Comped scribblers the bane of conferences

[Declan McCullagh]

Bill makes an excellent point. Journalists (especially at a place like
the PFF conference, where technical content is practically zero and
no news happens) are part of the attraction. Lobbyists and execs are
more likely to agree to grace the event with their presence if journalists
show up (CSPAN was there, as were probably 15 reporters). We're part
of the, um, attraction, I guess.

-Declan

On Sat, Aug 25, 2001 at 05:24:31PM -0700, Bill Stewart wrote:
> But PFF is also a Pundit-Con - it gets its value not only from the speakers
> and attendees but also from the reporters who attend, and they're as 
> important a
> part of the business expenses of the conference as booze and rubber chicken,
> and there'd probably be fewer paying attendees without them.
> Similarly, at PR-oriented computer conferences (Comdex et al.) that's the case,
> while at academic conferences (Crypto in Santa Barbara, for instance),
> they're not, and obviously at journalism-oriented conferences they're
> the target paying audience so they're not comped.
> 
> I suspect Tim's objection to paying high rates for conferences where
> journalists are comped is partly due to the content and style of the 
> conference...