All:
The Society for Historical Archaeology is a professional organization and its conference meets professional needs...it isn't designed, nor should it be designed, to accommodate a broader spectrum of participants, although none are excluded.
The Society and many individual members have gone to great lengths to increase accessibility for students.
Compared to what many professional organizations (e.g., AMA, ABA) charge for membership and conference registration, SHA and SAA are laughably cheap.
Conrad: if the costs irk you, feel free to join future organizing committees and lend a hand: good luck finding a conference hotel that can accommodate over a thousand participants and 700 papers for $50 per registrant.
Let me also remind all that SHA and SAA are remarkably democratic: virtually anyone who wants to present a paper can. Most organizations jury paper proposals, virtually excluded young professionals from sharing their work. But that appraoch comes at the cost of needing many meeting rooms rather than one or two ballrooms.
Now, can we please get back to discussing archaeology and abandon this thread?
Jim
James G. Gibb
Gibb Archaeological Consulting
2554 Carrollton Road
Annapolis, Maryland USA ?? 21403
443.482.9593 (Land) 410.693.3847 (Cell)
www.gibbarchaeology.org ? www.porttobacco.blogspot.com
On 01/17/12, Elizabeth Davoli<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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)
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