next »

[arthist030]

I'm a PhD student in the humanities and have done my best to participate in conferences, using the limited funds available.

I recently registered for a conference whose fees were 80 Euros (organization membership; 60 for students) and 70 Euros for the conference fee (35 for students).    I thought this was within the norm, but it still triggered a lengthy, acrimonious e-mail exchange among participants who thought the fee too high.


Now I've received registration information about a second conference whose participation fee is 200-220 Euros!   (No separate organization membership fee.)  No discounts for special categories.  This seems a bit high.  It's not even one of the main disciplinary organizations, although it seems like a respectable group.

Is this fee normal?!

[deleteplease]

Fees vary. I attend conferences in a few different fields in the humanities, and have
experienced $0 (invitational only), $50-100 (very small regional or sub-disciplinary meetings),
and $100-300 (major disciplinary or national/international conferences). If the higher fees include
meals and membership and/or room, I don't mind them too much -- although I actually prefer to get my own meals most days. There are a few conferences, including the major one for a specific discipline, which are notorious for high fees and high hotel costs used to get lots of free hotel rooms for board members (and the board members of all its subdivisions and caucuses and such) -- which I do find objectionable.

Many conferences do have bursaries for grad students, and your department may be willing to help you with funding (have you asked?)

Even if not pleasant for you, this doesn't seem out of line with most humanities conferences (others in other fields will no doubt chime in with their experiences).

[englitprof]

My experience has been much like meden's.  This year I will have attended three conferences.  I think the small, specialized subfield conference was $45, which, surprisingly for the low fee, also included a very nice hosted reception the first night.  This month I'll attend another small, but more prestigious conference, and the reg. fee is $85, with two receptions included.  The most expensive one will be $130, and it includes nothing beyond the rather lengthy and probably expensive to produce program.

None of these included membership fees, which were required for the $45 conference, so we should probably consider it $70 total.  The other two don't require membership.

[scheherazade]

220 Euros is $322 dollars.  That's on the high end of what meden describes, but it's still...the high end.  As is mentioned, it probably depends on what it includes.

[polly_mer]

I'm not in the humanities, but I have paid registration fees that range from $0 to $1000 to attend respectable conferences in my field.  The high priced ones tend to be recurring, but infrequent (every two to five years) without a specific society sponsoring them so they need to cover everything associated with the meeting.  Society-sponsored annual meetings tend to be cheaper (<$100) with paid membership in the society.

[englitprof]

My dad, who's in physics, routinely pays (well--his boss pays for him) $400-$500, with the occasional biggie like polly_mer describes.  This seems to be typical of the sciences.

[socsci]

I'm in the social sciences, and I can't recall a national or international meeting that cost as much as $200, with one exception of a biennial conference. There is, however, a new Global Studies Conference that charges more than $700, which I think is ridiculous (interthreadulity alert).

[dolljepopp]

We have one in my field that isn't so ridiculous, I guess -- about $125, if I remember correctly. But it is theoretically international, so they move it around between VERY expensive places for most people in the field to get to -- New York one year, San Francisco one year, New Zealand once, etc.

I am still usually appalled by academic conference fees. I'm been on the planning committees for several non-academic conventions both in the US and in Europe and the actual program fees have always been really modest -- less than fifty dollars/euros.

But that includes only admission to sit and listen to presenters.

[afacultymember]

It also depends on discipline. Those of us in fields that have both industry and academy conferences see a large difference between those two types of conferences. The academic components are usually a few hundred bucks. The industry conferences can be hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars in some cases.

It really just depends.

(BTW, I believe my friends in the medical field spend quite a bit more on their events).

[iomhaigh]

I cringe every time that I send my $250 to one of our national conferences (conference fees + membership).  Purportedly there is a coffee hour each morning; I've never physically found it, but I have seen people with coffee.  There is a one-drink per person cocktail party one night, too. 

Conversely, one of my favorite regional conferences runs something like $80 and we get two meals a day. 

Other conferences -- the ones that also attract industry people -- are much more expensive.

[acrimone]

Quoth the Scavenger Oracle’s loyal henchman:

OK, the boss is on break.  Here’s an easy one for you.  The second part of the cipher is what stumped the administrator when Vox had the search function blues, in the singular, not the plural.

Now quick, a far-off friend needs a doctor's help in balancing their work and life.  The Oracle will be there when you arrive.

[expatinuk]

Quite a lot of the industry conferences in my field have a low fee for academics. Well... low is relative. The regular fee may be $1000 and the academic fee $250.