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' I am entirely certain that twenty years from now we will look back at education as it is practiced in most schools today and wonder how we could tolerated anything so primitive.' John W Gardner
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Making Conferences More Affordable
I consider myself to be very lucky that my school sees value in sending me to conferences. After I attended NECC in San Antonio in 2008 I promised myself I would find a way to go as often as I could whether my district paid or not. I won’t be able to go every year, but due to circumstances at my school I am currently making plans to attend my third ISTE. I have watched as so many people have announced they will have to pass on ISTE (or other conferences) because it is too expensive. Many districts are not allowing travel outside of state which means if educators want to go then they are footing the bill. There are ways to reduce costs at these events. You just have to be patient and invest some time into looking into different ways to save.
This year I am renting a house for the week with five other people. Not only does it cut our cost way down, but we will have a gourmet kitchen and nice areas both indoors and out to just hang out and relax. (Like there is time for that!) It is also safer for us to stay in one place instead of being spread out at different hotels. Parking and wireless internet are also free at the house. Most downtown hotels charge at least $18 a night for parking and $15 for wifi. Even if a hotel is your only option sharing it with two or three other people is the way to go. Isn’t it worth sacrificing some privacy and comfort to save tons of money? Staying with strangers may not appeal to you, but many of the rooms in Denver are well over $200 per night. You do the math. Rooming with others might be the only way you can afford to go. (Hint: There will be people looking for roommates on the ISTE Ning soon. If there is not already a group dedicated to this then start one.)
Keeping an eye on the price of airline tickets might also help save money. Booking early does not always save money, but catching one on a great sale will save money.
These are just a few ideas to help you save money at conferences. What are some of your tips and tricks?
15 Responses to “Making Conferences More Affordable”
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Recent Visitors
November 10th, 2009 at 8:25 p
Our ISTE/SIGIVC is working to help…We plan on having several remote sites around the US to offer connection via IVC to attend the NECC/ISTE conference remotely..
We have done this as an experiment for the last 3 years and this year we will be rolling out the REAL DEAL.
More details to come but you will be able to attend Via video connection and stay at home if you do not have the funds to travel.
Details to come later…Stay Tuned
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Beth Still Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:30 p
What a great idea! If people have never participated in an interactive video conference then this would be a great time to do so. I am anxious to hear more details!
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November 11th, 2009 at 7:26 p
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Beth Still and Beth Still, Howie DiBlasi. Howie DiBlasi said: @bethstill Just posted a comment about REMOTE NECC for 2010. Attend NECC without the travel costs. http://bit.ly/1MGT5k [...]
November 11th, 2009 at 7:33 p
Another way to keep an eye on those flights is to follow some airlines or places where you can get tickets like @orbitz –> they’re always tweeting about great deals and discounts.
When I was little, my mom was an avid fan of buying groceries when we went on trips and making sandwiches instead of eating out! Saves a lot
-Elizabeth @SimpleK12
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Beth Still Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:35 p
Keeping an eye on ticket prices has never been easier. You can set up alerts on most airlines and travel sites to let you know when the ticket you want falls below a certain price. If driving is you only option then packing a cooler is a great idea. Smart to use it in your hotel room, too. Bottles of water at my hotel in San Antonio for NECC 2008 were $14 each!
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Elizabeth Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 3:41 p
OH my goodness, $14!?!?! That’s crazy. I didn’t know about the alert things though, thank you for that tip!
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Beth Still Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 4:22 p
It was at the Hotel Valencia. It was Voss water imported from Norway. It even had my name on a custom label. Very tempting to take it as a souvenir, but in the end common sense took over. Now way in hell I will pay that for a bottle of water!
November 11th, 2009 at 8:52 p
I wish they would do a live web feed and stream each session from the conference over the web as a view-only, that would be nice…
It would also be nice if they could figure out a way to use video conference technology to promote a wider audience. Perhaps offering the conference through video conference technology at several locations around the country?
They could charge a small fee to people who wanted to view from afar and rake in even more money than they would by only providing the conference to those who can show up in person…
If they really wanted to demonstrate how PLN’s work, they could also incorporate twitter, poll everywhere, and other web 2.0 technologies into the sessions to keep everyone who tunes into the conference sessions in the loop and promote collaboration…
That would save a boat-load of money for everyone and make a great conference available to a much wider audience!
We can’t attend out-of-state conferences either, so I’m always looking for ways to learn new strategies and grow professionally…
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CraigM Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 11:31 p
Cheryl, check out this blog posting and video from Dan Maas of Littleton Public schools about “Remote NECC 2009″.
http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/DISTRICTINFORMATION/GetInvolved/LPSBlogs/tabid/656/EntryId/338/A-video-for-Remote-NECC-at-LHS-2009.aspx
Cheers!
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November 11th, 2009 at 10:11 p
I’m sneaking in this comment between classes. I have lots more to say, but if you will read the comment from Howie DiBlasi it looks like there will be some streaming of different sessions. There are so many sessions going on simultaneously that it is impossible to catch even a fraction of the action in real time. Many of the sessions are archived and available on the ISTE website almost immediately.
I tried last summer to encourage people who were attending to share what was going on with someone in their PLN who could not attend using Skype or some other desktop conferencing program. The problem was that the internet has been so unreliable for the last two conferences that it is hard to share what is going on! Hopefully Denver will be different.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:52 p
That is cool! Do you know if that was the only remote connection site or do they actually do that for more of the sessions?
I wonder who set that up and why that school was invited to participate that way…?
Thanks for bringing that to my attention because that is exactly what I was talking about in my previous comment.
Now I’m wondering who I would contact to set up connections like that…….
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November 11th, 2009 at 7:30 p
In 2009 Remote NECC was presented at three sites (one each in NJ, CO and CA). In 2007 and 2008 we only connected to one site.
Remote NECC is a project of the ISTE special interest groups (SIGs) IVC (interactive video conferencing) and OL (online learning). We had tremendous support from the NECC Program Committee and ISTE leadership.
Beth, part of the purpose of Remote NECC was to demonstrate different distance learning technologies to the remote audience. We used video conferencing for the concurrent session and workshop. We used streaming video for the keynote session and we used web conferencing for a “walk around” the conference center (lounges, exhibits, poster sessions, etc.).
Cheryl, Planning was done using a wiki, back channel communications used Skype and the polling was done with “poll everywhere”.
ISTE and the SIGs are already planning for Remote ISTE 2010.
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Beth Still Reply:
November 12th, 2009 at 12:28 p
I am thrilled to see that there is support to share what is happening at ISTE remotely. It’s funny you mentioned that you streamed the keynotes. There was a group of around 100 of us who were at NECC last summer who decided to watch the opening keynote from the Bloggers’ Cafe. I remember looking around and watching everyone as they watched and listened to the keynote. It was one of my most memorable moments from the conference.
There is something very special about being part of a group whether that group is on location or participating remotely. I hope people will understand and appreciate all of the hard work that has gone into what they SIGVC group has done to make this possible.
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November 15th, 2009 at 12:59 p
Beth,
What great tips for saving costs! Some of us roomed together for the 140 conference. Also, we shared frequent flyer miles to cover some of the tickets. Sometimes a school admin may be willing to donate flyer miles to pay for the ticket. I heard Southwest was having a $25 sale as well.
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Beth Still Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 10:13 p
It seems like lots of people would be willing to share a room with someone, but they just aren’t sure how to find a roommate. I set up a group on the ISTE Ning to help people connect. http://www.iste2010.org/group/roomshare I would not have been able to attend NECC in DC last year if I had not shared a room with three other people.
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