I have no problem with speakers getting in free. Speakers may or may not be active in the community and if you want to continue to draw quality speakers this is truly the least the community can do. Many conferences will pick up travel costs, or even token 'gifts' for speakers. As for committee members I have no problem with them getting in free. Unless you have 50-60 free attendees at a conference I don't expect its going to cause financial hardship on the org. If a members company is willing to pay anyway, then people always have the option of not accepting the free entrance. As for people 'hardship' cases, how ever you want to define it, there is no revenue loss here as they would be unlikely so spend $ to attend anyway if they had to pay. -jim On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 12:19 PM, Jorge Amodio <jmamodio@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree that only those organizing or with a real need of financial support (folks from developing countries or from non-profit orgs or some students without substantial resources) could have their admission fee waived or reduced, all the rest MUST pay, even if you give a talk or serve in other capacity.
As others said you are doing a "public service" to the rest of the community and if you give a nice and valuable talk you will get the recognition of the NANOG community and your colleagues, and we can put into consideration including a gold star sticker for your service.
It will be really unfair for those paying (even if their companies do it for them or don't care because they have a mountain of cash) if there is a special benefit for some so they don't pay.
My .02 -J