[Chapter-delegates] Global INET Investment

[Veni Markovski]

Ted, and all,
This sounds really good, except the fact that the Chapter workshop seems 
designed in a way not to allow chapter members, and members of the 
chapters' board of directors to participate.
Certainly, we could have one representative from each chapter there, but 
with one reminder: these people are not necessarily the representatives 
of the chapters. In the case of Bulgaria, the person who got the grant 
happens to be a member of the Board, but that's probably an exception.
It would have been much better for ISOC to allow all chapters' officers 
to participate for free at the chapter workshop and the INET.
I am still bewildered at the participation fee for an event, which has 
no program, and no speakers announced. You say it will be an 
"extraordinary" event, but the only extraordinary thing so far is the 
fee for members, which is much lower than for anyone else, and since 
membership is free, it makes it even more extraordinary.
And since you say that even if the event is 100 % sold out, the 
registration fee will cover only a fraction of the price, I am even more 
astonished. If that's the case (a fraction), then what's the point in 
having a fee? After all, ISOC.org has tens of millions of dollars budget 
every year, and it can't spend it all... what a better expense than 
covering an event, and opening it for the broader public - the same way 
the IGF is organized!?

Best,
Veni

On 1/13/2012 17:24, Ted Mooney wrote:
>
> Dear Chapter Delegates,
>
> There has been some discussion via this list around registration 
> pricing for members and chapter officers wishing to attend the Global 
> INET.  Let me take a few sentences to review our thought process and 
> opportunities for chapter members to attend.
>
> Because we believe this will be an extraordinary event, we wanted the 
> registration to be:
>
>   * Better than market for similar events
>   * Reflective of the value of the event
>   * Affordable by a high percentage of those who want to participate
>   * An opportunity to our members and to students
>
> We readily undertook a pricing model that even if the event was 100% 
> sold out, that would still only cover a fraction of the event costs.
>
> In addition, all of you are aware that a Global Chapter workshop is 
> planned.  For this workshop we are offering a travel fellow from every 
> chapter which includes roundtrip airfare, room and board for the five 
> days of Chapter workshop and INET and free admission to the 
> conference, so long as the Travel Fellow applicant is considered a 
> Young Leader and hasn't been to an INET in the past 12 months.  We 
> expect there will be 100 such travel fellows.  This represents a 
> significant investment in our chapters for this event in addition to 
> our other investments for chapter support, such as the community 
> grants program, the development of chapter dashboards, and further 
> development of the Internet Society chapter membership management 
> platform and chapter guidebook.
>
> Also, and as in the past, where there is the possibility of two people 
> traveling, one a Travel fellowship recipient, the other not, both 
> parties may share the same room and ISOC will incur any additional 
> room charges for the length of the Workshop and INET.
>
> With this solid investment in the future of the Internet for Everyone 
> and the Internet Society as a whole, we believe that the current 
> registration pricing for the global INET is very fair and provides all 
> constituents the best opportunity of participation and value while 
> making a minimum contribution to support the significant costs.
>
> I hope this is helpful and that I will see you at the Global INET.
>
> Ted
>
> Ted Mooney
>
> Sr. Director, Membership & Services
>
> The Internet Society
>
> www.isoc.org <http://www.isoc.org>
>
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