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[rebelgirl]

A regional conference in my field, which I attend almost every year, required chairs to submit complete program copy in mid-April . . . but here in mid-July, organizers still haven't posted the conference schedule on the website.  Conference is in November, so still plenty of time to make flight & hotel arrangements, but sheesh!  Past years, schedule was posted within six weeks.  I apologize for ranting, but I'm p.o.'d because the delay cost me the chance to apply for some travel funds left from the 08-09 budget . . . our admins won't accept an email confirmation that a paper or panel has been accepted--they want to see the program (evidently some arcane state rule).  I had emailed a conference organizer but got no answer about the time to posting--organizer said, sure, I'll email your admins.  No, big guy, the point here is they're not accepting emails as proof.  Now there are no travel funds at all for next year, so I get to pay it all myself.  So what's my question . . . how long, really, does it take to organize the schedule and get it up on the website?  I get that people are busy and that trying to balance a schedule so that related topics aren't scheduled simultaneously, etc., can be a headache (I've organized conference schedules a number of times, though not for this organization).  Still, over 3 months seems absurd. . . . Oh well.  Here's hoping they get the schedule together before I have to submit fall syllabi.  Would sure be nice to know whether I have to cancel a class to present.  *rant over*

[cranefly]

When you've organized a conference, feel free to revisit this thread!!
You wouldn't believe how many people pull out after being notified of acceptance, etc.

[rebelgirl]

When you've organized a conference, feel free to revisit this thread!!
You wouldn't believe how many people pull out after being notified of acceptance, etc.

I have.  See my OP. 

Sorry for the snark.  Just feelin' snarky today, I guess.

I came, I saw, I snarked.

[fiona]

These problems, with timing and notification and postings, are getting worse in all fields.

It has to do with fewer people doing the work, mostly as overworked volunteers, and of course the instability of the economy and funding.

A recent conference that usually has 400 in attendance had only 140. Many of the others pulled out at the last minute, and the organization lost money on the meeting.

One thing we can all do is to commit money (whether our own or someone else's) at the moment something is accepted. I've always felt that pulling out at the last minute is unprofessional, but I'm an ole fart.

The Fiona

[southerntransplant]

I can emphathize. I can say from experience, having put together the entire schedule for a major weeklong conference in a city 2000 miles away from my own, that it was a pain in the a$$. It took me a couple of months to put the schedule together because every Dr. Big Name wanted a particular slot, never mind that their topics would not fit in with the sessions scheduled the day of their desired slot. And nobody wanted a Friday session.

And that was two months from the day the last abstract was accepted, which was a month after the last abstract dribbled in from Dr. Big Name who wanted to attend because it happen to match the graduation date of a large nearby university and so he could see his snowflake graduate for free.

And this was already on top of my other duties (i.e. my job).

And then once the schedule was put on the web, along came the Requests. I remember the Week of Requests. I wished for both bullet and handgun that week. And after the Week of Requests came the Month of Shuffling, followed by the Week of Finding Session Chairs.

So while I understand how frustrating the inopportune lack of response is, there's probably at least one person more unhappy than you are, and that person is probably staring into an Excel spreadsheet, wishing for something strong to drink and something soft to hit.

[rebelgirl]

Thanks, southern_transplant and fiona.  I realize it can take time to handle people's special requests (as said in my op, I've organized conferences before--though Dr. Big Name who insisted on everyone accommodating his free trip to see his snowflake graduate is a new one on me! Sheesh).  It's just a real change for *this* organization, which in the past got the program out (whether in press or, later, on the website) within 6 weeks. 

Fiona, I share your concerns about our professional organizations and genuinely want to support this one.  I'll go to this conference, but since I now have to use personal leave to attend, I need to see when my session is before I can register (I don't get a lot of personal days and may need to use some for, well, personal things).  But not everyone is going to be able to work around the ways travel money is drying up, more and more as we speak, so the organization's delay is going to cost them in lost registrations. 

[new_bus_prof]

9 month advance submission date
4 months to notify if accepted
Conference schedule released 1 month before conference

[fiona]

9 month advance submission date
4 months to notify if accepted
Conference schedule released 1 month before conference

This has tremendous variation, according to which field is involved. Maybe you're describing an ideal, but I don't belong to any organization that has a 9-month advance submission date, nor a 4-month notification one. All of them are much closer, in part because of travel money uncertainty.

The Fiona

[msparticularity]

9 month advance submission date
4 months to notify if accepted
Conference schedule released 1 month before conference

This is very close to what I deal with, also, for AERA. This year the originally-announced submission date was July 15 (which they extended to July 22 when no one submitted). They are supposed to notify us on November 1, and the conference itself is not until April 30-May 4. And oh, yeah--they never manage to post the conference schedule until 4-5 weeks out, making it nearly impossible to plan for travel at a reasonable cost.

I get that it is an enormous event, and that there are lots of moving pieces to be accommodated. All of this makes me thing, though, that it's probably time to rethink the planning/scheduling process. At the moment it "works" a lot like centralized planning did in the old Soviet Union.