Some thoughts about costs...

Theodore Ts'o tytso at mit.edu
Sun Jul 30 00:27:29 EDT 2006


Some folks were asking about costs, and while I don't have full set of
numbers, the following rough estimates (in USD) may be helpful:

$11K rental of convention center (note: this includes a $7k discount for
	being a repeat customer)
$3K     A-V for 2 days
$13K    2 days worth of  cont.break/coffee breaks (bev food in a.m. and
		p.m.) plus 2 lunches

Note: wireless/connectivity is provided by OLS (so if we host the LK
somewhere else wireless access will be necessary --- and no, using chip
Linksys AP's generally don't work all that well).

Other things which are paid for by the monies we get from the sponsors
include the travel scholarships, the Monday evening dinner, the
time/expense of Cat to help with the logistics and the registration web
site, the sponsorship gifts, etc.   

Matthew's quote of 70 UKP/day for a meeting room, accomodation,
breakfast, morning, and coffee sounds very attractive.  That converts
over to $126 USD/day, which while more than Les Suites, is not
outrageous.  And when you consider that it includes rental of the
meeting room (although it would be nice to make sure we get at least two
extra BOF rooms, and plenty of hallway space for mixing in between
sessions), which normally get paid centrally by sponsorship dollars, it
is quite a deal.  Of course, we also have to add to that the cost of A/V
(rental of screens, video projectors, microphones and speakers, etc.)
and lunch, but it might be possible to subsidize a portion of the cost
paid by the attendees so they are paying no more than les suites rates
for "accomodation".   

Anyway, what I've heard so far from reading the mailing list archives
looks really exciting, so I'm wondering when it might be possible to get
more details at Jesus and possibly other colleges, and get a read on
what dates are available and what would be necessary to formally reserve
the dates?   If people need any kind of administrative help or need a
deposit to hold dates, I can ask Cat Allman from Usenix to provide
assistance; she's always been really great to work with.

Regards,

						- Ted




More information about the OperationCambridge mailing list