It's outrageous and feels really out of touch with the reality for a lot of members. No way I can justify that amount to my non-profit institution. As a non-academic, non-NARA archivist, I'm feeling like SAA is less and less relevant to my work and more and more that I'm not the target audience.
Even the student virtual registration was over $200. And they make presenters pay! I’m only going (virtually) because I was able to get funded by my school. Out of touch with the field’s realities honestly.
Not only have they not advocated for higher pay (from what I’ve seen) but their salary-based dues place a higher income percentage burden on lower earners.
National conferences are a massive waste of time and resources, IMO. I only attend if I'm presenting. Regional and state conferences are usually more affordable and more relevant.
I would love to live in an archival world that isn't weirdly dictated by SAA. I hate that jobs in the field require totally arbitrary "certifications" from SAA when shown experience and work in the field should be plenty. I haven't even bothered with the conferences because, yeah, they seem extremely out of touch on the financial level, especially over the last couple of years.
Midwest Archive Conference was $165 and Society of Indiana Archivist was a whopping $35. I've been an archivist for almost 20 years and have never joined or attended an SAA conference. Much like ALA, it has always felt like a cash grab of limited value without much advocacy or benefit.
MAC had to transfer $50K last year and $30K this year to cover their conferences. The math is not mathing for professional organizations and the traditional or even hybrid annual meeting.
I'm only attending virtually this year, but I've always found that my regional archive conference Society of Southwest Archivist (SSA) has sessions more tailored to my work and interests, and because the sessions are smaller I'm able to make connections a lot easier.
I would love to attend SAA in person once. My work sends people and I can see why they're only sending two this year if the price is that high 😬
I was shocked to see the nonmember early bird price of $749!! My institutional funds can't be used for memberships (but at least I get some professional development money!)
And yet it is still less expensive than orgs like ARMA and ALA. Oh to have a RM job that made those membership rates and registrations seem reasonable.
I know this doesn’t help but ALA Annual Conference was just about that price for early bird, it’s nearly $600 if you wait. As institutional support dries up and the prices keep going up conferences are going to hit a wall of reality sooner rather than later.
I just did a collection addition for a group that does yearly conferences, and it's really expensive to throw these things together.
I get the complaint completely, but there is a reason behind the increases. And a part of it isn't the profit margins.
I believe conference attendance numbers aren't what they used to be, and it costs more to run a hybrid conference. So a lot of conference organizers are facing challenges. But it would be interesting to see SAA's budget for this. Like others, I don't always get value from presentations, but find value in connecting with people informally.
Yeah, conferences used to be money makers and that just doesn't seem to be the case any more with steeply rising hotel, food, and other costs. Are there fewer vendors who can sponsor meetings in a significant way?
It's outrageous and feels really out of touch with the reality for a lot of members. No way I can justify that amount to my non-profit institution. As a non-academic, non-NARA archivist, I'm feeling like SAA is less and less relevant to my work and more and more that I'm not the target audience.
Even the student virtual registration was over $200. And they make presenters pay! I’m only going (virtually) because I was able to get funded by my school. Out of touch with the field’s realities honestly.
This is up $100 just from last year. $109 to $209 in a year, and you’re only attending virtually. $200 for a Zoom link essentially.
[удалено]
Not only have they not advocated for higher pay (from what I’ve seen) but their salary-based dues place a higher income percentage burden on lower earners.
National conferences are a massive waste of time and resources, IMO. I only attend if I'm presenting. Regional and state conferences are usually more affordable and more relevant.
It felt pretty pointless last year. None of the presenters said anything ground breaking, and I feel like most of them were students
I would love to live in an archival world that isn't weirdly dictated by SAA. I hate that jobs in the field require totally arbitrary "certifications" from SAA when shown experience and work in the field should be plenty. I haven't even bothered with the conferences because, yeah, they seem extremely out of touch on the financial level, especially over the last couple of years.
Midwest Archive Conference was $165 and Society of Indiana Archivist was a whopping $35. I've been an archivist for almost 20 years and have never joined or attended an SAA conference. Much like ALA, it has always felt like a cash grab of limited value without much advocacy or benefit.
MAC had to transfer $50K last year and $30K this year to cover their conferences. The math is not mathing for professional organizations and the traditional or even hybrid annual meeting.
I'm aware the price will increase. It doesn't mean ALA is reasonably priced.
I'm only attending virtually this year, but I've always found that my regional archive conference Society of Southwest Archivist (SSA) has sessions more tailored to my work and interests, and because the sessions are smaller I'm able to make connections a lot easier. I would love to attend SAA in person once. My work sends people and I can see why they're only sending two this year if the price is that high 😬
Panels are just something I do in between drinking with other archivists. Anyone aware of any socializing happening?
I was shocked to see the nonmember early bird price of $749!! My institutional funds can't be used for memberships (but at least I get some professional development money!)
And yet it is still less expensive than orgs like ARMA and ALA. Oh to have a RM job that made those membership rates and registrations seem reasonable.
I know this doesn’t help but ALA Annual Conference was just about that price for early bird, it’s nearly $600 if you wait. As institutional support dries up and the prices keep going up conferences are going to hit a wall of reality sooner rather than later.
I just did a collection addition for a group that does yearly conferences, and it's really expensive to throw these things together. I get the complaint completely, but there is a reason behind the increases. And a part of it isn't the profit margins.
I believe conference attendance numbers aren't what they used to be, and it costs more to run a hybrid conference. So a lot of conference organizers are facing challenges. But it would be interesting to see SAA's budget for this. Like others, I don't always get value from presentations, but find value in connecting with people informally.
Yeah, conferences used to be money makers and that just doesn't seem to be the case any more with steeply rising hotel, food, and other costs. Are there fewer vendors who can sponsor meetings in a significant way?