Despite interest I have been asked to discontinue this discussion by the 
list owner. This explains my cessation. It is regrettable as this is an 
important issue however, I must abide by the rule of the list owner. The 
status quo seems to be quite sacred indeed.
No more from me!

Thanks for all of the thoughts and comments.

Conrad

-----Original Message----- 
From: Elizabeth Davoli
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: SHA Conference Early Registration Ends Tomorrow

As a local, your primary expense would have been registration, correct?  No 
airfare, hotel stay, rental car, or taxi/shuttle fare as was paid by 
attendees from elsewhere within the U.S. or out of the country?  Would we be 
subjected to the same litany of complaints if SHA had met in California 
rather than Baltimore?


On Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:37:55 -0500, sent <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>When accessibility becomes problematic for the average man in the street
>then perhaps growth needs to be addressed by re design such that
>accessibility is restored. I am familiar with conferences big and small. I
>have presented papers at most of them. I have never seen prices so
>unaffordable. While I think that an international meeting is ok I am not
>sure it serves the need for regular, relativly local accessible
>conferences-are we looking for exchange of information or fun for jet
>setters?
>
>I appreciate all the work. I have volunteered for these things.
>
>Remember always that the basic needs of information exchange can be very
>minimal. They are not currently. Work back from there.
>
>Conrad
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Nichole Sorensen Mutchie
>Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 9:34 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: SHA Conference Early Registration Ends Tomorrow
>
>As a member of the local conference committee for the 2012 conference, I'm
>going to give my two cents and hopefully put this conversation to rest.
>
>Conrad, it seems you are comparing the international SHA conference to a
>regional conference such as the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference
>where there is indeed a significant difference in price, venue, distance to
>travel, and the overall conference activities. Both are great conferences
>and organizations, but this is like comparing apples to oranges. First of
>all, SHA has grown by leaps and bounds, therefore a large convention space
>is needed to accommodate 1300 attendees. A "cut rate roadside motel" isn't
>going to cut it anymore. The "bags of junk" and many of the so called 
>frills
>were donated. Since you are local, there were many opportunities to
>volunteer before and the conference and you could have attended the entire
>conference for free. This year, we had many volunteers who were not
>students.
>
>Also, people do not write the conference off on their taxes, only if they
>make a monetary or silent auction donation. I'm not going to carry on any
>further but if you'd like to REALLY see what the cost, man hours, and 
>effort
>it takes is to put on a conference of this magnitude, join the local
>committee for the DC conference in 2016. If you want to discuss it further,
>contact the SHA business office at [log in to unmask] They set the prices of the
>conference.
>
>Nichole
>
>Nichole E. Sorensen-Mutchie, M.S, RPA
>Archaeologist
>Maryland State Highway Administration
>707 N. Calvert Street, CLL-4
>Baltimore, MD 21202
>410-545-8793 (phone)
>410-209-5046 (fax)