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What's with the poly conferences??
Aug. 23rd, 2007 06:51 pmBah.
So I just did a little looking around at the conferences that are within reasonable driving distance from Toronto.
-PolyLiving is in February in Philadelphia. It may not run again, but if it does, early reg is $155, latest reg is $205, and hotel rooms are $109.
-The PMM retreat in Vermont has a cap of 50 attendees, and costs $160 including food, and is kid-free.
-East Coast Loving More is near Albany NY. It costs a whopping $375-495/person including food (unclear based on their website what kind of lodging is or is not included...).
So apparently, to attend poly conferences you need to be rich. At least in this neighbourhood.
Maybe I expect too much. I'm spoiled with fan-cons like Arisia, where the price is about $50 to get in, and you can split your hotel room with a bunch of people to cut corners, or stay with a friend, or whatever. I guess even with Arisia the overall cost for an out-of-towner is likely to come to $100 + food... but that could still be very little. The only one of these cons that's even remotely similar in price is the PMM retreat... but because they put a cap on attendance, not very many are going to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. Plus I'm not sure that it has workshops, which Arisia very much does.
Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges, but I don't see, really, why a poly conference couldn't be run that way. I'd like to see it more accessible...
So I just did a little looking around at the conferences that are within reasonable driving distance from Toronto.
-PolyLiving is in February in Philadelphia. It may not run again, but if it does, early reg is $155, latest reg is $205, and hotel rooms are $109.
-The PMM retreat in Vermont has a cap of 50 attendees, and costs $160 including food, and is kid-free.
-East Coast Loving More is near Albany NY. It costs a whopping $375-495/person including food (unclear based on their website what kind of lodging is or is not included...).
So apparently, to attend poly conferences you need to be rich. At least in this neighbourhood.
Maybe I expect too much. I'm spoiled with fan-cons like Arisia, where the price is about $50 to get in, and you can split your hotel room with a bunch of people to cut corners, or stay with a friend, or whatever. I guess even with Arisia the overall cost for an out-of-towner is likely to come to $100 + food... but that could still be very little. The only one of these cons that's even remotely similar in price is the PMM retreat... but because they put a cap on attendance, not very many are going to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. Plus I'm not sure that it has workshops, which Arisia very much does.
Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges, but I don't see, really, why a poly conference couldn't be run that way. I'd like to see it more accessible...
