be considered. In considering whether to attend a conference or not I imagine one of the first things considered by the majority of people, after subject matter, is cost.

With ALIA Access 2010 the Conference Organising Committee aimed to do things differently and more inclusively. Unfortunately, differently and more inclusively doesn’t necessarily equate to more cheaply, nor does it necessarily equate to more expensively. While ALIA Access 2010 isn’t the traditional biennial conference, its organisation nevertheless is on the same dimension and similar scale. It is a sizeable, complex event that needs to be organised and run efficiently and profitably so that the returns can be invested in supporting the activities of the Association. Those who work for me can attest to the Scottish blood flowing through my veins, so I can assure you we have attempted to make this conference as cost effective as possible and that the budget is closely monitored.

For this conference we have a target of 450 delegates and to turn a profit of $50,000. The total budget for the Conference, including the profit, is in the vicinity of  $500,000. By way of comparison the ALIA Biennial Conference operates with  significantly larger profits, delegate numbers and overall budget.

Costs are fixed or variable and fall into five main categories – Venue, Marketing, Organisation and Administration (including IT and AV), Food and Profit.  There are two revenue streams – Registrations and Sponsorship and Trade Displays. Assuming we reach our target of 450 delegates the following tells the story of our expenses and revenue streams.

Expenses

• Marketing - 6%
• Venue - 30%
• Organisation and Administration - 30%
  (includes IT and AV)
• Food - 24%
• Profit - 10%

Revenue

• Registrations - 71%
• Sponsorship and trade exhibits 29%

Yes we could do things cheaper, but it gets to a point where for every saving made there is potentially an equal or greater tangible and/or intangible cost.

The proposed registration difference for non-members is $300 which is greater than the cost of one year’s membership of ALIA. If we really want to maximise the profit that we plough back into the Association for the benefit of members we all should encourage as many non-members as possible to attend!

So now you have an overview of the budget and costs associated with running ALIA Access 2010.

I’m aware that some people are comparing the cost of attending ALIA Access 2010 with the cost of attending IFLA in Gothenburg. IFLA is a five day conference (including a tour day for most delegates) with a registration fee of approximately $620. What is often not realised is that IFLA doesn’t include meals and that it receives a very generous subsidy from the host city or country. (Think of our budget, double it, and add a bit more) I’m afraid that in Australia unless it’s for something like a major sporting event, obtaining similar levels of government support is very difficult.

In essence, the decision to attend a conference is based on weighing up cost and benefits for the individual or the organisation at a given point in time. Comparing conference isn’t like comparing apples, its more like comparing oranges and lemons or rather oranges, lemons, grapefruit  and all the other members of the citrus family.

We seek your support to register for the conference. Registration opens on 1 April and the Early Bird rate will end on 7 July. Over the next little while we’ll be providing tips for you to convince your manager and some information on the tax deductibility nature of the conference.

I look forward to meeting you at ALIA Access 2010.

Graham

Graham Black, ALIA Access 2010 Conference Convenor

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 7:21 am and is filed under ALIA events, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.