One of my sources for news articles is Google News, and today it presented me with an interesting headline from Fox News: “Judges cancel California conference, but leave Maui getaway on the books“. Being someone who is closely involved with conferences, this caught my eye, and naturally I read it. The gist of the article was that a group of Federal judges pushed off a 2013 conference that was scheduled for Monterey, California to 2014 citing budget constraints, but still plan to go to a conference in Maui next month, at the same hotel they held the conference at in 2010. I haven’t looked at the comments on this, but I’m sure they are predictable, and I’m sure that most people don’t understand why this was done, and how the conference world works. Let me explain.
First, there’s a clear reason that they didn’t cancel this year’s conference, which was a month away. Penalties. Most hotel contracts have a cancellation penalty equal to the lost room revenue and food revenue. This would be a significant loss of funds. On the other hand, if they hold the conference (and presuming they budgeted correctly), they will likely make a nominal amount of money. As for the future conferences, they are far enough away that there would be no cancellation penalty.
So let’s talk about the conference costs. People talk about the cost of the muffins and such (truthfully, the best way to compare food costs is the cost of a gallon of coffee*, but I digress). If one does conferences correctly, the hotel rate is within the federal per-diem guidelines, and you pick a location that has reasonable travel costs. Often, this can be the big resorts. This is why locations such as Orlando, Las Vegas, and Maui are great — not because of their attractions and diversions, but because those attractions and diversions mean lower airfares and often better deals with hotels. Further, the hotels often provide the conference rooms to the conference for free. So where do the hotels make their money? On the food and beverage costs, which are captive expenses, and on audio-visual. This is usually built into the conference fee to cover.
(*: ETA: Credit for coffee as a measure of food cost comparison goes to Jeremy Epstein)
Next, let’s talk about why folks go to the conferences. First and foremost, these are not the “Shriners Conferences” of old (my dad went to those), which were just an excuse for a vacation or to get drunk. Professionals (lawyers, doctors, accountants, CISSPs) have requirements for continuing education — often required by the govt — and these conferences provide the way to get those CEU hours. If you look at a conference schedule, 6-8 hours of every day is filled with presentations, talks, and sessions. Yes, there are folks who skip the sessions, but that’s not the purpose of conference.
Are there social activities? Yes. Often, this provides the opportunities to do business networking, and they often occur after the 6-8 CEU hours for the day (or some days are longer to account for social activities). However, they should not be the emphasis of the conference… and perhaps this was this judges’ group’s mistake. Quoting from the article: “Sessions and Grassley, though, have voiced concern about the itinerary for the conference, which advertises an array of recreational activities, including sport fishing, golf, paddle-board lessons, yoga and Zumba.”
Still, I’m often convinced that the general public (and obviously, the Senate) does not understand how the typical professional conference works (I say this as someone who has been involved in running and organizing conferences since 1981).
