To bring it closer to home - we give our presenters a free admission - should we also stop that?
i am ambivalent. i think there is some sort of untested assumption that this attracts an otherwise unattracted resources we need.
otoh, committees seem to attract flies. i will not comment on their quality.
From personal experience-- volunteering through committee work is fairly easy when NANOG is an important focus for the employer/employing group. It is very very difficult if one's management has no interest in NANOG or its
Flies, ouch. Or maybe gadflies? ;-) products. For most of the time I was on the PC, I was also a full-time student, and needed the help of student pricing to fulfill my commitment to the community. Even with student pricing, however, travel and hotels each year would run into the thousands. Given a choice between supporting NANOG, or taking those thousands and increasing my support to my parents... once my term was up, the parents won. For all the griping and moaning that goes on, I do think that valuable work goes on at NANOG. I just can't afford to participate on an individual basis. That may or may not be a loss to the community. ;-) _kobi