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[8bits]

I'm delivering a paper at what I guess is a fairly large, legitimate conference.  The registration fee for authors is over $700; is that normal?  I'm primarily in a completely different discipline in arts and humanities, so I don't know from scientific conferences.  :)

My understanding is that authors often get support from their departments or institutions.  In my case, not so much - my institution doesn't know from scientific conferences either.  So, I'm wondering what the common practices are in science and engineering.  Should I continue to try and make the case for support with my Dean?  Or is this conference actually some kind of scam? 

[conjugate]

That's pretty huge.  I might see if the conference has a discount available, or whether most presenters are being funded by a grant.  I've usually seen less than $300 for the conferences I go to (in Math).

[daniel_von_flanagan]

This seems high to me, though this is field-specific.  For example, some biomedical conferences are close to this, as they assume the NIH is funding your talk, but even the annual Neuroscience Society conference is only around $500 for nonmembers (half that for members). The other thing that comes to mind is that it might not in fact be a legitimate conference - for-profit vanity conferences (cousins to the Oxford Round table) are not uncommon in the sciences. - DvF

[sir_lancelot]

My last conferences were around $500. $700 is on the higher side but definitely not that unusual. It would depend on a lot of things including:

Is it a good and important conference?
Is it in an expensive place so that accomodation and/or travel would also be more than normal?
Is anything included in the price? Some conferences include meals, some even meals and accomodation?

We usually pay conferences from grants. Occasionally, there is some support from the university or from a travel grant but that's more for junior people who don't have research grants yet. Some confernces also offer travel grants, mostly for students and postdocs, sometimes for junior faculty. Sometimes the symposium organizer has some monies available.

[polly_mer]

I agree that $700 is on the high side, but I've paid more for legitimate conferences, particularly if they are international societies that have very small annual dues and this is the biennial or quadrennial meeting.  I've also paid that much for conferences where meals and housing were included.

Yes, generally conferences are not out-of-pocket expenses for the scientists, but are paid by the institution or from grants.  Try the "it's good publicity for the school for me to present at this conference" argument on your dean.

Oh, and yes, check on legitimacy through societies or past programs.  On price alone, $700 is no problem.  Accepting a paper from someone who isn't a scientist is a little more unusual.  I can think of cases where it's fine because of a special panel on X as it relates to the field or the sponsoring society has a policy of everyone who submits an abstract presents somewhere even if it is the miscellaneous session.  On the other hand, it could be an ORT in the making.

[onestep]

If you're in just for the presentation, you might be able to get a one-day pass for a reduced rate -- I think my annual conference has a one-day pass that's only 33% of the full ticket.  Also, if you're presenting as part of a specific section within the conference, ask the section organizers if they have a free one-day pass.  The free passes are seldom advertised (for good reason), but they might be available, particularly if you were invited by the section.  As a section organizer, I used to get 1-3 freebies to give out per year.