ISLS Annual Meeting 2023: What do your registration fees pay for?
ISLS 2023 is on the horizon and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is excited to host ISLS members from around the globe in Montréal, Canada. The five days of the annual meeting promise to engage members with an exciting array of innovative research from a plurality of perspectives and methodologies. There will be planned social events and opportunities for participants to mingle and network.
Planning for such a complex meeting, with its dual conference programs, entails substantial time, funds, and effort. In this communication we wish to provide a glimpse “under the hood” of these efforts to increase transparency and appreciation of the costs involved in organizing such an event.
The anticipated overall costs for ISLS 2023 are approximately $172,000 USD. The bulk of expenditures — over 50% — cover LOC Hosting. This includes costs of managing the in-person spaces and ensuring that the conference sites are welcoming and accessible for the duration of the conference. Ensuring the smooth operation of all human resource and technology aspects during the conference entails substantial person power. Therefore, approximately 41% of the budget goes to compensating the personnel who manage local operations, the website and registration, online sessions (including recording and uploading), etc. In addition, keynote speakers are provided with honoraria. Expenditures constituting the remaining costs (web services) include the following: 1) Software and applications that support submissions, presentations, registration system, social interactions (online); and 2) Conference proceedings and other materials (e.g., logo and opening video, and the planned cultural performances (materials). Below is a breakdown of the major categories of expenditures for the annual meeting:
