All –
To kick off the discussion, I’d like to first point out that in the past we have used a ‘regular’ meeting fee structure of approximately $400/$600/$800 USD for 802 plenary meetings. This was based on smoothing the meeting expense across
multiple meetings – a practice afforded by our keeping a relatively large reserve, and a relatively low chance of paying a meeting cancellation fee.
With the onset of the pandemic, our Executive Secretary has been extremely successful in avoiding meeting cancellation fees. In many cases this has resulted in deposits held by venues for future meetings, which, in conjunction with continued
operating expenses, has drained the 802 bank balance to approximately $545,000, an amount less than the operating expenses of a single meeting.
As a result, we need to set an amount for a single meeting much more closely tied to the actual expenses, especially in the face of continued uncertainty.
As announced, the March 2022 meeting will incur a significant cancellation fee, and the anticipated total expense of the meeting (includes cancellation fee and electronic meeting administration expenses) will be about $300,000. Over
an expected number of 700 paid registrants (our usual budgeting number), this would warrant an average income of about $430 per registrant. (Note that the average is usually much closer to the ‘early bird’ fee than the ‘regular’ fee)
The pandemic has already gone on longer than expected, and given the continued uncertainty, it would not be prudent to expect to amortize this fee across multiple meetings. Note that should we have to cancel the July meeting, we are contractually
obligated to significant cancellation fees for it.
Based on the anticipated cost for March 2022, I would propose and support we revise the registration fee for the March 2022 802 plenary at $400/$600/$800 with the same transition dates as previously announced ($400 until Jan 28, 2022;
then $600 until Feb 25, 2022, and $800 after Feb 25, 2022).
-george
George Zimmerman
IEEE 802 LMSC Treasurer