Why You didn't Come to the Conference

[Dave Parker]

Geez Dave you could have drove up to Calgary and flew for under $400CAD return, tax in!

Eric,

I actually did look at that option, it was still a minimum of 8 hours driving and 500 miles round trip, so did not offer much of a savings...

Dave

 

[photomc]

Too Funny Clay...but I think that #1 would have to be .......

1. Everyone signed up was on my ignore list.

This is too much fun to ignore. Why didn't I go? Hmmmmm..

#10 Couldn't find my keys
#9 Canada, where is that?
#8 Couldn't find my digital point and shoot
#7 Made too many enemies in APUG already
#6 Left the cardboard box I intended to sleep in out in the rain
#5 Heard temperature would drop below 70 degrees
#4 No pollution, how do you expect me to breathe normally?
#3 No clean underwear
#2 Had appointment to get my back waxed
#1 Too close to a likely ovulation date

 

[Ed Sukach]

Why I did NOt attend?

I had planned to been there. It would have taken calling in some past favors to get people to replace me in some of my commitments, bending both my, and my wife's schedule (I definitely would want her with me), and some degree of additional planning. Most of that had been done ... when my dedication to APUG was severely impacted by a few (actually more than a few) *vicious insults*.
I was told to "get over it" -- and chided for "being a baby". Maybe so, but I do NOT appreciate being told to "stand still during excoriation". The presence of one member there, in particular, would cause me to decline an invitation to a local "cocktail party", under any circumstances. That influenced my determination to travel 500 or so miles to Toronto (I've done that a number of times before - so travel itself was no problem there) - to attend THAT "cocktail party".

Feel free to judge me negatively for that attitude. That is you choice so to do. My choice was to avoid a confrontation ... and not attend.

You DID ask for the truth, didn't you?

 

[Eric Rose]

Eric,

I actually did look at that option, it was still a minimum of 8 hours driving and 500 miles round trip, so did not offer much of a savings...

Dave

BABY!! LOL. You must drive really slow ...........

 

[Lee Shively]

Conference? What conference? Somebody have a conference?

No matter. If it wasn't on my back porch, I wouldn't have the time or money to attend.

 

[naturephoto1]

Being new to APUG (only about 1 month) at the time, I did not feel quite at home yet, was unable to schedule, or afford the conference. Hopefully, I will be able to attend the next one.

Rich

 

[Dave Parker]

BABY!! LOL. You must drive really slow ...........

No, I don't drive slow, I drive the speed limit, there is no flexability on this point with me........

Plain and simple, the feasability study did not show more benefit than negative for me..

Dave

 

[BWGirl]

Why I did NOt attend?

I had planned to been there. It would have taken calling in some past favors to get people to replace me in some of my commitments, bending both my, and my wife's schedule (I definitely would want her with me), and some degree of additional planning. Most of that had been done ... when my dedication to APUG was severely impacted by a few (actually more than a few) *vicious insults*.
I was told to "get over it" -- and chided for "being a baby". Maybe so, but I do NOT appreciate being told to "stand still during excoriation". The presence of one member there, in particular, would cause me to decline an invitation to a local "cocktail party", under any circumstances. That influenced my determination to travel 500 or so miles to Toronto (I've done that a number of times before - so travel itself was no problem there) - to attend THAT "cocktail party".

Feel free to judge me negatively for that attitude. That is you choice so to do. My choice was to avoid a confrontation ... and not attend.

You DID ask for the truth, didn't you?

Geez, Ed, you coulda come & hung out with me! I'm nice!

 

[firecracker]

Here is how I see the DVD at first blush.

There are 12000 members and how many will buy a DVD? There are 12000 members and how many came?

If participation in both can be assumed to be equal that would be 100 DVDs sold. At @ 50 each that is 5k and would cover rentals (sound equipment, lights and Cameras) with maybe enough left over to hire 6 - 8 AV students to do the recording (2 camera operators and 2 sound guys and a couple of grips and lighting folk). It can not be done with any assurance of even minimal quality with a home DV camera and on camera sound and our volunteers would be needed for the main event.

Additionally the post production editing and menu creation would be intensive and it would need to be done on a volunteer basis. This is not a job for Shareware or the DVD software that came with your burner.

We might need to get waivers from the attendees and at this price the instructors would need to give up their workshops for free.

As mentioned some workshops would not benefit from a video recording and others (like street photography) might be ruined by the intrusion.

I would think the DVD would need to be at least $100 per if anticipated sales were to be 100 units. This way we would be able to pay for the unforeseen and give the instructors payment. This might allow for the post production person to get a small check as well.

We could possibly sell the DVD for 50.00 If we could be assured of selling more than 100, say twice that, and if we have no qualms about asking the post production person to work for free.

I agree. To make a conference video, you need a crew dedicated to that. However, it can be made with the high-end consumer video cameras (3CCD on mini DV) with a non-linear video editing system like Final Cut Pro (or AVID) that I'm sure some students would love to get involved.

I remember a couple of graduate students doing that kind of work for their department of... well, not photography or film but anthroplogy back in college. It's a matter of how to get get the locals involved and rent their equipment at the minimum cost. The quality may suffer a bit, but can be done.

Or if the aim is to make video of a workshop like a typical "how-to" instructional video, that goes up in the scale of labor and cost. It's easier to hire some production company with an industrial package. This is necessary to be able to sell the finished product on DVD copies or charge for vewing the video streaming.

Maybe for an online option, ask the viewers to pay for additional annual fee or pure donation to APUG. Something that they don't have to pay each time they open the video file.

If the recording of the workshop is problematic, then do it on some other occasion but still make it available through APUG. Basically whoever wants to give a lecture on DVD or online, they can, if they can agree on the contract and all the techinical issues are solved.

This goes beyond the conference video but will benefit many of us as members/subscribers and generate profit for the instructor(s) and the site owner/Sean. Just don't let the students or any volunteers overwork and kill themselves in the process!

 

[Allen Friday]

My daughter graduated from college that week end. Also, I am going to the view camera conference in June. Two conferences in that short of period? The wife would not be happy.

 

[Andy K]

Didn't have a spare £1200 for flights, accommodation etc.

 

[anyte]

For the record: I'm a single parent with anxiety issues. I could say that I didn't attend because I can't afford it but the truth is that I wouldn't have gone had a won the lottery and could afford a nanny and a personal jet. Maybe sometime in the future neither anxiety nor finances will be a problem.

 

[firecracker]

I keep posting comments here maybe because I'm dying to travel.

But one thing that just came to my mind is that the season for the event. Right now(late spring to early summer) air fare is not low, and towards the summer until the late fall it only goes up and stays high. But in the winter months, after the holiday season, there is usually a dead spot between the end of January to early March. Why not do it then?

I mean, the first half of Feburary is the best bet, the cheapest on air travel, lodging, etc. The rates are so low, and the tourist businesses are usually dying to have more customers. So that will benefit the town as well.

The only thing to watch out is the snow.

 

[Andy K]

Good idea Firecracker, but many of us in February are still recovering from the financial blowout of Christmas

 

[JBrunner]

I was given a free trip to the UK, France, and Belgium. Otherwise, I would have been there. Next year, I intend to be there (Unless similar circumstances prevail!)

 

[firecracker]

Good idea Firecracker, but many of us in February are still recovering from the financial blowout of Christmas

True. When I visited Tronto back in 1998, that was right after the New Year's, so the city was so empty except for its Chinatown area.

But I rememeber when I used to live in the east coast in the U.S., my friends would frequently do a weekend gettaway to London in the winter time because it's around 300 USD for a round trip. I never did what they did, but that's the hottest month for traveling for them, too.

I know it depends on the country and airline, etc, but that's all I can think of to cut down the cost.

And you don't mind staying in hostels for 10 to 20 USD or Euro, again in winter, they are usually empty, so you could get a shared room of 5- 10 bankbeds all by yourself if you're lucky.

 

[jimgalli]

Bottom line $$$. I'm just a guy making wages. This is an expensive hobby. I evaluate very carefully where my photo $$ go and try to get the most bang for my buck. I allow myself one conference each year. Shooting the West in Winnemucca NV. 3 days $85. Gas, lodging at $32 / night. Food which I have to eat at home or not.

When the APUG conference takes a turn in Reno or Las Vegas, I'll crunch the numbers to see what the cost / return ratio looks like. But to travel by air to another country is way out of my price range. Sorry, didn't choose my parents well, and my kids have the same problem.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

Bottom line $$$. I'm just a guy making wages. This is an expensive hobby. I evaluate very carefully where my photo $$ go and try to get the most bang for my buck. I allow myself one conference each year. Shooting the West in Winnemucca NV. 3 days $85. Gas, lodging at $32 / night. Food which I have to eat at home or not.

When the APUG conference takes a turn in Reno or Las Vegas, I'll crunch the numbers to see what the cost / return ratio looks like. But to travel by air to another country is way out of my price range. Sorry, didn't choose my parents well, and my kids have the same problem.

And here we all thought that the little green men had fixed you up...

 

[brimc76]

I was really excited about the conference and when I found out that it was the weekend in May when Contact was on I thought that was a great time. My problem was that I was prepared to travel down for the workshops Saturday and Sunday and then realized that the ones that I wanted to take were all on Friday and I couldn't get time off work. I thought about coming in for the Thursday night but wouldn't have been able to get down before the doors were being closed. I will have to save a few vacation days if I am going to attend the next one so I will have time off during the week.

 

[Ian Grant]

Time, money and work schedule.

Also location, as in wrong continent althought a great North American location.

Ian

 

[John Bartley]

Someone wrote :

Too much the introvert to be comfortable at a big bash.

Yup, me too. It's a personal thing.

cheers

ps : It sounds like it was a grand time for those who like those sorts of affairs. I know how much work it would be and my hat is off to the organisers.

 

[glbeas]

Well, let's see. Money, timing-our wedding anniversary was that weekend, family-wound up having a wake for the stepkids dad who passed away a few day previous, lack of vacation time and money. I'd love to be at the next one, I get to visit with precious few Apuggers where I'm at.

 

[Ed Sukach]

Geez, Ed, you coulda come & hung out with me! I'm nice!

Had I known that before..!!!!.

I knew that you were really nice ... I've heard! I just did not know you would be there.

 

[bjorke]

It was on my calendar for months but in the end I was double-booked for another (academic) conference -- since I was on two different judging committees for that one, I was obliged to attend.

 

[frugal]

I suspect that the best workshops on video are produced for video, carefully thought out, storyboarded, scripted at least partially, well lit, edited with relevant closeups of techniques, before and after shots, etc. Having one or two guys with video cameras running during a workshop isn't likely to produce a product worth purchasing, though it might be a nice record of the event.

That's essentially my thinking as well but I'm not certain that things could be arranged in that fashion and still have the workshop useful/enjoyable for those attending in person. That said, I've never attended a workshop that was also being taped so this is purely speculation on my behalf.

Personally, I think that the primary goal should be to make the conference as good as possible for those who have made the effort and expense (both in time and money) to attend the conference in person. Certainly efforst should be made to make the event accessible to as many people as possible. It's also a good idea to look for things that can be offered to the rest of the APUG community who couldn't attend but I think that should be a secondary goal that should not interfere with the primary goal of making the conference as good as possible for those who do attend.