Helen Borrie wrote:

> At 06:35 PM 2/10/2005 +0200, Jakub Hegenbart wrote:
>
>> Don't you think the price he'd pay for attending the conference is quite
>> high? At least for a typical Central European student. I'd be insanely
>> happy if I'd be able to see those people, but given the price, I will
>> definitely prefer investing those money into my new bathroom, even
>> though i'm writing this letter from a place 1.2 km north from the
>> location in question.
>
> So who do you think would pay? Such a rich panoply of speakers but, except
> for a few who are paying their own way, speakers have to be paid,
> accommodated and fed. Considering that international speakers will get
> $1400 US and nearer ones 800 Euros, the conference facilities at the hotel
> for three days are considerable and the free coffees and lunches are not
> free, the asked registration fees look pretty cheap.

...

> It's simplistic to assume that Central Europeans are the only potential
> attendees handicapped by the cost. For example, a speaker fee of $1400 is
> going to leave the Brazil speakers seriously out of pocket, but three of
> them are going anyway. Those even more distant (including me!) must be
> content with being absent friends.
>
> I'd suggest that, if Sean considers it important for him to attend the
> conference, he needs to get proactive and rally some sponsorship for himself.
>
> Helen
>

Well, first, a disclaimer: I did certainly _not_ want to impeach the
price tag. I do realize all the hassles you're facing. But I might put
it another way: I came to know about the conference _today_. I tried
googling just now, who informed in our country about the conference
taking place half a mile from my flat.

To put it straight, a single important (in the OSS scene) server with a
single-sentence short message in May 2005. Since I seldom visit
ibphoenix.cz (Aaargh!!! My fault. I won't ignore it from now on... :-)),
I was very surprised. I even can't find any mention on the only server
specializing in databases, which is dbsvet.cz. I'm not surprised at all
that I didn't stumble upon a notice - there were none or almost none. At
least none that I was aware of. (Any Czech to correct me?)

Let's say I knew of it several months ago. In that case, I would most
probably attend. In fact, I'd do my best to be able to attend. To
discover it one month before it takes place, it's a no-go for me. The
amount of money is not that high for somebody who knew of it in
advance, it's just the time/money ratio that's unfortunate.

But, perhaps I could at least spare aside some money and buy your book?
There won't be any store at the conference? :-)

Jakub